PHBV nanofibers containing Melaleuca oil by electrospinning: a new generation of antimicrobian biomaterials

• Grant number: 20/04455-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2020
• End date: October 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Eliandra de Sousa Trichês
• Grantee: Samara Domingues Vera
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Hospital morbidity due to skin lesions, especially burns, is considered a seriouspublic health problem. Therefore, tissue engineering has developed synthetic graftscapable of promoting accelerated cell growth, reducing the infections and rejectionsrisks, in addition to ensuring a greater comfort degree for recovering patients. Amonggrafts different productions methods, the nanofibers stand out for having greatersimilarity with the human body extracellular matrix nanoarchitecture. Such nanofibersare generally produced by electrospinning technique, which by adjusting its variousprocessing parameter is possible to produce nanofibers with specific propertiesessentials for this application: such as porosity and pore and nanofiber sizes. Thenanofibers grafts composed of natural biopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) contain characteristics that stand out in respect to othernatural and synthetic polymers, such as the oxygen barrier property, high viscosity onthe liquid state, favorable aspect on the electrospinning process, and piezoelectricproperty that collaborates to cell migration, proliferation and differentiation processesdue to electric signals generation in response to the applied stress. However, although ithas determinant features for engineering tissue application, PHBV is considered a rigidand brittle polymer, which can influence its mechanical resistance. Therefore, a solutionto this limitation may be on plants extracts incorporation to the PHBV nanofibers.Usually, these plants extracts are oils able to increase polymeric plasticity, and may alsoprovide its intrinsic properties to enhance skin tissue regeneration and healing; such asantimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. Among a wide variety of oils, tea tree oilis very promising to be incorporated to the PHBV nanofibers once it has all thoseintrinsic properties primordial for the development of a synthetic graft of optimizedproperties to skin tissue wound healing. In this context, the aim of this work is theproduction of PHBV nanofibers containing tea tree oil through electrospinningtechnique, generating a new and innovative study on the field of biomaterials for skintissue engineering.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VERÔNICA RIBEIRO DOS SANTOS; SAMARA DOMINGUES VERA; GABRIELLE LUPETI DE CENA; ADRIELLE DE PAULA SILVA; ANA PAULA LEMES; KÁTIA DA CONCEIÇÃO; DAYANE BATISTA TADA; ALEXANDRE LUIZ SOUTO BORGES; ELIANDRA DE SOUSA TRICHÊS. Electrospun PHBV nanofiber containing Tea Tree Oil: physicochemical and antimicrobial activity. POLIMEROS-CIENCIA E TECNOLOGIA, v. 33, n. 1, 2023-04-14. (19/10877-3, 20/04455-6, 19/19594-4)