Annealing-engineered lentinan-tannic acid hydrogel with enhanced adhesion and antibacterial activity for infected...

The design and fabrication of biomass-based hydrogel dressings that possess proper adhesion and favorable antibacterial properties for efficient wound care applications remains an unmet need. Herein, a series of annealed hydrogels based-on lentinan (LNT) were first prepared, and their physicochemical and mechanical properties were thoroughly investigated. The results demonstrated that the 5 % wt LNT hydrogel exhibited the most suitable wound care properties. Subsequently, two novel physically cross-linked hydrogels, mLNT-TA and sLNT-TA, were prepared using tannic acid (TA) through the direct mixing method and soaking method, respectively. The introduction of TA significantly improved the physicochemical properties of the LNT hydrogels. Surprisingly, sLNT-TA showed improved tissue adhesion on fresh pigskin, with a tensile modulus (42.7 ± 1.19 kPa) almost double that of mLNT-TA (20.9 ± 0.93 kPa), and exhibited notable fatigue resistance. Importantly, sLNT-TA demonstrated excellent antibacterial, antioxidant, and cytocompatible properties in vitro. Finally, the animal experiment with infected skin wound models indicated that sLNT-TA could suppress continuous inflammation, enhance cell proliferation and accelerate epithelialization, thereby facilitating rapid wound healing. These findings suggest that this hybrid hydrogel holds great potential as a dressing for clinical wound repair.