by Thohawi Elziyad Purnama, drh., M.Si., UNAIR News
The development of wound care has rapidly increased, especially in the past two decades, supported by advanced health technology. The changes in patient profiles associated with metabolic and degenerative diseases are crucial comorbid factors. These conditions usually require proper treatment to optimize the healing process. The issue is essential in modern wound care management, supported by the increasing number of the latest innovations in wound care products. Basically, the right product selection must be based on cost, comfort, and safety considerations.
Wound dressings give the most optimum conditions for wound healing to prevent infection. Ideally, the dressing should support wound healing by providing moist conditions, controlling excess exudate, maintaining a stable temperature, and preventing microbial infection. Collagen plays an important role at every stage of the wound with its abilities, including homeostasis, platelet interaction, fibronectin interaction, increasing fluid exudation, increasing cellular components, increasing growth factors, and promoting the process of fibroplasia and epidermal proliferation.
The benefit of collagen in the medical field is to accelerate the growth of new tissue. In recent studies, chitosan has been widely developed in various aspects of the medical field. One of the products resulting from chitosan technology is that it has started to be used as a topical drug delivery system in the form of membranes. The study aims to evaluate the character of Tilapia collagen coated with chitosan nanofiber as a wound dressing.
Evaluation using the FTIRs method aims to determine the functional groups formed from the collagen-chitosan composite. Collagen-chitosan has a characteristic peak at the absorption wave number of 3452.64 cm-1 which is a hydroxyl group (-OH). At absorption wave number 1657.57 cm-1 is amide I. Amide I is an important factor in understanding the secondary structure of protein. The presence of amide II was shown in the absorption wave number 1560.47 cm-1. Amide II shows the presence of a helical structure. The results showed that the most dominant interaction between collagen molecules and chitosan molecules was physical interaction. Compounds –OH, C=O, and –NH2 which are formed from collagen composites are derived from the combination of compounds contained from collagen and chitosan.
The SEM findings showed soft fibers on the surface and smear layer. Collagen-chitosan cushion structure can provide a greater water absorption capacity so that it is more suitable during wound healing. The percentage of water retention is highly dependent on the hydrophilic and micro properties of the membrane, because collagen and chitosan are both hydrophilic materials, the ability to maintain a porous membrane structure is the main explanation for the difference in the percentage of water retention results. The ideal water retention reaches 200-500% to increase the chances of wound healing. Primary wound dressings are generally composite products covered by a thin layer that serves as a wound protector so that it is easily removed, so as not to damage new tissue. Products that meet these requirements include collagen coated with chitosan because it has high regeneration and absorption power.
Previous studies have proven that collagen coated with chitosan can close the wound and maintain a moist balance around the wound, easy to use and remove, elastic, antibacterial, and non-toxic, does not cause allergies, is non-carcinogenic, biodegradable and biocompatible, because it can be catabolized into monosaccharides and can be absorbed by the body. It is also known that wound healing is 30% – 50% faster when wound dressings made of collagen are used. Primary dressings must absorb wound fluid, maintain temperature and humidity around the wound, and regulate the oxidation of gases coming out of the wound so that the wound becomes moist and heals faster. The main requirements for primary dressings are non-toxic, non-allergenic, easy to sterilize, strong, elastic, biodegradable, and biocompatibility. The low mechanical properties of collagen allow the porous structure to not be maintained when removed from the distilled water. In contrast, chitosan has a higher elasticity which can help maintain the porous membrane structure. Therefore, the percent water absorption will decrease along with the increase in the addition of collagen.
Reference
Rani, C. A. M., Safira, A., Suryadiningrat, M., Fikri, F., Wardhana, D. K., & Purnama, M. T. E. (2022, July). Characterization of Tilapia collagen-loaded chitosan nanofibers synthesized by electrospinning method for wound dressing. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 1036, No. 1, p. 012034). IOP Publishing.
