Biofunctionalized bacterial cellulose grafted with bacitracin for wound healing

Bacterial cellulose (BC) with excellent flexibility and biocompatibility has aroused great attention for wound healing. However, the surface inertness of BC nanofibers tremendously hindered its biofunctionalized to improve the antibacterial ability and cytocompatibility. Herein, the biofunctionalized BC was fabricated by in situ growing a uniformly polydopamine (PDA)/polyethyleneimine (PEI) coating and grafting bacitracin (BA) on the coating (BA-PPBC). The results confirmed that the BA-grafted PDA/PEI coating was distributed uniformly on the surface of BC nanofibers, and the natural three-dimensional pore structure and other physical properties of pristine BC were retained. Compared to BC, the obtained BA-PPBC materials exhibited excellent antibacterial activities against the adhesion and colonization of S. aureus and MRSA. Moreover, the BA-PPBC not only had no obvious cytotoxicity to NIH-3T3 cells, but also improved the adhesion, proliferation, and spread out of cells. This work provides a biofunctionalized BC dressing to simultaneously meet the requirements of wound healing.