Multi-functional dressing with curcumin displays anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, angiogenic, and collagen regeneration effects in diabetic wound healing

Wound healing in individuals with diabetes poses considerable challenges in clinical practice, involving a range of physiologic processes, including the regulation of inflammation, anti-oxidation, angiogenesis, and collagen regeneration. Given the practical requirements for clinical applications, it is essential to develop a versatile dressing that can be tailored to the patient's specific wound morphology. Consequently, there is an urgent need for the development of a multi-functional wound dressing that integrates synergistic anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, angiogenic, and collagen regeneration capabilities. Hydrogels have emerged as promising biomaterials for skin wound treatment due to their excellent biocompatibility, remarkable anti-inflammatory properties, injectability, and adhesiveness. In this study, we synthesized a methacryloyl hydrogel (GelMA) dressing infused with curcumin (Cur), exploiting the advantageous biologic characteristics of GelMA to address the challenges associated with the rate of metabolism of Cur and the barriers to its skin permeability. In vitro experiments demonstrated that Cur–GelMA exhibited favorable biocompatibility and possessed anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and angiogenic properties. Furthermore, in vivo experimental findings confirmed that Cur–GelMA effectively regulated inflammation, promoted angiogenesis, and facilitated collagen regeneration in skin defects of a diabetic mouse model, thereby accelerating the wound healing process. In conclusion, we successfully developed a multi-functional wound dressing with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, angiogenic, and collagen regeneration functions, specifically designed for the treatment of difficult-to-heal diabetic wounds.