Amphiphilic copolymers for liquid bandage application studies.

This research pertains to a new class of liquid bandage polymers which are promising for assisting advanced wound healing by serving as substrates to promote cell viability and proliferation. Amphiphilic nitrogen-containing polymer poly (3-methacryloyloxypropyltris (trimethylsiloxy)silane-co-N-isopropylacrylamide) (poly (TRIS-co-NIPAM)) was synthesized and investigated with further comparison to several different wound care polymers including commercialized 3M Nexcare No Sting Liquid Bandage. Cell viability on different polymers was tested on fetal human skin fibroblasts (HSFs) and neonatal human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs). Test results were quantified by Sulforhodamine B (SRB) in vitro cytotoxicity assay. It was demonstrated that both HSFs and HEKs survive better on the poly (TRIS-co-NIPAM) film as the cell seeding substrate compared to other candidate polymer formulations, as well as to the commercial 3M No Sting Liquid Bandage polymer. Thus we conclude that wound healing could be accelerated by this new class of liquid bandage polymer, particularly for early-stage wounds..