Development of thymol loaded polymeric films designed as wound dressing material

Wound dressings are designed to facilitate and accelerate the healing process by supporting the wound bed and protecting it from factors that can delay or hinder healing, such as contamination and moisture loss. Biomaterials used to design wound dressings can be natural or synthetic, or containing a combination of both materials in the form of films, sponges or hydrogels. Polysaccharides are natural polymers widely used as wound dressing materials. Applications of biopolymers such as chitin, gelatin, pullulan and chitosan are greatly expanding in the biomedical field due to their non-toxic, antibacterial, biocompatible, hemostatic and non-immunogenic properties. In this thesis study, the potential of thymol-loaded films consisting of pullulan (PUL) and kappa carrageenan (CARR) to be used as wound dressing materials was examined. The films were characterized by FTIR (Fourier transform infrared), TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) analyses. Swelling and hydrolytic degradation behavior, water vapor permeability rate and mechanical properties, which are important parameters for the films to be evaluated as wound dressing materials, were determined. Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the films were examined. Additionally, in vitro cytotoxicity and in vitro wound healing activity of the films were evaluated in the L929 fibroblast cell line. When the data obtained was examined, it was determined that the PUL-CARR-T5 film containing 5% thymol by weight may have a potential for clinical applications.