Production and characterization of St. John's wort oil and gentamicin supplemented functional wound dressing material from okra mucilage and methyl cellulose

Wound dressing materials are one of the most common approaches among various treatments for wound healing. In recent years, functional wound dressing materials with active components and natural materials have been developed to speed up the wound healing process. Natural materials, especially from plants with mucilaginous components, stand out with their biocompatible, biodegradable, easy-to-find, low-cost, and non-toxic features. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), one of the plants with high mucilage content, is known to be effective in the wound-healing process of its various compounds. Functional wound dressing materials were obtained by adding active natural components such as Hypericum perforatum plant to biomaterials and positive results were obtained during the wound healing process. In this study, a functional wound dressing material was produced from okra mucilage (OM) and methyl cellulose (MC) with the addition of St. John's wort oil (Hp) and gentamicin (G). The wound dressing materials (BM: MS and BM: MS/HpG) have been extensively characterized by instrumentation and biological analysis, and the effects on the wound healing process have been researched in vitro environment. The structural and morphological properties of the biomaterials have been examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses. Results of FTIR analysis showed that specific peaks of Hp have been observed in HpG-additive films. According to the SEM analysis results, the surface of the BM: MS films was observed smoothly, while Hp additive films have seen a structure with smooth round-shaped pores in the range of 1.4 to 2.2 µm. In line with these results, the increase in Hp concentration has increased the formation of pores and consequently increased water vapor permeability. In the results of the tensile test to examine the mechanical properties of the biomaterials, the tensile strengths have been found in the range of 9.1 to 27.4 MPa. Additionally, film thicknesses were within the range of 0.06 to 0.1 mm, which is suitable for the ideal range (0.05-0.1 mm). The surface contact angles of the biomaterials were measured using a goniometer device to be found within a range of 70⁰ to 110⁰ and determined that the addition of Hp reduces surface hydrophobicity. The Folin-Ciocalteu and CUPRAC methods were applied respectively for the determination of the total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity of the biomaterial extracts. According to the results of the analysis, biomaterials have phenolic content and antioxidant properties due to the natural components they contain. The results of disk diffusion and bacterial transmission tests for the determination of antibacterial activity showed significant zones in film samples containing HpG and found that these films prevented the transmission of bacteria. Also, in the analysis performed with Image J, the zones were measured in the range of 2.0 to 2.2 cm for S. aureus and 2.1 to 2.4 cm for E. coli. The cytotoxicity of biomaterial extracts was determined by in vitro MTT cell proliferation assay using the BJ cell line. For the biomaterial extracts containing HpG, BJ cell viability was determined more than 70%. On the other hand, in the scratch assay, it was determined that the wound closure rate increased with Hp added to the biomaterials. Eventually, the synergistic effects of the components (OM, MC, Hp, and G) in the wound dressing material that we developed using completely natural agents have been studied for the first time and the literature has been innovated with different functional properties of this wound dressing material. As a result of our findings, it was concluded that the biomaterial we developed could also be used in different biotechnological applications and could be tested on the in vivo models to better understand the impact of the wound healing process.