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Injectable chitosan hydrogels loaded with antioxidant agent as first-aid dressings for second-degree burn wounds

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Abstract

Burn wounds are destructive skin traumas typically of irregular shape and large area. Prone to infection, they require frequent dressing replacement, and painless removal of dressings from burn wounds remains a major challenge. This study focuses on the dynamic characteristics and treatment difficulty of burn wounds. Hydrogel dressings based on glycol chitosan and propionaldehyde- or benzaldehyde-terminated 4-arm poly(ethylene glycol) were designed on the basis of Schiff base cross-linking networks. The hydrogels exhibited shape-adaptability, self-healing and fast-degradation properties, which makes these hydrogels suitable for burn wounds. Salvianolic acid B (SaB)-loaded hydrogel exhibited good antioxidant properties in vitro. In a rat model of deep second-degree burn wounds, the SaB-loaded hydrogel could quickly reduce wound temperature, regulate wound oxidant microenvironment, promote angiogenesis, and accelerate wound healing. Thus, the drug-loaded hydrogel shows significant potential as a first-aid dressing for treatment of burn wounds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China

    Hui Ren, Zhen Zhang, KaiLun Lu, YuanYuan Shen, ChaoLiang He & XueSi Chen

  2. School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Hui Ren, KaiLun Lu, YuanYuan Shen, ChaoLiang He & XueSi Chen

Authors
  1. Hui Ren
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  2. Zhen Zhang
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  3. KaiLun Lu
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  4. YuanYuan Shen
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  5. ChaoLiang He
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  6. XueSi Chen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhen Zhang or ChaoLiang He.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52173147, 22105198, 51973218, 51833010), and the Scientific and Technological Development Projects of Jilin Province (Grant No. 20210204136YY).

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The supporting information is available online at tech.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Ren, H., Zhang, Z., Lu, K. et al. Injectable chitosan hydrogels loaded with antioxidant agent as first-aid dressings for second-degree burn wounds. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 67, 891–901 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-023-2509-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-023-2509-4

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