Multifunctional hydrogel based on polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan/metal polyphenols for facilitating acute and infected wound healing
Ruigang Zhou, Junjie Huang, Wen‐Hai Zhang, Weimei Wang, Weilong Peng, Jun Chen, Chenglong Yu, Ruonan Bo, Mingjiang Liu, Jingui Li
Abstract
Bacterial-infected wounds could cause delayed wound healing due to increased inflammation, especially wounds infected by drug-resistant bacteria remain a major clinical problem. However, traditional treatment strategies were gradually losing efficacy, such as the abuse of antibiotics leading to enhanced bacterial resistance. Therefore, there was an urgent need to develop an antibiotic-free multifunctional dressing for bacterially infected wound healing. This study demonstrated the preparation of a multifunctional injectable hydrogel and evaluated its efficacy in treating acute and infected wounds. The hydrogel was prepared by a one-step mixing method, and cross-linked by natural deep eutectic solvent (DES), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), chitosan (CS), tannic acid (TA), and Cu 2+ through non-covalent interactions (hydrogen bonds and metal coordination bonds). PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 hydrogel has multiple functional properties, including injectability, tissue adhesion, biocompatibility, hemostasis, broad-spectrum antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and angiogenesis. Most importantly, in the MRSA -infected skin wound model, PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 hydrogel could ultimately accelerate infected wound healing by killing bacteria, activating M2 polarization, inhibiting inflammation, and promoting angiogenesis. In summary, the PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 hydrogel showed great potential as a wound dressing for bacterial infected wounds treatment in the clinic. • Metal polyphenols and deep eutectic solvents induced PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 hydrogel. • PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 was cross-linked by hydrogen bonds and metal coordination bonds. • PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 had good antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and angiogenic effects. • PVA/CS/DES/CuTA 500 could facilitate acute and MRSA -infected wound healing.