Effective Strategies for Developing Potent, Broad-Spectrum Antibacterial and Wound Healing Promotion from Short-Chain Antimicrobial Peptides

Traumatic multidrug resistant bacterial infections arethe mostlethal threat to wound healing. Antimicrobial peptides have been widelyused in the antimicrobial field for their good biocompatibility andresistance to multidrug-resistant bacteria. In this work, bacterialmembranes of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were extracted and immobilizedon homemade silica microspheres to make a bacterial membrane chromatographystationary phase in order to quickly screen for peptides with antibacterialeffects. The antimicrobial peptide was then successfully screenedusing bacterial membrane chromatography from a library of peptidessynthesized by the one-bead-one-compound method. The antimicrobialpeptide was effective in better shielding both Gram-positive and Gram-negativebacteria. Based on this antimicrobial peptide (RWPIL), we have developedan antimicrobial hydrogel with a backbone of this antimicrobial peptideand oxidized dextran (ODEX). Owing to the interlinkage between thealdehyde group in oxidized dextran and the amine group from the traumatissue, the hydrogel extends over the irregular obverse of the skindefect and promotes epithelial cell adhesion. Based on the histomorphologicalanalysis, we confirmed that the RWPIL-ODEX hydrogel exertsa powerful therapeutic effect in a wound infection model. In conclusion,we have developed a new antimicrobial peptide, RWPIL, and a hydrogelbased on the peptide that kills multidrug-resistant bacteria parasiticon wounds and promotes wound healing.