Wet-adhesive, haemostatic and antimicrobial bilayered composite nanosheets for sealing and healing soft-tissue bleeding wounds

Abstract

Healing soft-tissue wounds with an irregular, complicated topography in a bleeding environment demands the development of a dressing that is wet-adhesive, haemostatic, and antibacterial. To meet this unmet demand, we designed a flexible nanosheet (~77 nm thick) made of two layers, one is the antibacterial and haemostatic gelatin modified with dopamine (DA) and antimicrobial peptide (AMP) and mixed with Ca2+ ions as coagulation factors, and another is the mechanically strong polycaprolactone (PCL). This flexible nanosheet exhibited robust mechanical strength, continuous and effective adhesion to a topographically irregular tissue surface under a wet condition, and a high platelet adhesion capacity. Moreover, the nanosheet presented a significantly reduced clotting time of 4 min and a high bactericidal rate of nearly 100%. An in vivo evaluation of the nanosheet using both murine dorsal skin and liver models further revealed that the nanosheet could successfully seal and heal the wounds in a bleeding environment, efficiently control haemorrhaging, and exert an excellent antibacterial effect in two weeks. Our work suggests that this nanosheet holds great promise in healing the bleeding soft-tissue wounds for treating acute trauma.