Novel alginate, chitosan, and psyllium composite fiber for wound-care applications

Alginate/psyllium and alginate/chitosan fibers have great potential for wound-care applications. However, alginate/psyllium fibers have poor tensile strength and alginate/chitosan fibers comparatively have low liquid absorption properties. The main aim was to develop a tri-component fiber with comparatively better tensile strength and liquid absorption properties using three different natural polysaccharides. Alginate, chitosan, and psyllium composite fibers were made by using two different coagulation bath compositions. In method A, psyllium-containing sodium alginate dope solution was extruded into a bath containing CaCl ₂ and subsequently passed through hydrolyzed chitosan bath, whereas in method B: psyllium-containing sodium alginate dope solution was directly extruded into hydrolyzed chitosan and subsequently passed through CaCl ₂ bath. The produced fibers were rinsed using 25–100% acetone solutions and dried in air. Tensile, antibacterial, swelling, and absorption properties of these fibers were measured. The study showed that homogeneous fibers can be extruded by using both methods. The fibers produced showed good antibacterial, absorption, and swelling properties. Antibacterial activity of the controlled and composite fibers was more or less the same. However, tensile properties of fibers produced by method A and method B were less than the control alginate–chitosan fibers. The composite fibers produced by method A showed better absorption of saline and solution A than control fiber and composite fibers produced by method B. Therefore, method A is recommended for producing the psyllium-containing alginate chitosan fibers for wound-dressing applications. The fibers produced by this method showed comparable tensile and antibacterial properties, superior absorbency, and swelling properties.