Preparation and characterization of a novel oligomeric gum from Eucommia ulmoides crosslinked with carboxymethyl chitosan antibacterial wound dressing for quick hemostasis

It is the expectation of wound management to develop high-efficiency wound dressing which can control bleeding and prevent infection in clinics. In this study, a new wound dressing was synthesized by cross-linking oligomeric gum from Eucommia ulmoides (OGE) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CC) with genipin. The chemical structure, micromorphology and wettability of the synthetic OGE-CC were characterized. The physical properties and biocompatibility evaluation of OGE-CC showed that the material displayed excellent swelling ratio, high porosity and no cytotoxicity. It also demonstrated strong antimicrobial activity, achieving 99.99% antibacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli ( E. coli ), Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( P.aeruginosa ). Compared with the maximum average compressive stress (MACS) of the commercial gelatin-based dressing (GBD, 95 ± 7 kPa), the OGE-CC (2:1) displayed a higher MACS of 166 ± 4 kPa, which indicated its superior compressive properties. OGE-CC displayed stable states under varying temperatures and humidity levels. In addition, OGE-CC showed faster hemostatic effects than GBD and silicone-based dressing (SBD) in mice models of tail amputation and hepatic hemorrhage. OGE-CC can degrade in PBS solution with the highest degradation rate of 63.24 ± 2.01 % after 20 days. These results suggested that OGE-CC had the potential to be developed as an antibacterial and hemostasis wound dressing.