Autor(es):
Esmail, Asiyah ; Rovisco, Ana ; Morais, Maria ; Pimentel, Ana ; Fortunato, Elvira ; Serra, Ana Teresa ; Freitas, Filomena
Data: 2025
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/189909
Origem: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Projeto/bolsa:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F04378%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04378%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017%2F2018) - Financiamento Base/UIDB%2F04462%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F04462%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/Concurso para Atribuição do Estatuto e Financiamento de Laboratórios Associados (LA)/LA%2FP%2F0087%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/LA%2FP%2F0037%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDP%2F50025%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017%2F2018) - Financiamento Base/UIDB%2F50025%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/OE/2021.05014.BD/PT;
Assunto(s): Bacterial cellulose; Bioactive; Biocomposites; FucoPol; Polysaccharides; Wound dressings; Food Science; Structural Biology; Biochemistry; Biomaterials; Molecular Biology
Descrição
Funding Information: This work was financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, in the scope of the projects UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences – UCIBIO, iNOVA4Health R&D Unit (UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020), LS4FUTURE Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0087/2020), project LA/P/0140/202019 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, and projects LA/P/0037/2020, UIDP/50025/2020 and UIDB/50025/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication – i3N. Asiyah Esmail and Ana Teresa Serra acknowledge FCT I.P. for PhD Grant 2021.05014.BD and Principal Investigator Contract 2023.15041.TENURE001, respectively. Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors
Effective wound management relies on dressings that prevent infection and facilitate healing, which has driven research into advanced, cost-effective therapeutic dressings. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is highly valued for use in wound dressings given its mechanical strength, nanoporous structure, high water-holding capacity, and excellent biocompatibility. While BC promotes debridement and maintains moisture for wound healing, it lacks essential bio-functional properties, which can be addressed through incorporation of other compounds. FucoPol (FP), a fucose-rich natural polysaccharide, offers wound-healing potential, alongside adhesive, photoprotective, and bioactive properties. In this study, BC and FP were combined to develop an active wound dressing, leveraging the unique properties of each polymer. BC was impregnated with FP, which was gelled using Fe3+ as a crosslinking agent. Increasing FP concentration (1.0, 1.5, 2.0 wt%) improved the composite's mechanical strength, but reduced its crystallinity index (43–38 %), water holding capacity (72–39 g/g) and water retention, compared to BC by itself (crystallinity index: 59 %; water holding capacity: 123 g/g). The BC/FP composite dressings (containing 13–25 % FP) demonstrated non-cytotoxicity, with cell viability exceeding 80 % in HaCaT cells (human skin keratinocytes) and NCTC clone L929 (mouse fibroblast) cell lines, and enhanced both cell lines' adhesion, thus supporting their suitability for active wound dressing applications.
