Supramolecular nanofiber network hydrogel dressing for promoting wound healing with low swelling and mechanical stability properties

Skin wounds are a major health problem of global concern. Prompt and proper care after skin injury is crucial for rapid healing and minimizing scar. Hydrogels are widely used wound dressings in clinical practice due to their ability to create a moist environment for wound healing. However, most hydrogels exhibit high swelling ratio and tend to compress and irritate the wound upon contact with wound exudate, which is counterproductive to the wound healing process. Supramolecular hydrogels formed by self-assembly of natural drug molecules have attracted increasing interest in wound healing due to their intrinsic pharmacological activity and excellent biocompatibility. In this study, a supramolecular nanofiber network hydrogel based on glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) was developed to promote wound healing. The hydrogel network consists of a self-assembled nanofibrous network generated by GA and a cross-linked network formed by gellan gum (GG). The resulting hydrogels have unique low swelling properties as well as good mechanical stability. What's more, the GG/GA hydrogels can absorb water and return to its original state after lyophilization, which facilitates storage. Both in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated high biocompatibility and significant pro-angiogenic effects of GG/GA hydrogel. The wound healing ratio of the rat model treated with GG/GA hydrogel reached 95.49 ± 1.1 % at 14 days. These findings indicate that GG/GA supramolecular hydrogels possess significant potential in promoting wound healing and offer a novel approach for creating low-swelling, easy storage, inherently physiologically active, and highly biocompatibility wound dressings.