Anti-staphylococcal hydrogels based on bacterial cellulose and the antimicrobial biopolyester poly(3-hydroxy-acetylthioalkanoate-co-3-hydroxyalkanoate)

11 p.-7 fig.-4 tab.Polymeric hydrogels from bacterial cellulose (BC) have been widely used for the development of wound dressings due to its water holding capacity, its high tensile strength and flexibility, its permeability to gases and liquids, but lacks antibacterial activity. In this work, we have developed novel antimicrobial hydrogels composed of BC and the antimicrobial poly(3-hydroxy-acetylthioalkanoate-co-3-hydroxyalkanoate) (PHACOS). Hydrogels based on different PHACOS contents (20 and 50 wt%) were generated and analysed through different techniques (IR, DSC, TGA, rheology, SEM and EDX) and their bactericidal activity was studied against Staphylococcus aureus. PHACOS20 (BC 80%-PHACOS 20%) hydrogel shows mechanical and thermal properties in the range of human skin and anti-staphylococcal activity (kills 1.8 logs) demonstrating a huge potential for wound healing applications. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity assay using fibroblast cells showed that it keeps cell viability over 85% in all the cases after seven days.Authors thank financial support to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science,Innovation and Universities [MAT2017-84277-R and Bio2017-8344-8-R], the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme [grant agreement no 870294 (Mix-Up)] and the Community of Madrid [P2018/NMT4389] for the financial support of this project.Peer reviewe