Fabrication, characterization and determination of biological activities of poly(ε-caprolactone)/chitosan-caffeic acid composite fibrous mat for wound dressing application

In the present study, we designed and fabricated composite fibrous mats consisting of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), chitosan (CH), or chitosan-caffeic acid conjugate (CCA) by an electrospinning technique for wound dressing application. The average fiber diameters of PCL, PCL/CH, and PCL/CCA composite fibrous mats were 1.30 ± 1.07, 1.20 ± 1.22, and 0.94 ± 0.68 μm, respectively. Based on universal tensile machine (UTM) analysis, the PCL/CCA fibrous mat significantly increased tensile properties compared with the PCL and PCL/CH fibrous mat. Additionally, initial cell attachment and cell proliferation of the composites using normal human dermal fibrolast-neonatal (NHDF-neo) cells, as well as the antimicrobial effect against Staphylococcus aureus, was investigated. The PCL/CCA fibrous mat show significantly higher initial cell attachment and cell proliferation than the PCL and PCL/CH fibrous mat, and a high antimicrobial effect was observed compared to the PCL and PCL/CH fibrous mat. Based on these results, the PCL/CCA fibrous mat can be used as candidate biomaterial for wound dressing applications and skin tissue engineering.