Physical and Biological Properties of Silk Suture Soaked in Levofloxacin

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Pawornwan Rittipakorn
Thanaporn Chanto
Pichamon Pumsanguan
Wimonwun Jantanasut
Chonipa Khunwittaya

Abstract

Silk suture was a type of suture material commonly used by dentists to close wounds in the oral cavity. It provides strong tensile strength and was consistent with wound healing by maintaining suture integrity to promote wound healing for at least 3-5 days. However, non-resorbable sutures made of silk were known to accumulate food debris and increase the risk of infection, particularly in patients with underlying conditions such as diabetes or immune deficiencies. There has been recent development in coating silk sutures with antimicrobial agents to reduce the risk of infection, but no studies had been conducted using silk sutures coated with such agents. This study aimed to evaluate the physical and biological properties of non-absorbable and multifilament braid silk sutures that have been coated with levofloxacin. The physical properties of strength, amount of pore with SEM and BET analysis, and the presence of levofloxacin solution were assessed, as were the biological properties of drug release profile. All groups were compared between dry and wet conditions of the coated silk sutures and non-coated silk sutures. The results showed that the levofloxacin-coated silk sutures had no significant difference tensile strength between non-coated silk sutures, and the release of levofloxacin was sustained over a period of 7 days. BET analysis showed that the wet group had less porosity and wider pore diameter than the other groups. Therefore, the use of levofloxacin-coated silk sutures was provided comparable suture strength to non-coated silk sutures while reducing the risk of infection.

Article Details

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Research Article

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