Alginate (ALG) is an abundant, biocompatible, regenerative, and nontoxic polysaccharide that has potential applications in tissue engineering. Silver sulfadiazine (SDZ) is a topical antibiotic used to control bacterial infection in burns. Aiming to combine the intrinsic alginate characteristics and silver sulfadiazine antimicrobial properties, hydrotalcite ([Mg-Al]-LDH) was used as a host matrix to obtain a system efficient in delivering SDZ from alginate films. SDZ was successfully intercalated in [Mg-Al]-LDH through structural reconstruction. Different solutions were prepared using sodium alginate at 10 wt%, glycerol at 10 wt% as a plasticizer and [Mg-Al]-LDH and [Mg-Al]-LDH/SDZ as fillers at 1 wt% and 5 wt%. Films were obtained by continuous casting and further characterized for their microstructural, mechanical, water barrier and antimicrobial properties. Cytotoxicity tests were also performed on fibroblasts cells. The incorporation of [Mg-Al]-LDH and [Mg-Al]-LDH/SDZ presented neither negative nor positive effects on the mechanical properties and morphology of the alginate films. Moreover, samples containing SDZ exhibited inhibitory activity against S. aureus, E. coli, and S. enterica. The addition of [Mg-Al]-LDH/SDZ even at the highest concentration did not afford a very significant cytotoxicity to the alginate-[Mg-Al]-LDH/SDZ films. These results describe a suitable approach for preparing innovative active wound dressings integrated to efficient drug delivery.
Keywords: Bionanocomposites; Burn wounds; Continuous casting.
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