Phytochemicals, Biodegradation, Cytocompatibility and Wound Healing Profiles of Chitosan Film embedded Green Synthesized Antibacterial ZnO/CuO Nanocomposite

Abstract

Abstract Open wound ulcer treatment remains a great challenge in wound care management especially involving elderly patients and multidrug resistance pathogen. Green-synthesized antibacterial nanocomposites have shown promising benefits in treating open wound ulcers. The present work studied the phytochemicals, biodegradation, storage, cytocompatibility and wound healing profiles of chitosan (Cs) film embedded with ZnO/CuO nanocomposites synthesized from of Calotropis gigantea (C. gigantea) leaf extract. HPLC was used to detect Quercetin bioactive constituent. Our cytocompatibility study demonstrated ZnO/CuO-Cs-1wt.% nanocomposites displayed highest cell viability (~ 169%) at 72 hours treatment. The biodegradation rate of ZnO/CuO-Cs-1wt.% increased proportionally with days of immersion and fully dissolved in 8 days while, commercial control degraded partially. The ZnO/CuO-Cs-1wt.% also exhibited significantly enhanced cell migration (26.81 µm/h) and wound closure (62.35 ± 9.46%) at 12 hours. This finding is also supported by our in vivo excisional open wound studies in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, which showed progressive recovery in 14 days. The controllable release of multiple metal ions (i. e., Zn2+, Cu2+ and Ca2+), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and bioactive elements from green synthesized ZnO/CuO-Cs nanocomposites might contribute to the wound recovery proses. This study highlighted the promising outcomes exhibited from green synthesized ZnO/CuO-Cs-1wt.% in wound healing technology.