Innovative Vancomycin-Loaded Hydrogel-Based Systems – New Opportunities for the Antibiotic Therapy

Abstract

Purpose

Surgical site infections pose a significant challenge for medical services. Systemic antibiotics may be insufficient in preventing bacterial biofilm development. With the local administration of antibiotics, it is easier to minimize possible complications, achieve drugs’ higher concentration at the injured site, as well as provide their more sustained release. Therefore, the main objective of the proposed herein studies was the fabrication and characterization of innovative hydrogel-based composites for local vancomycin (VAN) therapy.

Methods

Presented systems are composed of ionically gelled chitosan particles loaded with vancomycin, embedded into biomimetic collagen/chitosan/hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels crosslinked with genipin and freeze-dried to serve in a flake/disc-like form. VAN-loaded carriers were characterized for their size, stability, and encapsulation efficiency (EE) using dynamic light scattering technique, zeta potential measurements, and UV–Vis spectroscopy, respectively. The synthesized composites were tested in terms of their physicochemical and biological features.

Results

Spherical structures with sizes of about 200 nm and encapsulation efficiencies reaching values of approximately 60% were obtained. It was found that the resulting particles exhibit stability over time. The antibacterial activity of the developed materials against Staphylococcus aureus was established. Moreover, in vitro cell culture study revealed that the surfaces of all prepared systems are biocompatible as they supported the proliferation and adhesion of the model MG-63 cells. In addition, we have demonstrated significantly prolonged VAN release while minimizing the initial burst effect for the composites compared to bare nanoparticles and verified their desired physicochemical features during swellability, and degradation experiments.

Conclusion

It is expected that the developed herein system will enable direct delivery of the antibiotic at an exposed to infections surgical site, providing drugs sustained release and thus will reduce the risk of systemic toxicity. This strategy would both inhibit biofilm formation and accelerate the healing process.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• vancomycin
• hydrogels
• chitosan-based capsules
• biopolymers
• delivery systems

Copyright Statement

Parts of the graphical abstract were drawn by using pictures from Servier Medical Art. Servier Medical Art by Servier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the RODBUK repository: https://doi.org/10.57903/UJ/MZNXTP.

Acknowledgments

The Authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Centre, Poland, grant OPUS 21, No UMO – 2021/41/B/NZ7/03816. The open-access publication of this article has been supported by a grant from the Faculty of Chemistry under the Strategic Programme Excellence Initiative at Jagiellonian University.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

On behalf of all authors, I declare that this manuscript is original, has not been published before and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere. I confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. I further confirm that the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all of us.