Antimicrobial Activity of Hybrid Hydrogels Based on Poly(Vinylpyrrolidone) Containing Silver

Abstract

New hybrid hydrogels were prepared by radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, itaconic acid, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) and silver salt. FTIR spectroscopy has confirmed binding of silver particles in hydrogels. Swelling studies performed in in vitro conditions showed dependence on PVP content and temperature. It can be seen that the antimicrobial activity of the Ag/P(HEMA/IA)PVP hybrid hydrogels depends on the PVP moiety and with the increase of PVP content the microbial contamination is more efficiently reduced. The best sensitivity was obtained for the polymers tested for antimicrobial activity against the yeast C. albicans, one of the most commonly encountered human pathogens, causing a wide variety of infections ranging from mucosal infections in generally healthy persons to life-threatening systemic infections in individuals with impaired immunity. A slightly less susceptible to antimicrobial effect of hydrogels was obtained for the Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus, where the reduction of cells was about 70% after two hours of exposure, for the sample with the highest PVP content. The least susceptible to the antimicrobial activity of hydrogels examined was the Gram-negative bacteria E. coli, where the percent of cell reduction was below 20%. Bearing in mind the influence of the time of exposure of microbes to the Ag//P(HEMA/IA)/PVP hybrid hydrogels, it was observed that the reduction of the number of cells depends on time, microbial culture and type of hybrid hydrogel sample. Due to their swelling and antimicrobial properties, silver/poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/itaconic acid)/poly(vinylpyrrolidone) hybrid hydrogles show potential to use in the field of biomedicine, especially for treatment of skin and burns in dermocosmetics.