Injectable multifunctional DNA hydrogel for accelerated wound healing

Abstract

Multidrug-resistant bacteria-infected refractory wounds are increasingly imposing a heavy burden on public health. Wound dressing materials with effective antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties for accelerated wound healing need to be developed urgently. Herein, we constructed a multifunctional DNA hydrogel as an effective wound dressing material based on programmable DNA self-assembly. The precise base-pairing between sticky ends enables DNA building blocks to hydrogel at the wound site within seconds. Cytosine (C)-silver ion (Ag+)-C bridges of C–C mismatches complexing with Ag+ improve the mechanical properties of the hydrogel, make the hydrogel durable, and enable a sustained release property, thereby enhancing the broad-spectrum antibacterial effects both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the fractalkine aptamer carried by the hydrogel can recruit and passively release endogenous chemokines to recruit M2 macrophages via G-coupled protein receptors, because of which the inflammatory process prematurely changes to the proliferative process. In vivo experiments revealed that a dual-functionalized DNA hydrogel dressing significantly accelerated skin tissue regeneration and wound closure in a methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infected rat model. In general, we present a simple, injectable and multifunctional DNA hydrogel dressing for accelerated wound healing that possesses exceptional applicability with great clinical translation potential.