Abstract The application of pure polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel as wound dressing faces many restrictions due to its insufficient elasticity, stiff membrane, and very limited hydrophilicity. These drawbacks can be limited through cross-linking with other natural biopolymers such as gum Arabic (GA). PVA hydrogels blended with six different GA concentrations were prepared. The characterization of these hydrogels was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscope. The swelling ratio (% SR) percentage has been calculated. The possible cytotoxicity was determined using a sulforhodamine B assay. Wound healing test was performed on human skin fibroblast cells. Our results indicated that by increasing GA concentration in PVA hydrogel, the % SR increases and the cytotoxicity effect decreases. The results indicate also a significant gradual decrease in the wound area with time as the GA concentration increases in the PVA hydrogel. Therefore, GA improves the biological applications of PVA hydrogel.

Polyvinyl alcohol/gum Arabic hydrogel preparation and cytotoxicity for wound healing improvement

Preparation and characterization of Li doped -Arabic Gum-PVA polymer electrolyte

Membranes of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), gum arabic (GA) homopolymer and their blends of six different compositions (w/w) were prepared using solution casting method. Mixing of synthetic polymer e.g., PVA and natural polymer e.g., gum arabic can give a new class of polymer blend with better mechanical properties and biocompatibility than those of single components. The structural, optical and conductivity studies of these prepared membranes were examined by XRD, FTIR, UV and EIS. The XRD diffraction patterns for the polymer blend samples showed that they are more amorphous in nature as compared to pure PVA and pure gum arabic. The FTIR analysis of the samples gave information about various functional groups present in the samples. The energy band gap of various samples were obtained from UV-visible analysis. The conductivity of polymer membrane was analyzed by electronics impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Addition of natural polymer gum arabic has resulted slight increase in the conductivity of blend polymer.

Larny Mary J ayan

Papers

Synthesis and Characterization of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Gum Arabic Polymer Blend Membranes