Development of nanostructured dressings containing antimicrobial agents aiming at tissue engineering applications in cattle

• Grant number: 19/26622-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal researcher: Luiz Henrique Capparelli Mattoso
• Grantee: Juliana Farinassi Mendes
• Home Institution: Embrapa Instrumentação Agropecuária. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Innovative materials from abundant renewable resources are becoming an important area of research today. The development of polymeric nanofiber membranes based mainly on underutilized natural resources is, however, scarce, making this topic worthy of further exploration. Pereskia aculeata Miller (ora-pro-nobis) has great potential for extracting bioactive compounds with excellent nutraceutical functions and may slow down inflammatory processes and skin recovery, ensuring added value to this material. The addition of peppermint essential oil and antibiotic will be used to increase antimicrobial, antioxidant action and compare their efficiencies. Thus, the main objective of this project is to develop processing conditions for obtaining antimicrobial, antioxidant and healing nanofiber membranes from natural sources, and to give the films properties for applications in the care of wound infections in livestock. They will be used as the pure poly (lactic acid) polymer (PLA) and PLA / arabionogalactano blends extracted from ora-pro-nobis. The nanofiber membranes will be obtained by the airbrush or airbrushing method. Detailed studies of the raw materials and the membranes will be performed, seeking optimization of the parameters for the extraction and incorporation of bioactive compounds in the polymer matrix and obtaining promising properties of the membranes. The membranes will also be evaluated for their application through in vitro and in vivo studies in order to study the efficiency in healing and tissue regeneration.