Gelatin/quaternized chitosan-based macroporous sponge inspired by food foaming for rapid hemostasis and wound healing

Uncontrolled bleeding of wound is one of the main causes of death, and wound often has bacterial infection and inflammation to hinder wound healing. In this study, natural polyphenol procyanidin was added to gelatin and quaternized chitosan, and a pure natural sponge (GQ₂O) was prepared by mechanical stirring, crosslinking and freeze-drying. The macroporous structure of GQ₂O was formed by natural soybean lecithin as blowing agent combined with mechanical stirring, and the three-dimensional network structure was crosslinked by Genipin. The use of natural compounds avoids the toxicity of traditional chemical blowing agents and crosslinkers. GQ₂O has excellent water absorption ability (2060.1 %), suitable mechanical property (28.1 kPa), biodegradability, biocompatibility, antibacterial and antioxidant properties, and shows rapid hemostasis and accelerate wound healing performances in vivo. In the rat liver injury model, the bleeding time and blood loss of GQ₂O were significantly lower than those in gauze group, commercial hemostatic gelatin sponge group and blank group. In the rat back full-thickness skin defect model, the wound inflammation was significantly relieved by GQ₂O treatment, and the wound healing rate reached 98.9 % on the 14th day. Therefore, GQ₂O has great potential for rapid hemostasis and promoting wound healing.