Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of an antiseptic hydrogel prepared with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

In both developed and developing countries, food and consumption habits have led us to a dead end where most of the population suffers alterations in metabolism, which leads to diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), high blood pressure and chronic inflammation. DM can increase the risk of having some skin problems, such as bacterial and fungal infections that lead to ulcers that are very difficult to heal, and a large percentage of patients even lose their lower extremities. A proposal for the care of ulcer wounds, diabetic foot, burns, among others, is to implement patches and/or bandages with a silver nanoparticle gel used as an antiseptic, as an alternative administration system to antibiotics to control and inhibit the colonization of microorganisms such as super bacteria. Since silver nanoparticles have great potential in biomedical applications such as bactericidal, fungicidal, antiviral or agent healing, among others. Of all its uses, one of the most important is his employment as an agent antiseptic for hygienic and medical purposes. In this work we prepared a hydrogel with a concentration of 1000 μg/mL of Ag NPs, and stability studies were carried out: pH study of the final formulation and physical study to corroborate that the hydrogel maintains its appearance, color, odor and pH for 30 days at 25 °C and 40 °C. Its antimicrobial activity was evaluated and compared against a commercial cream containing silver sulfadiazine. From the Kirby-Bauer test, an average diameter of the inhibition zones for our hydrogel was obtained that was greater than that of the inhibition zones for the commercial cream. Ttherefore, the hydrogel prepared with AgNPs has good antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.