Effect of crosslinking in chitosan/aloe vera-based membranes for biomedical applications

The  positive  interaction  between  polysaccharides  with  active  phytochemicals
found  in  medicinal  plants  may  represent  a  strategy  to  create  active  wound
dressing  materials  useful  for  skin  repair.  In  the  present  work,  blended
membranes  composed  of  chitosan  (Cht)  and  Aloe  vera  gel  were  prepared
through the solvent casting, and were crosslinked with genipin to improve their
properties. Topography, swelling, wettability, mechanical properties and in vitro
cellular response of the membranes were investigated. With the incorporation of
aloe  vera  gel  into  chitosan  solution,  the  developed  chitosan/aloe-based
membranes  displayed  increased  roughness  and  wettability;  while  the  genipin
crosslinking  promoted  the  formation  of  stiffer  membranes  in  comparison  to
those  of  the  non-modified  membranes.  Moreover, in  vitro cell  culture  studies
evidenced that the L929 cells have high cell viability, confirmed by MTS test and
calcein-AM staining. The findings suggested that both blend compositions and
crosslinking  affected  the  physico-chemical  properties  and  cellular  behavior  of
the developed membranes.