Innovative Materials with Possible Applications in the Wound Dressings Field: Alginate-Based Films with Moringa oleifera Extract

Roxana Gheorghita; Roxana Filip; Ancuta-Veronica Lupaescu; Monica Iavorschi; Liliana Anchidin-Norocel; Gheorghe Gutt

doi:10.3390/gels9070560

Innovative Materials with Possible Applications in the Wound Dressings Field: Alginate-Based Films with Moringa oleifera Extract

Gels. 2023 Jul 9;9(7):560. doi: 10.3390/gels9070560.

Authors

Roxana Gheorghita¹, Roxana Filip^{1

2}, Ancuta-Veronica Lupaescu¹, Monica Iavorschi¹, Liliana Anchidin-Norocel¹, Gheorghe Gutt³

Affiliations

¹ College of Medicine and Biological Sciences, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania.
² Suceava Emergency County Hospital, 720224 Suceava, Romania.
³ Faculty of Food Engineering, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania.

Abstract

For a long time, biopolymers have proven their effectiveness in the development of materials with various applications, lately those intended for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries, due to their high biocompatibility and non-toxic, non-allergenic, and non-immunogenic nature. The ability to incorporate various active substances in this matrix has yielded materials with characteristics that are far superior to those of classic, conventional ones. The beneficial effects of consuming Moringa oleifera have promoted the use of this plant, from Ayurvedic to classical medicine. The addition of such compounds in the materials intended for the treatment of surface wounds may represent the future of the development of innovative dressings. This study followed the development of materials based on sodium alginate and moringa powder or essential oil for use as dressings, pads, or sheets. Thus, three materials with the addition of 10-30% moringa powder and three materials with the addition of 10-30% essential oil were obtained. The data were compared with those of the control sample, with sodium alginate and plasticizer. The microtopography indicated that the materials have a homogeneous matrix that allows them to incorporate and maintain natural compounds with prolonged release. For example, the sample with 30% moringa essential oil kept its initial shape and did not disintegrate, although the swelling ratio value reached 4800% after 20 min. After testing the mechanical properties, the same sample had the best tensile strength (TS = 0.248 MPa) and elongation (31.41%), which is important for the flexibility of the dressing. The same sample exhibited a very high antioxidant capacity (60.78% inhibition). The materials obtained with moringa powder added presented good values of physical and mechanical properties, which supports their use as wound dressings for short-term application and the release of embedded compounds. According to the obtained results, all the biopolymeric materials with moringa added can be used as dressings for different wound types.

Keywords: antibacterial; antioxidant; biopolymers; essential oil.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization within Program 1—Development of national research and development system, Subprogram 1.2—Institutional Performance—RDI excellence funding projects (contract number: 10PFE/2021).