Preparation and Healing Promoting Properties of pH Responsive Antibacterial Hydrogel Wound Dressing

Bacterial infections can cause wound inflammation, make wound healing difficult, and there is an urgent need to develop intelligent hydrogel dressings that are highly effective in their antibacterial, anti-inflammatory properties, and can promote re- epithelialization and angiogenesis. The pH sensitive antibacterial hydrogel IA/ AM /TAAC@PHMG was prepared by one pot method using itaconic acid (IA), acrylamide (AM) and allyl trimethylammonium chloride (TAAC) as raw materials for covalent cross- linking, loaded with the antibacterial drug polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHMG). The mechanical properties, swelling properties, drug release properties, antimicrobial properties, biocompatibility, and pro- infectious wound healing properties were tested. The results show that TAAC increases the flexibility of hydrogels and the breaking elongation of hydrogels is increased by 88%; the hydrogels are pH-responsive, can respond positively to wound, pH, control and prolong the release of PHMG, the release rate of PHMG under alkaline conditions (pH 8.2) (60.65%) is better than 14.97% under acidic conditions (pH 3.2); the antibacterial rate of IA/AM/TAAC@PHMG against E. coli and S. aureus is over 99.98%; the cell relative survival rate in the hydrogel group (320 μg/mL) is above 75.08%, the cell hemolysis rate is below 4%, the antibacterial hydrogel has a good biocompatibility; histological analysis prove that the IA/ AM /TAAC@PHMG loaded hydrogel can create an environment conducive to granulation growth and excellent antibacterial properties, to reduce the inflammatory factors, promote both collagen and skin regeneration, accelerate wound healing. © 2024 Sichuan University. All rights reserved.