Carboxymethyl cellulose/poloxamer Gels Enriched With Essential Oil and Ag Nanoparticles: Promising Wound Dressings

Abstract

Aim: Essential oils are promising antibacterial and wound-healing agents that should be explored for the design of wound dressings. Materials & methods: Topical gels prepared from a combination of carboxymethyl cellulose and poloxamer were incorporated with tea tree and lavender oil together with Ag nanoparticles. In vitro release, cytotoxicity, antibacterial, and wound healing studies were performed. Results: The gels displayed good spreadability with viscosity in the range of 210–1200 cP. The gels displayed promising antibacterial activity against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria used in the study. The % cell viability of the gels was more than 90.83%. Conclusion: The topical gels displayed excellent wound closure in vitro revealing that they are potential wound dressings for bacteria-infected wounds.

Plain language summary

What is this article about?

This article reports the efficacy of carboxymethyl cellulose-based topical gels loaded with a combination of essential oils and silver nanoparticles as potential wound dressings for bacterial-infected wounds.

What were the results?

The topical gels induced a faster rate of closure than the untreated cells in 96 h. The gel formulations did not induce any significant cytotoxic effect. They were effective against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria used in the study.

What do the results of the study mean?

The topical gels displayed promising healing effects in vitro revealing that they are potential wound dressings for treating bacteria-infected wounds.

Tweetable abstract

CMC-based topical gels loaded with a combination of essential oils and silver nanoparticles are promising wound dressings for treating bacterial-infected wounds.

Graphical abstract

Keywords:

• CMC
• essential oils
• lavender oil
• polymers
• silver nanoparticles
• topical gels
• wounds

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2217/epi-2016-0184

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The financial support of Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (GMRDC), University of Fort Hare, South Africa Medical Research Council (SAMRC), and National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa, towards this research is hereby acknowledged. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.