Flower buds like PVA/ZnO composite nanofibers assembly: antibacterial, in vivo wound healing, cytotoxicity and histological studies

Abstract Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers incorporated with ZnO nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by electrospinning technique. The developed nanofibrous composites were characterized by structural and morphological analysis techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Good dispersion of the nanoparticles in the resultant nanofibers was observed and the incorporated nanoparticles of ZnO were in the shape of flower buds. Morover, porosity and swelling properties of the prepared memebranes were eveluated. Antibacterial, cytotoxicity assays as well as in-vivo wound healing experiments in mice were also studied. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PVA/ZnO nanoparticles against S. aureus and E. coli was 250 and 62.5 μg/mL respectively, indicating the antibacterial activities of the nanocomposite fibers relating to the zinc oxide nanoparticles. In-vivo studies and higher values of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) further proved that PVA/ZnO composite nanofibers had accelerated wound healing properties. ZnO nanoparticles were responsible for the accelerated epithelial regeneration and better cell attachment based on the histological analysis.