Drug-free and non-crosslinked chitosan/hyaluronic acid hybrid hydrogel for synergistic healing of infected diabetic wounds

Abstract

The management of infected diabetic wounds remains a major challenge in clinical practice. Recently, multifunctional hydrogels have attracted much attention in the area of wound healing. Herein, we developed the drug-free and non-crosslinked chitosan (CS)/hyaluronic acid (HA) hybrid hydrogel, so as to combine the multiple functions of CS and HA for synergistic healing of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-infected diabetic wound. As a result, CS/HA hydrogel showed the broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, the great capacity for promoting fibroblasts proliferation and migration, the excellent reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging ability, and the great cell-protection effects under oxidative stress. In the MRSA-infected diabetic mouse wounds, CS/HA hydrogel significantly promoted the wound healing via eliminating MRSA infection and enhancing epidermal regeneration, collagen deposition and angiogenesis. Considering the drug-free feature, the ready availability, the great biocompatibility and the excellent wound healing efficacy, CS/HA hydrogel may have great potentials in clinical use for the management of chronic diabetic wounds.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Calcein AM (PubChem CID: 4126474); Chitosan (PubChem CID: 71853); DCFH-DA (PubChem CID: 104913); H(2)O(2) (PubChem CID: 784); Hyaluronic acid (PubChem CID: 24759); Hydrogels; Infection; Propidium Iodide (PubChem CID: 104981); Regeneration; Streptozocin (PubChem CID: 29327); Tissue repair; Wound dressing.