Development of novel chitosan-poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) IPN films for potential wound dressing and biomedical applications

Novel interactive and thermoresponsive interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) films, which are transparent, permeable to oxygen, and have the potential to be easily stripped from a wound bed, were synthesised using rapid photopolymerisation and crosslinking of DEAAm in the presence of chitosan. This study provides the first evaluation and optimisation of a UV-polymerised chitosan-PDEAAm IPN composite film for application in wound dressings. FTIR spectroscopy and DSC analysis were used to initially characterise the resulting films. Modulated differential scanning calorimetry results showed that the dressings exhibited lower critical solution temperatures in the desired range, while the samples were also observed to undergo temperature-dependent swelling behaviour. This thermosensitive property would potentially allow the dressings to be easily detachable, which would enable frequent dressing changes if desired without causing further injury to healing tissues. Furthermore, the water content values recorded are in the typical and desired ranges for commercial wound dressings.