Biocompatible Alginate Film Crosslinked with Ca²⁺ and Zn²⁺ Possesses Antibacterial, Antiviral, and Anticancer Activities

Alginate is a highlypromising biopolymer due to its non-toxicand biodegradable properties. Alginate hydrogels are often fabricatedby cross-linking sodium alginate with calcium cations and can be engineeredwith highly desirable enhanced physical and biological propertiesfor biomedical applications. This study reports on the anticancer,antiviral, antibacterial, in vitro, and in vivo toxicity, water absorption,and compound release properties of an alginate hydrogel crosslinkedwith calcium and different amounts of zinc cations. The results showedthat the calcium alginate hydrogel film crosslinked with the highestamount of zinc showed similar water sorption properties to those ofcalcium alginate and released a suitable amount of zinc to provideanticancer activity against melanoma and colon cancer cells and hasantibacterial properties against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis and antiviral activityagainst enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. This film is non-toxicin both in vitro in keratinocyte HaCaT cells and in vivo in the Caenorhabditis elegans model, which renders it especiallypromising for biomedical applications.