Conjugated linolenic acid polymer dressings impregnated with silver nano-crystals: Fabrication and dual inhibition functions assessment on tumor cells and microorganisms

•CLn polymer dressings impregnated with silver nano-crystals was fabricated.•CLn/Ag dressings inhibited the viability of tumor cells and bacterial.•The biological activity of CLn/Ag dressings was surface feature-dependent.•CLn/Ag dressings hold promise to inhibit hamartoplasia and bacterial infection.

In this study, a combination route of the solvent volatilization-in situ cross-linking method and ascorbic acid in situ reduction method was developed to fabricate conjugated linolenic acid polymer dressings impregnated silver nano-crystals (CLn/Ag dressings). Scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Energy Dispersive X-ray and atomic absorption spectroscopy provided a qualitative and quantitative support to the formation of silver nano-crystals on the hill-structured conjugated linolenic acid polymer dressings. The size of hill-shaped structure and silver nano-crystals, and the loading efficiency of silver could be controlled by adjusting the ratio of conjugated linolenic acid to silver source. The cells viability analysis and morphological evidences displayed that the inhibition of CLn/Ag dressings on PC 12 tumor cells were closely related with the conjugated linolenic acid polymers rather than silver nano-crystals. The highest inhibition ratio got to 82.3 %. The antibacterial activity towards Bacillus subtilis and Staphyloccocus aureus was investigated for different CLn/Ag dressings by using disc diffusion method. The results revealed that the dressings had significant bactericidal effect on both bacteria in a silver loading efficiency-dependent mode. This research supports the potential value of CLn/Ag dressings as coating for tissue engineering substitutes to simultaneously inhibit hamartoplasia and bacterial infection during operation.