Preparation and characterization of CS/ PEO/ cefazolin nanofibers with in vitro and in vivo testing

Objective(S): Electrospinning of chitosan/polyethylene oxide (CS/PEO) nanofibers with the addition of cefazolin to create nanofibers with antimicrobial properties were examined. Methods: Polymeric nanofibers including CS/PEO and CS/PEO /cefazolin, were produced by electrospinning method. The range of nanofiber was 60-100 nm in diameter and measured with ImageJ software. The morphology of electrospun nanofibers was studied with use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the chemical structures of the nanofibers were evaluated by FT-IR. The drug release of nanofibers was also investigated by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The antibacterial activity of scaffolds was tested by two type bacteria including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The healing ability of nanofibers was studied on the rat’s wound. Results: The SEM images indicated that the addition of cefazolin as much as 1wt% brings about the best nanofiber. Also, the morphology of electrospun nanofiber is dependent on the viscosity of the solution and the ratio of CS /PEO/cefazolin. According to the results of cefazolin releasing from nanofibers, the best results were obtained in the presence of CS /PEO/1wt%cefazolin nanofibers as healing sample. In animal studies, the effect of nanofibers was studied in the burn wound healing of rats and improvement of the wound was observed by nanofibers containing 1%wt cefazolin. Conclusions: According to these results, it seems that CS /PEO/1wt% cefazolin nanofiber is a good choice as a wound covering agent and hold more moisture in its structure thus the surface of wound remain wet during the healing process that prevent from nanofiber sticking to the wound surface.