Sustained release of alginate hydrogel containing antimicrobial peptide Chol-37(F34-R) in vitro and its effect on wound healing in murine model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection

Abstract

Background Antibiotic resistance is a significant public health concern around the globe. Antimicrobial peptides exhibit broad-spectrum and efficient antibacterial activity with an added advantage of low drug resistance. The higher water content and 3D network structure of the hydrogels are beneficial for maintaining antimicrobial peptide activity and help to prevent degradation. The antimicrobial peptide released from hydrogels also hasten the local wound healing by promoting epithelial tissue regeneration and granulation tissue formation. Objective This study aimed at developing sodium alginate based hydrogel loaded with a novel antimicrobial peptide Chol-37(F34-R) and to investigate the characteristics in vitro and in vivo as an alternative antibacterial wound dressing to treat infectious wounds. Methods Hydrogels were developed and optimized by varying the concentrations of crosslinkers and subjected to various characterization tests like cross-sectional morphology, swelling index, percent water contents, water retention ratio, drug release and antibacterial activity in vitro , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected wound mice model in vivo . Results The results indicated that the hydrogel C proved superior in terms of cross-sectional morphology having uniformly sized interconnected pores, a good swelling index, with the capacity to retain a higher quantity of water. Furthermore, the optimized hydrogel has been found to exert a significant antimicrobial activity against bacteria and was also found to prevent bacterial infiltration into the wound site due to forming an impermeable barrier between the wound bed and external environment. The optimized hydrogel was found to significantly hasten skin regeneration in animal models when compared to other treatments in addition to strong inhibitory effect on the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α). Conclusions Our results suggest that sodium alginate -based hydrogels loaded with Chol-37(F34-R) hold the potential to be used as an alternative to conventional antibiotics in treating infectious skin wounds.

Recent advancements in natural polymers‐based self‐healing nano‐materials for wound dressing

“…Besides this, alginate gels can be administered orally or directly injected into the body tissues in a minimally invasive manner. 139,140 Curcumin-encapsulated micelles polymeric form with chitosan, alginate, pluronic polymer, and maltodextrin was synthesized, which showed nontoxic and diabetic wound healing efficacy when compared to standard drugs like bisphenol A. Water soluble chitosan like carboxymethyl chitosan is extensively employed in wound healing dressing form due to its characteristic healing properties owning through its transforming growth factors β 1 and β 2 signaling molecular pathways.…”

The Contribution of Antimicrobial Peptides to Immune Cell Function: A Review of Recent Advances

“…A structural optimization strategy with chemical synthesis was implemented to overcome the potential toxicity to animal cells and low metabolic stability. In recent years, our group has had a strong ongoing interest in structural modification of PMAPs and has obtained novel modified peptides with safer effects, increased stability and higher antimicrobial activity [ 218 , 219 , 220 , 221 , 222 , 223 , 224 , 225 , 226 ]. In the future, artificial intelligence should be applied for structural optimization of AMPs to obtain better novel active analogs.…”