Plasmonic Materials in Bio-Compatible Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications (POSTER)

In few other biomedical domains, nanotechnology has made such an impact as in the converging fields of tissue engineering and wound healing. Among the many crossroads of these disciplines, the multiplication of the functionality of biomimetic scaffolds or patches is a recurrent perspective. In this context, in the recent past, there has grown interest for the enhancement of bio-polymeric hydrogels with noble metal nanoparticles assigned to manifold functions. For instance, we have proposed to exploit the plasmonic features of Au nanoparticles in chitosan physical hydrogels for wound dressing, controlled drug release, or both. In particular, Au nanorods exhibit intense bands of optical absorbance in the so-called therapeutic window and support a photothermal conversion that combines with the physicochemical features of a chitosan or composite hydrogel to bind endogenous tissue or release active ingredients. Other authors have proposed to resort to the biochemical features of Ag nanoparticles in many scaffolds including chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) physical hydrogels and electrospun fibers for antimicrobial effects. Ag nanospheres probably represent the most successful product of nanomedicine for their antimicrobial properties, which is a critical issue in wound healing. The passive and sustained release of Ag cations from Ag nanoparticles exerts a kind of cytotoxic effect on microbial pathogens and biofilms that holds low potential to elicit resistance. But the combination of optical and redox behavior of these materials may serve even more tasks of interest in wound healing. This is the case for the assessment of oxidative stress by the measurement of the rate of oxidative dissolution of Ag nanoparticles. The motivation behind all these developments is a persistent demand for better healthcare in the context of wound management.