Engineering a Thin Film Chronic Wound Dressing Using Chitosan (CHI) and Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) Infused with Alpha-Amylase through Layer-on-Layer Technique.

Chronic wounds are polymicrobial infections with a delayed healing cycle, such as arterial, venous, diabetic, and pressure ulcers, often due to an underlying disease. These wounds usually contain bacterial biofilms made of microorganisms that use polysaccharides, proteins, and extracellular DNA to form a protective barrier against environmental stresses and antibiotics, including the host's immune cells. These biofilms emerge when a microbe clings to a surface and rapidly divides by collecting additional bacteria to give a diverse adhesion site to the substrate. Preventing these biofilms from forming can significantly improve wound treatments as it can enhance the effectiveness of antimicrobials. We aimed to develop a wound dressing coated in a layer-by-layer film containing an enzyme called alpha-amylase between Chitosan (CHI) and Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) polymer layers. Alpha-amylase is a glycoside hydrolase that degrades complex polysaccharides, which are a component of bacterial biofilms, significantly diminishing their protective abilities. We did this through a layer-on-layer technique that involves vacuum filtration of the polymer and enzyme solutions to create thin film layers on a regular wound bandage. We tested the concentration of protein enzymes in each bandage film through Bradford Assay. The data gathered from the experiments indicated that the number of layers on the wound bandage determines the concentration of proteins present and, therefore, the potential to prevent bacterial biofilms from forming.