Nanofibrous cellulosic matte conjugated with antioxidative cerium oxide nanoparticle and S-Nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP) for biomedical application

Nanomaterials are being explored to overcome the limitations of the traditional antimicrobial agents including bacterial resistance, non-specific toxicity as well as limited therapeutic efficacy. Their unique characteristics, which include targeted delivery, controlled drug release, enhanced bioavailability, tunable surface chemistry, and lower cytotoxicity, render them as promising alternative for biomedical applications. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) are among the most promising nanomaterials due to their intrinsic antioxidants and antimicrobial properties, which arise from their high oxygen vacancies and self-regulating capacity between oxidation states of Ce3+ and Ce4+. The redox property allows CNPs to work as an effective scavenger of reactive oxygen species, which helps to maintain prolonged biological activity. Likewise, a nitric oxide donor, S-Nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP) shows strong antimicrobial properties and has attracted significant attention as a biomedical agent. In this work, a conjugate of CNP-SNAP incorporated into bacterial cellulose (BC) was fabricated through electrospinning to produce a nanofibrous mat. UV-visible spectroscopic, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed a homogenous nanofibrous morphology with an average fiber diameter of 58 nm. Antimicrobials analysis showed a large zone of inhibition (14 mm) against selected strains of microbes, which signified a strong antimicrobial activity. The cellulosic mat with the SNAP-infused CNPs demonstrated improved biocompatibility with cellular viability reaching 97.95% post-electrospinning. Immuno-histocompatibility analyses indicated a decrease of 13% of TNF-α expression in treated samples compared to untreated controls which indicated anti-inflammatory effects. Furthermore, biodegradability tests carried out through composting in a duration of 7 days showed a degradation rate of 65.71%. Overall, this nanohybrid material has significant potential for biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, and wound healing dressings. Its multipurpose nature makes it a promising candidate of the next-generation biomedical materials.