Multifunctional carboxymethyl chitosan/oxidized dextran/sodium alginate hydrogels as dressing for hemostasis and closure of infected wounds

Massive bleeding is a great threat to the life safety of patients, which is a challenging clinical problem. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a kind of multifunctional dressing material with hemostatic ability and antibacterial performance to promote wound healing and repair. To resolve this issue, in this study, a carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS)/sodium alginate (SA)/oxidized dextran (ODE) (CSO) multifunctional hydrogel was developed. The hydrogel could rapidly gel through Schiff base reaction and amide reaction and firmly adhere to the skin at the wound, to realize the fast hemostasis. Importantly, it was verified that the hydrogel could prevent the Staphylococcus aureus-caused wound infection, owing to the antibacterial effect of CMCS and ODE. In addition, the CSO hydrogel had good water retention capacity and was able to mimic the three-dimensional structure of the natural extracellular matrix, thereby promoting wound repair in mice. In vitro whole-blood clotting assay demonstrated that red blood cells could be adhered to the surface of hydrogel, showing good hemostasis in rat liver injury and tail amputation models. Together with the biocompatible feature, CSO hydrogel holds a great application prospect in hemostasis and wound healing.