Gentamicin sulfate-loaded porous natural rubber films for wound dressing

• Gentamicin sulfate-loaded porous natural rubber films were fabricated with solvent casting.
• Xanthan gum and triethyl citrate promoted the hydrophilic and porous topography of gentamicin sulfate-loaded NR film.
• Gentamicin sulfate-loaded natural rubber film demonstrated the sustainable drug release for 7 days.
• They exhibited good antimicrobial activities against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa with angiogenic activity.

Antimicrobial wound dressings have been developed for effectiveness of wound therapy. In this study, gentamicin sulfate was loaded into modified porous natural rubber films. The hydrophilic porous structure in natural rubber films was formed when the polar liquid such as glycerin or triethyl citrate and hydrophilic xanthan gum were blended. Film properties including morphology, drug release, water sorption and erosion, mechanical property, adhesive property, surface free energy, water vapor transmission rate, oxygen permeation, and antimicrobial activity were determined. The angiogenesis activity of films was investigated using chick chorio-allantoic membrane assay. For the system containing triethyl citrate, bi-layers comprising of a dense-top layer and a high porous-bottom layer were observed. Xanthan gum enhanced the water sorption capacity and modified to obtain the optimum rate of the drug release from the film. The developed film topography with dense-top layer induced the low adhesive property, water vapor and oxygen permeability whereas demonstrated good antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with angiogenic activity. Therefore it had the potential use for medicated wound dressing.