Mechanical Force Induced Self‐Assembly of Chinese Herbal Hydrogel with Synergistic Effects of Antibacterial Activity and Immune Regulation for Wound Healing

Abstract

Skin wounds, especially infected chronic wounds, have attracted worldwide attention due to the high prevalence and poor treatment outcomes. Hydrogel dressings with antibacterial ability and immune regulation property are urgently required. Herein, inspired by the grinding treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, mechanical force is introduced to promote the effective molecular collision and accelerate the self‐assembly of chitosan (CS) and puerarin (PUE) for fabricating Chinese‐herb‐based hydrogels. The antibacterial rate of CS@PUE (C@P) hydrogel is more than 95%, and the wound closed rate is twice that of the control group. Interestingly, the rational design of C@P hydrogels with different PUE ratios enables a refined control over hydrogel formation, nanofiber appearance, viscoelastic, physicochemical, and biological properties. The extraordinary antibacterial ability of C@P hydrogels may originate from the nanofiber structure and the improved zeta potential on account of the orientation of amino groups in CS . Thus, the synergistically antibacterial and immune regulation properties of C@P hydrogels kill bacteria and relieve inflammation in the wound bed, ensuring the anti‐infection effect, and boosting wound healing. In addition to providing a universal mechanosynthesis of PUE‐based hydrogel for wound healing, this finding is expected to increase the attention paid to Chinese herbal medicines in the construction of biomaterials.

Animal tissue-derived biomaterials for promoting wound healing

“…Especially, accompanying the significant innovations in the domains of medicine, materials science, biomedical engineering, and nanoscience, multiple novel strategies have been developed to enhance wound treatment. [34][35][36][37] It is notable that the most widely explored methods are the developments of wound dressings. Here, we mainly introduced oxygenation and infection, two of the key local factors that could be affected by wound dressing during the wound healing process.…”

Ultrasmall and highly biocompatible carbon dots derived from natural plant with amelioration against acute kidney injury

“…Recently, the use of natural plants (herbs) with a long history in health care offers much evidence in the development of novel nanotechnology [ 23 , 24 ]. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the charcoal medicine is a series of medicines prepared from natural plants by high-temperature processing [ 25 ], while current studies of the bioactivity material basis of the above medicines are still unsatisfactory.…”

An injectable hydrogel combining medicine and matrix with anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic properties for potential treatment of myocardial infarction

“…However, the hydrogel formed by the self-assembly of puerarin has poor mechanical properties and cannot be used directly for clinical use. Recent studies have developed chitosan@puerarin composite hydrogels for the treatment of skin wounds using an herbal grinding method [ 31 ] and as a potential sustained and controlled deliverer of chlorinated berberine hydrate [ 32 ] and gene-targeted drugs for intraocular melanoma while being antibacterial [ 33 ]. It implies that puerarin can be interacted with chitosan by self-assembly to form hydrogels with unique characteristics of interactive network structure, stronger mechanical properties and ‘combination of medicine and matrix’.…”