Diabetes may leave patients more prone to skin problems, and minor skin conditions can more easily turn into serious damage to the extracellular matrix, which further impairs the skin's mechanical properties and delays wound healing. Therefore, the aim of the work is to develop extracellular matrix substitution to remodel the mechanical properties of diabetic cutaneous wound and thus accelerate diabetic wound healing. A green fabrication approach was used to prepare radiation crosslinked bilayer collagen scaffold from collagen dispersion. The morphological, mechanical and swelling characteristics of radiation crosslinked bilayer collagen scaffold were assessed to be suitable for cutaneous wound remodeling. The feasibility of radiation crosslinked bilayer collagen scaffold was performed on full-skin defect of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The tissue specimens were harvested after 7, 14, and 21 days. Histopathological analysis showed that radiation crosslinked bilayer collagen scaffold has beneficial effects on inducing skin regeneration and remodeling in diabetic rats. In addition, immunohistochemical staining further revealed that the radiation crosslinked bilayer collagen scaffold could not only significantly accelerate the diabetic wound healing, but also promote angiogenesis factor (CD31) production. Vascularization was observed as early as day 7. The work expands the therapeutic ideas for cutaneous wound healing in diabetes.

Diabetic wounds are prone to develop chronic wounds due to bacterial infection and persistent inflammatory response. However, traditional dressings are monofunctional, lack bioactive substances, have limited bacterial inhibition as well as difficulties in adhesion and retention. These limit the therapeutic efficacy of traditional dressings on diabetic wounds. Therefore, finding and developing efficient and safe wound dressings is currently an urgent clinical need. In this study, an antimicrobial gel loaded with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (referred to as AgNPs@QAC-CBM) was prepared by crosslinking quaternary ammonium chitosan (QAC) with carbomer (CBM) as a gel matrix. AgNPs@QAC-CBM exhibited a reticulated structure, strong adhesion, good stability, and remarkable bactericidal properties, killing 99.9% of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa within 1 min. Furthermore, AgNPs@QAC-CBM improved the wound microenvironment and accelerated wound healing in diabetic mice by promoting tissue production and collagen deposition, inducing M2 macrophages, reducing pro-inflammatory factor secretion and increasing anti-inflammatory factor levels. Moreover, AgNPs@QAC-CBM was proven to be safe for use through skin irritation and cytotoxicity tests, as they did not cause any irritation or toxicity. To summarize, AgNPs@QAC-CBM showed promising potential in enhancing the diabetic wound healing process.

The metal gallium holds great promise in the fight against infection by disrupting bacterial iron metabolism through a “Trojan horse” technique. It is well worth trying to investigate the potential for gallium-mediated hydrogels for the treatment of infected wounds. In this paper, Ga³⁺ is innovatively given an important role in hydrogels based on the conventional multi-component hydrogel with metal ion binding gelation strategy. Thus, Ga@Gel-Alg-CMCs hydrogel with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity is reported on the treatment of infected wounds. The morphology, degradability, and swelling behavior together indicated the excellent physical properties of this hydrogel. Interestingly, in vivo results also showed favorable biocompatibility, slowing down wound infection and promoting diabetic wound healing, making the gallium-doped hydrogel an ideal antimicrobial dressing.

Scalds are one of the most common injuries and the 4th cause of trauma globally. Alginate has emerged as a promising scald wound dressing. Herein, we present a facile applicable strategy for electron beam (EB) radiation crosslinking gelatin, alginate, and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) into an injectable three-dimensional (3D) porous hydrogel (3D-PH) with a double crosslinked network for reliable deep second-degree scald wound healing. In addition, the injectable 3D-PH stimulated proliferation and migration of dermal fibroblasts in vitro and the deep second-degree scald wound healing process is accelerated in vivo. Most importantly, in vitro results revealed that the injectable 3D-PH stimulated cell proliferation via inducing the expression of Ki-67, and suppressed inflammatory signals as indicated by the downregulation of inflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α) in L929 cells. We further demonstrated that the 3D-PGH accelerated the wound healing process of deep second-degree scald in vivo. This study indicated the injectable 3D-PH with a double crosslinked network could be applied as a multifunctional injectable scald wound dressing material for anti-inflammation, necrotic tissue-removal, and wound closure. These findings suggest that the injectable 3D-PH may be conducive to the evolution of new pharmaceuticals for burn wound healing.