Green synthesized nanosilver loaded silk fibroin gel for enhanced wound healing

One of the ideal growth mediums for microbes especially bacteria is an open wound of host. Microbial infection of wounds has always presented challenges toward wound healing. It is believed that combination of cell growth promoting agent along with antimicrobial agent will prove fruitful in fast wound healing. Thus objective of the present work was to prepare nanosilver loaded silk fibroin (NSF) by in situ reduction of silver ions to silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and further to evaluate its wound healing potential. The prepared NSF dispersion was characterized by UV spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), silver content analysis and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Further, NSF was transformed into gel and compared to marketed topical gel (soframycin gel) for wound healing in male wistar rats. NSF gel had more pronounced wound healing than marketed formulation which is believed to be due to dual role played by NSF gel wherein silk fibroin acted as epidermal cell growth promoter and AgNPs acted as antimicrobial agent leading to faster percent wound closure. This investigation also proposes the need for such combinations of a cell growth promoting agent with antimicrobial agents in the treatment of wounds.