Study of wound dressing structure and hydration/dehydration properties

Hydrogels manufactured by radio-induced crosslinking and simultaneous sterilisation of hydrogels of PVP, PEG and agar, according to the Rosiak method, have many desirable properties for using as wound dressings. However, some properties need to be improved or better controlled. The membranes need to be strong enough to be freely used. Another important property to be controlled is the capacity of absorption of exudate and the kinetics of drying. Therefore, it was necessary to understand the role of main parameters (agar, PVP, PEG concentration and dose) in the structure of the net and in the hydration and dehydration properties. The structure of the membranes was studied by sol analysis and the hydrating/dehydrating properties were studied by isothermal thermogravimetric analysis. The gel content for all samples were always in agreement with expected values considering that only PVP undergoes crosslinking. The hydrating and dehydration results did not show variation with the tested parameters. It was concluded that the network was solely composed of crosslinked PVP plasticezed by the other compounds. The properties of hydration/dehydration is related rather to diffusion than to capillarity or osmose and to the chemical retention of water in the polymeric matrix.