Silver Ion Loaded Agarose-Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel as a Potential Antibacterial Wound Dressing

Wound infection, especially chronic ones, not only increases the opportunity to generate superbacteria but also imposes significant burden, both physically and mentally, on the patients. Therefore, the development of suitable wound addressing is an important way to deal with this matter. Here in this study, we employed the good gelling property of agarose (AR) and the wound healing promotion effect of hyaluronic acid (HA) to prepare an agarose-hyaluronic acid hydrogel. The AR-HA gel was loaded with silver ion (Ag+ from AgNO3) upon gelling (AR-HA/Ag) and finally applied as a potential wound dressing for antibacterial treatment and healing promotion of wounds. Our results suggested that the AR-HA/Ag hydrogel maintained the antibacterial efficacy of Ag+ while significantly promoted the healing of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) due to the cell proliferation promotion effect of HA. Taken together, AR-HA/Ag might be a potential antibacterial wound dressing for future application in clinic.