Investigation of the biological activity, mechanical properties and wound healing application of a novel scaffold based on lignin–agarose hydrogel and silk fibroin embedded zinc chromite nanoparticles
Abstract:
Given the important aspects of wound healing approaches, in this work, an innovative biocompatible
nanobiocomposite scaffold was designed and prepared based on cross-linked lignin–agarose hydrogel,
extracted silk fibroin solution, and zinc chromite (ZnCr2O4) nanoparticles. Considering the cell viability
technique, red blood cell hemolysis in addition to anti-biofilm assays, it was determined that after three
days, the toxicity of the cross-linked lignin–agarose/SF/ZnCr2O4 nanobiocomposite was less than 13%.
Moreover, the small hemolytic effect (1.67%) and high level of prevention in forming a P. aeruginosa
biofilm with low OD value (0.18) showed signs of considerable hemocompatibility and antibacterial
activity. Besides, according to an in vivo assay study, the wounds of mice treated with the cross-linked
lignin–agarose/SF/ZnCr2O4 nanobiocomposite scaffold were almost completely healed in five days.
Aside from these biological tests, the structural features were evaluated by FT-IR, EDX, FE-SEM, and TG
analyses, as well as swelling ratio, rheological, and compressive mechanical study tests. Additionally, it
was concluded that adding silk fibroin and ZnCr2O4 nanoparticles could enhance the mechanical tensile
properties of cross-linked lignin–agarose hydrogel, and also an elastic network was characterized for
this designed nanobiocomposite.