Yu Ya-Chu, Hu Ming-Hsien, Zhuang Hui-Zhong, Phan Thi Ha My, Jiang Yi-Sheng, Jan Jeng-Shiung
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
Department of Post-Baccalaureate Medicine, College of Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Oct 3;15(19):3978. doi: 10.3390/polym15193978.
We report the feasibility of using gelatin hydrogel networks as the host for the in situ, environmentally friendly formation of well-dispersed zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) and the evaluation of the antibacterial activity of the as-prepared composite hydrogels. The resulting composite hydrogels displayed remarkable biocompatibility and antibacterial activity as compared to those in previous studies, primarily attributed to the uniform distribution of the ZnONPs with sizes smaller than 15 nm within the hydrogel network. In addition, the composite hydrogels exhibited better thermal stability and mechanical properties as well as lower swelling ratios compared to the unloaded counterpart, which could be attributed to the non-covalent interactions between the in situ formed ZnONPs and polypeptide chains. The presence of ZnONPs contributed to the disruption of bacterial cell membranes, the alteration of DNA molecules, and the subsequent release of reactive oxygen species within the bacterial cells. This chain of events culminated in bacterial cell lysis and DNA fragmentation. This research underscores the potential benefits of incorporating antibacterial agents into hydrogels and highlights the significance of preparing antimicrobial agents within gel networks.
我们报告了使用明胶水凝胶网络作为原位、环境友好地形成均匀分散的氧化锌纳米颗粒（ZnONPs）的基质的可行性，以及对所制备的复合水凝胶抗菌活性的评估。与先前研究中的水凝胶相比，所得复合水凝胶表现出显著的生物相容性和抗菌活性，这主要归因于尺寸小于15 nm的ZnONPs在水凝胶网络中的均匀分布。此外，与未负载的对应物相比，复合水凝胶表现出更好的热稳定性和机械性能以及更低的溶胀率，这可归因于原位形成的ZnONPs与多肽链之间的非共价相互作用。ZnONPs的存在导致细菌细胞膜的破坏、DNA分子的改变以及随后细菌细胞内活性氧的释放。这一系列事件最终导致细菌细胞裂解和DNA片段化。本研究强调了将抗菌剂掺入水凝胶中的潜在益处，并突出了在凝胶网络中制备抗菌剂的重要性。
