Production and characterisation of mucilage-based keratin films using goose feathers.

One of the biggest problems in the healing process of acute and chronic wounds is the emergence of secondary symptoms, such as infections causing delayed healing. The most effective way to solve this problem is to speed up the healing process. Natural-based products play an active role in accelerating this process even more. The current work is focused on developing an alternative natural wound dressing by creating a mucilage film from quince seed with keratin obtained from feathers. The study includes the following chemical characterizations: FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), and SEM (scanning electron microscopy). In addition, thickness and antioxidant activity tests were performed to obtain more information about the films. The thickness of the composite films increased with the increase of keratin amount. The antioxidant activities of the films varied between 17.60 and 27.48%. Besides, the effect of keratin amount on the changing hydrophobicity of the films was investigated by contact angle measurement, and it was determined that increasing keratin amount increased the hydrophobicity of the films. The results of the analysis have shown that goose feather keratin is a potential alternative source for obtaining both economic and environmentally friendly products in areas like wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]