The number of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains has been dramatically increased over the past few decades. With bacteria constantly evolving, humans are unable to discover new antibiotics fast enough to keep an upper hand in this race. It is therefore vital to explore novel non-antibiotic-based antimicrobial drugs with high efficacy and different mechanisms of action to inhibit bacterial growth. This study was focused on designing a biocompatible and efficient nanocomposite drug delivery system containing Vitamin C-Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) incorporated into alumina hydrogels. Thus far, such approaches have resulted in the discovery of new drugs with both antibacterial and wound healing properties as compared to conventional antibiotic-based drugs. It has been demonstrated that γ-alumina hydrogels with CuNPs embedded in the hydrogel network can be readily formed by hydrolysis reactions of aluminum isopropoxide in water, followed by incorporation of CuNPs. The products obtained in both nanoparticles and composite forms were fully characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The CuNPs released from the hydrogels are expected to exhibit improved cellular penetration via endocytosis, and have the ability to trigger apoptosis by generating Reactive oxygen species (ROS) in bacterial cells. The antibacterial efficacy of CuNPs was examined and found to be highly active against Staphylococcus aureus(SA) , Pseudomonas aeruginosa(PA) as well as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Synergistic effects of copper-vitamin C incorporated alumina nanocomposite hydrogels for burn wound healing

2019 Spring National Meeting

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