Product developed at Unicamp enhances the healing of wounds, burns and even ulcerative wounds
The anti-inflammatory effects of a protein found in pineapple were added to bacterial nanocellulose. The result is the creation of a dressing – in the form of a plaster or gel – that can be used to heal wounds, burns and even ulcerative wounds.
The news comes from a study carried out by researchers from the University of Sorocaba (Uniso) and Unicamp. The work, supported by FAPESP, had results published in Scientific Reports, from the group Nature.
In laboratory tests, bacterial nanocellulose membranes were submerged for 24 hours in a solution of bromelain, the pineapple protein. The result was a nine-fold increase in the antimicrobial activity of bacterial nanocellulose.
“Those who have serious injuries know very well the difference that a good bandage makes. It needs to create a barrier against microorganisms, preventing contamination, and also be able to provide antioxidant activity to reduce the inflammatory process of dead cells and pus,” he said. Angela Faustino Jozala, coordinator of the Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology and Fermentative Processes (LaMInFe) at Uniso and one of the authors of the article.
With bromelain, the researchers realized that, in addition to increasing the antimicrobial property of bacterial nanocellulose, a selective barrier was also created that enhanced protein activity and other important activities for healing, such as increasing antioxidants and vascularization.
“A skin that is not intact has contamination as its biggest problem. The patient is susceptible to infection whether in cases of burns, wounds or ulcerative wounds. Bromelain creates this very important barrier,” said Jozala.
Both bacterial nanocellulose and bromelain are well known in science and in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Pineapple protein is used as a meat tenderizer and its protein-breaking property, known as cell debridement, is of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
Roughly speaking, bromelain has the ability to clean the necrotic tissue from the wound and also form a protective barrier against microorganisms. However, as it is an enzyme, it has limitations for use in industry, as it is easily denatured and degraded, in addition to being unstable in some formulations.
Bacterial nanocellulose can be applied as a temporary replacement to the skin or as a dressing in the treatment of ulcerative lesions, as it relieves pain, protects against bacterial infections and contributes to the tissue regeneration process.
Like vegetable cellulose, bacterial nanocellulose is produced in pure form without other polymers. This gives it the ability to be molded into three-dimensional structures, capable of retaining a large amount of water without impeding gas exchange.
“It’s a biofactory. The bacteria Gluconacetobacter xylinus, for example, produces cellulose as if it were knitting glucose polymers. What we did in our study was to enhance, with bromelain, the healing action of this nanocellulose that we were already producing on our bioproducts platform”, said Jozala.
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According to the study, 30 minutes after being incorporated into bacterial nanocellulose membranes, a greater release of bromelain was observed, with a greater capacity for antimicrobial action. Bacterial nanocellulose membranes acted to select the absorption or release of bromelain.
In addition to the association between bromelain and bacterial nanocellulose, the work included another important partnership. The Uniso team of researchers created, with the help of FAPESP, a platform for the production and purification of bioproducts. In this new laboratory, bacterial nanocellulose is being produced.
Another project, too supported by FAPESP, and carried out at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Unicamp, began to study the extraction of bromelain present in the stem and fruit of the pineapple.
“We were producing bacterial nanocellulose, however we wanted to expand the healing powers of the product. From a meeting with the Unicamp group, which was already extracting bromelain using peels left over from the pulp industry, we saw that the combination had a future”, said Jozala.
Both the production of bromelain and bacterial nanocellulose – and the purification part of the substances – had lower costs due to the fact that they used waste and leftovers from the food industry, such as pineapple peels from companies that produce fruit pulp. Now the researchers are looking to create new partnerships and interest companies in large-scale production of the new dressing.
THE ARTICLE
The article Bacterial Nanocellulose Loaded with Bromelain: Assessment of Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Physical-Chemical Properties(doi: 10.1038/s41598-01718271-4), by Janaína Artem Ataide, Nathália Mendes de Carvalho, Márcia de Araújo Rebelo, Marco Vinícius Chaud, Denise Grotto, Marli Gerenutti, Mahendra Rai, Priscila Gava Mazzola & Angela Faustino Jozala, can be read in Scientific Reports em www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-18271-4#Sec9.