In vivo testing of silver treated fibers for the evaluation of skin irritation effect and hypoallergenicity

Abstract

Textiles are a fertile breeding ground for a multitude of micro-organisms under appropriate conditions of moisture and temperature. The broad-spectrum biocide properties of silver are well known and many technologies have been developed so far to treat textiles with silver. The efficacy of the silver deposition technology presented in this article has been already demonstrated in previous works, where the strong adhesion of silver nanoparticles to the substrate and their antibacterial capability have been assessed. This work focuses on the evaluation of any possible interaction of silver treated cotton with human skin, in terms of skin irritation and hypoallergenicity. Moreover, the presence of silver and the antibacterial capability against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, namely Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, were verified even after several washing cycles in order to develop a product with long-term antibacterial capability and no adverse effects in terms of skin irritation and hypoallergenicity.

In Vitro Assessment of the Antibacterial Potential of Silver Nano-Coatings on Cotton Gauzes for Prevention of Wound Infections

“…In the graph reported in Figure 7, no significant differences can be observed in percentage of cell proliferation between untreated and 0.5 wt/v % Ag-treated samples. These data confirmed no cytotoxic effect of silver treated textile substrates and no skin irritation or hypoallergenicity effects through in vivo testing on selected patients [44,45,46,47]. Although the cell viability was reduced by the samples treated with 4 wt/v % silver, the highest values of silver release produced results that were still lower than the limit of cytotoxicity reported in the literature [48,49,50].…”

Development of regenerative and flexible fibroin‐based wound dressings

“…Not all wounds will become infected, especially if properly disinfected and, if not strictly necessary, it is preferred to avoid the abuse of topical antibiotics or antimicrobials. Wound infection can be minimized with optimal treatment involving debridement of devitalized tissue and the use of appropriate dressings . Boulton et al reported an infection rate of 2.5% in diabetic wounds treated with a moisture‐retentive hydrocolloid dressing, compared with a 6% infection rate under a traditional gauze dressing .…”

Skin Corrosion and Irritation Test of Nanoparticles Using Reconstructed Three-Dimensional Human Skin Model, EpiDermTM

“…Acute dermal irritation and corrosion testing of silver NPs (AgNPs) using rabbits did not show any skin damage including erythema eschar or edema formation for 72 hr after exposure (10,11). However, AgNPs decreased viability and increased the inflammatory cytokines levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in cultured human epidermal keratinocytes (12).…”