Physicochemical properties and antimicrobial activity of biocompatible carboxymethylcellulose‐silver nanoparticle hybrids for wound dressing and epidermal repair

Abstract

Skin loss can be caused by accident, burn, trauma, chronic wounds, and diseases, which is severely aggravated by multidrug‐resistant bacterial infections. Soft hybrids based on biopolymers combined with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have potential applications as wound dressing supports and skin tissue repair. Thus, our study focused on the design, green synthesis, and comprehensive characterization of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC–AgNP) nanocomposites for producing hydrogel membranes, with tunable physicochemical properties, cytocompatibility, and biocidal activity for potential application as wound dressing and skin repair. These nanocomposites were prepared using CMC with two degrees of carboxymethylation, distinct concentrations of citric acid (CA) crosslinker, and AgNPs by in situ chemical reduction, forming hybrid membranes by the solvent casting method. The results demonstrated that superabsorbent hydrogels were produced with swelling and degradation behaviors dependent on the concentration of CA crosslinker, degree of carboxymethylation of CMC, and content of AgNP in the matrices. Moreover, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis evidenced that the CMC functional groups (e.g., COOH and OH) were directly involved in the chemical reactions for the formation of AgNPs and hydrogel crosslinking pathway. These nanocomposites were cytocompatible using in vitro 3‐(4,5‐dimethyl‐2‐thiazolyl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide cell viability assay with of human embryonic kidney cells. Conclusively, the CMC–AgNP nanohybrids demonstrated to be simultaneously non‐toxic combined with highly effective antibacterial activity against gram‐positive multi‐resistant wound/skin pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus) and moderate effect towards gram‐negative strains (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45812.

Development of silver nanoparticle-based hydrogel composites for antimicrobial activity

“…Overall, the hydrogel composites with metal NPs could find practical applications in biomedical area such as wound/burn dressing (13,34,35) and functional antimicrobial coatings (36) because they can provide a biocompatible environment with antimicrobial activity.…”

“…Hydrogels are 3-dimensionally interconnected hydrophilic polymers, which can absorb an extensive amount of water within the structures without being dissolved in water. Since the chemical, electrical, and mechanical properties of polymer hydrogels could be quite analogous with those present in biological tissues, there have been extensive efforts to utilize the hydrogels in biological applications such as drug delivery (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12), wound/burn dressing (13,14), scaffolds for tissue engineering (15)(16)(17), and others (18)(19)(20)(21). In particular, the inclusion of drugs inside polymer hydrogels may represent an innovative drug delivery system because the release rate of the loaded drugs can be regulated by external stimuli (1,2,(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9).…”

In situ synthesis and properties of Ag NPs/carboxymethyl cellulose/starch composite films for antibacterial application

“…The wide distribution of Ag NPs particle size (as shown in Figure B) was due to the lack of strong reductant, the nucleation and growth rates of Ag NPs decreased . The HRTEM image of Ag NPs was shown in Figure C, where the presence of lattice fringes confirmed the high crystallinity of Ag NPs with a multifaceted pattern associated with crystallographic planes . The distance between the lattice fringes of the Ag NPs was about 2.36 Å, associated with the interatomic distance of (111) plane for metallic silver …”

Stimuli‐Responsive Release of Antimicrobials Using Hybrid Inorganic Nanoparticle‐Associated Drug‐Delivery Systems

“…Metal ions can also bind with carboxyl groups loaded onto polymer chains forming nucleation sites, where upon introduction of a strong reducing agent, NPs can grow anchored to the hydrogel network . As such, the dimensions and porosities of the gel, as well as the concentrations of ions and reducing agents, may be tuned to obtain specific NP morphologies …”