Electrospun silver chloride-loaded PVA nanofibers as a potential antibacterial and electroconductive scaffold for the management of wound infection and healing

Recently, designing and fabricating effectual wound dressings have gained a great deal of interest for the proper management of wound infections and biofilms. The present study is focused on the fabricating and characterizing silver chloride-loaded polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers as antibacterial and conductive wound dressing scaffold by electrospinning technique. Polyvinyl alcohol was subjected to the electrospinning process, and silver chloride was incorporated within PVA nanofibers via in situ reaction between silver nitrate and sodium chloride during the fiber-forming process. The obtained silver-free and silver chloride-containing nanofibers were characterized by different techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (DSC and TGA), etc. The gravimetric method and tensile testing were used to determine the porosity and mechanical properties of the fabricated nanofibers. The nanofiber’s in vitro degradation, swelling, and water retention properties were assessed, and their drug loading and release profiles were evaluated by the atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) method. The wound healing characteristics of the obtained nanofibers, such as antibacterial activity, hemocompatibility, electrical conductivity, and cytotoxicity were evaluated in vitro. The results of this study confirmed that the silver chloride-containing nanofibers exhibit desired physicochemical, morphological, and mechanical properties and could be considered as a potential wound dressing for the management of infectious wounds. On the other hand, the obtained nanofibers showed higher hemocompatibility (less than 5% hemolysis ratio) and cell viability (over 80% after 48 h) as well as appropriate antibacterial activity against two representative strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Graphical abstract