“Utilization of Different Natural Materials’ Anti-Microbial Activity for Liquid

Bandage”

Capule, Camila Erika Q.

Skin is the largest organ in our body, it also act as a protection for the internal organs. Wound

is a cut or a blow in the skin therefore it should be treated immediately to lead not to further

complications. There are many ways of treating wounds but the main is antibacterial,

antibacterial helps the wound heal by the process of removing all the bacteria to let the

wound heal faster. Some components in leaves and some waste materials of fruits have these

antibacterial agent, some are also found in volcanic ashes. Using these Materials can reduce

waste and help heal wounds at the same time.

Introduction

Health is important for one’s body, especially the skin or to be specific the epidermis.

Epidermal wound healing describes to the mechanism by which the skin repairs itself after

injury. Epidermal wound healing refers to the repair of the epidermis in response to

wounding. Epidermal only wounds are typically less severe than those affecting the dermis

and so stages of the wound healing response may be missed. As the epidermis is itself not

vascularized, it is receiving blood from the dermis, a clotting and vasoconstrictive response is

often not necessary. Immune cells may still be recruited to the wound site because the

removal of the epidermal barrier makes the wound susceptible to infection.

Poor wound healing not only cause trauma to the patient but also increase the burden of

financial resources and requirement for cost effective management within health care system

(Bowler, P. G, Duerden, B. I. & Amstrong, D. G., 2001). Successful wound care involves

optimizing patient local and systemic conditions in conjunction with an ideal wound-healing

environment. Many different products have been developed to influence this wound

environment to provide a pathogen-free, protected, and moist area for healing to occur

(Murphy & Evans, 2012).

interruption or failure leading to the formation of non-healing chronic wounds. Factors that

contribute to non-healing chronic wounds are diabetes, venous or arterial disease, infection,

and metabolic deficiencies of old age (Enoch & Price, 2004).

Not all wounds lead up to serious and life-threatening injuries, wounds like skin abrasions,

punctures and other minor injuries do not pose a threat unless infected. And so, immediate

care for open wounds is a must.

Why do we treat wounds, because skin is the protection of the body and without protection,

the body is immune to bacteria. Wounds are a cut or a blow in the skin causing it to break.

That’s why wound healing is important. Treating wounds have different component but the

main is the antibacterial, antibacterial helps the wounds remove all the bacteria which is

causing the wound to be more severe.

Despite of technological advancements, there are still problems to today’s modern wound

healing methods. Other methods are expensive and require a lot of time for the process, they

also use chemicals and bacteria instead of natural ones. These are the use of natural

alternatives such as the leaves of Citrus Maxima.

In treating wounds, a type of material is used to support or to restrict the movement of a part

of the body, the bandage.

According to Osmanski (2019), “The adhesive sheet of a band-aid is usually made from a

type of plastic, either PVC, polyethylene, or polyurethane. Plastic band-aids don’t break

down. Polyurethane, which is petroleum-based, is the same toxic compound found in

chemical-laden mattresses. While polyethylene is considered a “safe plastic”, the process of

manufacturing it requires industrial chemicals including butane, benzene, and vinyl acetate,
making the process less than eco-friendly. The third substance plastic bandages are usually

made from is PVC, or polyvinyl chloride. Also known as vinyl, it’s the most toxic plastic for

our health and the environment. Vinyl releases a plethora of dangerous chemicals, including

dioxins, phthalates, lead, and more. So not only are band-aids not sustainably-made, and not

able to biodegrade, but plastic band-aids are also hazardous to our health.”

There are myriads of wastes produced from band-aids annually. One of the main issues with

these wastes are that some types of band-aids are not compostable. Some have started to

make biodegradable and eco-friendly band-aids in order to tackle this issue. One of which is

Biodegradable Bamboo Band-aids. A potential solution to this may be Citrus Maxima,

Copper Oxides, and Polyethylene Glycol as these are said to exhibit antibacterial properties

against different types of pathogenic bacteria (Saeb et al., 2016; Garay et al., 2012; Hans et

al., 2013).

The aim of this study is to examine the properties of the Citrus Maxima and Aluminum Oxide

extracted from Volcanic Ash then infuse it into Polyethylene Glycol (PEG-400) and

Polyvinylpyrrolidone to create liquid band aids with antibacterial features. The findings on

this study may be a window to more natural formulation of medicine for wound healing in the

coming years.

Statement of the Problem

 Will this proposed study be as effective as commercial wound dressings/band-aid?

 Will the effectivity of this proposal impact medical emergency approaches and first aids?

 Will the study’s results help in the development of cost-efficient alternatives and devices?
Methodology

1. Collection

1.1 Preparation of materials for extraction

Citrus fruits such as lemon and pomelo will be purchased in the local market in

Angeles City. Sources of volcanic ash are abundant in Taal Volcano area or in Mt.

Pinatubo. Grab surface collection of ash will be done and will be employed.

2. Preparation of Organic Liquid-Band Aids

2.1 Extraction of Citrus fruits from peels

The lemon and pomelo peels will be dried at room temperature for 72 hours and will

be powdered or pulverized using a blender. One hundred grams of sample powder

will be weighed and will be allowed to soak in 500 mL of distilled water. These

extracts will be incubated at ambient temperature for 24 hours. The extract will be

filtered through Whatman filter paper. The extracts will be transferred to glass vials

and Twill be kept at 4°C before use.

2.2 Preparation of Pectin from Citrus peels

After pressing the citrus fruit, the peel is dried at temperature that should not exceed

110°C. Rotary or direct fire dryers are normally used, avoiding direct contact between

the flame and peel. Careful processing is needed with regard to both the pH and

hydrolysis time, as polymeric degradation can otherwise rapidly take place. In detail,

manufacturers use a dilute mineral acid (HCI or HNO3 or H2SO4) between

50°C and 100°C and at pH 2–3 for several hours to solubilize the protopectin.

Following separation, the pectin extract is fi ltered, concentrated, and precipitated

with isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol is recovered by distillation while the pectin is
 washed and eventually dried.

2.3 Extraction of Metal Oxides from Volcanic Ash

Mix 500 ml of citrus extracts to 50 grams of volcanic ash. Filter. Collect the filtered

extract in 1- liter glass bottle.

2.4 Preparation of liquid band-aids

Mix 5 grams of pectin organic extracts to 500 ml of citrus-ash solution. This mixture

will be used for chemical and bacteriological testing.

3. Chemical and Bacteriological Testing

3.1 Analysis of Metal Oxides from Volcanic Ash

Collected ash samples will be characterized and analyzed its physical and chemical

compositions. Citrus fruits will be submitted at National Museum for proper

identification.

pH levels of citrus fruits (lemon and pomelo) will be measured using pH meter. To

determine the pH level, 50 gram of peels will be mixed with 50 ml of distilled water.

pH electrode will be dipped to the solution and pH will be measured.

Chemical compositions of volcanic glass and minerals from volcanic ash are

determined by EPMA (electron probe micro analyzer), which determine chemical

compositions of small areas or spots using an electron-beam (Nakagawa & Ohra,

2002). According to John Goodge, an electron probe micro-analyzer is a microbeam

instrument used primarily for the in situ non-destructive chemical analysis of minute

solid samples. EPMA is also informally called an electron microprobe, or just probe.

It is fundamentally the same as an Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), with the

added capability of chemical analysis. The primary importance of an EPMA is the

ability to acquire precise, quantitative elemental analyses at very small "spot" sizes (as

little as 1-2 microns), primarily by wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (WDS). The

sample, makes it possible to analyze geological materials in situ and to resolve

complex chemical variation within single phases (in geology, mostly glasses and

minerals). The electron optics of an SEM or EPMA allow much higher resolution

images to be obtained than can be seen using visible-light optics, so features that are

irresolvable under a light microscope can be readily imaged to study detailed micro

textures or provide the fine-scale context of an individual spot analysis.

An alternate to measure and identify the chemical composition of the ash is X-RAY

Power Diffraction (XRD) is a rapid analytical technique primarily used for phase

identification of a crystalline material and can provide information on unit cell

dimensions. The analyzed material is finely ground, homogenized and average bulk

composition is determined.

After analyzing the percentage composition of each chemical compositions, digestion

will be done to dissolve the component. Certain chemical compositions of volcanic

ash will be characterized by AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer).

According to Priyom, Bose (2019) Atomic absorption spectrometers use the

absorption of light to measure the concentration of gas phase atoms. The light that is

focused into the flame is produced by a hollow cathode lamp, inside which is the

sample and an anode. A high voltage is passed between the cathode and anode and the

metal atoms are excited into producing light with a certain emission spectrum.
 Figure 1: Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

3.2 Bacteriological Testing of liquid band-aids

The liquid band-aid solution will be analysed for bacteriological testing against E.

Coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa.

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