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. 2021 Nov 12;13(22):3910.
doi: 10.3390/polym13223910.

Ionotropic Gelation-Based Synthesis of Chitosan-Metal Hybrid Nanoparticles Showing Combined Antimicrobial and Tissue Regenerative Activities

Laura Lozano Chamizo  1   2   3 , Yurena Luengo Morato  1 , Karina Ovejero Paredes  1   2 , Rafael Contreras Caceres  4 , Marco Filice  1   2 , Marzia Marciello  1
Affiliations

Ionotropic Gelation-Based Synthesis of Chitosan-Metal Hybrid Nanoparticles Showing Combined Antimicrobial and Tissue Regenerative Activities

Laura Lozano Chamizo et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

The treatment of skin wounds poses significant clinical challenges, including the risk of bacterial infection. In particular due to its antimicrobial and tissue regeneration abilities chitosan (a polymeric biomaterial obtained by the deacetylation of chitin) has received extensive attention for its effectiveness in promoting skin wound repair. On the other hand, due to their intrinsic characteristics, metal nanoparticles (e.g., silver (Ag), gold (Au) or iron oxide (Fe3O4)) have demonstrated therapeutic properties potentially useful in the field of skin care. Therefore, the combination of these two promising materials (chitosan plus metal oxide NPs) could permit the achievement of a promising nanohybrid with enhanced properties that could be applied in advanced skin treatment. In this work, we have optimized the synthesis protocol of chitosan/metal hybrid nanoparticles by means of a straightforward synthetic method, ionotropic gelation, which presents a wide set of advantages. The synthesized hybrid NPs have undergone to a full physicochemical characterization. After that, the in vitro antibacterial and tissue regenerative activities of the achieved hybrids have been assessed in comparison to their individual constituent. As result, we have demonstrated the synergistic antibacterial plus the tissue regeneration enhancement of these nanohybrids as a consequence of the fusion between chitosan and metallic nanoparticles, especially in the case of chitosan/Fe3O4 hybrid nanoparticles.

Keywords: antimicrobial; biomedical applications; chitosan; gold; iron oxide; nanoparticles; nanotechnology; silver; skin regeneration; wound healing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
TEM micrographs of (a) CS NPs, (b) higher magnification of CS NPs, (c) Fe3O4 NPs, (d) hybrid CS/Fe3O4 NPs, (e) Ag NPs, (f) hybrid CS/Ag NPs, (g) Au NPS and (h) hybrid CS/Au NPs.
Scheme 1
Scheme 1
General scheme for the synthesis of (a) CS NPs and (b) hybrid CS/Metal NPs. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Surface ζ-Potential graphics of (a) CS NPs, (b) inorganic NPs and (c) hybrid CS-based NPs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
FT-IR spectra of (a) CS NPs compared to CS polymer and (b) hybrid CS based NPs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cell viability assay of fibroblast as a function of different concentration of hybrid CS/metal nanoparticles versus free metal nanoparticles at the same concentration. (a) CS/Fe3O4 NPs versus free Fe3O4 NPs. (b) CS/Ag NPs versus free Ag NPs. (c) CS/Au NPs versus free Au NPs.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Antibacterial activity of CS based hybrid NPs compared to respective inorganic NPs measured by their ability to inhibit E. coli colonies formation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Hybrid NPs accelerated migration of fibroblast in scratch assay. Positive control at 0 h, 24 h and 48 h versus CS NPs (33.75 μg/mL) at 24 h and 48 h versus CS/Fe3O4 NPs (33.75 μg/mL) at 24 h. The red lines indicate the fronts of migrating cells, and the percentage indicates the healed area.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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