Ciprofloxacin-collagen conjugate in the wound healing treatment.

The synthesis of a novel functional biomaterial for wound healing treatment was carried out by adopting a free-radical grafting procedure in aqueous media. With this aim, ciprofloxacin (CFX) was covalently incorporated into collagen (T1C) chains employing an ascorbic acid/hydrogen peroxide redox pair as biocompatible initiator system. The covalent insertion of CFX in the polymeric chains was confirmed by FT-IR and UV analyses, while an antibacterial assay demonstrated the activity of the synthesized conjugate against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, microorganisms that commonly infect wounds. A catechin blended conjugate was also tested in order to evaluate the ability to influence fibroblast cell growth. The observed antibacterial activity and stimulation of fibroblast growth support the applicability of CFX-T1C conjugate in wound treatment encouraging the healing process.