Chitosan hydrogel loaded with <scp><i>Aloe vera</i></scp> gel and tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (<scp>EDTA</scp>) as the wound healing material: in vitro and in vivo study

Abstract

Abstract The main aim of the current study was to develop a chitosan hydrogel containing Aloe vera gel and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as the wound healing materials. Chitosan with the concentration of (2% w/v) was prepared in AA (0.5%, v/v) and Tetrasodium EDTA (0.01% w/w) and AV (0.5% v/v) were added to the prepared polymer solution. As prepared solution was cross‐linked by β‐GP with the weight ratio of 1/6 w/w (1 chitosan and 6 β‐GP). The characterization of the hydrogels showed that the hydrogels have porous structures and interconnected pores with the pores size range from 41.5 ± 14 to 48.3 ± 11 μm. The swelling and weight loss measurements of the hydrogels showed that the hydrogels could swell up to 240% of their initial weight during 8 h and loss 79.7 ± 3.5% of the initial weight during 14 days. The antibacterial studies depicted that the prepared Cs/tEDTA/AV hydrogel inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus (the minimum inhibition concentration, MIC of 73 ± 4.8) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (the MIC of 40 ± 7.9). Moreover, the prepared hydrogels were hemocompatible (Cs/tEDTA/AV: OD of 0.24 ± 0.30) and biocompatible (Cs/tEDTA/AV: OD of 0.38 ± 0.01). At the final stage, the wound healing assessments in the animal model revealed that the application of the prepared hydrogels effectively enhanced the wound healing process. In conclusion, the results confirmed the efficacy of the prepared hydrogels as the wound healing materials.