Biological evaluation of microcurrent wound dressing based on printed silver and zinc electrodes

Abstract

Five types of silver/zinc (Ag/Zn) microcurrent dressings with different metal content were fabricated by screen printing and well-characterized by morphology, electricity and biological analysis in this study. Ag and Zn were printed alternately in a stripe pattern on the dressings’ surface. The metal particles adhered to the dressings sparsely, then densely, as the metal content increased gradually. The electrical test showed that with the increase of the metal content on the dressings, the current and voltage between positive and negative electrodes increased correspondingly. Hemolysis experiments demonstrated that the low to medium concentration of the metal would not cause hemolysis of red blood cells and had excellent blood compatibility. The results of coagulation experiments indicated that the coagulation performance within 10 min of the dressings was comparable with that of alginate dressing; in addition, the hemostatic performance was excellent. The cytotoxicity tests showed that the dressing A-C with low to medium concentration of the metal content, had no cytotoxicity, which followed the dose–effect relationship between the cytotoxicity and the metal content of the dressing. Furthermore, cell migration and mitochondrial membrane potential experiments indicated that microcurrent dressings altered mitochondrial membrane potentials of human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells while regulating cell migration. The stronger the current generated by the microcurrent base cloth, the more pronounced the migration effect of HFF cells becomes, and the higher the membrane potential of the fibroblasts within the acceptable threshold value range.