WOUND DRESSING

Abstract: Disclosed is a wound dressing comprising a nonwoven fabric composed of (A) a chitin fiber having a thickness of less than one denier and a strength of not less than 2 g/d, and (b) a fibrous binder, which is suitable for dressings of skin defect wounds, which has compatibility to a living body and good fitness property to the surface of wounds and which is insoluble with exudates.

Description: The present invention relates to a wound dressing composed of a nonwoven fabric of chitin fibers. More particularly, it relates to a wound dressing suitable for the protection of skin defect wounds, which has compatibility to a living body and good fitness property to the surface of wounds and which is insoluble with exudates. Many materials have been proposed as skin defect wound dressings for burns, donor sites, skin graft site and etc. These dressings are generally classified to those made from synthetic materials and those made from natural materials. Examples of synthetic materials are velour fabric made from nylon fibers or polyester fibers, polyurethane foam sheet, cross-linked polyvinylalcohol foam sheet and the like. Examples of natural materials are collagen nonwoven fabric (commercially available from MeijiSeika Kaisha Ltd as Meipack (Registered Trade Mark)), freeze-dried pig-skin (commercially available from Mitsui Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. as Methaskin (Registered Trade Mark)) and fibrin membrane. Biological dressings derived from natural materials have become more popular as the dressings of skin defect wounds because of their high compatibility to a living body. However, these biological dressings such as collagen nonwoven fabrics or freeze-dried pig-skins have some defects. One of these defects is inferior fitness to the surface of wounds. Such dressings are required to function as an artificial skin to some degree, because it is preferred that the dressings work together with the surface of wounds to heal the wounds. In the case where the adhesion of the protector to the surface of wounds is insufficient, excessive exudate stays between the protector and the surface of wounds and delays drying thus preventing epidermidation. The second defect is that the dressing may be easily decomposed at an early stage. Such decomposition not only destroys the function of the dressing but also causes infections. As the result the epidermidation is badly affected. The third defect is that it is difficult to absorb the exudate being produced in the surface of the skin. This provides the same result as the first defect. Accordingly, it would be desirable to produce a dressing of natural materials which did not have these defects. On the other hand, it has been proposed that chitin can be adopted as a wound dressing in the form of nonwoven fabrics composed of chitin fiber, because chitin, which is an aminopolysuccharide contained in exoskeletons of Crustacea, Insecta and the like, has excellent compatibility to a living body when purified. For example, in Proceedings of the 1st Int. Conference on Chitin/Chitosan (1977), page 300 (hereinafter referred to as "Conference"), chitin nonwoven fabrics are disclosed, which are made by dispersing chitin fibers having a length of 30 mm in water and then removing water. Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) Nos.26049/1981 and 16999/1982 also disclose nonwoven fabrics using chitin fibers. Further, U.S.P. 4,431,601 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 77310/1982) discloses chitin fibers having a thickness of 0.5 to 20 denier and a strength of 2 g/d. However, the U.S. patent does not disclose neither the formation of a non-woven fabric from the chitin fibers and fibrous binders, nor using the non-woven fabric as wound dressings. EP-A-38628 discloses medical materials from collagen fibers and de-N-acetylated chitin in order to enhance the mechanical strength of natural collagen fibers. The materials however, does not have sufficient strength for wound dressings. These chitin fabrics, however, are not always sufficient as the wound dressings in comparison with the conventional biological dressings. Fiber size is for example 0.15 mm in Conference. 1 to 5 denier in Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 26049/1981, less than 10 denier (typically 3 denier) in Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 16999/1982. Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 16999/1982 does not teach use of binder and Japanese Patent Publication 26049/1981 employs a chitin dope as a binder. Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No.16999/1982 discloses the fiber strength of 1 g/d, but it is not sufficient for wound dressing. Nonwoven fabrics disclosed in the above references have inferior fitness, are easily decomposed by exudates, and they are insufficient in the exclusion of the exudate to outside when they are used for the wound dressing. The object of the present invention is to provide a nonwoven fabric of chitin suitable for a wound dressing. The wound dressing of the present invention is formed from a nonwoven fabric composed of (A) a chitin fiber having a thickness of less than one denier and a strength of not less than 2 g/d, and (B) a fibrous binder. In the present invention, chitin includes both chitin per se and a derivative thereof. By "chitin" is meant poly(n-acetyl-D-glucosamine) prepared by treating exoskeletons of Crustacea or Insecta with hydrochloric acid and caustic soda to remove calcium and protein. The derivatives include those patially deacetylized (so-called chitosan), etherified, esterified, carboxymethylated, hydroxyethylated or o-ethylated. Representative examples of the derivatives are poly-(N-acetyl-6-o-(2'-hydroxyethyl)-D-glucosamine), poly-(N-acetyl-6-o-ethyl-D-glucosamine) and the like. The chitin fiber constituting the nonwoven fabric in the present invention has a thickness of less than one denier and a strength of not less than 2 g/d. The chitin fiber can be prepared by methods described in U.S.P. 4,431,601. For example, chitin is dissolved in a suitable solvent to obtain a dope. In this context, the solvent may be an N-methylpyrrolidone solution containing lithium chloride, a dimethylacetoamide solution containing lithium chloride, a mixture solution of trichroloacetic acid and a halogenated hydrocarbon, when the chitin to be used contains acetylglucosamine group in large quantities. When the chitin contains glucosamine group in large quantities (referred to as chitosan in general), it is preferred that the solvent is an acid solution such as acetic acid. The dope preferably contains chitin in a concentration of 0.5 to 20 % by weight. The dope is filtered with a stainless net and the like to remove undissolved materials and dusts and extruded into a coagulation solution through a nozzle having 20 to 5,000 holes and a hole diameter of 0.03 to 0.2 mm preferably in a constant amount controlled by a gear pump or the like. Examples of the coagulation solution are water. alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol and the like, and ketones such as acetone. The coagulated filament is taken out at a rate of 2 to 50 m/min by a spining roller and then wound with a winder under substantially no tension or a reduced tension. The filaments are recoagulated in the same coagulation solution, rinsed to remove solvent associated with the filaments, and dried. In the practice of the present invention, the preferred chitin fiber has a thickness of not less than 0.2 denier and less than 1 denier. The denier is determined by measuring the weight of a sample of 90 m of the chitin fiber at 65 %RH and 25 °C and changing it into 9,000 m. Such thin chitin fiber. when applied to a wound dressing in the form of nonwoven fabrics, enhances fitness to the surface of the wounds and no peelings occur after several days. whereby the epidermidation will be attained in an early stage to provide good healing conditions. It is believed that this effect is related to the fact that the thin chitin fibers have high permeation rate of water in comparison with conventional thick chitin fibers. The chitin fiber of the present invention has a strength of not less than 2 g/d, preferably not less than 3 g/d. The strength is determined by a tension tester "TENSILON UTM-II TYPE" (available from Toyo Boldwin Co. Ltd.) under conditions of a filament length of 50 mm, a tension speed of 20 mm/min, 25 °C and 65 %RH. Strengths less than 2 g/d are not desirable because the wound dressing is easily decomposed by body fluids from the wounds, such as exudate, and loses its shape. The preferred length of the chitin fiber in the wound dressing of the present invention is within the range of 3 to 20 mm. The fibrous binder constituting the nonwoven fabric of the present invention may be obtained from a resin binder such usually used as adhesive in conventional production of nonwoven fabric. The resin binder is shaped to a fiber having a thickness of 0.1 to 50 d and a length of 0.5 to 150 mm, preferably the filter has a thickness of 0.5 to 10 d and a length of 1 to 20 mm. Examples of the resin binders are polyvinyl alcohol, carboxymethyl cellulose, gelatin, starch, acrylic acid ester, vinyl acetate, ethylene, vinyl acetate copolymer, vinyl chloride, natural rubber, a synthetic rubber. The preferred fibrous binder is polyvinyl alcohol fiber preferably having a degree of polymerization of 500 to 3,000, and a degree of hydrolysis of not less than 95 mole %, more preferably not less than 99%. The production of the nonwoven fabric can be carried out by a similar process to paper making. Conventional continuous paper machines or batch type paper machine may be employed. The weight ratio of the chitin fiber to the fibrous binder is preferably within the range of 80:20 to 95:5. In the production of the nonwoven fabric by a batch process, the chitin fiber and fibrous binder are dispersed in water at ambient temperature in the weight ratio mentioned above and a filter having 20 to 200 mesh is passed through the dispersion to form a layer of the dispersed fibers on the filter. After pressing to remove water, the fiber layer is dried by pressing between a thick cloth and a rotary heat roller for 3 to 20 minutes at 100 to 180°C in a roller type heat-press drier. The amount of the fiber and fibrous binder is selected depending on thickness and weight of desired nonwoven fabrics. Since it is preferred that the thickness of the nonwoven fabrics is 0.05 to 0.5 mm and the weight is 1 to 10 mg/cm², the amount of dispersed fibers can be selected accordingly. The nonwoven fabrics produced are flexible and very strong, and are a good protector for covering wounds when they are sterilized. The present invention will be illustrated by the following examples, EXAMPLE 1 AND COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1 AND 2 A chitin powder (available from Kyowa Yushi Co. Ltd.) was ground to 100 mesh and treated in 1N-HCl for one hour at 4°C. It was then heated to 90°C, at which it was treated for 3 hours in a 3% NaOH solution to remove calcium and protein in the chitin powder, rinsed repeatedly and then dried. The resultant chitin had a viscosity 256 centipoise at 30°C when it was dissolved to form a 0.2 wt % solution in a dimethylacetoamide solution containing 7 wt% lithium chloride. This chitin was dissolved in a dimethylacetoamide solution containing 8 wt% lithium chloride to form a 7 % dope. After filtering and holding for defoaming, the dope was sent to a nozzle having a diameter of 0.06 mm and 200 holes from a charged tank under pressure by a gear pump to extrude into butanol at 60 °C at the rate of 2.2 g/min. The chitin was coagulated and taken out at the speed of 10 m/min. The resultant strand was rinsed with water and dried to obtain a filament having 0.68 denier in single yarn denier and a strength of 3.1 g/d. For a comparison, pump output was set to 3.8 g/min and 7.4 g/min and the above procedure repeated to obtain a filament for Comparative Example 1 having a single-yarn denier of 1.2 d and a strength of 3.0 g/d and a filament for Comparative Example 2 having a single-yarn denier of 2.3 d and a strength of 3.1 g/d. The obtained filaments were cut to 8 mm, from which nonwoven fabrics were formed as follow. The preparation apparatus was a Sheet Machine TAPPI-T205os-71 available from Toyo Seiki Product. 0.5 g of the chitin fiber and 0.05 g of a polyvinyl alcohol fiber having 1 mm length, a degree of polymerization of 1,700 and a degree of hydrolysis of 99.7 % (available from Unitika Kasei Co. Ltd.) were dispersed in one liter of water. Water was further added to the resultant dispersion to make a uniform dispersion of 6 liter and charged in the sheet machine. A stainless net was passed through the dispersion to form a fibrous layer on it. The fibrous layer was held between two piece of qualitative filter paper and pressed under the pressure of 3 Kg/mm² by a pressing machine to remove water. The layer was further dried for 6 minutes over a rotary heat roller at 150°C by pressing it between a thick cloth and the rotary heat roller to form three pieces of nonwoven fabric. The thicknesses of these fabrics were as shown in Table 1 and their weight was 3 mg/cm². The three nonwoven fabrics were tested for stiffness. The result is shown in Table 1. 1) A sample of 0.5 cm width and 2 cm length was placed along the diameter of the upper surface of a cylinder which was of 1cm inside diameter, 1.4 cm outside diameter and 0.3 cm height. The strip was fixed in this position on the cylinder which was orientated so that the strip was horizontal. The centre of the sample was caught by a hook which was connected to a strain guage for 100 mg through the inside of the cylinder. The strain guage was pulled downward at a speed of 5cm/min to slip down the sample. The maximum value of the load was read and it was divided by the sectional area of the sample to indicate stiffness. As shown by Table 1 , the nonwoven fabric of Example 1 has least stiffness, showing it is soft. In order to evaluate the nonwoven fabric as a wound dressing, the skin of a rabbit was removed from a back portion, to which the fabrics were attached. The nonwoven fabric of Example 1 was fitted to the portion, while the nonwoven fabrics of Comparative Example 1 and 2 were stiff and did not fit into the surface of muscle. Example 2 A chitosan (available from Kyowa Yushi Co. Ltd.), with a viscosity of 32 centipoise at 20°C when dissolved in a 0.2 M acetic acid solution to form a 0.2 wt% solution, was dissolved in a 0.2 M acetic acid solution to form a 6wt % solution. The solution was filtered with a 1,480 mesh stainless net to obtain a viscous solution. The viscous solution was sent to a nozzle having a 0.6 mm in diameter and 100 holes by a gear pump and extruded into a 1 N caustic soda solution at the rate of 1.9 g/min to coagulate. The coagulated strand was further coagulated for about one hour in a 1 N caustic soda solution and neutralized with a dilute chloric acid followed by rinsing and drying. The resultant filament had 0.53 d in single yarn denier and 3.5 g/d in strength. The filament was cut to 10 mm and treated as generally described in Example 1 to form a nonwoven fabric with the exception that 0.3 g of the chitosan fiber and 0.05 g of polyvinyl alcohol fiber (available from Unitika Kasei Co. Ltd.) were dispersed in one liter of water, to which four liters of water were added. The obtained nonwoven fabric had a thickness of 0.13 mm and a stiffness of 320 g/cm2 and was very flexible. The fabric fitted into a muscle surface of a rabbit when it was attached to a portion of a rabbit back from which the skin had been removed. This shows that the fabric is suitable as a wound dressing. EXAMPLES 3 TO 6 AND COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES 3 TO 6 By adopting the same spinning method as Example 1 using the dope of Example 1 with the exception that the nozzle had 0.06 mm diameter and 200 holes, 8 kinds of filaments having different single yarn denier, 0.37 d (3.5 g/d strength), 0.47 d (3/5 g/d), 0.66 d (3.3 g/d), 0.80 d (3.4 g/d). 1.32 d (3.3 g/d), 1.81 d (3.2 g/d), 2.39 d (3.1 g/d) and 3.38 d (3.0 g/d), were obtained. These filaments were cut to 8 mm and nonwoven fabrics were formed as generally described in Example 1. The basis weight of each nonwoven fabric was 3 mg/cm². The eight kinds of nonwoven fabrics were cut to ribbon shaped samples of 5 mm in width and 10 cm in length. The samples were immersed in a physiological saline of 25°C and a measurement was made of the period taken for the saline to rise to a height of 20mm height above the liquid surface. The measurement was conducted ten times for each ribbon and the average was calculated as a rising rate. The result is shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, the rising rate is very high in the Examples of the invention as compared with Comparative Examples. It is shown that the nonwoven fabric of Examples is permeable by a physiological saline. The nonwoven fabrics of Example 5 and Comparative Example 4 were cut to 10 cm in width and 10 cm in length and sterilized by ethylene oxide gas. The fabrics were subjected to a halfside test in which half of a donor site (0.0525 cm (0.021 inch) depth, 3 cm width and 5 cm length) was covered by the nonwoven fabrics of Example 5, and the remaining half was covered by the other one. The dressings were fixed outside with a cotton gauze. After three days, the fabric of Example 5 was found to be attached to the wound portion in good condition and the surface covered was in a proper wet condition, while the fabric of Comparative Example 4 had partially risen up from the wound portion and exudates were observed in many portions. After another 10 days, the wound portion covered by the fabric of Example 5 was completely healed to form a smooth surface, while the portion covered by the fabric of Comparative Example 4 was not completely healed and many red spots were observed. EXAMPLE 7 AND COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 7 A chitin fiber having 0.81 d in single yarn denier was obtained by extruding at 2.6 g/min using the same method as Example 1. The strength of the fiber was 3.4 g/d. The fiber was cut to 5 mm and a nonwoven fabric was formed as generally described in Example 1. For a comparison, a nonwoven fabric was formed as generally described in Japanese Patent Publication (unexamined) No. 16999/1982. The preparation method was as follow: 7.7 parts by weight of the chitin of Example 1 and 91.4 parts by weight of formic acid were repeated to freeze and resolve to form a gelation, to which 7.7 parts by weight of dichloroacetic acid was added to form a dope. The dope was extruded from a platinum nozzle (0.1 mm  X 50H) to a first coagulation solution of ethyl acetate and then passed through the second coagulation solution of methyl alcohol. The strand was introduced to a water bath and drawn to 1.34 times and wound. The obtained filament had 3.0 d and 1.1 g/d. The obtained fiber was rinsed in a stream and immersed in ethyl alcohol. The filament was cut to about 5 mm and dispersed in water and a chitin fabric (Comparative Example 7) was formed according to the method of JIS P8209. The nonwoven fabrics of Example 7 and Comparative Example 7 were cut to 10 cm in width and 10 cm in length and attached to a portion of the back of a rabbit from which portion the skin had been removed to a depth of 0.0375 cm (15/1000 inch) by a dermatome. The wound was observed over a peroid of time. The fabric of Comparative Example 7 had poor fitness and dissolution was observed the next day, while the fabric of Example 7 was attached to the wound portion in good condition and no dissolution was observed in one week, which indicates that the fabric is a good dressing. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 8 0.5 g of the chitin fiber having 0.81 d and 3.4 g/d, obtained in Example 7 and 0.05 g of polyvinyl alcohol powder having a particle size of 20 mesh. a degree of polymerization of 1,700 and a degree of hydrolysis of 99.7 % (available from Unitika Kasei Co. Ltd. as Unitika UF-170GM) were dispersed to one liter of water and a nonwoven fabric was formed as generally described in Example 1. The obtained fabric was attached to a skin removed portion on the back of a rabbit having the depth of 0.0375cm (15/1,000 inch). It showed poor fitness and was broken after one day. It has been found that the PVA binder was not good as a binder. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 9 The chitin fiber having 0.81 d and 3.4 g/d obtained in Example 7 was treated with a 0.1 N hydrochloric acid for one hour to change the strength to 1.3 g/d. The filament was cut to 5mm and a nonwoven fabric was formed as generally described in Example 1. The obtained fabric was attached to a portion of the back of rabbit from which portion the skin had been removed to a depth of 0.0375cm (15/1,000 inch). It showed a partial decomposition by exudate after two days, which indicated that the fabric was not good for a wound dressing. Since the wound dressing has good fitness to a wound, a resistance property to exudate, and absorbs exudate in comparison with conventional collagen fabrics or freeze-dried pig skins, the wound dressing of the present invention, when applied to a dressing for skin defect wounds such as burns, a donor site and a skin-grafted portion, heals the wounds rapidly in a good condition. Accordingly, the wound dressing is suitable as a dressing for deep wounds.

Claims: A wound dressing comprising a nonwoven fabric composed of (a) a chitin fiber having a thickness of less than one denier and a strength of not less than 2 g/d, and (b) a fibrous binder. The dressing of claim 1 in which the chitin fiber has a thickness of more than 0.2 denier and less than 1 denier. The dressing of claim 1 in which the fibrous binder is formed from polyvinyl alcohol, carboxymethyl cellulose, gelatin, starch, acrylic acid ester, vinyl acetate, ethylene, vinyl acetate copolymer, vinyl chloride, natural rubber or synthetic rubber The dressing of claim 1 in which the weight ratio of the chitin fiber to the fibrous binder is within the range of from 80 : 20 to 95 : 5.

Inventors: KIFUNE, KOJI, TANAE, HIROYUKI, YAMAGUCHI, YASUHIKO
Applicants: UNITIKA LTD.
Application year: 1986
Main classification: A61L15
IPC codes: A61L15