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. 2020 Mar 15;25(6):1334.
doi: 10.3390/molecules25061334.

Polyvinyl Alcohol/Chitosan/Polyhexamethylene Biguanide Phase Separation System: A Potential Topical Antibacterial Formulation with Enhanced Antimicrobial Effect

Yunzhou Ni  1 , Zhixiang Qian  1 , Yu Yin  1 , Weien Yuan  1 , Fei Wu  1 , Tuo Jin  1
Affiliations

Polyvinyl Alcohol/Chitosan/Polyhexamethylene Biguanide Phase Separation System: A Potential Topical Antibacterial Formulation with Enhanced Antimicrobial Effect

Yunzhou Ni et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

An aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/chitosan (CHT)/polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) blends (PVA/CHT/PHMB blends) has been developed as a potential low dose topical antibacterial formulation with enhanced antimicrobial effect. The preparation of PVA/CHT/PHMB blends was quite facilely, with just dissolved PVA, CHT, PHMB in water in order. There was the aggregates with 100 nm size around induced by phase separation in the blends and an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) formed, as non-ionic polymer PVA formed a continuous phase and cationic polymer CHT and PHMB formed dispersed phases. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PHMB in the PVA/CHT/PHMB blends was 0.5μg/mL, which was four times lower than the MIC of PHMB individually. A phase separation increased zeta potential mechanism was proposed to explain the enhanced antibacterial activities. In addition, the blends could easily form film on the skin surface with good water vapor permeability and be used as a liquid bandage to accelerate the scratch wound healing process of nude mouse. These findings provide experimental evidence that the PHMB-functionalized blends could be further explored as low-dose topical antibacterial formulations, and the nano-sized phase separation strategy could be used to design novel low-dose topical antibacterial formulations with an enhanced antimicrobial effect.

Keywords: chitosan; enhanced antimicrobial effect; low dose; phase separation; polyhexamethylene biguanide; polyvinyl alcohol; topical antibacterial formulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Schematic illustration of preparation of polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan/polyhexamethylene biguanide blends (PVA/CHT/PHMB blends) as a potential topical antibacterial formulation with enhanced antimicrobial effect.
Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) The viscosity versus the shearing rate for PVA, CHT, PVA/CHT, PVA/CHT/PHMB solution at 37 °C, (b) The size of PVA/CHT and PVA/CHT/PHMB respectively, (c) The SEM images of PHMB in PVA/CHT, and (d) The zeta potential of CHT, PVA/CHT and PVA/CHT/PHMB respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Photograph of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PHMB, PVA/PHMB, CHT/PHMB, PVA/CHT/PHMB in against (a) Staphylococcus aureus, and (b) Escherichia coli strains.
Scheme 2
Scheme 2
Proposed mechanism of the enhanced antibacterial activity of blends.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The appearance and properties of L-Bandage formed film. (a) Digital photograph of PVA/CHT/PHMB film on the surface of human skin; (b) digital photograph, (c) optical photograph, (d) SEM micrograph of PVA/CHT/PHMB film removed from the surface of human skin.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The WVTR of PVA/CHT/PHMB blends formed film.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Strain versus strength of PVA/CHT/PHMB blends formed film.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Scratch wound healing test in nude mouse. Compared with the control group (Figure 6g–l).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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