A synergy between dopamine and electrostatically bound bactericide in a poly (vinyl alcohol) hybrid hydrogel for treating infected wounds.

Antibacterial hydrogels have emerged as viable options for battling infections associated with impaired wound healing. It is challenging in developing antibacterial hydrogels that have sustained and stable bactericidal activity while avoiding the use of any agents that may adversely affect safety. In view of this concern, a multi-functional polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/sodium alginate-dopamine (SA-DA) hydrogel matrix-based wound dressing embedding with bis-quaternary triphenyl-phosphonium salt (BTPP+), that would present long-term intrinsic antimicrobial properties was developed using freeze-thawing (F-T) method herein. DA endows the hydrogel with efficient bacteria capture ability and subsequently the captured bacterial pathogens were in situ killed by electrostatically bound BTPP+, and hence significantly augmented the antibacterial efficacy. Furthermore, DA, co-operating with BTPP+ could promote erythrocyte and platelet aggregation on hydrogels, which ensures hydrogels with improved hemostasis capacity. Thus, this investigation provides a feasible simple avenue for development of long-term intrinsic antimicrobial hydrogel dressings with efficient hemostasis efficacy for infected wounds.