Hydrogel for slow-release drug delivery in wound treatment

Abstract When skin comes into direct contact with the outside environment, it becomes extremely prone to injury and external factors can make wounds difficult to heal. Traditional medical dressings often cause secondary injury and are poorly resistant to infection. Hydrogels offer a promising alternative to overcome these difficulties. In this study, chitosan (CS)/gelatin (GEL)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogels were developed by chemical cross-linking and loaded with the drug kitasamycin (KM) for testing. The hydrogels’ in vitro drug release and wound-healing properties were assessed. For 48 h, the drug release from the hydrogel in vitro persisted, which was significantly longer than the release time of the KM solution. Antimicrobial activity tests showed that the loaded KM hydrogel maintained its bacteriostatic ability at the same concentration as the KM solution, and during in vitro bacteriostatic inhibition, the duration of bacteriostatic inhibition of the KM hydrogel was significantly prolonged compared to that of the KM solution. This confirms the controlled release capability of the hydrogel. In addition, the hydrogel reduced the wound size in mice by 96 % and histopathological tests showed complete re-epithelialization of the wound. The prepared hydrogels successfully demonstrated their potential ability to control drug release and promote skin wound healing.