In this study, new
hydrogel membranes were developed based on hydroxyethyl
cellulose (HEC) supplemented with
tungsten oxide for further implementing in
wound treatment. HEC
hydrogel membranes were fabricated and crosslinked using
citric acid (CA). Various tests were carried out including FTIR, XRD, porosity measurements, swelling, mechanical properties, gel fraction, and thermal gravimetric analysis to evaluate the efficiency of the prepared membranes as
wound dressing material. In addition, wound healing activity of the examined membranes for human dermal fibroblast cell line was investigated employing in vitro scratching model. Furthermore, the potency of the prepared membranes to suppress
wound complications was studied via determination of their anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities exploiting MTT, ELISA, and disk
agar diffusion methods. The results demonstrated that the HEC
hydrogel membranes revealed an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial efficacy. Moreover, HEC improved the safety of
tungsten oxide toward normal human cells (white blood cells and dermal fibroblast). Furthermore, HEC membranes loaded with WO3 revealed the highest activities against Salmonella sp. pursued by P. aeruginosa in compared with the negative HEC
hydrogel membrane. The current approach corroborated that HEC amended by
tungsten oxide could be applied as a promising safe candidate for
wound dressing material.