Fabrication and preliminary characterization of biocompatible starch hydrogels

Collagen is essential for skin elasticity. In case of a wound, collagen synthesis is suppressed, only to be up-regulated later during wound healing. Hence, it was felt that the application of a biocompatible hydrogel onto the affected area could accelerate this process of wound healing by providing a scaffold for fibroblasts to grow, apart from its applications in delivering cells and/or drugs.While Collagen, Chitosan have been used as substrates for hydrogels in the past, they have extraction protocols beyond our reach and will prove to be expensive. Starch was chosen over collagen due to its cost-effective nature and this material is known to be bio-compatible. Glutaraldehyde was used as the cross-linking agent due to its high reactivity. Different concentrations of components were tried to obtain an optimal hydrogel with the desirable characteristics of low weight, moderate elasticity (optimization of relative PVA concentration), swelling properties and shaping using molds of our choice. Surface properties of the membrane like pore size were studied using light microscopy and AFM. AFM data showed an uniform texture (with and without NaHCO₃). Swelling ratio was also studied and we demonstrated that the gels could be repeatedly hydrated and dehydrated and were sturdy and durable, especially at a larger hydrogel thickness, and temperature resistant. This approach can be taken as a cost-effective method to prepare a 0.5-1 mm starch hydrogel infused with anti-microbial drugs, and further use it as a wound dressing to speed up the healing process, subsequent to the optimization of the key variables like pore geometry, elastic properties as well as the use of natural cross-linkers, apart from its utility in cell-based applications.