In clinical practice, it has become urgent to develop multifunctional wound dressings that can combat infection and prompt wound healing simultaneously. In this study, we proposed a polydopamine/alginate/nanoselenium composite hydrogel (Alg-PDA-Se) for the treatment of infected wounds. In particular, polydopamine endows the composite hydrogel with controllable near-infrared photothermal properties, while low-dosage selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) offer excellent anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, pro-proliferative, pro-migration, and pro-angiogenic performances, which are verified by multiple cells, including macrophages, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. More interestingly, the combination of mild temperature with low-dosage Se NPs produces a synergistic effect on combating both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) and promoting the healing of bacteria-infected wounds in vivo. We anticipate that the designed composite hydrogel might be a potential candidate for anti-infection bioactive dressing.

In clinical practice, the utilization of antibiotics is still the main approach for the treatment of wound contamination, which lacks the ability to accelerate wound healing and arises the global concern of antimicrobial resistance. Plenty of alternative methods have been explored in recent years due to the fast development of material science. Here, CuO/SiO2 nanowires (CuSi NWs) with good near-infrared (NIR) photothermal conversion ability are synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method. The as-prepared CuSi NWs possess excellent antibacterial ability against both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), which could be enhanced by the assistance of mild photothermal therapy (PTT). Moreover, CuSi NWs at suitable concentrations can promote proliferation, migration, and angiogenic gene expression of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), exhibiting a remarkable pro-vascularization ability. The in vivo mouse infect model further proves that the CuSi NWs might be a good candidate for the treatment of infected wounds as the high antibacterial efficiency and accelerated wound healing is obtained.

Vital pulp therapy (VPT) is considered a conservative treatment for preserving pulp viability in caries‐induced dental pulp infections. However, bacterial contamination negatively affects dentine‐pulp complex repair. The common capping materials show limited antimicrobial effects against some microorganisms. To improve the VPT efficacy, capping materials with increased antibacterial properties and enhanced odontogenic and angiogenic activities are needed. Herein, a SrCuSi4O10/gelatin methacrylate(SC/Gel) composite hydrogel has been proposed for infected dental pulp treatment. SrCuSi4O10 (SC) is a microscale bioceramic composed of assembled multilayered nanosheets that possesses good near‐infrared photothermal conversion ability and multiple bioactivities due to sustained Sr2+, Cu2+, and SiO32− ion release. It is shown that the SC/Gel composite hydrogel efficiently eliminates Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus casei and inhibits biofilm formation under photothermal heating, while the ion extract from SC promotes odontogenesis of rat dental pulp stem cells and angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The as‐designed therapeutic effect of SC/Gel composite hydrogel‐mediated VPT has been proven in a rat dental pulp infection model and yielded improved dentine‐pulp complex repair compared with the commercially used iRoot® BP Plus. This study suggests that the SC/Gel composite hydrogel is a potential pulp‐capping material with improved effects on dentine−pulp complex repair in infected pulp.