The high prevalence of acquiring skin wounds, along with
the emergence
of antibiotic-resistant strains that lead to infections, impose a
threat to the physical, mental, and socioeconomic health of society.
Among the wide array of wound dressings developed, hydrogels are regarded
as a biomimetic soft matter of choice owing to their ability to provide
a moist environment ideal for healing. Herein, neutral glycol chitosan
(GC) was cross-linked via imine bonds with varying concentrations
of dibenzaldehyde-terminated polyethylene glycol (DP) to give glycol
chitosan/dibenzaldehyde-terminated polyethylene glycol hydrogels (GC/DP).
These dynamic Schiff base linkages (absorption peak at 1638 cm–1) within the hydrogel structure endowed their ability
to recover from damage as characterized by high-low strain exposure
in continuous step strain rheology. Along with their good injectability
and biodegradability, the hydrogels exhibited remarkable inhibition
against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus. GC/DP hydrogels demonstrated
high LC50 values in vivo using zebrafish embryos
as a model system due to their relative biocompatibility and a remarkable
93.4 ± 0.88% wound contraction at 30-dpw against 49.1 ±
3.40% of the control. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first
study that developed injectable glycol chitosan/dibenzaldehyde-terminated
polyethylene glycol self-healing hydrogels for application in wound
healing with intrinsic bacteriostatic properties against the three
bacteria.
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