Biocompatibility of Membranes Based on a Mixture of Chitosan and Lythri herba Aqueous Extract
Irina Mihaela Iancu, Verginica Schröder, Manuela-Rossemary Apetroaei, Ruxandra Crețu, Horaţiu Mireşan, Adina Honcea, Valeriu Iancu, Laura Bucur, Gabriela Mitea, Georgiana Atodiresei-Pavalache
Abstract
In the current context of concern for the improvement and protection of environmental conditions, emphasis is placed on the provision of non-toxic, eco-friendly, renewable biomaterials to replace established chemical substances. Lythri herba is the aerial part of the plant species Lythrum salicaria L., known in the scientific literature especially for its content of tannins and total polyphenols, which highlight its antioxidant, hemostatic, antibacterial and antidiarrheal properties. Chitosan is a biopolymer widely used in industry and medicine due to its abundance in nature, its biodegradability, lack of toxicity and the ease with which it can be transformed into several basic forms (hydrogel, membrane, sponge). The aqueous solutions and membranes obtained in this study by merging these two natural resources were biologically tested in terms of genotoxicity (SOS-Chromo assay), hemolytic activity, thrombin generation activity and bacterial adhesion to reveal outwardly the lack of these properties and their use for medical purposes. The results of the current study attest to the absence of mutagenic and slight hemolyzing properties, thus supporting the possibility of using this extract and membrane in medical and pharmaceutical therapeutic practice. The surface parameters of membranes were examined and important influences at thrombin activity were found. Also, bacterial adhesion results showed a correlation between Lythri herba and chitosan concentrations and membranes’ appearances (swelling, stability). The results show that the membranes could be a promising material for biomedical applications.