Natural Polymer-Based Antimicrobial Hydrogels without Synthetic Antibiotics as Wound Dressings

Abstract

Wound healing is usually accompanied by bacterial infection. The excessive use of synthetic antibiotics leads to drug resistance, posing a significant threat to human health. Hydrogel-based wound dressings aimed at mitigating bacterial infections have emerged as an effective wound treatment. The review presented herein particularly focuses on the hydrogels originating from natural polymers. To further enhance the performance of wound dressings, various strategies and approaches have been developed to endow the hydrogels with excellent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. Those that are summarized in the current review are the hydrogels with intrinsic or stimuli-triggered bactericidal properties and others that serve as vehicles for loading antibacterial agents without synthetic antibiotics. Specific attention is paid to antimicrobial mechanisms and the antibacterial performance of hydrogels. Practical antibacterial applications to accelerate the wound healing employing these antibiotic-free hydrogels are also introduced along with the discussion on the current challenges and perspectives leading to new technologies.

Encapsulation and Characterization of Meropenem in Niosome Nanoparticles and Inhibitory Effects of Antibiofilm and Antibacterial on Methicillin and Vancomycin Resistant Strains of Staphylococcus Aureus

“…resistance to various antibiotics had highlighted the need for finding new antibacterial compounds that are non-toxic for mammalian cells (67). The present study examined the toxicity of various niosome-encapsulated meropenem formulations for HDF cells through the standard method of MTT, indicating a higher cell viability rate in groups treated with niosome-encapsulated meropenem compared to free meropenem.…”

3D Printing of Thermoresponsive Hydrogel Laden with an Antimicrobial Agent towards Wound Healing Applications

“…A highly regular micropore system arose from the dual crosslinking of the hydrogel via chemical (UV curing) and ionic (Ca 2+ -crosslinking) bonds. Microporous hydrogels may not only help in exchanging the gases and wound fluids and transporting bioactive agents but also constitute a barrier protecting the wound from microbial infection [51]. When juxtaposing IR and SEM results, we may conclude that the hydrogel precursors were uniformly admixed together creating the thermoresponsive hydrogel with a/the homogenous and highly microporous three-dimensional network.…”

Preparation and characterization of a novel polysialic acid/gelatin composite hydrogels cross-linked by Tannic acid to improve healing and nursing care of cesarean section dressing

“…Moreover, due to their soft, wet characteristics and 3D structure identical to the cell membrane, hydrogels are attractive wound dressings. A range of materials such as nanomaterials, natural polymers, semi-synthetic polymers, synthetic polymers, and hydrogels have been used in an attempt to nd exible wound dressings [10][11][12].…”