Bifunctional Therapeutic High-Valence Silver-Pyridoxine Nanoparticles with Proliferative and Antibacterial Wound-Healing Activities

The antibacterial and moisturizing effects inherent to silver nanoparticles contribute greatly to their use as a topical antibacterial agent. The antibacterial property of silver nanoparticles provides topical wounds with an indirect environment for healing through the prevention of pathogenic infection. However, the direct wound-healing effects of silver nanoparticles have not been previously explored. In this work, we report a bimodal therapeutic silver nanoparticle that possesses both direct wound-healing and antibacterial properties. The nanoparticles consist of high-valence silver-pyridoxine complexes. The wound-healing efficacy was verified in diabetic mice, as well as in vitro assays. A MAPK pathway study demonstrated that silver-pyridoxine nanoparticles induced the proliferation and migration of keratinocyte and fibroblast cells. Antibacterial activities in 8 different pathogenic bacteria responsible for the infection of burn wounds were tested. The rapid wound healing occurring on skin wounds of diabetic mice attests to the utility of bimodal therapeutic silver nanoparticles as a next-generation topical therapeutic agent.