The purpose of the present work was to modify the absorbent cotton gauze to improve its functionality as antimicrobial wound dressing. The cotton gauze was modified by grafting of N-vinyl-pyrrolidone using microwave-assisted reactions. The effect of volume of N-vinyl-pyrrolidone and amount of ammonium persulfate on percentage grafting was optimized by 2-factor, 3-level central composite experimental design. The optimized batch of gauze-g-NVP was impregnated with iodine. The iodine-loaded gauze-g-NVP was characteristically examined by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy and Field emission-scanning electron microscopy studies. The results of energy dispersive X-ray analysis confirmed the uniform dispersion of iodine on the surface of iodine impregnated poly(NVP)-g-cotton gauze. Further, the iodine-loaded gauze-g-NVP showed blood absorbency and in vitro blood clotting ability comparable to the absorbent cotton gauze. However, a significantly higher antimicrobial activity of iodine-loaded gauze-g-NVP against the Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was observed as compared to the iodine solution of equivalent concentration which can be attributed to the higher retention of iodine at the site of action. In the nutshell, results show that iodine-loaded grafted cotton gauze have the desirable and effective antibacterial wound dressing property with excellent blood absorbency and clotting abilities.
