article · Pharmaceutics
Bacterial infections present a major challenge in wound care by delaying healing and causing chronic wounds, while most current dressing products show poor antimicrobial performance. Formulating dressings from chitosan provides inherent antibacterial benefits, which can be strengthened by adding metallic nanoparticles. Incorporating silver nanoparticles into chitosan scaffolds accelerates the wound healing process through enhanced antimicrobial action, guiding inflammation and re-epithelialisation without compromising normal cell viability. Despite promising preclinical outcomes, evaluation in infected animal models remains sparse, and questions around in vivo toxicity persist. In addition, the exact mechanisms driving synergistic interactions between silver nanoparticles and chitosan scaffolds require further investigation, and the fabrication of these materials for wounds requiring immediate intervention is not yet fully developed.
Infected wounds heal slowly and can develop into severe, long-term conditions that standard dressings fail to treat effectively. Combining naturally antibacterial chitosan with silver nanoparticles offers a way to suppress bacterial growth and promote tissue repair safely. Understanding the current preclinical evidence helps researchers identify safety hurdles and design superior wound dressings for clinical adoption.
This research addresses potential advanced wound care products for clinicians managing infected or chronic wounds. The technology sits at a preclinical review stage. Significant commercialisation barriers remain, as the in vivo toxicity of silver nanoparticles must be resolved, fabrication methods for urgent treatments require development, and full preclinical animal testing alongside future clinical trials is still needed.
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Bacterial infections are major problems in wound care due to their impact on the retarded process of wound healing, leading to chronic wounds. Most of the presently utilized wound dressing products exhibit poor antimicrobial properties. Wound dressings formulated from chitosan have been reported to be effective for treating infected wounds, resulting from the antibacterial properties of chitosan. The antibacterial properties of chitosan-based wound dressings can be further enhanced by incorporating metallic nanoparticles into them, such as silver, zinc, titanium, etc. The incorporation of silver nanoparticles into chitosan-based wound dressings has been widely explored in the design of antimicrobial wound dressings. The incorporation of silver nanoparticles into chitosan-based wound dressings promotes accelerated wound-healing processes due to enhanced antimicrobial activity. The accelerated wound healing by these metal-based nanoparticles is via the regulation of re-epithelialization and inflammation without affecting the viability of normal cells. However, there have been few reports that evaluate these wound dressings in infectious animal models to prove their efficacy. The in vivo toxicity of silver nanoparticles still needs to be addressed, revealing the need for further preclinical and clinical trials. The fabrication of wound dressings incorporated with silver nanoparticles has not been fully explored, especially for wounds requiring immediate treatment. The possible interactions between silver nanoparticles and chitosan scaffolds that result in synergistic effects still need to be understood and studied. This review provides a comprehensive report on the preclinical outcomes of chitosan wound dressing materials loaded with silver nanoparticles for managing infected wounds.
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DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16030327
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