Coaxial electrospun PVA/PCL nanofibers with dual release of tea polyphenols and ε-poly (L-lysine) as antioxidant and antibacterial wound dressing materials

Preparing wound dressing with dual-delivery of antioxidant and antibacterial agents is highly desirable in clinical wound treatment. Herein, a series of coaxial nanofiber membranes loaded with antioxidant tea polyphenols (TP) in the core and antibacterial ε-poly (L-lysine) (ε-PL) in the shell layer were successfully fabricated by coaxial electrospinning. The physicochemical characterizations by transmission electron microscopy , inverted fluorescence microscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the formation of core-shell structure. The results of in vitro drug release indicated that ε-PL exhibited a fast release profile while TP released in a sustained manner, which is favorable to the achievement of quick bacteria inhibition in the initial phase as well as long-term antioxidant activity during wound healing. The antioxidant activity of coaxial nanofibers was found to be increased with the increment of TP content and incubation time . The antibacterial assays against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus demonstrated that the incorporation of ε-PL in the coaxial nanofibers led to strong antibacterial activity . Additionally, all the coaxial nanofibers possessed good cytocompatibility. Therefore, the prepared coaxial nanofibers simultaneously incorporated with ε-PL and TP are promising as potential wound dressing materials.