Microbial infections are considered as one of the most important
concerns of the world community. Developing drug delivery systems based
on formulation of nanoparticles with antimicrobial agents have shown
beneficial effectiveness against microbial infections and related
antimicrobial resistance. In this study we prepared and characterized a
chitosan based hydrogel loaded with zinc oxide nanoparticles for
controlling the release of vancomycin and also improving its
antibacterial effect. Characterization studies demonstrated that the
developed biopolymeric hydrogel was able to sustained and controlled the
release of vancomycin in response to acidic media for 96 hours.
Furthermore, antimicrobial studies showed siginificant and efficient
antibacterial activity of prepared hydrogel against S. aureus and P.
aeruginosa. Based on obtained results, it can be concluded that the
prepared chitosan hydrogel containing ZnO nanoparticles has a desirable
activity for controlling the release of vancomycin and improving its
antibacterial properties.