In vivo wound healing potential of chitosan gel based silver nanoparticles synthesized from Martynia annua

Abstract

A green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) incorporated chitosan gel for wound healing applications was developed using medicinal plant Martynia annua fresh leaves extract. The utilization of various medicinal plant materials for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles is considered a green synthetic technology as it does not require any harmful chemicals. The present study dealt with green synthesized AgNPs from M. annua followed by being incorporating into chitosan gel as a delivery system to evaluate their wound healing potential. Attrition of silver nitrate was used to synthesize silver nanoparticles using aqueous plant extracts. Watersoluble organic (or) phytochemical compounds present in the plant materials are responsible to reduce the silver ions to nano-sized silver nanoparticles. The green synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, particle size, zeta potential and cytotoxicity assay. Based on the result of cytotoxicity assay, AgNPs minimum inhibitory concentration of cytotoxicity was fixed incorporated into chitosan gel. The plain chitosan gel and AgNPs incorporated chitosan gel were used to evaluate the in vivo wound healing activity (excision) in Wister albino rats. After complete wound healing, rate of contraction, period of epithelization, histopathology of skin, antioxidant assays (Lipid Peroxidation (LPO), myeloperoxidase (MPO)), antiinflammatory biomarker study of CycloOxygenase (COX-2) were studied. Silver nanoparticles potentially accelerate the wound healing. The present research suggests that the synergistic combination of silver nanoparticle and chitosan is a promising strategy to address various wounds and has better wound healing capacity.