Oral
bacterial infection represents the leading cause of the gradual
destruction of tooth and periodontal structures anchoring the teeth.
Lately, injectable hydrogels have gained increased attention as a
promising minimally invasive platform for localized delivery of personalized
therapeutics. Here, an injectable and photocrosslinkable gelatin methacryloyl
(GelMA) hydrogel is successfully engineered with ciprofloxacin (CIP)-eluting
short nanofibers for oral infection ablation. For this purpose, CIP
or its β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)-inclusion complex (CIP/β-CD-IC)
has been incorporated into polymeric electrospun fibers, which were
subsequently cut into short nanofibers, and then embedded in GelMA
to obtain an injectable hybrid antimicrobial hydrogel. Thanks to the
solubility enhancement of CIP by β-CD-IC and the tunable degradation
profile of GelMA, the hydrogels promote localized, sustained, and
yet effective cell-friendly antibiotic doses, as measured by a series
of bacterial assays that demonstrated efficacy in attenuating the
growth of Gram-positive Enterococcus faecalis. Altogether, we foresee significant potential in translating this
innovative hybrid hydrogel as an injectable platform technology that
may have broad applications in oral infection ablation, such as periodontal
disease and pulpal pathology.
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