Preparation and characterization of bioactive silk fibroin/paramylon blend films for chronic wound healing

A major challenge in the chronic wound healing is a self-care wound dressing. The problem in chronic wounds is the lack of functional extracellular matrix to stimulate healing. The extracellular matrix is a network of proteins and polysaccharides that serves as physical framework and provides regulatory signals. The primary goal is to mimic the property of the extracellular matrix with Silk Fibroin and Paramylon to produce a novel bioactive film. Silk fibroin is a fibrous protein having unique mechanical properties and tunable biodegradability that makes it favourable for tailoring to specific applications. Paramylon is a beta-glucan that possess a broad spectrum of biological activity that enhances the immune response. Silk fibroin/paramylon blend films have been prepared by solution casting and were examined for structural, thermal, mechanical and other physical properties for knowing its transformation for chronic wound healing. It was observed that the fibroin films shows high thermal stability, high hydrophobicity, high stiffness value whereas the paramylon film show good water absorption property and both fibroin and paramylon shows good blood compatibility and was non-toxic as well. It also confirms that the blended films showed a combination of fibroin and paramylon property at different concentrations without any chemical interaction. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.