Biodegradable polymers are currently used for the fabrication of bandages, meshes, implants, sutures and other medical devices to aid in short-term wound healing. Although these materials have become common in medicine, there are still many limitations in their function. Often these materials cannot induce complete healing due to their failure to prevent infection, and the inability to promote cell growth and regeneration of the specific area. An ideal biopolymer for medical devices would prevent bacterial attachment and the subsequent biofilm formation and promote cell growth. Therefore, the scientific community has moved towards a dual approach where bioagents are incorporated into medical devices to enhance their performance. Nitric oxide (NO) is one of the bioagents of choice, NO is a naturally produced small molecule that is involved in several physiological processes including anti-inflammatory responses, anti-microbial responses, and endothelial proliferation. S-nitrosated dextran cysteamine is a water soluble NO-releasing biodegradable polymer scaffold that has shown to release 49.5±5.0 μmol/g of NO over 24 hours. This release profile exhibits approximately a 7-log reduction in <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> bacteria survival over the 24 hour period. To achieve a non-water soluble system, S-nitrosated dextran cysteamine has been suspended in Tecoflex SG80A. Tecoflex SG80A is hydrophobic polyurethane used commercially for medical devices. In this work, S-nitrosated dextran-cysteamine was blended into SG80A to create thin films. These films were tested to confirm the NO release capabilities and biological performance. Hence, blending with our NO-releasing biodegradable polymer with Tecoflex SG80A provides handle-ability to our carrier system, tailoring opportunities on the NO loading within the polyurethane and wider versatility of applications in the biomedical industry.

Nitric oxide releasing polymeric systems for wound healing applications

249th National Meeting (2015)

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