Development of Pediococcus acidilactici postbiotic loaded Biocellulose for Wound Healing Application

Abstract

Wound dressings play a crucial role in promoting efficient wound closure and healing by providing an environment conducive to tissue repair. Traditional wound dressings, such as cellulose-based gauze, often exhibit challenges in adhesion and exudate absorption, necessitating frequent replacements that may cause additional trauma. Biocellulose (BC), derived from bacteria, presents a natural counterpart with remarkable suitability as a wound dressing, yet lacks antimicrobial properties to prevent infection from skin pathogens such as the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aurues and the Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrobial postbiotics of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is an alternative to antibiotics as it prevents the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and lactic acid in it has been found to be the prominent contributor to the antimicrobial activity of LAB postbiotic. This study aims to incorporate BC with postbiotic from Pediococcus acidilactici to equip it with antimicrobial properties. The results showed success in producing an antimicrobial BC due to loading with postbiotic. The maximum loading concentration of redissolved spray-dried postbiotic that showed maximum inhibition based on agar diffusion method was 0.5 g/mL for S. aureus (ZOI = 35.27 mm) and 0.75 g/mL for P. aeruginosa (ZOI = 26.27 mm). P. aeruginosa was more susceptible to the postbiotic due to difference its structure and other unexplored. The loading efficiency of lactic acid into the BC was also found to increase as the concentration of postbiotic increases. The loaded BC released a maximum amount of lactic acid within the first 2 to 5 hours. The incorporation of BC was concluded to successfully produce an antimicrobial BC, yet its releasing behavior remains to be inconclusive due to lack of