Dynamically crosslinked protien hydrogel composite as multifunctional wound dressing for cutaneous infection

In this work, we reported a dynamic hydrogel with sodium houttuyfonate (SH) for management of infected skin injuries. The hydrogel was designed by reversible crosslinking of phenylboronic acid-modified gelatin with diol-rich polyvinyl alcohol. Due to the reversible interactions between phenylboronic acid and diols, the resultant hydrogel exhibited typical dynamic nature including self-recovery and injectability. When the hydrogel was loaded SH, a highly shape-adapted, bactericidal and pro-healing hydrogel wound dressing was obtained. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the SH-loaded hydrogel could significantly suppress infection and accelerate infected skin wound healing. It was further revealed that the improved wound healing depended on not only SH-assisted antibacterial ability but also the pro-healing effect caused by HIF-1α-associated antioxidative activity. Due to the dynamic of our hydrogel and the natural bioactivity of SH, this multifunctional wound dressing shows great potential as anti-infective and pro-healing tissue protective materials for management of skin infection.