Chronic wound healing is a significant challenge in diabetes. Puerarin is an active compound extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Pueraria lobata. Puerarin has been used in the treatment of diabetes and derives benefits from its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and pro-angiogenesis properties, but its efficacy is hampered by poor water solubility and bioavailability. In this study, we designed a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)–borax–puerarin (BP) hydrogel system that self-assembled via boronic ester bonds. The BP hydrogel exhibited exceptional physical characteristics, including adaptability, injectability, plasticity, self-healing capabilities, and robust compressive strength, as well as good biocompatibility. In the chronic wound diabetic rats model, the BP hydrogel significantly accelerated wound healing, as evidenced by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, as well as Masson and picrosirius red (PSR) staining. RNA–sequencing and multiple immunohistochemistry (mIHC) analyses revealed that the BP hydrogel exerts a therapeutic effect by modulating macrophage polarization, promoting angiogenesis, and regulating collagen remodeling. Our findings suggest that the BP hydrogel represents a promising wound dressing and holds great potential for clinical applications in acute and chronic wound management.

The pharmacokinetics (PK) of Rhodiola crenulata in rats were studied, and pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) correlation analysis was performed to elucidate their time–concentration–effect relationship. The myocardial ischemia model was made with pituitrin. Rats were divided into sham operation, sham operation administration, model, and model administration groups (SG, SDG, MG, and MDG, respectively; n = 6). Blood was collected from the fundus venous plexus at different time points after oral administration. The HPLC-QQQ-MS/MS method was established for the quantification of five components of Rhodiola crenulata. CK, HBDH, SOD, LDH, and AST at different time points were detected via an automatic biochemical analyzer. DAS software was used to analyze PK parameters and PK-PD correlation. The myocardial ischemia model was established successfully. There were significant differences in the PK parameters (AUC_0–t, AUC_0–∞, C_max) in MDG when compared with SDG. Two PD indicators, CK and HBDH, conforming to the sigmoid-E_max model, had high correlation with the five components, which indicated a delay in the pharmacological effect relative to the drug concentration in plasma. The difference in the PK parameters between modeled and normal rats was studied, and the time–concentration–effect of composition and effect indicators were investigated. This study can provide reference for the rational clinical application of Rhodiola crenulata and for related studies of other anti-myocardial ischemia drugs.