Hyaluronic acid and chitosan-based injectable and self-healing hydrogel with inherent antibacterial and antioxidant bioactivities

Injectable dressings offering intrinsic antibacterial activity and antioxidation are required, because persistent bacterial infection and oxidative damage are common issues associated with chronic non-healing wounds. Herein, a versatile QCS-l-TA-l-OHA hydrogel is fabricated using ubiquitous nature derived biological macromolecules, quaternized chitosan (QCS), tannic acid (TA) and oxidant hyaluronic acid (OHA), driving by multiple dynamic interactions under physiological conditions. The hydrogel can serve as multiple functional wound dress with injectable and self-healing capabilities coupling with attractive antibacterial activity and antioxidation. The biocompatible and self-biodegradable hydrogel augments free radical scavenging capacity, antibacterial, angiogenesis, mature granulation tissue and collagen disposition, enabling fast wound healing of rat skin full-thickness incision model. This study highlights a wound dressing platform of hyaluronic acid and chitosan based injectable and self-healing hydrogel with inherent antibacterial and antioxidant bioactivities, thereby avoiding the use of antibiotics or antioxidant agents.