Abstract
An injectable hydrogel with high adhesion strength, non-toxicity and low cost is highly desired for developing highly efficient hemostasis. In this study, we developed a new type of injectable adhesive drug loaded hydrogel utilizing the formation of Schiff-base linkages based on carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC), gelatin (GEL) and oxidized alginate (OSA). By optimizing the concentration of the biopolymers, the hybrid hydrogel (CMC-GEL/OSA) demonstrated an extremely fast gelation rate (30 s) and adhesive strength of 11 kPa. The freeze-dried hydrogel showed a three-dimensional porous structure. The hydrogel loaded with levofloxacin exhibited good antibacterial properties. Hemostatic performance of the hydrogel was demonstrated in a rat liver injury model. Compared with the untreated wound, the hemostasis time of the hydrogel treated wound was shortened by 84.2% and the blood loss was reduced by 82.2%. Thus, the proposed injectable hydrogel holds great potential applications for hemostasis, drug delivery and in other biomedical fields.
Highlights
Uncontrollable bleeding is the main cause of death from injuries that occur in battle eld, emergency and hospital settings
Hydrogels were prepared by mixing equal volume of aqueous solution of carboxymethyl chitosan and gelatin with oxidized sodium alginate in PBS buffer solution
The sol–gel transition of the hydrogel was caused by the in situ formation of Schiff base linkages between amino groups and aldehyde groups (Fig. 1b)
Summary
Uncontrollable bleeding is the main cause of death from injuries that occur in battle eld, emergency and hospital settings. Cyanoacrylate adhesives are o en used medically because of their strong bonding strength and rapid curing rate in wet environments, but their degradation products are toxic and the curing process is exothermic, which limited their application.[6] Fibrin glue, as a representative of biological agents, has been popularly used for many surgical procedures due to the characteristics of high hemostasis efficiency and no dependence on coagulation factors.[7] the brin glue has some shortcomings, for example, poor tissue adhesion, great chance of contaminations with viruses and high cost.[8] In addition, ethylene glycol based adhesives swell too much and are prone to compressing tissues in closed cavities,[4] while some photopolymerizable adhesives require UV illumination and become inconvenient to use.[9,10] novel tissue adhesive with strong adhesion strength, suitable mechanical property, good biocompatibility and low cost is highly desirable
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