Context: The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens poses a significant challenge for global public health systems, increasing hospital morbidity and mortality and prolonged hospitalization.
Objective: We evaluated the antimicrobial activity of a thermosensitive hydrogel containing bio-synthesized silver nanoparticles (bio-AgNPs) based on chitosan/poloxamer 407 using a leaf extract of Eucalyptus calmadulensis.
Results: The thermosensitive hydrogel was prepared by a cold method after mixing the ingredients and left at 4°C overnight to ensure the complete solubilization of poloxamer 407. The stability of the hydrogel formulation was evaluated at room temperature for 3 months, and the absorption peak (420 nm) of the NPs remained unchanged. The hydrogel formulation demonstrated rapid gelation under physiological conditions, excellent water retention (85%), and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against MDR clinical isolates and ATCC strains. In this regard, minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum microbial concentration values of the bio-AgNPs ranged from 2-8 μg/mL to 8-128 μg/mL, respectively. Formulation at concentrations <64 μg/mL showed no cytotoxic effect on human-derived macrophages (THP-1 cells) with no induction of inflammation.
Conclusions: The formulated hydrogel could be used in biomedical applications as it possesses a broad antimicrobial spectrum and anti-inflammatory properties without toxic effects on human cells.
Copyright: © 2023 Wunnoo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.