Preparation of Chitosan, Sodium Alginate, Gelatin and Collagen Biodegradable Sponge Composites and their Application in Wound Healing and Curcumin Delivery

This research aimed to produce three chitosan-based biodegradable sponge composites from collagen, gelatin, and sodium alginate and through addition of curcumin to investigate their biological effects on wound healing. To this end, the Chitosan-Collagen-Curcumin (Chs, Col, Cur), Chitosan-Gelatin-Curcumin (Chs, Gel, Cur), and Chitosan-Alginate-Curcumin (Chs, Alg, Cur) sponge composites were prepared and subject to FT-IR, SEM, TGA, water absorption, biodegradability, wound healing and anti-bacterial analyses. Based on the results, the highest and lowest water absorptions were associated with Chitosan-Alginate-Curcumin and Chitosan-Collagen-Curcumin composites, respectively. Moreover, according to the SEM images, the highest porosity and the largest cavity size were associated with the Chitosan-Alginate-Curcumin composite. The biodegradability analysis results revealed that Chitosan-Alginate-Curcumin was completely destroyed in 4 days, while the Chitosan-Collagen-Curcumin composite showed the lowest level of destruction. Moreover, the highest amount of curcumin was released by the Chitosan-Gelatin-Curcumin composite which happened during the first hour. Finally, the highest wound healing effect was achieved within a 10-day period using the Chitosan-Gelatin-Curcumin composite, completely healing the wound on the mouse skin. On the other hand, the lowest effect was associated with the Chitosan-Alginate-Curcumin composite. The antibacterial tests suggested that all composites exhibited anti-bacterial capabilities, the highest level of which was associated with the Chitosan-Gelatin-Curcumin composite. Moreover, based on the histological tests, the fastest tissue repair process with the highest quality was achieved using the Chitosan-Gelatin-Curcumin sponge composite.