title: Montmorillonite-chitosan-chlorhexidine composite films with antibiofilm activity and improved cytotoxicity for wound dressing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chlorhexidine (CLX) is a good antimicrobial agent, but its use in treatment of wounds is limited because of its cytotoxicity towards human fibroblasts. A delivery system, able to release CLX in a localized and prolonged manner, could guarantee antimicrobial activity with reduced cytotoxic. Thus in this work the preparation and characterization of chitosan/montmorillonite composite films containing CLX, able to offer a prolonged CLX release, is described. The antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities and cytotoxicity of films were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  CLX was intercalated between the layers of montmorillonite (MONT-Na), and the intercalated product (MONT-CLX) was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Then chitosan/MONT-CLX films were prepared and characterized. For comparison, films loaded with neat CLX and MONT-Na/CLX were prepared. All prepared films were tested for their antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities. Cytotoxicity towards human skin keratinocytes and human fibroblasts HuDe was evaluated as well.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All prepared films showed good antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities. As concerns cytotoxicity the film containing MONT-CLX at 1% CLX concentration resulted no cytotoxic. These results confirm the potential use of chitosan films containing MONT-CLX as a potential wound dressing material to prevent microbial colonization in wounds.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Via del Liceo 1, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: valeria.ambrogi@unipg.it.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ambrogi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Microbiology and Immunology Laboratory, Via del Giochetto, University of Perugia, 06122 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pietrella
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Via Elce di Sotto 8, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Morena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nocchetti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Via del Liceo 1, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casagrande
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Via del Liceo 1, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Microbiology and Immunology Laboratory, Via del Giochetto, University of Perugia, 06122 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Marco
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Via del Liceo 1, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ricci
mesh_terms: D001546:Bentonite / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002710:Chlorhexidine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D001546:Bentonite; D048271:Chitosan; D002710:Chlorhexidine
keywords: Antibiofilm; Antimicrobial; Chitosan; Chlorhexidine; Intercalation; Montmorillonite