Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education & Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Carbohydr Polym. 2020 May 15;236:116096. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116096. Epub 2020 Feb 28.
Polysaccharide hydrogels have been widely used as wound dressings because of their biocompatibility and ability to provide moist environment for wound healing. However, bacterial infection often delays the healing process. Herein, a novel thermosensitive and pH-sensitive hydroxypropyl chitin/tannic acid/ferric ion (HPCH/TA/Fe) composite hydrogel was fabricated by a simple assembly. The pre-cooled hydrogel precursor solution can be injected onto the irregular wound area and gel rapidly at physiological temperature. The TA not only acted as a crosslinker to enhance mechanical properties of the hydrogel, but also as an antibacterial agent which could be sustainably released in response to the acidic environment. The composite hydrogel showed excellent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity up to 7 days with negligible cytotoxicity. Moreover, the hydrogel can inhibit bacterial infection and accelerate the wound healing process without scars in the mouse experiment. These results indicate the potential application of this composite hydrogel for the infected wound healing.
多糖水凝胶由于其生物相容性和为伤口愈合提供湿润环境的能力而被广泛用作伤口敷料。然而，细菌感染常常会延迟愈合过程。在此，通过简单的组装制备了一种新型的温敏和 pH 敏感的羟丙基壳聚糖/单宁酸/铁离子（HPCH/TA/Fe）复合水凝胶。预冷却的水凝胶前体溶液可注入到不规则的伤口区域，并在生理温度下迅速凝胶。TA 不仅作为交联剂来增强水凝胶的机械性能，而且还作为抗菌剂，可以响应酸性环境持续释放。该复合水凝胶表现出优异的广谱抗菌活性，可持续 7 天，且细胞毒性可忽略不计。此外，水凝胶在小鼠实验中可以抑制细菌感染并加速伤口愈合过程，而不会留下疤痕。这些结果表明该复合水凝胶在感染性伤口愈合方面具有潜在的应用前景。
