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. 2020 Jan 29;12(2):273.
doi: 10.3390/polym12020273.

Jet Cutting Technique for the Production of Chitosan Aerogel Microparticles Loaded with Vancomycin

Clara López-Iglesias  1 , Joana Barros  2 , Inés Ardao  3 , Pavel Gurikov  4 , Fernando J Monteiro  2 , Irina Smirnova  5 , Carmen Alvarez-Lorenzo  1 , Carlos A García-González  1
Affiliations

Jet Cutting Technique for the Production of Chitosan Aerogel Microparticles Loaded with Vancomycin

Clara López-Iglesias et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Biopolymer-based aerogels can be obtained by supercritical drying of wet gels and endowed with outstanding properties for biomedical applications. Namely, polysaccharide-based aerogels in the form of microparticles are of special interest for wound treatment and can also be loaded with bioactive agents to improve the healing process. However, the production of the precursor gel may be limited by the viscosity of the polysaccharide initial solution. The jet cutting technique is regarded as a suitable processing technique to overcome this problem. In this work, the technological combination of jet cutting and supercritical drying of gels was assessed to produce chitosan aerogel microparticles loaded with vancomycin HCl (antimicrobial agent) for wound healing purposes. The resulting aerogel formulation was evaluated in terms of morphology, textural properties, drug loading, and release profile. Aerogels were also tested for wound application in terms of exudate sorption capacity, antimicrobial activity, hemocompatibility, and cytocompatibility. Overall, the microparticles had excellent textural properties, absorbed high amounts of exudate, and controlled the release of vancomycin HCl, providing sustained antimicrobial activity.

Keywords: aerogels; biomedical applications; biopolymers; chitosan; polymer processing; wound treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the jet cutting process. The chitosan solution was pressed out of the nozzle as a fluid jet and cut into cylinders by the cutting disc. The cylinders acquired the spherical shape of droplets before falling into the gelation bath due to surface tension.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Particle size distribution obtained from the dynamic image analysis of chitosan aerogel particles processed using nozzle diameters of (a) 400 and (b) 500 μm. Dotted, continuous, and dashed lines represent cutting disc velocities of 2000, 4000, and 6000 rpm, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM images of chitosan aerogel particles processed with the nozzle diameter of 500 μm at (a,b) 4000; (c) 6000; and (d) 2000 rpm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Weight gain after immersion in PBS at 25 °C of chitosan aerogel microparticles processed by a nozzle diameter of 500 μm, a cutting disc velocity of 4000 rpm, and gelified in NH3/EtOH solution.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Drug release of vancomycin HCl from the chitosan aerogels (37 °C, 400 rpm, PBS pH 7.4) was sustained over time, reaching 100% of release after 24 h.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Antimicrobial effect against S. aureus strains of vancomycin-loaded chitosan aerogels and dissolved vancomycin HCl (positive control) compared with the negative controls: Free bacterial culture (diagonal bars) and unloaded chitosan aerogels (dotted). Vancomycin in the aerogels and the positive control provided a fast antimicrobial effect, with complete bacterial inhibition after 6 h of incubation.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Cytocompatibility of the vancomycin-loaded aerogel microparticles with BALB/3T3 mouse fibroblasts.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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