Super-Rapid Formation of a Silver Ion-Induced Supramolecular Hydrogel with Efficient Antibacterial Activity for Root Canal Disinfection.

Supramolecular hydrogels prepared using low-molecular-weight gelators have attracted considerable attention for biomedical applications. However, supramolecular hydrogels are limited in terms of their prolonged gelation time and/or unstable nature at high temperatures. In this study, we constructed a stable supramolecular Ag-isoG hydrogel through super-rapid formation, wherein hydrogelation process occurred instantaneously upon mixing isoG and Ag within 1 s under ambient conditions. Interestingly, unlike most nucleoside-based supramolecular hydrogels, this Ag-isoG hydrogel remains stable even at a high temperature (100 °C). Moreover, the as-designed hydrogel demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against and the oral bacterium owing to the strong chelating ability of Ag ions, and the hydrogel exhibited relatively low cytotoxicity in root canal and an easy removal feature by saline. The hydrogel was then applied to a root canal infection model, which demonstrated strong antibacterial activity against , with performance even better than that of the regular calcium hydroxide paste. This feature makes the Ag-isoG hydrogel a prospective alternative material as intracanal medicaments for root canal treatment.