Wound microenvironment self-adaptive hydrogel with efficient angiogenesis for promoting diabetic wound healing

Neovascularization is critical to improve the diabetic microenvironment, deliver abundant nutrients to the wound and promote wound closure. However, the excess of oxidative stress impedes the healing process. Herein, a self-adaptive multifunctional hydrogel with self-healing property and injectability is fabricated through a boronic ester-based reaction between the phenylboronic acid groups of the 3-carboxyl-4-fluorophenylboronic acid -grafted quaternized chitosan and the hydroxyl groups of the polyvinyl alcohol, in which pro-angiogenic drug of desferrioxamine (DFO) is loaded in the form of gelatin microspheres (DFO@G). The boronic ester bonds of the hydrogel can self-adaptively react with hyperglycemic and hydrogen peroxide to alleviate oxidative stress and release DFO@G in the early phase of wound healing. A sustained release of DFO is then realized by responding to overexpressed matrix metalloproteinases. In a full-thickness diabetic wound model, the DFO@G loaded hydrogel accelerates angiogenesis by upregulating expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 and angiogenic growth factors, resulting in collagen deposition and rapid wound closure. This multifunctional hydrogel can not only self-adaptively change the microenvironment to a pro-healing state by decreasing oxidative stress, but also respond to matrix metalloproteinases to release DFO. The self-adaptive multifunctional hydrogel has a potential for treating diabetic wounds.