Abstract

Effective treatment of infected wounds requires a comprehensive wound dressing with a combination of antibacterial, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory effects. Biodegradable wound dressings incorporating nanostructured material were developed using polyvinyl alcohol with xanthan gum, hypromellose, or sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and extensively evaluated for antibacterial and wound healing efficacy. Synthesized silver nanoparticles and wound dressings displayed λ<inf>max</inf> at 420 nm with zeta potential ≈ − 35 mV. Significant growth inhibition with >99 % reduction in CFU/ml (p < 0.05) against important wound pathogens including Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Candida albicans were observed. Within 1 h of treatment, hypromellose nanocomposite demonstrated excellent bactericidal effects with a 99.9 % of reduction in growth. In addition, wound dressings demonstrated inhibitory activities against free radical scavengers. Wound dressings demonstrated a significant reduction in the inflammatory response in RAW 264.7 macrophages (p < 0.001). Ex-vivo diffusion demonstrated zero-order release and steady-state flux between 0.1571–0.2295 μg/ml/cm²h with 0.124–0.144 permeability coefficient after 10 h. Usage in animals further confirmed that the hypromellose nanocomposite accelerated the wound healing process with biocompatibility. The results suggested that hybrid biodegradable dressings can be effectively applied to treat infected wounds and attenuate inflammatory responses.