In clinical practice, it has become urgent to develop multifunctional wound dressings that can combat infection and prompt wound healing simultaneously. In this study, we proposed a polydopamine/alginate/nanoselenium composite hydrogel (Alg-PDA-Se) for the treatment of infected wounds. In particular, polydopamine endows the composite hydrogel with controllable near-infrared photothermal properties, while low-dosage selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) offer excellent anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, pro-proliferative, pro-migration, and pro-angiogenic performances, which are verified by multiple cells, including macrophages, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. More interestingly, the combination of mild temperature with low-dosage Se NPs produces a synergistic effect on combating both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) and promoting the healing of bacteria-infected wounds in vivo. We anticipate that the designed composite hydrogel might be a potential candidate for anti-infection bioactive dressing.
Keywords: anti-infection; composite hydrogel; infected wound healing; mild heat-assisted; selenium nanoparticles.