Carbohydrate polymers
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Carbohydrate polymers · Feb 2014
Preparation of tamarind gum based soft ion gels having thixotropic properties.
Tamarind gum was used to prepare ion gels using both synthetic ionic liquids (ILs) namely 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide and bio-based ionic liquids (Bio-ILs) namely choline acrylate, choline caproate and choline caprylate by heating cooling process. The gels were found to have good thermal stability and exhibited thixotropic behaviour. ⋯ The ion gels also showed very good adherence to human finger muscles and skin. The ion gels thus prepared may find application in electrochemistry, sensors, actuators and the gels prepared with Bio-ILs could even be useful in biomedical applications.
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Carbohydrate polymers · Feb 2014
Montmorillonite-chitosan-silver sulfadiazine nanocomposites for topical treatment of chronic skin lesions: in vitro biocompatibility, antibacterial efficacy and gap closure cell motility properties.
Silver compounds and especially silver sulfadiazine (AgSD) are reported as effective antimicrobial agents against almost all known bacteria, fungi and some viruses. However, AgSD has been shown to be cytotoxic toward fibroblasts and keratinocytes in vitro and consequently to retard wound healing in vivo. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the in vitro biocompatibility (cytotoxicity and proliferation), antimicrobial efficacy and cell motility gap closure (assay of wound closure) of MT/CS nanocomposites loaded with silver sulfadiazine (AgSD). ⋯ The nanocomposite prepared using 100mg of MT was characterized for in vitro biocompatibility and proliferation and for wound healing using normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF). Antimicrobial properties were evaluated against four reference bacterial strains: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. AgSD loaded in the 100 MT/CS nanocomposite showed good in vitro biocompatibility and gap closure properties (fibroblasts) and maintained AgSD antimicrobial properties, especially against P. aeruginosa, that often complicates skin lesions.