Antibacterial sheet material that can be used as a wound dressing and method for producing same

A method comprising:

• providing porcine skin;
• administering an alkaline and oxidative treatment to said porcine skin comprising dipping said porcine skin alternately in hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide;
• acidifying the alkaline and oxidatively treated porcine skin with an acid selected from the group consisting of:
• phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, and acetic acid;
• mechanically comminuting the acidified porcine skin until a collagen-containing suspension is produced, said suspension having a solids content from 0.5 to 5%;
• adjusting said collagen-containing suspension to a neutral to slightly alkaline pH from 6.5 to 8.5 by adding a phosphate buffer;
• separately producing an elemental-metal containing suspension that is stabilized with a stabilizing agent, wherein the elemental metal particles include silver particles and have an average particle size between 10 nm and 10 μm;
• adding the elemental-metal-containing suspension to the pH-adjusted collagen-containing suspension while promoting dispersion using a dispersion promoting means selected from the group consisting of:
• an ultrasonic bath, and rotor-stator mill, in order to produce a collagen and elemental metal containing suspension;
• drying the collagen-and-elemental-metal-containing suspension until a translucent sheet material is produced, wherein the drying of the liquid collagen-containing starting material is performed at a temperature above 20° C. under vacuum;
• and
• sterilizing the dried sheet material using ethylene oxide such that additional cross-links are produced in the sheet material,
• wherein the elemental metal particles are incorporated into the sheet material both at the near-surface regions and in the middle of the sheet material, wherein the sheet material has a thickness between 0.1 and 1 mm, a closed porosity of less than 50%, an elemental metal particle content from 10 to 100,000 ppm.