Construction of silver sulfadiazine loaded chitosan composite sponges as potential wound dressings.

Chitosan/silver sulfadiazine (CS/AgSD) composite sponges were prepared by incorporating AgSD particles into CS matrix in order to develop novel biomaterials for wound healing. The co-existence of CS and AgSD in the composite sponges was confirmed by SEM, FTIR and XRD spectra, respectively. The porosity and swelling properties of the fabricated CS/AgSD composite sponges were examined and the results indicated that they had high porosity and excellent swelling behaviors. Antibacterial property of the CS/AgSD composite sponges was also performed against E. coli, C. albicans, S. aureus and B. subtilis, respectively. The results showed that they possessed broad spectrum of antibacterial activity. The cytotoxicity of the prepared composite sponges was performed by MTT viability assay and fluorescence staining method on HEK293 cell lines. The cell viability results indicated that the designed sponges had no significant cytotoxicity. The results of this study demonstrated that the CS/AgSD composite sponges have potential application in antimicrobial wound dressing materials.