Chitosan-stabilized electrospun nanofiber dressings with embedded flame-made nanosilver for the treatment of resistant infections
Abstract
Wound healing can be severely compromised by infections, particularly those caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We developed antibacterial wound dressings based on electrospun polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan nanofibers containing flame-made silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The 2–10 nm Ag NPs are embedded within ∼200 nm fibers, enabling a high and sustained Ag+ ion release with no detectable nanoparticle release, which may help mitigate concerns associated with nanoparticle exposure. Chitosan structurally stabilizes the fibers while modulating swelling and local pH to enhance Ag+ diffusion. The dressings achieved >99.9999% bacterial reduction in vitro and up to 99% ex vivo using freshly excised human skin. Crucially, the dressings maintained >90% viability of human keratinocytes and fibroblasts and showed no detectable impairment of short-term wound healing. This study introduces a scalable, safe-by-design nanofiber platform for infection-resistant and healing-compatible wound care and supports its further evaluation in preclinical studies.
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BibTeX
@article{ramachandran2026chitosanstabilized,
title = {{Chitosan-stabilized electrospun nanofiber dressings with embedded flame-made nanosilver for the treatment of resistant infections}},
author = {Reshma V. Ramachandran and Jennifer Geara Semaan and Maria Samara and Thomas Thersleff and Matthew Fielden and Pehr Sommar and Ning Xu Landén and Georgios A. Sotiriou},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.117991},
url = {https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03374-2},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Chitosan-stabilized electrospun nanofiber dressings with embedded flame-made nanosilver for the treatment of resistant infections
AU - Reshma V. Ramachandran
AU - Jennifer Geara Semaan
AU - Maria Samara
AU - Thomas Thersleff
AU - Matthew Fielden
AU - Pehr Sommar
AU - Ning Xu Landén
AU - Georgios A. Sotiriou
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - iScience
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117991
UR - https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03374-2
AB - Wound healing can be severely compromised by infections, particularly those caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We developed antibacterial wound dressings based on electrospun polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan nanofibers containing flame-made silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The 2–10 nm Ag NPs are embedded within ∼200 nm fibers, enabling a high and sustained Ag+ ion release with no detectable nanoparticle release, which may help mitigate concerns associated with nanoparticle exposure. Chitosan structurally stabilizes the fibers while modulating swelling and local pH to enhance Ag+ diffusion. The dressings achieved >99.9999% bacterial reduction in vitro and up to 99% ex vivo using freshly excised human skin. Crucially, the dressings maintained >90% viability of human keratinocytes and fibroblasts and showed no detectable impairment of short-term wound healing. This study introduces a scalable, safe-by-design nanofiber platform for infection-resistant and healing-compatible wound care and supports its further evaluation in preclinical studies.
SN - 2589-0042
ER -