Among these biomaterials, hydrogels have attracted much attention. The reason is that hydrogels are easier to graft and modify than other materials, and are more versatile. Moreover, their unique extracellular matrix structure and high moisture retention are beneficial for forming a good wound healing environment. [8,9] However, most of the traditional hydrogels used for wound repair have poor adhesion, hemostasis and antibacterial function, thus limiting their clinical application. [10][11][12] This study would focus on the above problems, and develop a multifunctional PGA-PLL-Ca composite hydrogel with good adhesion, moisture retention and hemostatic effect, and excellent antibacterial properties that can promote wound healing.In this work, such multifunctional PGA-PLL-Ca composite hydrogel would be synthesized using poly glutamic acid and polylysine as precursors, casein as foaming agent and calcium as coagulant. Hydrophilic group and positively charged amino group in the PGA-PLL-Ca composite hydrogel would create excellent hydrophilicity, moisture retention, adhesion and antibacterial properties for hydrogels, while casein would endow hydrogel with uniform porous structure, and the introduction of calcium ions would provide with good hemostatic properties. These unique properties could not only facilitate hemostasis, but also provide a moist, sterile and closed microenvironment for wound to heal better. Up to date, this kind of multifunctional material design is rarely reported.
Experimental Section
Materialsγ-Polyglutamic acid (M W ≈ 800 kDa), ε-polylysine (M W ≈ 3000), casein (chemical grade), anhydrous calcium chloride (≥96%), 1-hydroxypyrrolidine (NHS, ≥98%), and 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC⋅HCl, ≥98.5%) were purchased from Xi'an Bella Biotech-