Fabrication and Characterization of Chitin Hydrogel Nano Silver Fused Scaffold for Wound Dressing Applications

Aim/Background: A scaffold is a wound dressing material which can be fabricated in the shape of the tissue that we want to restore in our body depending upon their structural and functional requirements. Chitin is the carbon-based resource having boundless activity as a wound healing accelerator. By the addition of silver nanoparticles, the wound remedial ability and antiseptic activity of chitin can be boosted. Materials and Methods: Chitin was obtained from the crab shell by demineralization, heating (300°C) and dehydration. 1g, 2g, 3g, 4g and 5g of chitin was accurately weighed and formulated into five different formulations with Calcium chloride/methanol solvent. The formulated hydrogel was clarified by Whatman filter paper. Then the nanosilver solution was prepared, characterized by the pale yellow colour and added to the formulations. Further, it was lyophilized to obtain chitin hydrogel/nanosilver fused scaffold formulations namely S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5. All the five formulations were characterized for weight loss, swelling ability, porosity measurement and surface analysis. Results and Conclusion: The augmented formulation i.e., S5 was subjected to further characterization studies such as FT-IR analysis, optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, XRD, Zeta potential and in-vitro antibacterial activity. From this research, it was concluded that the chitin hydrogel nanosilver fused scaffold is a viable alternative to existing conventional dosage forms which lead to improved bioactivity and a promising biomaterial for wound dressing applications in case of administration affords to result in better patient compliance and cost-effective therapy in the field of biomedical application.