Evaluation of Silk Fibroin Nanofibrous Dressing Incorporating Niosomal Rosemary, for Potential Use in Wound Healing

Objective: Among wound care products, nanofibrous struc-ture incorporating bioactive ingredients with the potential of sustained and localized release are currently attracting much more attention. Selecting proper bioactive agents, optimizing nanofibers structure/ characteristics as well as tuning the agent loading/ releasing plays a key role in the therapeutic effective-ness of such products.Materials and Methods: Here, niosomal nanocarrier loaded with the REO is synthesized by the lipid film hydration tech-nique. Morphology and sizes were evaluated by by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), respectively. Nano-niosomal formulation of effective herbal ingredient, Rosemary Essential Oil (REO) is introduced in silk (SF)-based nanofibrous mat via blend electrospinning and evaluated as a wound dressing. REO release from nanofi-brous dressing was calculated with the uv-visible method. The viability and morphology of L۹۲۹ fibroblast cells were evalu-ated on drug-loaded niosomal nanofibrous dressing, and the an-timicrobial activities of the prepared samples were assessed by the agar diffusion method against S. aureus and E.coli.Results: According to results, size and encapsulation efficacy of drug-loaded niosomes are ۳۵۱.۸۷۰ nm, and ۶۸.۵۱ ± ۰.۷۶۲%, respectively, and the niosomes were successfully dispersed in the SF nanofibers, as confirmed by fluorescent microscopy. Embedding niosomal drugs into the SF nanofiber remarkably retarded the fast releasing of drugs which are nakedly embed-ded in the nanofibers where for REO, sustained-release with the almost same pattern are observed during ۱۴ days of assessment. Cell culture study confirms that the drug-loaded niosomal na-nofibrous dressing could promote greater cell growth and pro-liferation of cells after ۷۲ hours when compared to the other dressings. Niosomal REO (۱۰%) - incorporated nanofibers, as the optimized formulation, provides proper antibacterial activ-ity against both S. aureus and E.coli.Conclusion: Considering the results, it could be concluded that the incorporation of niosomal REO in the SF nanofibers with the potential of sustained-release seems a good candidate as bioactive and antibacterial wound dressing suitable for wound healing applications.