A chitosan-based hydrogel containing zinc oxide nanoparticles as a carrier for improving antibacterial activity and controlling the release of antibiotics

Microbial infections are considered one of the most important concerns of the world community. Developing drug delivery systems based on formulation of nanoparticles (NPs) with antimicrobial agents has shown beneficial effectiveness against microbial infections and related antimicrobial resistance. In this study, the authors prepared and characterized a chitosan-based hydrogel loaded with zinc oxide NPs for controlling the release of vancomycin and also improving its antibacterial effect. Characterization studies demonstrated that the developed biopolymeric hydrogel was able to sustain and control the release of vancomycin in response to acidic media for 96 h. Furthermore, antimicrobial studies showed significant and efficient antibacterial activity of prepared hydrogel against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the prepared chitosan hydrogel (CH) containing zinc oixde (ZnO) NPs has a desirable activity for controlling the release of vancomycin and improving its antibacterial properties.