Design of novel bioadhesive chitosan film loaded with bimetallic gold-silver nanoparticles for antibiofilm and wound healing activity

Abstract

Microbial infections and antibiotic resistance are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The bimetallic chitosan (CS)-capped gold-silver nanoparticles (CS-AuAg-NPs) were prepared by the seeded growth synthesis technique. The nanoparticles were optimized for particle size (PS), zeta potential (ZP) and antibacterial activity by Box-Behnken design at three levels and three factors. The developed CS-AuAg-NPs were polydispersed with mean hydrodynamic PS in the range of 55 - 289 nm and ZP ranges from +8.53 mV to +38.6 mV. The optimized CS-AuAg-NPs found to have a minimum inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration of 1.625 ± 0.68 and 3.25 ± 0.74 µg ml−1 towards multidrug resistant (MDR) Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (MDR AT) and 3.25 ± 0.93 and 3.25 ± 0.86 µg ml−1 towards MDR S. aureus clinical isolate MDR1695 (MDR CI) strain, respectively. The CS-AuAg-NPs were much more effective against MDR AT and MDR CI compared to clindamycin standard. The live/dead assay of clinical isolates strain demonstrated significant reduction of bacterial cells ∼67.52 folds compared to control group in 12 h. The hemolysis study suggested that CS-AuAg-NPs were non-hemolytic and safer for application in the wound. Furthermore, CS-AuAg-NPs were distributed in the CS film, which showed 87% wound recovery after 7 d in mice model. Hence, we concluded that CS-AuAg-NPs was safer and more effective against MDR bacteria and capable of skin regeneration in the infected wound. © 2023 IOP Publishing Ltd