TLTK
TLTK
TLTK
Abstract
This paper presents some results concerning the characterisation of the structural parameters
of bacterial cellulose/chitosan composite materials with regard to their medical application.
Some chemical-physical, mechanical and biological properties of modified bacterial cellulose
are presented. The innovatively-modified bacterial cellulose characterised by the combined
properties of both cellulose and chitosan (especially high susceptibility for enzymatic degra-
dation and bioactivity) is produced by the Acetobacter xylinum strain adapted to a medium
containing polyaminosaccharide modifiers.
polymers; for example, it displays high modified bacterial cellulose with regard to
water content (98-99%), good sorption theirs medical application are presented.
of liquids, is non-allergenic and can be
safely sterilised without any change to its
n Materials and Methods
n Introduction characteristics. Being similar to human
skin, bacterial cellulose can be applied Modified bacterial cellulose (MBC) in
If a wound is to heal effectively, it must as skin substitute in treating extensive a form of hydrogel has been obtained
be maintained in a wet condition, such burns 6,7]. during microbial synthesis under static
as is often provided by modern wound conditions with the use of the acetic
dressings. However, the best dressing is Bacterial cellulose is synthesised by the bacterium Acetobacter xylinum (ŁOCK
the patient’s own skin, which is perme- acetic bacterium Acetobacter xylinum 0805) from the Pure Culture Collection
able to vapour and protects the deeper [8-10]. The fibrous structure of bacterial of the Institute of Microbiology and Fer-
layer tissue against mechanical injuries cellulose consists of a three-dimensional mentation, Technical University of Łódź,
and infection. For many years, with the network of microfibrils containing glu- Poland. The biosynthesis proceeded over
exception of transplanting the patient’s can chains bound together by hydrogen 7 days, at a temperature of 30°C in a
own skin, biological dressings of pig bonds. standard Hestrin-Schramm culture me-
skin or human cadaver skin have been dium with the addition of two different
applied. The disadvantage of such dress- In the Institute of Chemical Fibres chitosan forms [13]. The chitosan forms
ings is their antigen properties, which (IWCh), Poland, an ecological method used for the modification of the bacterial
limits the span of the application. Moreo- has been developed for manufacturing cellulose were prepared in the Depart-
ver, this method is very expensive, and so of bacterial cellulose/chitosan composite ment of Biomaterials, the Institute of
is rarely applied. materials suitable for medical applica- Chemical Fibres, Łódź, Poland.
tions [11]. Modified bacterial cellulose
The scientific basics of moist wound combines the properties of both cellulose
therapy were created by G.D. Winter and chitosan. The modification of the n Analytical Methods
[1]. His pioneering research initiated the bacterial cellulose already occurs during The average polymerisation degree
concept of active wound dressing, which microbiological synthesis by introducing (DP) and molecular weight distribution
creates and maintains the optimum con- selected bioactive polysaccharides, such were determined by gel permeation chro-
ditions required for the regeneration of as various chitosan forms and their deri- matography [14]. The structural analyses
broken tissue. Occlusive wound dress- vatives, into the culture medium. It has of MBC were performed using Fou-
ings may come in form of foam, gel, hy- been found that glucosamine and N-ace- rier Transformed Infrared spectrometry
drogel and aerosol [2,3]. They maintain tylglucosamine units are incorporated in (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy
the proper moisture level and constant the cellulose chain [12]. Such composite (SEM). The water release rate was deter-
temperature of the wound bed, accelerate materials can be applied in treating mined by the method described in [15].
healing, activate autolytic debridement burns, bedsores, skin ulcers, hard-to-heal
of the wound, protect newly-formed wounds and wounds requiring frequent The amount of aminosaccharides re-
cells, facilitates angiogenesis and reepi- changes of dressing. leased from dressings under lysozyme
thelisation, alleviate pain, and protect the degradation was estimated colorimetri-
wound against bacteria and contamina- The aim of this paper is to present some cally by the DNS method [16]. Antibac-
tion [4,5]. results concerning an estimation of the terial activity tests were performed by the
molecular, chemical and morphological quantitative method against Escherichia
Bacterial cellulose is a natural poly- structure of bacterial cellulose modified coli (ATCC 11229) and Staphyloccocus
mer whose properties are similar to by chitosan. Some of the physical-me- aureus (ATCC 6538) according to Polish
the hydrogels produced from synthetic chanical and biological properties of and Japanese standards [17,18].
FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe October / December 2004, Vol. 12, No. 4 (48) 69
n Results and Discussion Table 1. Molecular weight distribution of modified bacterial cellulose (cellulose fraction).
0.7 0.7
0.6 0.6
0.5 0.5
dw/dlog M
dw/dlog M
0.4 0.4
0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1
0 0
2 3 4 5 6 2 3 4 5 6
log M log M
Modified bacterial cellulose MBC/O Modified bacterial cellulose MBC/M Modified bacterial cellulose MBC/O Modified bacterial cellulose MBC/M
Figure 1. Molecular weight distribution curves of cellulose fraction Figure 2. Molecular weight distribution curves of chitosan fraction
obtained from modified bacterial cellulose. obtained from modified bacterial cellulose.
70 FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe October / December 2004, Vol. 12, No. 4 (48)
the results in Table 3 reveals that chitosan
0.6
has a favourable impact on the mechani-
cal properties of modified bacterial cel-
0.5 lulose. High elongation at break indicates
good elasticity of the bacterial cellulose,
0.4 which is very important from the medical
Absorbance
point of view. An elastic dressing which
0.3
fits the wound site well is good protection
against external infection.
60
From the graph presented in Figure 5, it
50 can be concluded that the water release
40 process is slower for modified bacterial
30 cellulose, and all the water evaporates
20
from the MBC after 8-9 days, compared
to about 4 days in the case of unmodified
10
bacterial cellulose. Therefore it seems
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220
reasonable to use modified bacterial cel-
Time, hours lulose as dressings for wounds requiring
wet healing conditions.
Figure 5. Water release rate for unmodified and modified bacterial cellulose. Biological properties of bacterial
cellulose/chitosan materials
Table 3. Physico-mechanical properties of modified bacterial cellulose. One of the features of chitosan is its
Physico-mechanical properties
susceptibility to specific hydrolytic en-
Symbol of sample Max. breaking Breaking Elongation at zymes. During the enzymatic degrada-
Thickness, mm
load, N stress, MPa break, % tion of chitosan, bioactive mono- and
Unmodified bacterial cellulose 2.45 8.2 0.22 38 oligosaccharides are being released,
MBC/O 0.98 13.6 0.93 36 which stimulate angiogenesis and tissue
MBC/M 0.92 14.2 1.02 39
regeneration.
FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe October / December 2004, Vol. 12, No. 4 (48) 71
Table 4. Parameter k and period of water half-release for unmodified and modified bacterial
cellulose. Acknowledgement
This work was carried out as part of research
Symbol of sample Parameter k Period of water half-release, h project No 4T09B04222 financially supported
Unmodified bacterial cellulose 0.0497 14 by the Polish Ministry of Science.
Modified bacterial cellulose MBC/O 0.0192 36 The author would like to thank Mr Janusz
Modified bacterial cellulose MBC/M 0.0241 29 Kazimierczak and Ms Monika Czapnik from
Institute of Chemical Fibres, Poland for their
co-operation in work concerning the prepara-
Table 5. Susceptibility of MBC to enzymatic degradation by lysozyme. tion of bacterial cellulose/chitosan composite
materials.
Amount of aminosaccharides released from modified bacterial cellulose
Time of enzymatic MBC/M, mg/cm3 MBC/O, mg/cm3
degradation, days Lysozyme concentration, µg/cm3 References
40 80 40 80
0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
1. G.D. Winter, Nature, 1962, 193, pp. 293-
294.
1 0.034 0.081 0.053 0.106
2. G.A. Kannon, A.B. Garrett, Dermatologic
3 0.064 0.113 0.064 0.113
Surgery, Vol. 21, Issue 7, July 1995, pp.
6 0.073 0.133 0.073 0.113
583-590.
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sample Total bacteria Bactericidal Total bacteria Bactericidal (1979).
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5.2 × 108 - - 3.2 × 108 - -
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characterised by a number of valuable
Medical Academy of Łódź (2002), p. 86
is susceptible to lysozyme degradation. features: (in Polish).
§ good mechanical properties in wet 16. Standard Procedure SPR/BBP/5, GLP
One of the factors affecting the wound No G-016 (IWCh).
state,
healing process is infection caused by 17. PN-ISO 7218:1998.
microorganisms present in the environ- § high moisture-keeping properties, 18. JIS L.1902.1998.
19. S. Yamanaka, Proc. ISF’94, p. 445, Japan
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Escherichia coli Gram (-) and Staphy- for treating different kinds of wounds, project report No 4T09B 042 22, Institute
of Chemical Fibres, Łódź, 2004 (in Po-
lococcus aureus Gram (+) bacteria was burns and ulcers. lish).
determined. The results are presented in
Table 6. Received 17.09.2004 Reviewed 19.11.2004
72 FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe October / December 2004, Vol. 12, No. 4 (48)