Chitosan dressings containing inorganic additives and levofloxacin as potential wound care products with enhanced hemostatic properties.

Despite the progress in the development of hemostatic products, efficient treatment solutions to control hemorrhage upon wounding are still necessary. Chitosan (CS) is a natural hydrogel-forming polysaccharide, easy to modify for specific applications. Inorganic compounds in turn possess documented hemostatic properties. In this study, innovative hemostatic products based on CS, containing the inorganic additives aluminum chloride, aluminum sulfate hydrate or iron(III) sulfate and the antibiotic Levofloxacin were prepared, and their potential use as hemostatic materials was investigated. Structural characteristics, physical state and drug loading/release properties were examined. Strong interactions developed between CS and the additives, the pore size in the resulting products was affected, swelling increased up to 2500% and the stability of the wound dressings improved. The crystallinity of Levofloxacin reduced, and its release was immediate. The materials showed biocompatibility upon contact with cultured keratinocytes, hemocompatibility and hemostatic efficacy in vitro and in vivo.