Antibacterial Hydrogel with Self-Healing Property\nfor Wound-Healing Applications

Abstract

Hydrogels\nwith inherent antibacterial ability are a focus in soft\ntissue repair. Herein, a series of antibacterial hydrogels were fabricated\nby quaternized <i>N</i>-[3-(dimethylamino)­propyl] methacrylamide\n(quaternized P­(DMAPMA-DMA-DAA)) bearing copolymers with dithiodipropionic\nacid dihydrazide (DTDPH) as cross-linker. The hydrogels presented\nefficient self-healing capability as well as a pH and redox-triggered\ngel–sol–gel transition property that is based on the\ndynamic acylhydrazone bond and disulfide linkage. Furthermore, the\nhydrogels showed good antibacterial activity, biocompatibility, degradability,\nand sustained release ability. More importantly, the in vivo experiments\ndemonstrated that the hydrogels loaded with mouse epidermal growth\nfactor (mEGF) significantly accelerated wound closure by preventing\nbacterial infection and promoting cutaneous regeneration in the wound\nmodel. The antibacterial hydrogels with self-healing behavior hold\ngreat potential in wound treatment.