Zinc ions and ciprofloxacin-encapsulated chitosan/poly(ɛ-caprolactone) composite nanofibers promote wound healing via enhanced antibacterial and immunomodulatory.

Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory nanofibrous membranes have attracted extensive attention, especially for the cutaneous wound treatment. In this study, zinc ions and ciprofloxacin-encapsulated chitosan/poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (CS/PCL) electrospun core-shell nanofibers were prepared by employing zinc ions-coordinated chitosan as the shell, and ciprofloxacin-functionalized PCL as the core. The morphology and core-shell structure of the as-prepared composite nanofibers were examined by SEM and TEM, respectively. The physical structure and mechanical property of the electrospun membrane were explored by FTIR, swelling, porosity and tensile test. Tensile strength of the zinc ions-coordinated CS/PCL composite nanofibers was enhanced to ca. 16 MPa. Meanwhile, the composite nanofibers can rapidly release of ciprofloxacin during 11 days and effectively suppress above 98 % of S. aureus proliferation. Moreover, the composite nanofibers exhibited excellent guide cell alignment and cyto-activity, as well as significantly down-regulated the inflammation factors, IL-6 and TNF-α in vitro. Animal experiments in vivo showed that the zinc ions-coordinated CS/PCL membrane by means of the synergistic effect of ciprofloxacin and active zinc ions, could significantly alleviate macrophage infiltration, promote collagen deposition and accelerate the healing process of wounds.

Optimizing the chitosan-PCL based membranes with random/aligned fiber structure for controlled ciprofloxacin delivery and wound healing.

The aim of this study was to optimize the chitosan/polycaprolactone (CS/PCL) electrospun nanofibrous membrane with random/aligned fiber structures to provide a controlled release of ciprofloxacin (Cip) and guide skin fibroblasts arrangement. A series of Cip-encapsulated CS/PCL electrospun membranes were prepared by coaxial-electrospinning. The existence of Cip in core-shell structured fibers was confirmed by using SEM, TEM and FTIR characterizations. The in vitro drug-release profiles suggested that the Cip presented a sustained release for 15 days. Simultaneously, cyto-compatibility of the membranes decreased with the increasing amount of Cip from 2.0% to 5.0%. In particular, aligned CS/PCL membrane loading with 2.0% Cip exhibited a good balanced ability between cell proliferation and antibacterial effect (>99% against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus), which significantly accelerated the wound healing process in vivo. These results suggested that the aligned CS/PCL membrane loading with 2.0% Cip exhibited great antibacterial property and biocompatibility, which possess promising applications potential for wound healing.

Electrospun ZnO-loaded chitosan/PCL bilayer membranes with spatially designed structure for accelerated wound healing.

A multifunctional bilayer membrane with electrospinning chitosan (CS) and active ZnO nanoparticles was designed. The outer-layer was constructed with ZnO-encapsulated poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) ultrafine fibers in a randomly-orientated structure, which could impart the bilayer membrane with great antibacterial activity. The inner-layer was composed with CS fibers with aligned core-shell structure, which could provide anti-inflammatory and effective cell contact guide function. The structure, morphology and crystallization behavior of the bilayer membrane was investigated by FTIR, TEM, SEM and XRD. Importantly, the bi-layered CS/PCL electrospun membrane loading 1.2 wt% ZnO nanoparticles exhibited an enhanced tensile strength and an obvious inhibitory zone against E. coli and S. aureus, and also presented a non-cytotoxic behavior to fibroblasts. Moreover, the as-prepared bi-layered membrane enabled the maintenance of high bioavailability of ZnO nanoparticles and synchronization with the aligned structural feature of CS fibers, which alleviated inflammation, stimulated cellular migration and re-epithelialization in vivo.