Photoactive antimicrobial PVA hydrogel prepared by freeze-thawing process for wound dressing

Antibacterial and self-healing sepiolite-based hybrid hydrogel for hemostasis and wound healing

The process of wound healing necessitates a specific environment, thus prompting extensive research into the utilization of hydrogels for this purpose. While numerous hydrogel structures have been investigated, the discovery of a self-healing hydrogel possessing favorable biocompatibility, exceptional mechanical properties, and effective hemostatic and antibacterial performance remains uncommon. In this work, a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hybrid hydrogel was meticulously designed through a simple reaction, wherein CuxO anchored sepiolite was incorporated into the hydrogel. The results indicate that introduction of sepiolite greatly improves the toughness, self-healing and adhesion properties of the PVA hydrogels. CuxO nanoparticles endow the hydrogels with excellent antibacterial performance towards Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The application of hybrid hydrogels for fast hemostasis and wound healing are verified in vitro and in vivo with rat experiments. This work thereby demonstrates an effective strategy for designing biodegradable hemostatic and wound healing materials.

Preparation of smooth and macroporous hydrogel via hand-held blender for wound healing applications: in vitro and in vivo evaluations

Wound dressings play an indispensable role in wound healing. However, traditional wound dressings have several disadvantages, such as poor mechanical properties and small pore diameters, which do not allow sufficient gas exchange. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper reports a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based hydrogel physically crosslinked at -20 °C and containing polyethylene glycol (PEG) and nanohydroxyapatite (HAP). The physical and chemical properties of the hydrogels formed by different stirring methods (stirring with a glass rod or a hand-held homogenizer) were compared. The average roughness of Gel 1 (prepared using a hand-held homogenizer) is 112.6 nm, which is much lower than the average surface roughness of Gel 2 (1222 nm, prepared using a glass rod). Moreover, the hydrogel made by the unconventional mixing method (with a homogenizer) showed better performance, including a more interconnected open-pore microstructure and better mechanical properties. Finally, a full-thickness skin defect test was performed. The experimental results demonstrated that the hydrogel has considerable potential for applications in wound dressings.