All-in-one tissue adhesive hydrogels for topical wound care

Abstract

An adhesive tissue sealant that enables rapid formation of new granulation tissue while leading to additional synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM) to promote tissue regeneration is strongly required in the clinical field. This study presents an all-in-one wound care hydrogel sealant that generates cohesion in response to pH change while adhering stably to tissue. To fulfill this, we employ an injectable boronic acid-conjugated alginate (Al-BA) aqueous sol phase that turns into a soft viscoelastic hydrogel gel phase at physiological pH conditions, thus filling in wounds of any size or depth. Positively charged bacterial cellulose nanofibers ((+)BCNF) are incorporated to reinforce this gel. Compared to the only Al-BA adhesive, the resulting Al-BA/(+)BCNF adhesive hydrogel exhibits substantial adhesion strength while retaining the wound closure even with external mechanical perturbation such as stretching, bending and twisting. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo wound healing evaluations revealed that fibrous (+)BCNF provides favorable microenvironment for cell migration and proliferation similar to collagen fibers, promoting wound healing and skin regeneration. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.