Fabrication of Electrospun Scaffolds Incorporating an Amazonian Therapeutic Oil from the Copaifera Species for Wound Care Applications

Electrospinning provides an efficient and versatile method to produce novel biomaterials from a range of natural and synthetic polymers, which show excellent biocompatibility due to the very high surface area-to-volume ratio. In addition, the incorporation of bioactive compounds into biodegradable polymers, such as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) allows the fabrication of drug releasing bioactive scaffolds for potential use in novel wound care applications. Native to the tropical region of Latin America, Copaiba oil is extracted from material from the Copaifera species. The oil is a FDA approved compound known for its wound healing, anti-inflammatory, analgesics, antifungal and antimicrobial functions. In this study, microfiber non-woven scaffolds were fabricated via electrospinning solutions of PLGA containing copaiba oil. Tests of cell growth with lung fibroblasts reported a strong affinity of the fibroblasts and the biomaterial.