# Bioinspired Membranes with Silver Sulfadiazine and Piperine for Enhanced Cutaneous Permeability

## TL;DR

This study creates bioinspired membranes with silver sulfadiazine and piperine to improve wound healing by enhancing drug delivery and antimicrobial effects.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is the development of a membrane formulation combining chitosan, Pluronic F127, silver sulfadiazine, and piperine for improved cutaneous drug delivery.

## Key findings

- The optimal membrane composition showed excellent homogeneity, mechanical stability, and controlled drug release.
- Piperine significantly increased silver sulfadiazine deposition in porcine skin layers.
- The membranes demonstrated strong antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus, especially with piperine.

## Abstract

Developing bioinspired membranes for effective wound
healing, particularly
for burn injuries, significantly advances biomedical materials. In
the present study, we focused on the design and optimization of membranes
based on chitosan (CT) and Pluronic F127, incorporating silver sulfadiazine
(SSD) for antimicrobial activity and piperine (PIP) as a permeation
enhancer. Using a design of experiments with desirability, the optimal
membrane composition was determined to be 20 mg/mL CT, 10 mg mL–1 F127, 0.050 mg mL–1 SSD, and 0.050
mg mL–1 PIP, which exhibited excellent homogeneity,
mechanical stability, and controlled drug release properties. The
membranes were characterized using FTIR, DSC, TGA, AFM, and contact
angle measurements, revealing high thermal stability, moderate hydrophilicity,
and pH-responsive dissolution behavior. The membranes demonstrated
significant water absorption and swelling degree (SD > 500%), creating
a moist environment conducive to tissue regeneration. Ex vivo porcine
skin permeation studies showed that incorporating PIP more than doubled
SSD deposition in both the epidermis (9.82 → 21.75 μg
g–1) and dermis (2.24 → 4.99 μg g–1). In vitro microbiological assays against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus
aureus (ATCC and clinical strains) revealed that SSD-containing
membranes significantly reduced bacterial viability, with the complete
membrane (SSD + PIP) showing the strongest inhibition. For E. coli clinical strains, the addition of PIP enhanced
the bactericidal effect of SSD (76% vs 33% reduction), consistent
with its reported role as an efflux pump inhibitor. Overall, these
multifunctional membranes combine sustained SSD release, improved
and reproducible skin permeation, and enhanced antimicrobial efficacy
in the evaluated strains, offering a promising platform for advanced
wound dressings in burn care and other skin injuries.