A Topical Alginate-Based Wound Gel Fixated with Metal-Based Nanoparticles and Tranexamic Acid as a Hemostatic Wound Healing System

Abstract

Wounds are usually accompanied by complications such as excessive bleeding and bacteria invasion. The design of wound dressings that rapidly stop excessive bleeding and inhibit bacterial invasion, is crucial to promoting accelerated wound healing. To meet the abovementioned requirements in wound dressings, topical gels were prepared from sodium alginate (SA) and carbopol. The wound dressings were loaded with an antifibrinolytic agent, tranexamic acid, and a variety of metal-based nanoparticles. The prepared topical gels displayed significant antibacterial efficacy against Gram-negative bacteria and moderate activity against Gram-positive bacterial strains. These gels exhibited good spreadability and viscosity, signifying suitability for skin application, and ease of application. Moreover, the prepared gels showed good cytocompatibility, promoted cell proliferation, and exhibited > 85% wound closure on day 3 compared to the untreated which showed a 38% wound reduction in vitro. Excellent blood clotting absorbance values were observed for the gels compared to the control, showing that they can promote blood clotting. Features presented by the prepared gels reveal that they are promising wound dressings for treating bleeding and infected wounds.