Injectable Multifunctional Polysaccharide-Based Hydrogel Accelerates Wound Healing in Combined Radiation and Burn Injury

Clinical wound management of combined radiation and burn injury (CRBI) remains a huge challenge due to serious injuries induced by redundant reactive oxygen species (ROS), the accompanying hematopoietic, immunologic suppression and stem cell reduction. Herein, the injectable multifunctional Schiff base cross-linked with gallic acid modified chitosan (CSGA)/oxidized dextran (ODex) hydrogels were rationally designed for accelerating wound healing through eliminate ROS in CRBI. CSGA/ODex hydrogels were fabricated by mixing solutions of CSGA and ODex. It demonstrated good self-healing ability, excellent injectability, strong antioxidant activity, and favorable biocompatibility. More importantly, CSGA/ODex hydrogels exhibited excellent antibacterial properties, which is facilitated for wound healing. Furthermore, CSGA/ODex hydrogels significantly suppressed the oxidative damage of L929 cells in an H2O2-induced ROS microenvironment. The recovery of CRBI in mice demonstrated that CSGA/ODex hydrogel significantly reduced the hyperplasia of epithelial cells and the expression of proinflammatory cytokine, and accelerated wound healing which was superior to the treatment of commercial triethanolamine ointment. In conclusion, the CSGA/ODex hydrogel as the wound dressing could accelerate the wound healing and tissue regeneration of CRBI, which provides great potential in clinical treatment of CRBI.