The global rise of bacterial antibiotic resistance has created a critical challenge in treating bacterial infections. As a result, there is an urgent need for novel antimicrobial therapeutics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as promising candidates for developing into antibacterial agents due to their potent activity against bacterial pathogens. In this study, we established a computational platform capable of generating lead AMP sequences. Then the computationally generated AMPs were synthesized and incorporated into chitosan-based hydrogels to produce antimicrobial wound dressings for treating antibiotic-resistant infections. The AMPs designed with the computational platform demonstrated broad-spectrum bactericidal activity against antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, while showing minimal cytotoxicity toward mammalian cells, indicating strong therapeutic potential. Chitosan, a biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic polysaccharide derived from the deacetylation of chitin, has been used in medical applications. We applied chitosan as the base material to fabricate AMP-loaded hydrogel dressings. The physical properties of the dressings were characterized. In addition to the incorporated AMPs, the hydrogels displayed excellent water absorption ability, reducing wound water activity, further inhibiting bacterial growth. In mouse wound infection models, the AMP-loaded hydrogels significantly reduced the burden of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria, suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine production, and accelerated the healing of wounds infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Our findings demonstrate that the fabricated AMP-loaded hydrogels are highly effective biomaterials for treating wounds infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Liou et al. (Sun,) studied this question.