Hydrogel dressings are crosslinked hydrophilic polymers able of swelling in presence of water and can be used in many different types of wound care. In turn, in wound care, silver has been used for a long time as an effective antimicrobial agent. Recent studies have demonstrated an increase of its antimicrobial action when it is used at nanometer scale, that is, as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which have anti-inflammatory effect on infected wounds, rashes, and mesh skin grafts. The objective of this work was to study hydrogel dressings containing AgNPs from silver nitrate, synthesized by radiation involving the formation of silver nanoparticles with simultaneous occurrence of crosslinking and sterilization of the polymer systems. One of the hydrogels was prepared with poly(N-vinyl-2- pyrrolidone) (PVP) and the other with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as main studied polymers. An aqueous solution of AgNO3 was added to both polymer systems separately. The AgNPs synthesis, polymer crosslinking and dressing sterilization were achieved simultaneously by irradiating the resultant solutions with gamma-rays from a 60Co source. Gel fraction, swelling in reverse osmosis water, SEM-EDS, UV-visible spectroscopy, and antimicrobial activity were performed and characterized. The obtained results showed that the dressings have a soft consistency, high degree of crosslinking and swelling, homogeneous distribution of AgNPs with peaks of plasmonic bands about 400 nm, but only PVP hydrogel showed antimicrobial properties to P. aeruginosa and normal S. aureus. Moreover, this hydrogel also showed antimicrobial properties to S. aureus strain multiresistant to penicillins, cephalosporins, carbapenems, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, quinolones, and aminoglycosides, whereas the PVA hydrogel showed antimicrobial properties to P. aeruginosa and bacteriostatic activity to S. aureus. The results suggest that both synthesized dressings have potential for use in wounds and burns infected with gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

水凝胶敷料是能够在水存在下溶胀的交联的亲水性聚合物，可用于许多不同类型的伤口护理中。反过来，在伤口护理中，银已被长期用作有效的抗菌剂。最近的研究表明，当将其以纳米级使用时，即作为银纳米颗粒（AgNPs）使用时，其抗菌作用增强了，对感染的伤口，皮疹和网状皮肤移植物具有抗炎作用。这项工作的目的是研究由硝酸银制成的包含AgNPs的水凝胶敷料，该水凝胶敷料是通过辐射合成的，涉及形成银纳米颗粒，同时发生交联和聚合物体系灭菌。用聚（N-乙烯基-2-吡咯烷酮）（PVP）和另一种以聚乙烯醇（PVA）为主要研究对象的聚合物。将AgNO 3的水溶液分别添加到两种聚合物体系中。AgNPs的合成，聚合物的交联和敷料灭菌可通过用60Co来源的伽马射线辐照所得溶液同时实现。进行了凝胶分数，在反渗透水中的溶胀，SEM-EDS，紫外可见光谱和抗菌活性的表征。获得的结果表明，敷料具有柔软的稠度，高交联度和溶胀度，均匀的AgNPs分布，并具有等离子带的峰值，约为400 nm，但是只有PVP水凝胶对铜绿假单胞菌和正常金黄色葡萄球菌具有抗菌性能。此外，这种水凝胶还显示出对金黄色葡萄球菌菌株的抗微生物特性，该菌株对青霉素，头孢菌素，碳青霉烯，磺酰胺，四环素，喹诺酮和氨基糖苷具有多重耐药性，而PVA水凝胶显示对铜绿假单胞菌具有抗菌特性和对金黄色葡萄球菌的抑菌活性。结果表明，两种合成敷料均具有潜在的潜力，可用于感染革兰氏阳性和革兰氏阴性细菌的伤口和烧伤。