Self-healing hydrogel products have attracted a great deal of interest in wound healing due to their ability to repair their own structural damage. Herein, an all-natural self-healing hydrogel based on methacrylated chitosan (CSMA) and dialdehyde bacterial cellulose (DABC) is developed. MA is used to modify CS and obtain water-soluble biomaterial-based CSMA with photo crosslinking effects. BC is modified through a simple oxidation method to gain dialdehyde on the polymer chain. The success of the modification is confirmed via FTIR. Hydrogels are formed within 11 min through the establishment of a Schiff base between the amino of CSMA and the aldehyde of DABC. A dynamically reversible Schiff base bond endows hydrogel with good self-healing properties through macroscopic and microscopic observations. We observe the uniform and porous structure in the hydrogel using SEM images, and DABC nanofibers are found to be well distributed in the hydrogel. The compressive strength of the hydrogel is more than 20 kPa and the swelling rate sees over a 10-fold increase. In addition, the CSMA/DABC hydrogel has good cytocompatibility, with cell viability exceeding 90%. These results indicate that the all-natural self-healable CSMA/DABC hydrogel demonstrates strong application potential in wound healing and tissue repair.
Keywords: dialdehyde bacterial cellulose; hydrogel; methacrylated chitosan; self-healing property; wound dressing.