A Tough Polysaccharide-Based Hydrogel with an On-Demand Dissolution Feature for Chronic Wound Care through
Ning Cui1, Kai Han1, Chuqing Zhou1
1Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Repeatedly changing dressings during wound healing can cause unbearable physical pain for patients with chronic skin injury. In this study, we designed a tough hydrogel-based dressing that can be degraded in an on-demand fashion for advanced chronic wound care. The resultant hydrogel dressing could be rapidly dissolved within 100 s after wetting with lithium phenyl(2,4,6-trimethylbenzonyl)phosphinate solution under low-power (1 W) ultraviolet (UV) irradiation (365 nm) owing to the breakage of disulfide bonds. This UV-triggered on-demand dissolution of tough hydrogels allows for a facile dressing replacement without causing tissue damage or pain, which is of great potential for clinical utilization.
