Facile Preparation of Tunicate-Inspired Chitosan Hydrogel Adhesive with Self-Healing and Antibacterial Properties.

Zhenhao Xi,Huiqing Liu,Yixiang Lin,Jie Wang,Ruyue Liu,Xiang He,Ruixiao Wang

doi:10.3390/polym13244322

Abstract

In order to replace traditional wound treatments such as sutures, tissue adhesives with strong wet tissue adhesion and biocompatibility have attracted more attention to the applications of non-invasive wound closure. Herein, inspired by tunicate adhesive protein, a series of 2,3,4-trihydroxybenzaldehyde (TBA)-modified chitosan hydrogels (CS-TBA-Fe) were prepared by easily mixing the solutions of chitosan-FeCl3 and TBA via the Schiff-base reaction and the coordination between Fe3+ and pyrogallol groups. The gelation time was greatly shortened to only several seconds after induced even trace Fe3+. The hydrogel (CS-TBA-Fe) exhibited ~12-fold enhanced wet tissue adhesion strength (60.3 kPa) over the commercial fibrin glue. Meanwhile, the hydrogel also showed robust adhesion to various substrates such as wood, PMMA, and aluminum. The swelling ratio and rheological property can be simply controlled by changing the concentrations of chitosan, TBA, and Fe3+. Moreover, the hydrogel displayed a rapid and highly efficient self-healing ability and an excellent antibacterial activity against E. coli. The overall results show that the CS-TBA-Fe hydrogel with enhanced wet adhesiveness will be a promising tissue adhesive material.

Highlights

Skin is the first barrier that protects the body from external injuries and bacterial infections, but it is susceptible to external injuries and form irregular wounds [1]
An appropriate mass of chitosan was dissolved in a certain concentration of FeCl3 solution (CS-Fe) at room temperature, and a desired amount of TBA in deionized water was added to the chitosan-Fe3+ solution (CS-Fe) solution, homogenized by mechanically stirring
The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra of chitosan and CS-TBA were recorded on an FT-IR spectrometer (Nicolet 6700, Thermo Nicolet Corporation., Madison, WI, USA)

Summary

Introduction

Skin is the first barrier that protects the body from external injuries and bacterial infections, but it is susceptible to external injuries and form irregular wounds [1]. Tissue adhesive is expected to replace sutures and bone needles as a wound dressing biomaterial because of it is easy to handle, less invasive, and high adaptable to irregularly shaped wounds [3,4]. For such applications, synthetic (i.e., poly (ethylene glycol) bioadhesives [5]. The study of new biocompatible tissue adhesives with tight adhesion and antibacterial property is of great significance and urgency [13,14]

Methods

Results

Conclusion