The potential use of gentamicin sulfate-loaded silk fibroin/gelatin blend scaffolds for wound dressing materials

Gentamicin sulfate (GS)-loaded silk fibroin (SF)/gelatin (Gel) scaffolds were prepared by the freeze-drying method. The effect of blending ratios of SF and Gel (i.e., 0/100, 30/70, 50/50, 70/30, and 100/0) in the scaffolds on the morphology, pore size, compressive modulus, water swelling, weight loss, and release profiles was investigated. The pore sizes of the neat and the GS-loaded SF/Gel blend scaffolds were 60–138 μm. Increasing SF content and the addition of GS in the scaffolds caused the compressive modulus of the scaffolds to decrease. Moreover, the addition of GS caused the water swelling and weight loss behaviors of these scaffolds to increase. The cumulative released amount of GS from the GS-loaded SF/Gel blend scaffolds decreased with an increase of SF content in the scaffolds. All scaffolds showed high activity against the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus cereus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa,. Finally, all the GS-loaded SF/Gel blend scaffolds were proven non-toxic to NHDF cells except for the GS-loaded SF/Gel blend scaffolds at blending ratio 100/0. From these results, these scaffolds had the potential for use as wound dressing materials.