A Glycosylated and Catechol-crosslinked ε-Polylysine Hydrogel: Simple Preparation and Excellent Wound Hemostasis and Healing Properties

Commercial tissue adhesives have been widely applied in wound hemostats and dressings while enhancing the hemostasis and healing capabilities is challenging to meet clinical needs. Herein, we designed the glucose- and catechol-functionalized derivatives from commercial ε-polylysine (EPL) and prepared the hydrogels by simple amidation and catechol-crosslinking reactions, which have larger swelling ratios of 220%–240%, suitable microporous size of about 6–8 µm, and tissue adhesion strength of about 20–40 kPa. The hemolysis, cytotoxicity, and cellular double-staining assays indicate that those hydrogels had good biocompatibility and the H-3 hydrogel with higher glucose content gave a lower hemolysis ratio of 0.73%±0.14%. The blood-clotting index, blood cell attachment and adhesion studies showed those hydrogels had fast blood-coagulation, resulting in excellent hemostasis performance with a short hemostatic time of 38–46 s and less blood loss of 19%–34% in a liver hemorrhage model. A full-thickness rat-skin defect model further demonstrates that the H-3 hydrogel achieved fast wound healing with a wound closure of 70.0%±2.7% on postoperative day 7 and nearly full closure on day 14. Remarkably, the hydroproline level that denotes the collagen production reached a higher one of 7.24±0.55 µg/mg comparable to that in normal skins on day 14, evidencing the wound healing was close to completion in the H-3 treatment. Consequently, this work provides a simple method to construct a glycosylated and catechol-functionalized hydrogel platform from commercial EPL, holding translational potentials in wound hemostats and dressings.