Development of pH-sensitive bacterial cellulose nanofiber wound dressings for wound monitoring

In this study, it was aimed to develop bacterial cellulose-based pH-sensitive smart wound dressings to detect the presence of infection in the wound environment. The developed smart wound dressings support wound treatment with the superior wound healing properties of bacterial cellulose nanofibers, while at the same time enabling wound monitoring in the presence of infection through the pH change in the wound environment. For this purpose, the indicator dye phenol red was modified (PR-MA). It was determined that the color of aqueous solutions of synthesized PR-MA changed from yellow at acidic pH to red-purple at basic pH. The chemical structure of PR-MA was also investigated by FTIR and NMR. PR-MA was then polymerized on the BC surface modified with 3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane using different acrylamide amounts (0.01, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.4 g). The chemical and morphological properties of the developed BC/PR-MA nanofiber wound dressings were investigated by FTIR and SEM measurements. The colorimetric analysis of BC/PR-MA nanofiber wound dressings in different pH buffers showed that the color change due to pH change in pH sensitive wound dressings is visible with ∆E values greater than 12. The swelling properties of BC/PR-MA nanofiber wound dressings at pH 5.5 and pH 8.0 were investigated and it was found that the swelling capacity varied between 400% and 800%. The water vapor permeability rates of BC/PR-MA nanofibers (acrylamide content: 0.01; 0.05; 0.1 and 0.4 g) were found to be 1977.5±37.1; 2120.6±303.5; 2188.5±66.2 and 1651.6±4.5 g/m2/day, respectively. The tensile stress of BC/PR-MA nanofiber wound dressings were determined as 42.8- 113.9 MPa and tensile elongation value as 0.08-0.16%, respectively. In line with these results, it was determined that pH-sensitive BC-based nanofibers developed within the scope of this thesis offer high potential as wound dressings that can perform wound monitoring quickly and effectively with the naked eye.