Fabrication and characterisation of chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol-based transparent hydrogel films loaded with silver nanoparticles and sildenafil citrate for wound dressing applications

The wounds caused by either burning or trauma are recognised potentially dangerous. Hydrogels are perceived as promising materials in wounds care applications. In the first step, various compounds were fabricated to obtain the optimal composition and then characterised using several techniques, including a water vapour passage test, antibacterial test, scanning electron microscopy, water absorption, tensile strength, biodegradability, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Next, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) plus sildenafil citrate as a well-known angiogenesis stimulant were added to the compound. The prepared wound dressings with different compounds were applied to three Wistar rat groups. Haematoxylin and eosin, and silver staining methods were used. The results revealed the optimised sample and the sample possessing the AgNPs outperformed the others in antibacterial activity. The angiogenesis was significantly triggered by the sildenafil citrate-treated group, and the better recovery was observed for rats treated with the optimised sample encompassing AgNPs and sildenafil citrate.