Preparation and characterisation of vancomycin-impregnated gelatin microspheres/silk fibroin scaffold

Abstract

A type of antibacterial silk fibroin (SF) scaffold was developed and characterised as a potential functional wound dressing for acute trauma treatment. To achieve this, SF solution was mixed with previously fabricated vancomycin (Vm)-loaded gelatin (G) microspheres, followed by a freeze-drying step. Some physical and antimicrobial properties of the prepared Vm/G/SF scaffolds were investigated and the results demonstrated that the average pore size and porosity of the composite scaffold were 60–80 μm and 75%, respectively. The compressive stress and compressive modulus of Vm/G/SF scaffold were 140 and 468 KPa, respectively. Compared with Vm/G microspheres and Vm/SF scaffold, the Vm/G/SF scaffold has slower release rate of Vm. In addition, the Vm release rate of Vm/G/SF scaffold matched well with the degradation rate of SF scaffold. With respect to the antimicrobial effect, the results showed that the Vm/G/SF scaffold had good antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive), which is a gram-positive bacteria commonly found in infected wounds.

Keywords:

• gelatin microsphere
• silk fibroin
• scaffold
• vancomycin
• antibacterial property

Acknowledgements

This study is financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong (S2012040008003), Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan Project (No. 11C32070752), the Key Project of DEGP (cxzd1109), the PhD Programmes Foundation of Ministry of Education of China and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (21612327).