POLYVINYL ALCOHOL/MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVE EXTRACT/ GRAPHENE OXIDE HYDROGEL WITH ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES FOR WOUND DRESSING APPLICATIONS

• Main Author: RATNA NINGRUM, DWI
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/55247
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a hard-to-heal chronic wound on the foot of patients with diabetes. About 84% of diabetic patients undergo lower limb amputation. Although many topical and systemic drugs have been used to treat DFU, they can cause bacterial overgrowth due to open wounds. Hydrogel-based wound dressings are often chosen for healing DFU in combination with the herbal extract from Moringa oleifera (MO) leaf to inhibit bacterial growth in wounds since it contains bioactive substances rich of flavonoids and vicenin-2 as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agents. In this research, wound dressings based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), MO extract, and graphene oxide (GO) were developed for DFU healing. The PVA/MO/GO hydrogel was synthesized using the freeze-thaw method with varying concentrations of MO extract 0.1 w/t%, 0.5 w/t%, GO 0.05 w/t%, to PVA 10w/t%. The hydrogel morphology showed a porous structure. After the degradation test was conducted, the pores of the hydrogel became more open. A degradation rate of 26-28% was observed in all hydrogel samples. The tensile test results revealed a decrease in the tensile strength of the hydrogel as a result from the increasing concentration of the MO extract. Conversely, the addition of GO led to an increase in the tensile strength. Apart from being added to enhance the hydrogel’s mechanical properties, GO was reported to have antibacterial properties. The test results of the antibacterial hydrogel PVA/MO/GO indicated that the antibacterial activity reduced to 94% for gram-positive S. aureus and 82% for gram-negtaive E. coli. It could then be concluded that the PVA/MO/GO hydrogel has the potential to be used as an antibacterial dressing for DFU healing.