Abstract

Due to its anti-microbial properties, silver has been used in wound treatment for many decades. In some cases, the wound is covered a week or longer with a foam dressing that contains silver as an anti-microbial agent. Although more expensive, silver laden dressings have been found to be more effective at reducing the microbial load, thereby allowing more rapid wound healing. However, the exact mechanism of silver’s anti-microbial property is still unclear and the form of the silver that is most effective is unknown. Even though many manufacturers have begun to incorporate silver nanoparticles in wound dressings, there currently exists no U.S. regulation as to which form is to be used, nor at what concentration. This paper explores the water-soluble form of silver in several commercially available wound dressings both through size characterization of the ionic and nanoparticle forms and measurement of each form’s silver concentrations by ICP-MS. The method as a whole represents the beginning of a larger project to investigate the most effective form and optimum concentration of silver for wound dressing inclusion to promote maximum healing.

Keywords: Silver ion; Silver nanoparticle; Wound dressing; ICP-MS