A novel bioactive quaternized chitosan and its silver-containing nanocomposites as a potent antimicrobial wound dressing: Structural and biological properties

Wound care is crucial for controlling infections of the injured area. Regarding this, wound dressings with antimicrobial activities are useful to minimize the microbial infections of the wounds. Herein, a series of quaternized chitosan nanocomposite films blended with silver nanoparticles were fabricated with high potential for wound dressing applications. After characterization of the prepared films by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and element mapping analysis (MAP). Other parameters such as swelling ratio, blood clotting activity, and biocompatibility of the films were also investigated. Besides, the antibacterial and antifungal activities of prepared samples were examined against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and a multi drug resistance Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a drug resistance bacterium strain. Interestingly, the designed quaternized chitosan film (even without silver nanoparticles) showed high antimicrobial activity against all tested microbial strains which is probably due to the presence of imidazolium moiety in the film matrix. Furthermore, all nanocomposites showed a potent antimicrobial activity. Generally, the results of cell proliferation and attachment with MTT assay and DAPI staining on HFFF cells, have proved the cytocompatibility nature of the nanocomposite films. These results indicate that the developed bioactive quaternized chitosan nanocomposite films can be considered as biomaterial for wound dressing applications.