OBJECTIVETo develop a dressing with desired antibacterial activity, good water maintaining ability and mechanical properties for wound healing and skin regeneration.

METHODSThe chitosan with different concentrations were added in keratin solution to form porous keratin/chitosan (KCS) scaffolds. The morphological characteristics, chemical composition, wettability, porosity, swelling ratio and degradation of the scaffolds were evaluated. The antibacterial activity was tested by using S. aureus and E. coli suspension for 2 h. And L929 fibroblast cells culture was used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the KCS scaffolds.

RESULTSThe adding of chitosan could increase the hydrophobicity, decrease porosity, swelling ratio and degradation rate of the KCS porous scaffolds. Mechanical properties of KCS scaffolds could be enhanced and well adjusted by chitosan. KCS scaffolds could obviously decrease bacteria number. The proliferation of fibroblast cells in porous KCS patch increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of chitosan concentration. It was appropriate to add 400 μg/mL chitosan to form porous KCS scaffold for achieving best cell attachment and proliferation compared with other samples.

CONCLUSIONThe porous KCS scaffold may be used as implanted scaffold materials for promoting wound healing and skin regeneration.