School of Food Science and Technology, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, 116034, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, 116034, China.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2022 Jun;11(12):e2102476. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202102476. Epub 2022 Apr 28.
Self-assemblies of bioactively natural compounds into supramolecular hydrogels without structural modifications are of interest to improve their sustained releases and bioavailabilities in vivo. However, it is still a formidable challenge to dig out such a naturally small molecule with a meticulous structure which can be self-assembled to form a hydrogel for biomedical applications. Here, a new hydrogel consisting only of gallic acid (GA) via π-π stacking and hydrogen bond interactions, whereas none of GA analogues can form the similar supramolecular hydrogels, is reported. This interesting phenomenon is intriguing to further investigate the potential applications of GA hydrogels in wound healing. Notably, this GA hydrogel has rod-like structures with lengths varying from 10 to 100 µm. The biocompatibility and antibacterial tests prove that this well-assembled GA hydrogel has no cytotoxicity and excellent antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Moreover, the GA hydrogel can significantly accelerate the process of wound healing with or without bacterial infections by mediation of inflammation signaling pathways. It is believed that the current study may shed a new light on the design of a supramolecular hydrogel based on self-assemblies of naturally small molecules to improve their bioavailabilities and diversify their uses in biomedical applications.
生物活性天然化合物在无需结构修饰的情况下自组装成超分子水凝胶，这对于提高其在体内的持续释放和生物利用度很有意义。然而，挖掘出具有精细结构的天然小分子，使其能够自组装成用于生物医学应用的水凝胶，仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在这里，我们报道了一种新的水凝胶，它仅由没食子酸（GA）通过π-π堆积和氢键相互作用形成，而 GA 的类似物都不能形成类似的超分子水凝胶。这种有趣的现象促使我们进一步研究 GA 水凝胶在伤口愈合中的潜在应用。值得注意的是，这种 GA 水凝胶具有长度从 10 到 100 μm 的棒状结构。生物相容性和抗菌测试证明，这种组装良好的 GA 水凝胶没有细胞毒性，对大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌具有优异的抗菌活性。此外，GA 水凝胶通过炎症信号通路的介导，可以显著加速有或没有细菌感染的伤口愈合过程。我们相信，目前的研究可能为基于天然小分子自组装的超分子水凝胶的设计提供新的思路，以提高其生物利用度，并使其在生物医学应用中的用途多样化。
