Biophysical properties and molecular structure studies on collagen blends as meshes for hernia repair / Ahmed Mohamed Refaat Hamed ; Supervised Wafaa Mohamed Ahmed Khalil , Abdelaziz Abdelhalim Abdelaziz , Osama Mohamed Mahmoud Osman

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Biophysics

Hernias are defects in the layers of the abdominal wall that can cause discomfort or pain and lead to serious health problems if left untreated. Collagen blends with chitosan and with agarose are prepared in order to be used as meshes for hernia repair made up of natural biocompatible materials that have desirable structural, mechanical and electrical properties. FTIR spectroscopy was used to study the structural features of the pure polymers and subsequently the formation of the desired blends. The mechanical properties of the blends were evaluated in terms of elasticity and hardness. The electrical properties of the blends including dielectric constant and conductivity were assessed using dielectric spectroscopy. Molecular modeling was employed to study the molecular interactions between the polymers and the effect of blending on their reactivity. The blend ratios of collagen / chitosan and collagen / agarose with the optimal properties were selected to undergo further enhancement by the addition of silver nanoparticles for antibacterial purposes. The blends with silver nanoparticles were further characterized using FTIR and UV / Vis spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscop

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