Preparation of lipoic acid compound alginic acid cooling dressing and its anti-aging properties

Abstract

Compared with traditional dressings, sprayable hydrogels can be easily applied to uneven mass wounds, limiting direct contact with the wound or hand and preventing wound damage during treatment. Many biocompatible materials have been synthesized and modified through multiple steps to obtain the necessary easy-spraying and rapid-gelling performance; however, these new materials increase the complications of clinical transformation. Therefore, designing a simple and universal primary dressing is of particular significance. Here, we prepared a dressing based on the clinically-permitted sodium alginate (SA) because of its pros, such as cost-effectiveness, facile gelation, and drug loading. We further designed a more convenient and simpler process to facilitate on-site or daily care applications. Furthermore, because reactive oxygen species are a significant cause of inflammation during wound healing, antioxidation should be considered a fundamental property in the design; this was achieved using alpha-lipoic acid (LA). The basic LA/SA hydrogel exhibited facile and rapid gelation, suitable cooling performance, water retention, and good antioxidant properties. In addition, we simulated two states of cellular senescence, revealing that the cells treated with the LA/SA dressings recovered close to normal cells, showing excellent anti-aging property of the hydrogel. Thus, easily fabricated LA/SA dressing has great potential for practical applications in laser treatment, burn therapy, cooling fabrics, heat-protective clothing, and other emergency scenarios.