Dual Glucose/ROS-Sensitive Injectable Adhesive Self-Healing Hydrogel with Photothermal Antibacterial Activity and Modulation of Macrophage Polarization for Infected Diabetic Wound Healing

Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and healing-promoting treatment of chronically infected wounds is not only clinical problems to be solved urgently but also important needs related to people’s livelihood. However, multifunctional hydrogel dressings with highly efficient antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and wound microenvironment sensitive drug release performance still remain a challenge. In this work, a multifunctional hydrogel dressing was achieved by introducing mussel-like super adhesion catechol groups and glucose/ROS-sensitive dynamic phenylboronester bond cross-linking network, which endowed the hydrogel with excellent injectable, self-healing, tissue adhesion properties, and glucose/ROS-sensitive drug release performance. Additionally, high-efficiency photothermal synergistic antibacterial TP@Ag NPs were prepared and introduced into the hydrogel. The glucose/ROS responsive borate bond in the hydrogel network could realize the responsive release of TP@Ag NPs, thereby promoting M2 polarization to achieve an efficient anti-inflammatory effect. And the excess reactive oxygen (ROS) could also be scavenged by the synergistic effect of the catechol group and ROS-sensitive borate bond in the hydrogel. Moreover, excellent biocompatibility and antioxidant performance were shown in the hydrogels. Finally, the hydrogel could fully fill and adhere to irregular wound tissue through injection and significantly promote infected diabetic wound healing in vivo through efficient photothermal synergistic sterilization, ROS scavenging ability, and modulation of macrophage M2 polarization to reduce inflammatory response. Thus, it illustrated the superiority of the hydrogel as an advanced functional dressing for infected diabetic wound healing.