Light-degradable nanocomposite hydrogels for antibacterial wound dressing applications.

Skin injuries infected by bacteria can cause life-threatening human diseases if not treated properly. In this work, we developed a light-degradable nanocomposite hydrogel to achieve both controlled antibiotic delivery and hydrogel degradation using light as the sole stimulus. Specifically, we incorporated triclosan-loaded, poly(-isopropylacrylamide)-based nanogels (TCS-NGs) that exhibited potent antibacterial efficacy, into a light-degradable poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel matrix simple physical entrapment method. Upon exposure to 365 nm light, the hydrogel matrix could rapidly degrade, which subsequently released the entrapped TCS-NGs into the surrounding environment. Our results demonstrated that TCS-NGs released from light-degradable nanocomposite hydrogels still possessed remarkable antibacterial efficacy by inhibiting the growth of both in solution (a fivefold reduction in optical density compared to the blank control) and on bacteria-infected porcine skins (a fivefold reduction in colony-forming units compared to the blank control). Finally, using an alamarBlue assay on human dermal fibroblasts, we determined that each component of the nanocomposite hydrogel exhibited excellent biocompatibility (>90% cell viability) and would not cause significant cytotoxicity. Overall, the fabricated light-degradable nanocomposite hydrogels could serve as novel material for antibacterial wound dressing applications.