Long-term antibacterial composite via alginate aerogel sustained release of antibiotics and Cu used for bone tissue bacteria infection.

Bone related-bacterial diseases including wound infections and osteomyelitis (OM) remain a serious problem accompanied with amputation in most severe cases. In this work, we report an exceptional effective antibacterial alginate aerogel, which consists of tigecycline (TGC) and octahedral Cu crystal as an organo-inorganic synergy platform for antibacterial and local infection therapy applications. The alginate aerogel could greatly prolong the release of copper ions and maintain effective antibacterial concentration over 18 days. The result of in-vitro experiments demonstrated that the alginate aerogel has an exceptional effective function on antibacterial activity. Cytotoxicity tests indicated that the alginate aerogel has low biological toxicity (average cell viability >75%). These remarkable results suggested that the alginate aerogel exhibits great potential for the treatment of OM, and has a prosperous future of application in bone tissue engineering.