Development of novel hydrogels based on citraconyl-chitosan and poly(acrylic acid) as potential wound dressing materials

Hydrogels based on citraconyl-chitosan and poly(acrylic acid) (NCITACs-PAA) were prepared, and the formation of the NCITACs/PAA crosslinked structure was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy coupled with Attenuated Total Reflection technique (ATR-FTIR). Several physic-chemical and biological properties of the scaffolds were investigated in the aim to evaluate their potential as wound healing materials. The internal morphology was characterized by using Scanning Slectron Microscopy (SEM); it was observed that all hydrogels have three-dimensional porous network structure. The swelling capacity of the hydrogels was investigated and it was found that the swelling ratio increased with the increase of AA mass ratio. The lysozyme digestion study proved that the presence of PAA increase the biostability of the NCITACs-PAA hydrogels. In addition, MTT assay results indicated that the hydrogels were non-toxic towards fibroblast. Therefore, the synthesized hydrogels displayed promising characteristics that may be suitable for wound dressing applications.