ZnO Nanopartikül Yüklü Antibakteriyel Hemostatik Süngerler: Sentez, Karakterizasyon ve İn-Vitro ÇalışMALAR
Özet
A disruption of the integrity of the skin or tissue is defined as a wound. When the skin integrity is compromised, it is necessary to control the loss of blood and other body fluids, prevent the risk of bacterial infection, and expedite the repair of damaged tissue to restore function. While some small wounds can heal on their own through natural mechanisms in the body, larger wounds require external intervention to facilitate healing. Various wound dressings are commonly used in wound treatments. Throughout history, numerous wound dressings have been developed to support the process of wound healing. However, there is no standard wound dressing available. Each wound dressing has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on the type of wound and the location on the body. Therefore, the development of wound dressings containing various materials continues to this day. Hydrogels are defined as highly hydrated, porous, and hydrophilic networks of polymer chains. They are suitable materials for wound dressings due to their high fluid absorption capacity, high biocompatibility, elastic structure, and ideal gas permeability properties. In this thesis study, sponge-like materials containing ZnO nanoparticle-loaded hydrogels were synthesized with antibacterial and hemostatic properties. The gellan gum was used to ensure biocompatibility in the synthesized sponges, while ZnO nanoparticles were incorporated to impart antibacterial properties.
In the scope of the thesis study, firstly, ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized. FTIR analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles, while XRD analysis indicated the high purity of the obtained ZnO nanoparticles. Upon examination of the TEM images, it was determined that the morphological structure of the obtained nanoparticles was close to spherical, with an average particle size of 70 nm. DLS analysis revealed that their diameter was 74,39±5,08 d.nm (diameter in nanometers) and they had a homogeneous size distribution. SEM analysis was performed for the characterization of the synthesized sponges. According to the swelling tests of the gellan gum sponge containing ZnO nanoparticles, an increase in the amount of ZnO nanoparticles reduced the swelling ratio. However, it was determined that the produced sponges had the necessary degree of swelling to possess hemostatic properties. Additionally, an increase in the amount of ZnO nanoparticles was observed to shorten the degradation time of the sponges. To determine the antibacterial properties, agar disk diffusion test and colony-forming unit assay (CFU) were performed. When examining the results of the agar disk diffusion test and colony-forming unit assay, it was observed that all ZnO nanoparticle-loaded sponges exhibited a high antibacterial effect against E. coli and S. aureus bacteria.
The GG-ZnNP-0 group, which does not contain nanoparticles, exhibited 0% antibacterial activity against E. coli and 49,5% against S. aureus. The group with the lowest level of nanoparticles, GG-ZnNP-1, demonstrated 94,2% antibacterial activity against E. coli and 80,8% against S. aureus. Blood tests revealed that the blood absorption capacity of the GG-ZnNP-0 group without ZnO nanoparticles was 86,2%, while it was measured as 95,5% for GG-ZnNP-1, 89,7% for GG-ZnNP-2, and 99,8% for GG-ZnNP-3, which contained different amounts of nanoparticles. The commercial gelatin-based sponge had a blood absorption capacity of 32,8%. When comparing the blood holding capacities of our synthesized sponges and the commercial sponge, the sponge containing ZnO nanoparticles demonstrated 87,3% blood holding capacity at 15 minutes, while GG-ZnNP-0 exhibited 81,9% and the commercial hemostatic sponge showed 23,7% blood holding capacity. The biocompatibility experiments of the synthesized sponges were determined through in vitro tests using L929 (Mouse Fibroblast Cell Line) cells and MTT viability analysis Cell viability analysis (MTT) indicated that the most successful groups were GG-ZnNP-0 and GG-ZnNP-1. However, it was observed that jellan gum sponges containing higher doses of ZnO nanoparticles (GG-ZnNP-2, GG-ZnNP-3) decreased cell viability and exhibited toxic effects, as expected.
Considering all these results, it can be concluded that our group with the lowest dose of ZnO nanoparticles, GG-ZnNP-1, is the most suitable for use in wound healing applications.
