Electrospun Composite Nanofibers Based on Poly (ε-caprolactone) and Styrax Liquidus (Liquidambar Orientalis Miller) as a Wound Dressing: Preparation, Characterization, Biological and Cytocompatibility Results

Abstract In this study, styrax liquidus (sweet gum balsam) extracted from Liquidambar orientalis Mil. incorporated PCL fibrous scaffolds were prepared using the electrospinning method. The effects of the styrax liquidus content on the prepared scaffolds were investigated using different physico-chemical and morphological analyses. Then, the styrax-loaded nanofibers were examined for their antioxidant activity, anti-biofilm, metal chelating, antimicrobial and DNA cleavage properties. The results obtained from these studies showed that the nanofibers exhibited effective biological activity depending on the weight ratio of the styrax liquidus. In light of the data obtained from the characterization and biological studies, a sample with high ratio of balsam was built for determining the cytocompatibility analysis in vitro. The cytotoxicity studies of the selected membrane were conducted using mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. The fibrous scaffolds lead to increase the cell number as a result of high viability. According to the results, we propose a novel biocompatible electrospun hybrid scaffold with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties that can be used as wound healing material for potential tissue engineering applications.