In Vivo Wound Healing Investigation and Antimicrobial Observation of Keratin Pectin Hydrogels

Abstract

Keratin is a widely available biodegradable protein with high cysteine content, such as in hair and wool. Keratin can be used in biomedical and pharmaceutical settings for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and wound healing investigation due to its excellent biocompatible structure. Meanwhile, pectin is a part of the plant cell walls. Pectin can form a gel-like structure due to the varying methyl ester in combination with water-soluble pectinic acids. This gel-like structure can help in wound healing observation. This internship project aims to observe the healing process of full-thickness wounds in mice and observe the antimicrobial properties of pectin and keratin-pectin hydrogels. The observation was done in vivo for nine days. The mice were divided into three groups: negative control, pectin 2%, and keratin-pectin 2 %. The result showed a faster wound reduction (%) with mice treated with KP 2% from macroscopic observation compared to pectin 2% treatment and control. Meanwhile, both types of hydrogels showed antimicrobial properties.