Abstract
Wet spinning was used to manufacture fibrous alginate hydrogel wound dressings. Samples manufactured using varied operating parameters (decreased air pressure and calcium concentration or increased nozzle diameter and alginate concentration) were compared with the control samples. The changes in the fiber size, Young's modulus, swelling ratio, fetal bovine serum (BSA) release efficacy, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and bacterial inhibition potential due to alterations of the operating parameters were measured. The samples manufactured using altered operating parameters had larger fiber sizes (p < 0.05) and lower Young's moduli (p < 0.05). The changes in swelling ratios, BSA release efficacies, WVTR and bacterial inhibition potential showed a significant dependence on the degree of calcium crosslinking of the hydrogel and on how tightly the fibers were bound with one another. By manipulating the operating parameters in the wet-spinning system, wound dressings with different properties were successfully made.