Cotton candy driven chitosan and gelatin coated poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) microfibers for anti-microbial wound dressing applications

Micro-structured Poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (PSAN) fibers was prepared through the facile cotton candy method wit uniform coating of chitosan biopolymers and gelatin by spin-coating technique. The chemical structure, morphology and topography were studied using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) respectively. The FTIR spectra revealed the chemical structures of the chitosan and gelatin coating biopolymers over the PSAN fibers. SEM images showed the impregnation of shiny coating of chitosan and gelatin between the PSAN microfibers in the composites. AFM studies revealed the structural heterogeneity of chitosan and gelatin coated microfibers. Biocompatibility and applicability of chitosan and gelatin coated PSAN microfibers for wound-dressing has been studied using anti-microbial screening of human pathogenic bacteria (HPB) strains. The anti-microbial screening proved that gelatin coated microfibers has highest zone of inhibition than chitosan coated microfibers. The above results proved the use of this gelatin coated microfibers as an ideal candidate for HPB wound dressing.