Antibacterial and Photoactive Niobium Pentoxide-Loaded Chitosan–Gelatin Hydrogels with Favorable Cytocompatibility
- 1Department of Functional Materials and Electronics, State Research Institute Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC), 10257 Vilnius, Lithuania
Abstract
The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections has created an urgent need for antibacterial biomaterials that combine effective antimicrobial activity with good biocompatibility. In this study, niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5)-loaded chitosan–gelatin (CG-Nb) hybrid hydrogels containing 1.1% (G1), 1.6% (G2), and 2.0% (G3) (w/w) Nb2O5 were evaluated for their antibacterial activity, photo-induced singlet oxygen generation, and cytocompatibility. Antibacterial performance against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was assessed using agar diffusion, direct-contact colony reduction, and scanning electron microscopy, while singlet oxygen generation was investigated using the 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) bleaching assay. Cytocompatibility was evaluated using L929 fibroblasts according to ISO 10993-5. The CG-Nb hydrogels exhibited concentration-dependent antibacterial activity, with G3 showing the highest antibacterial activity among the investigated formulations. G3 produced estimated bacterial reductions of 95.7% against S. aureus and 93.3% against E. coli in the direct-contact assay, while maintaining 87.3 ± 4.8% L929 fibroblast viability after 24 h. SEM analysis revealed progressive morphological changes in bacterial cells with increasing Nb2O5 content. The DPA bleaching assay demonstrated that G3 generated photo-induced singlet oxygen under blue-light irradiation. Because the antibacterial assays were performed without blue-light irradiation, the present results do not allow the photo-induced singlet oxygen generation observed in the DPA assay to be directly associated with the antibacterial activity of the hydrogels. Overall, the Nb2O5-containing chitosan–gelatin hydrogels exhibited enhanced antibacterial activity across the evaluated concentration range while maintaining favorable cytocompatibility under the tested conditions. These findings provide a biological evaluation of the previously developed hydrogel platform and support further investigation of CG-Nb hydrogels for antibacterial biomaterial applications.
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BibTeX
@article{khalid2026antibacterial,
title = {{Antibacterial and Photoactive Niobium Pentoxide-Loaded Chitosan–Gelatin Hydrogels with Favorable Cytocompatibility}},
author = {Muhammad Usman Khalid and Kamilė Kasperavičiūtė and Antanas Straksys and Arunas Stirke and Wanessa De Melo},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ijms27209124},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9124},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Antibacterial and Photoactive Niobium Pentoxide-Loaded Chitosan–Gelatin Hydrogels with Favorable Cytocompatibility
AU - Muhammad Usman Khalid
AU - Kamilė Kasperavičiūtė
AU - Antanas Straksys
AU - Arunas Stirke
AU - Wanessa De Melo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms27209124
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/20/9124
AB - The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections has created an urgent need for antibacterial biomaterials that combine effective antimicrobial activity with good biocompatibility. In this study, niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5)-loaded chitosan–gelatin (CG-Nb) hybrid hydrogels containing 1.1% (G1), 1.6% (G2), and 2.0% (G3) (w/w) Nb2O5 were evaluated for their antibacterial activity, photo-induced singlet oxygen generation, and cytocompatibility. Antibacterial performance against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was assessed using agar diffusion, direct-contact colony reduction, and scanning electron microscopy, while singlet oxygen generation was investigated using the 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) bleaching assay. Cytocompatibility was evaluated using L929 fibroblasts according to ISO 10993-5. The CG-Nb hydrogels exhibited concentration-dependent antibacterial activity, with G3 showing the highest antibacterial activity among the investigated formulations. G3 produced estimated bacterial reductions of 95.7% against S. aureus and 93.3% against E. coli in the direct-contact assay, while maintaining 87.3 ± 4.8% L929 fibroblast viability after 24 h. SEM analysis revealed progressive morphological changes in bacterial cells with increasing Nb2O5 content. The DPA bleaching assay demonstrated that G3 generated photo-induced singlet oxygen under blue-light irradiation. Because the antibacterial assays were performed without blue-light irradiation, the present results do not allow the photo-induced singlet oxygen generation observed in the DPA assay to be directly associated with the antibacterial activity of the hydrogels. Overall, the Nb2O5-containing chitosan–gelatin hydrogels exhibited enhanced antibacterial activity across the evaluated concentration range while maintaining favorable cytocompatibility under the tested conditions. These findings provide a biological evaluation of the previously developed hydrogel platform and support further investigation of CG-Nb hydrogels for antibacterial biomaterial applications.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -