Quaternized chitosan/cellulose composites as enhanced hemostatic and antibacterial sponges for wound healing

It is essential to enhance our antibacterial arsenal in the first-aid hemostatic treatment due to the healing delay and even death from the bacteria-contaminated wounds. Herein, serial quaternized chitosan with varying degrees of substitution (QCS_X) was prepared by glycidyl trimethyl ammonium chloride modification. Then the obtained QCS_X was conjugated with dialdehyde cellulose (DAC) through Schiff base reaction to obtain the corresponding composite sponges (2QCS_X-DAC). The surface morphology, chemical structures, and physical characters of mechanical measurement, water uptake behavior, porosity, and degradation tests were determined. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo biological assays were performed. The obtained 2QCS_X-DAC sponges exhibit abundant porous structures, moderate mechanical properties, excellent water uptake performance, and effective bactericidal rates against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Moreover, these porous composite sponges have superior blood coagulation abilities with the blood coagulation time reduced by 76.6% and 59.8% compared with blank control and Celox™ as well as low hemolysis rates (<5%). Meanwhile, 2QCS₃-DAC had benign cytotoxicity of L929 cells in vitro and could accelerate the infected wound healing of rats at the early stage in vivo. Overall, this composite sponge appears to be a viable wound dressing for daily wound care in civilian hospitals and emergency hemostasis on battlefields.