In the present work, we have tested the potency of iodine-loaded agar transdermal patches (5 mg/cm2) for the treatment of infected diabetic wounds in the Wistar rat model. The rats were treated with the newly developed agar-iodine-potassium iodide (KI)-glycerol (AKIG) patch along with two other commercial dressings Iodoflex and Tegaderm as controls. Animals that received treatment with AKIG patches and Iodoflex showed better infection containment as compared to that with Tegaderm-covered control and exhibited complete healing. The antimicrobial property of all the patches was tested on three bacterial species-Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa-found in infected wounds. P. aeruginosa exhibited the highest minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values among the three bacterial species for all the patches. The patch showed values of tensile strength, elongation, water vapor transmission rate, and swelling in the range of 34 ± 5 MPa, 51% ± 5, 2700 ± 110 g/m2/day, and 250% ± 25, respectively, for the agar-KI-iodine patch. The release kinetics of iodine through the agar matrix was found to follow the first-order drug release kinetics.
Keywords: agar−iodine transdermal patch; bacterial infection; diabetic animal model; diabetic wound healing; infected diabetic wounds.