An injectable, natural peptide hydrogel with potent antimicrobial activity and excellent wound healing-promoting effects

Wounds, especially refractory wounds infected by drug-resistant bacteria, threaten patients’ health seriously. The development of wound dressings is urgently needed to address this problem. Herein, we report a peptide hydrogel formed by natural antimicrobial peptide Jelleine-1 and its potential use for MRSA-infected wounds. We studied the formation of Jelleine-1 hydrogel, its antimicrobial activity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and wound healing effects. Our results showed that Jelleine-1 hydrogel was formed by the physical crosslinking of self-assembled Jelleine-1 nanofibers in PBS without any other chemical crosslinkers. It exhibited broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and excellent biocompatibility. Notably, the hydrogel showed great potential in promoting wound healing in a mouse model with MRSA-infected burn wound. Our study would provide an inherent antimicrobial hydrogel dressing without loading antibiotics for wounds infected by drug-resistant bacteria, broaden the application of antimicrobial peptides, and pave an alternative strategy for the design of antimicrobial hydrogel.