Tannic acid-loaded mesoporous silica for rapid hemostasis and antibacterial activity

Massive blood loss and bacterial infection are major challenges for global public health. In this study, we developed tannic acid (TA)-loaded mesoporous silica (MS) nanoparticles for both hemorrhage control and effective antibacterium via covalent conjugation and electrostatic adsorption. The TA-absorbed MS could significantly relieve hemolysis and facilitate blood contact, therefore efficiently promoting protein adhesion and the contact activation pathway of the coagulation cascade with desirable hemostasis. Comparably, with increasing TAs absorption, the bleeding control and antibacterial performance were improved simultaneously, especially for 15TMS. Hemostasis tests demonstrated that the 15TMS could reduce the hemostatic time by 65% both in vitro and in vivo, with lower blood loss and could exhibit better antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis as well as promote wound healing. However, the TAs-loaded MS via chemical grafting (15T-g-MS) significantly reduced the surface area of MS, by replacing the Si-OH on the MS, and thus it exhibited worse bleeding control and antibacterial efficacy than 15TMS. Furthermore, all the samples exhibited excellent cell viability. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the 15TMS would be a promising material platform for designing hemostats in more extensive clinical application.