Membranas eletrofiadas a partir de poliácido láctico e mesocarpo de buriti (Mauritia flexuosa): produção, caracterização e potencial antimicrobiano

Abstract

Medicinal plants have always been widely used as a preventive or curative form for diseases. Among them, we can mention buriti, a fruit widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of dermatological diseases, wound healing and as an antimicrobial agent. After the emergence of nanotechnology, the development of biomaterials that associate different materials, including medicinal plants, has been growing a lot. Among the nanostructuring techniques used, electrospinning stands out for producing membranes at nanometer scales with interesting properties for biomedical applications. In this context, the objective of this work was to produce, characterize and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of electrospun membranes formed from poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and buriti mesocarp (Mauritia flexuosa) (MESOBU). The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy (FTIR) and contact angle measurements. Antimicrobial evaluation (in vitro), was performed using bacterial Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Echerichia coli, as well as Candida albicans fungus, using disk diffusion and microdilution methods.The data obtained were analyzed in a statistical program Graphpad Prism software, version 8.0.1, considering a significance level of 5% (p < 0.05). SEM images demonstrated the formation of homogeneous fibers, randomly organized and without the presence of defects. The FTIR spectra showed the main vibrational bands for chemical groups forming PLA, and hydrophilicity measurements show that the formed membranes have hydrophobic characteristics. In the disk diffusion and microdilution test, the PLAMESOBU 1% membrane showed antimicrobial activity against all tested microorganisms; the PLAMESOBU 0.5% membrane only showed antimicrobial activity in the microdilution test. In view of the observed results, PLAMESOBU membranes showed a promising potential for use as a biomaterial.