Charge balance transition enabled Janus hydrogel for robust wet-tissue adhesion and anti-postoperative adhesion

Janus hydrogels have recently emerged as promising bioadhesives for efficient wet-tissue adhesion and anti-postoperative adhesion. However, existing Janus hydrogel adhesives normally need varied chemical designs of different layers to achieve asymmetric adhesive/anti-adhesive properties on either side. Here, we present a new strategy to construct an adhesive/anti-adhesive Janus hydrogel tissue patch accomplished by switching the charge-balance of the hydrogel layers with similar compositions (anionic carboxyl polymer and cationic ε-polylysine, EPL). The bottom layer (AL) is formed under acidic condition (pH 2.85), featuring abundant -COOH and -NH 3 + residues, which provide rapid & robust adhesion to diverse wet tissues (up to 100.4 kPa) with high bursting pressure (362.5 mmHg), while the top layer (MLT) is formed under neutral condition, achieving a balanced charge between -COOH/-NH 2 and -COO − /−NH 3 + groups, which mimic the overall electroneutral structure of zwitterionic materials for efficient anti-postoperative tissue adhesion (up to 6 weeks). Further in vivo studies validated that the integrated AL/MLT hydrogel patch is biodegradable (within 10 weeks), exhibits broad-spectrum antibacterial activity (up to 99.8 %), and outperforms the commercial fibrin gel in sutureless wound sealing, rat gastric tissue repair, and anti-postoperative adhesion. This strategy may open a new avenue to develop adhesive/anti-adhesive Janus bioadhesives for efficient non-invasive internal tissue sealing and promoted wound healing.