Wound dressing of chitosan-based-crosslinked gelatin/ polyvinyl pyrrolidone embedded silver nanoparticles, for targeting multidrug resistance microbes

•Wound dressing membrane is prepared from chitosan, gelatin and polyvinyl pyrrolidone via solution casting method.•The membrane is loaded with biogenically synthesized silver nanoparticles.•Crosslinking of membrane by Glutaraldehyde reduced thickness and enhanced mechanical, thermal and hydrolytic stability.•The membrane exhibited robust activity against resistant bacteria.•The antibacterial activity is due to downregulation of drug resistance genes. Wound dressing composed of chitosan, based crosslinked gelatin/ polyvinyl pyrrolidone, embedded silver nanoparticles were fabricated using solution casting method. The membrane was characterized by FTIR, SEM and TGA. Glutaraldehyde (0.5 %) was used for the crosslinking of membrane components and associated with 7-folds boosted mechanical performance, 28 % more hydrolytic stability, 3-folds thickness reduction and morphological roughness. Silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV–vis, XRD and TEM for an average size of 9.9 nm. The membrane with higher concentration of silver nanoparticles showed maximum antibacterial activity against human pathogenic bacteria; and the measured inhibition zones ranged from 1.5 to 3 cm. The activity of the particles ranged from severe to complete reduction in Penicillin, Erythromycin and Macrolide family’s resistance genes expression such as β-Lactamase, mecA and erm. This developed membrane can serve as promising and cost-effective system against severe diabetic and burn wound infections.