Silver-decorated mesostructured cellular silica foams as excellent antibacterial hemostatic agents for rapid and effective treatment of hemorrhage

Uncontrolled bleeding, such as deep, narrow or irregular wound hemorrhage, has been a major cause of death in peacetime and wartime. Besides, traditional hemostatic agents are lack of antibacterial properties, which could not provide effective protection on open wound. In this paper, a novel antibacterial hemostatic agent composed of mesostructured cellular silica foams (MCF) decorated with silver ions (MCF-Ag) was synthesized by hydrothermal method. Hemorrhage wound infected with Escherichia coli was applied to evaluate its antibacterial and hemostatic performance both in vitro and in vivo. Both MCF and MCF-Ag showed excellent hemostasis in vitro and in vivo. The MCF-Ag demonstrated significant antibacterial effect. By contrast, no obvious antibacterial effect was observed from the MCF. The above results demonstrate that the MCF-Ag is an excellent antibacterial hemostatic agent with splendid water absorption and antibacterial capacity.