β-CD/PEI/PVA composite hydrogels with superior self-healing ability and antibacterial activity for wound healing

Bacterial infections in wounds often delay the healing process which threaten human health and life. The development of biocompatible hydrogels with antibacterial activity and self-healing to achieve excellent wound closure effectiveness is highly desirable in clinical applications. Herein, a new class of highly stretchable, biocompatible, and antibacterial hydrogel dressings called BPP hydrogel is designed and prepared by chemically cross-linking β-CD with PEI and then physically cross-linking with PVA. The BPP hydrogel exhibits superior properties including excellent antibacterial properties against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli, good biocompatibility for mouse fibroblasts, mouse embryonic fibroblasts and human umbilical vein endothelial cells, outstanding deformability and self-healing performance to protect the wound completely even in special scenes such as pulling and bending. Besides, after damage, the broken BPP hydrogel could heal together, and the healed BPP hydrogel could be stretched to 150% breaking deformation. Furthermore, in vivo experiments further verify that BPP hydrogel has excellent sterilization and healing effect on infectious wounds. This work proves that BPP hydrogel would be a promising material for wound healing and has good prospect for clinical translation.