Gellan gum/ibuprofen hydrogel for dressing application: Mechanical properties, release activity and biocompatibility studies

Abstract

In this study, gellan gum (GG) hydrogel incorporated with ibuprofen was successfully developed. Their mechanical and physical properties, drug release behavior, biocompatibility and antibacterial activities were investigated. Results show that GG hydrogel incorporated with 5.0% ibuprofen (GG10-IB5.0), showed good mechanical properties with the highest compressive strength and elastic modulus at 200 ± 21 kPa and 1820 ± 10 kPa, respectively. This ratio also displayed slow drug release profile with the total time required for the drug to be released was 15 h due to the low swelling percentage at 22 ± 1 %. Water vapor transmission rates (WVTRs) value of GG10-IB5.0 was recorded at 867.5 ± 154 g m-2 d-1, which comparable with commercial wound dressing products. The hydrogel exhibited a slight antibacterial property towards Staphylococcus aureus with inhibition zone measured at 9.7 ± 1.15 mm whereas in vitro cell study on normal human dermal fibroblast cells (CRL2522) indicated that the hydrogel formulation was biocompatible with the human cell line. The formulation of gellan gum hydrogel enhanced with an addition of ibuprofen can be a potential material for excellent wound dressing material