Immobilization of Bee Pollen Extract on Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Fabric for Wound Dressing

Abstract

Bee pollen is used in the apitherapeutic treatment as it demonstrates anti-inflammatory, immunostimulant, antimicrobial, and local analgesic activities and also facilitates the granulation process of burn wound healing. In this study, pure bee pollen synthesized by the giant honeybee Apis dorsata dorsata was investigated for the presence of phytochemicals. The extraction of bioactives was done using 30% ethanol and 70% methanol. To develop wound dressing fabric with biomedical applications, phenolics derived from bee pollen were covalently bound to amino polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric by immobilization using polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (PEGDGE) as a cross-linker. Alterations in the chemical configuration were studied using ATR-FTIR spectra and the contact angle of 122° in unmodified PET decreased to 110° and 98° post amination and immobilization. Antibacterial activity of the immobilized fabric was observed against bacteria and yeast isolated from burn wounds. Thus, the study revealed that PET fibrous mats in the presence of bee pollen could be considered potential wound dressing materials due to their enhanced processing capabilities and suitable structural properties. As not much research has been conducted on bee pollen previously, this study sets out to examine its efficacy and therapeutic utility in connection to burn wound healing capabilities.