Double crosslinking chitosan sponge with antibacterial and hemostatic properties for accelerating wound repair

Skin trauma with uncontrolled bleeding and bacterial infection are major challenges in clinical wound management. Therefore, the design of elastic and biodegradability wound dressing with antibacterial and hemostatic properties are attracting increasing attention. In the study, chitosan (CS) and graphene oxide (GO) are covalently bound by EDC/NHS to form a complex and followed by the introduction of tannic acid (TA) as secondary cross-linking agent after removing the acidity of chitosan. CS/GO/TA sponges can exist stably in aqueous solution and has good compression recovery performance. In vitro experiments showed that CS/GO/TA sponges have antibacterial, antioxidant, non-hemolysis, blood cell adhesion and cytocompatibility. In vivo experiments in rats showed that CS/GO/TA sponges can quickly stop bleeding and promote wound healing, which has good clinical application potential.