Hydrogel coatings on universal medical devices with water-responsive Janus adhesion and acidity-triggered transformation for adaptive antibacterial treatment and fluorescence diagnosis

Hydrogel coatings of catheters have attracted extensive attention in the field of medical devices due to its hydrophilicity and softness, while scarcities of Janus adhesion, adaptive antibacterial property, and real-time disease monitoring restricted their clinical translational applications. Herein, a novel hydrogel coating with water-responsive Janus adhesion and acidity-triggered transformation was fabricated for antibacterial treatment and fluorescence diagnosis of catheters-associated infections. First, a sufficient adhesion strength of 44.6 ± 1.9 kPa effectively prevented shedding of the hydrogel coating during catheterization, and meanwhile a super-lubricated layer with an extremely-low coefficient of friction of about 0.03 was formed to reduce friction pain in an aqueous microenvironment. Furthermore, size and fluorescence intensity of chitosan/bovine serum albumin-gold nanoparticles within the hydrogel were varied with pH due to acidity-triggered transformation, where an adaptive release of antibacterial nanoparticles was achieved to reduce biofilms formation and alleviate inflammation degree synergistically. More importantly, such antibacterial treatment was monitored in real-time dependent on an on–off variation of fluorescence intensity. Overall, amounts of in-vitro and in-vivo results performed in rabbit urinary tract infection model and porcine tracheal intubation model fully suggested our newly-synthesized hydrogel coating on universal medical devices showed a promising potential for integrated diagnosis and treatment of catheters-associated infections.