Assessment of PVA/silver nanocomposite hydrogel patch as antimicrobial dressing scaffold: Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation.

A novel, elastic, non-adhesive and antimicrobial hydrogel PVA scaffold (loaded with AgNPs) synthesized using freeze-thaw method has been characterized in this study. The direct visualization of the as synthesized (one-pot green synthesis methodology) AgNPs using TEM shows particle size in the range of 7±3nm. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AgNPs for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was estimated to be 7.81μg/mL, whereas for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (gram negative) it was around 3.90μg/mL. The antimicrobial efficacy of AgNPs was further studied by protein leakage, ROS and LDH activity assay. The quantitative elemental analysis of silver was calculated before and after release in phosphate buffer (pH-7.4) by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The antimicrobial efficacy of the scaffold was retained even after 96h of release of AgNPs which suggests that the scaffold can be used as a reservoir for AgNPs to maintain a moist and sterile environment for a long period of time.