Melt-extruded biocompatible surgical sutures loaded with microspheres designed for wound healing.
Biomed Mater
; 19(5)2024 Jul 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38917838
ABSTRACT
Sutures are commonly used in surgical procedures and have immense potential for direct drug delivery into the wound site. However, incorporating active pharmaceutical ingredients into the sutures has always been challenging as their mechanical strength deteriorates. This study proposes a new method to produce microspheres-embedded surgical sutures that offer adequate mechanical properties for effective wound healing applications. The study used curcumin, a bioactive compound found in turmeric, as a model drug due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-bacterial properties, which make it an ideal candidate for a surgical suture drug delivery system. Curcumin-loaded microspheres were produced using the emulsion solvent evaporation method with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the aqueous phase. The microspheres' particle sizes, drug loading (DL) capacity, and encapsulation efficiency (EE) were investigated. Microspheres were melt-extruded with polycaprolactone and polyethylene glycol via a 3D bioplotter, followed by a drawing process to optimise the mechanical strength. The sutures' thermal, physiochemical, and mechanical properties were investigated, and the drug delivery and biocompatibility were evaluated. The results showed that increasing the aqueous phase concentration resulted in smaller particle sizes and improved DL capacity and EE. However, if PVA was used at 3% w/v or below, it prevented aggregate formation after lyophilisation, and the average particle size was found to be 34.32 ± 12.82 µm. The sutures produced with the addition of microspheres had a diameter of 0.38 ± 0.02 mm, a smooth surface, minimal tissue drag, and proper tensile strength. Furthermore, due to the encapsulated drug-polymer structure, the sutures exhibited a prolonged and sustained drug release of up to 14 d. Microsphere-loaded sutures demonstrated non-toxicity and accelerated wound healing in thein vitrostudies. We anticipate that the microsphere-loaded sutures will serve as an excellent biomedical device for facilitating wound healing.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Particle Size
/
Polyvinyl Alcohol
/
Sutures
/
Wound Healing
/
Biocompatible Materials
/
Materials Testing
/
Curcumin
/
Microspheres
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Biomed Mater
Journal subject:
ENGENHARIA BIOMEDICA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
New Zealand