Dissolvable zinc oxide nanoparticle-loaded wound dressing with preferential exudate absorption and hemostatic features

A major challenge in treating burn wounds is bacteria invasion which prolongs the wound healing process. Most of the available wound dressings used to treat burn wounds can cause further skin tears upon removal. Due to this limitation, there is a need to design wound dressings that can be easily removed without causing skin tears with desirable antibacterial activity and absorption capability. Dissolvable wound dressings were prepared from a combination of sodium alginate and Poloxamer-407. B02, B08, and B13 loaded with a combination of ZnO NPs and ciprofloxacin or ciprofloxacin alone exhibit promising antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Echerischia coli, and Klebsiella aeruginosa. Most of the wound dressings displayed excellent porosity with a rapid uptake of the simulated wound exudate in the range of 870–4468% followed by dissolution. Haemostasis evaluation on the wound dressings reveal low absorbance values of 0.2511 (p-value = 0.0094), 0.2066 (p-value = 0.0002) for B02 and B03 compared to the control (whole blood) suggesting ideal clotting capability. The exceptional features of the prepared wound dressings reveal their potential use for the management of burn wounds on sensitive skin.