Investigation of the Properties of Linen Fibers and Dressings

In antiquity, flax was used as a dressing for healing wounds. Currently, work is underway on the genetic modification of flax fibers to improve their properties. Genetic modifications have resulted in an increased content of antioxidants and more favorable mechanical properties. The works published so far have presented independent tests of fibers and dressings after appropriate technological treatments in cell cultures. This study aimed to compare the properties of the fibers and the dressing produced in cell cultures—hamster fibroblasts—V79. The research material was traditional NIKE fibers; genetically modified M, B, and MB fibers; and linen dressings obtained from these fibers. The extract from 48-h incubation of 40 mg of fiber in the culture medium, which was desolved into 10, 20, and 30 mg, was administered to the cell culture. On the other hand, a linen dressing was placed on cells with an area of 0.5 cm(2), 1 cm(2), 1.5 cm(2), and 2 cm(2). Cells with fiber or dressing were incubated for 48 h, and then, biological tests were performed, including cell viability (in propidium iodide staining), cell proliferation (in the SRB assay), evaluation of the intracellular free radical level (in the DCF-DA assay), genotoxicity (in the comet assay), assessment of the apoptotic and necrotic cells (in staining anexin-V and iodide propidium), the course of the cell cycle, and the scratch test. The correlation between apoptosis and genotoxicity and the levels of free radicals and genotoxicity were determined for the tested linen fibers and fabrics. The tests presented that the fibers are characterized by the ability to eliminate damaged cells in the elimination phase. However, the obtained fabrics gain different properties during the technological processing of the fibers into linen dressings. Linen fabrics have better regenerative properties for cells than fibers. The linseed dressing made of MB fiber has the most favorable regenerative properties.