Injectable and self-healing carboxymethyl chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose/marine snail peptide hydrogel for infected wound healing.

Treatment of bacterial infected full-thickness wounds remains a great challenge in clinic. Herein, a HYP hydrogel was prepared using carboxymethyl chitosan, dialdehyde carboxymethyl cellulose, and marine snail peptide (Tyr-Ile-Ala-Glu-Asp-Ala-Glu-Arg) as starting materials. The marine snail peptide with good antioxidant activity could remove the reactive oxygen species in wound sites, thereby alleviating the excessive inflammatory response. The dynamic Schiff-base bonds endowed HYP with good injectable and self-healing abilities. HYP exhibited suitable gelation time, good rheological properties, and unique porosity structure, which were conducive to wound healing. In vitro biological studies indicated that HYP showed good biocompatibility, low hemolysis ratio, and improved antibacterial and antioxidant activities. In vivo study revealed that HYP could promote wound healing in a bacterial infected full-thickness skin defect rat model. The wound tissues showed reduced number of inflammatory cells, newly formed hair follicles, and obvious collagen deposition. The expression of inflammatory and angiogenesis related biomarkers (IL-6, IL-10, CD31, and α-SMA) significantly improved. Therefore, HYP hydrogel showed great application prospect as a wound dressing for bacterial infected wound.