Multifunctional Plasma-Activated Alginate Dressing Potentiates the Moist Healing of Chronic Infected Wounds

Although they are beneficial for promoting the moist healing of wounds, alginate dressings often face inherent limitations, such as a lack of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity, in the management of chronic infected wounds. As a green chemical technology for generating reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), cold atmospheric plasma has shown promise in the bioactivation of medical dressings. Herein, a moist air discharge plasma-activated alginate dressing (mPA-AD) is proposed for enhanced moist healing of chronic infected wounds. In vitro studies reveal that many plasma-generated RONS are effectively loaded into mPA-AD, and mPA-AD exhibits promising RONS storage and slow release properties and is endowed with redox-based antibacterial and bioregulatory activities. The in vivo results confirm that mPA-AD significantly reduces bacterial infection, suppresses inflammatory responses, and induces the expression of growth factors, thereby accelerating the healing of chronic infected wounds without significant systemic toxicity. Our findings indicate that mPA-AD could be an effective therapeutic agent for the moist healing of chronic infected wounds.