Production of polymeric nanofiber membranes containing plant extract and investigation of their potential for the use on wound healing

The skin, which is the largest organ of the human body and consists of three layers, namely epidermis, dermis and subcutis (under the skin), acts as a barrier protecting the other organs from mechanical and chemical external effects by wrapping the body. Damage to one or more of these layers is called a wound. Especially in burn injuries, the skin layers are seriously damaged. A wide variety of dressings are available/in development, depending on the type of wound. Wound dressings are an increasingly important field of medical textiles. Especially in recent years, many functional polymeric dressings have been used to accelerate the wound healing process and to provide the best regeneration of the skin tissue. Polymeric dressings usually contain one or more ingredients to accelerate wound healing. In addition to biomolecules of biological origin, the use of plant-derived extracts is also very common. In this thesis, it was aimed to develop an easy-to-use and effective dressing by loading the active ingredients obtained by extraction from the plant Echium italicum (wolf tail, EIE), which is known to be effective in the healing of burn wounds, into a biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) copolymer. intended. Membranes with nanofiber structure were obtained by using PLGA solutions containing different amounts of EIE (10, 12, 15, 20% by weight). ATR-FTIR analyzes confirmed the presence of EIE on the surface of the nanofibers. However, it was determined that the addition of EIE on nanofiber mats caused decreases in both tensile strength and elongation values. From the results of the water contact angle measurement, it was observed that the hydrophilicity of the membranes increased with the effect of the diol groups in the extract. As a result of in vitro degradability tests performed under physiological conditions, it was determined that morphological decomposition occurred along with weight loss in the membranes after the 60th day. As a result of in vitro cytotoxicity tests performed by MEM extraction method, it was found that the membranes were not cytotoxic. Based on all the analysis, it was concluded that the developed nanofiber membranes could be used as a potential wound dressing for the treatment of severe burn wounds. Key words: Polymeric wound dressing, Echium italicum, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), electrospinning, wound healing