Physicochemical assessment of tailor made fibrous polyurethane scaffolds incorporated with turmeric oil for wound healing applications

Abstract

Nanofibrous scaffold holds a great potential in remodeling of the damaged tissue. This work attempts to fabricate a fibrous wound dressing scaffold based on polyurethane (PU) mats reinforced with turmeric oil via electrospinning technique. The field emission electron microscopy (FESEM) depicted the smaller fiber diameter of nanocomposites compared to polyurethane. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal analyses insinuated the existence of turmeric in the PU matrix by the formation of hydrogen bond and reduced weight loss for composite scaffold. Contact angle of the PU scaffold showed a hydrophobic behavior while turmeric oil incorporation resulted in the hydrophilic nature. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis showed a decrease in surface roughness of PU with the addition of turmeric oil. In blood compatibility results, the coagulation times were observed to the higher for PU/turmeric oil than PU. The developed nanocomposites showed a less percentage of lysis of red blood cells suggesting better blood compatibility than PU. Further, cell viability assay depicted enhanced proliferation of fibroblast cells in the developed composites than PU. Overall, it was concluded that fabricated novel scaffold having better physicochemical and good biocompatibility characteristics for wound dressing.