PhD Scientific Days 2025

Poster Session III. - K: Theoretical and Translational Medicine

Polysuccinimide-salt Electrospun Scaffold as a Potential Wound Dressing Material

Name of the presenter

Pálos Veronika

Institute/workplace of the presenter

Semmelweis University, Department of Biophysics and Radiation Biology, Laboratory of Nanochemistry

Authors

Veronika Pálos¹, Dorottya Gréta Kis¹, Krisztina S. Nagy¹, Bálint Budavári¹, Judit Domokos², Dóra Szabó², Ákos Zsembery³, Angéla Jedlovszky-Hajdú¹

1: Semmelweis University, Department of Biophysics and Radiation Biology, Laboratory of Nanochemistry
2: Semmelweis University, Institute of Medical Microbiology
3: Semmelweis University, Department of Oral Biology

Text of the abstract

Due to their substantial environmental impact, silver ions are being used less frequently in medicine, while other ions with antibacterial properties are gaining attention as alternatives.
Our research aims to create a bicomponent polymer scaffold by electrospinning, which contains zinc and strontium salts in addition to the polymer, which, according to the literature, has antibacterial properties. If such a new type of biocompatible wound dressing could be created, it would be a mechanical barrier and have antibacterial activity against microorganisms.
Several experiments have been conducted to optimize the physicochemical, mechanical, and biological properties of the scaffolds developed for application as wound dressings. The first step was to synthesize the polysuccinimide (PSI) polymer, mix it with the selected inorganic salts in dimethylformamide, and optimize the electrostatic fiber formation parameters. The chemical and mechanical properties of the complete polymer networks were investigated by FTIR spectroscopy and SEM images, and their mechanical behavior through specific load capacity, elongation at breakpoint, and Young’s modulus value. We have also made dissolution tests to examine whether the salts could dissolve from the scaffold to exert their antibacterial effect. After that, antibacterial activity tests were performed on four application-relevant bacterial species. The next step was determining if the polymer scaffolds with the salts have cytotoxic activity against human tumor and fibroblast cells.
We proved that the salts are in the scaffolds and can dissolute from them to exert their antibacterial effect. Adding salts to the polymer changed the fiber diameters and mechanical properties. Except for the zinc acetate salt-containing ones, the scaffolds are not at all cytotoxic either to tumor or healthy cells.
We did further research to combine the two salts' advantageous properties. Coaxial fibers are nanofibers that have a core and a shell layer. We aim to make an inner core layer that contains the two salts and PSI and an outer shell layer that includes the neat PSI to get a more extended dissolution profile. First, the optimization of the coaxial electrospinning and mechanical characterization of the coaxial fibers has been carried out.

NKFIH FK 137749, SE 250+ Excellence PhD Scholarship and TKP2021-EGA-23 research grants.