Abstract

Among the diverse biomaterials available, collagen has found in extensive applications viz., drug delivery technologies and tissue engineering. The bovine crosslinked collagen scaffolds was developed for mitigating infection with modulation of hexosamine and myeloperoxidase activity to hasten wound healing. Mupirocin (an antibiotic) microspheres were impregnated into multilayered collagen scaffold through layer-by-layer technique. The scaffolds when assessed by scanning electron microscopy were retained the fibrillar network with microspheres entanglement. The rate of drug release is proportional to the genipin content and cross-linking time for both the fast and slow release phases. Higher the degree of crosslinking slower the release rate and vice-versa. Similarly the microspheres impregnated scaffold showed initial 48.5% of burst release by loading the free drug in 2nd, 3rd and 4th layer and from the 24th hour, the release was maintained by microspheres backup in controlled manner, thus reducing dressing frequencies and enabling easier assessment of wounds. Due to faster cellular infiltration and fibroplasia, hexosamine content in mupirocin scaffold also reached the maximum (day 14) at a faster rate in controlling the proteolytic wound environment. Collectively, this investigation revealed that control of microbial load, thereby inflammation depend on the therapeutic efficiency of the initial chemoprophylaxis applied to control infection.