Development of a solvent system for electrospinning PLA/HPC/ZnO utilizing the surface response methodology for potential antibacterial wound dressing use

Nanofibrous wound dressings represent a significant advancement in the field of wound care. This study explores the design of an electrospun wound dressing composed of poly (lactic acid)/hydroxypropyl cellulose/zinc oxide (PLA/HPC/ZnO). The research focuses on optimizing the precursor solution conditions during the electrospinning process, specifically examining the percentage combinations of PLA and HPC, the proportions of the Chloroform/Ethanol solvent system, and the weight percentage of ZnO nanoparticles, utilizing the response surface methodology. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the reduced quadratic model provided the best fit for the experimental data, indicating an optimal composition of 70/30 for the PLA/HPC mixture and 55/45 for the CF/EtOH solvent system, with 2.4% wt ZnO nanoparticles. The resulting morphology exhibited smooth, uniform fibers devoid of beads, with an average diameter of 508 nm. Incorporating HPC into the nanofiber matrix significantly enhanced the hydrophilicity of the samples. At the same time, the addition of ZnO improved the mechanical properties of the nanofibers by up to 35% and 140% for tensile strength and strain respectively, and imparted antibacterial efficacy of up to 99.9% at the interface of the PLA/HPC matrix. Furthermore, biocompatibility tests (MMT) demonstrated that including ZnO nanoparticles at a weight percentage of up to 3% did not induce cytotoxic effects. The findings of this research position PLA/HPC/ZnO wound dressings as promising candidates for effective wound coverage.