Immunoregulation in Diabetic Wound Repair with a Photoenhanced Glycyrrhizic Acid Hydrogel Scaffold

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 34; no. 29; pp. e2200521 - n/a
• Main Authors: Qian, Yuna, Zheng, Yujing, Jin, Juan, Wu, Xuan, Xu, Kejia, Dai, Mali, Niu, Qiang, Zheng, Hui, He, Xiaojun, Shen, Jianliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.07.2022
• Subjects: Additives; Cytokines; Diabetes; diabetic wound healing; glycyrrhizic acid; hybrid hydrogels; Hydrogels; Interpenetrating networks; macrophage polarization; Materials science; Repair; Silk fibroin; Wound healing
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202200521

M1 macrophage accumulation and excessive inflammation are commonly encountered issues in diabetic wounds and can fail in the healing process. Hence, hydrogel dressings with immunoregulatory capacity have great promise in the clinical practice of diabetic wound healing. However, current immunoregulatory hydrogels are always needed for complex interventions and high‐cost treatments, such as cytokines and cell therapies. In this study, a novel glycyrrhizic acid (GA)‐based hybrid hydrogel dressing with intrinsic immunoregulatory properties is developed to promote rapid diabetic wound healing. This hybrid hydrogel consists of interpenetrating polymer networks composed of inorganic Zn2+‐induced self‐assembled GA and photo‐crosslinked methyl acrylated silk fibroin (SF), realizing both excellent injectability and mechanical strength. Notably, the SF/GA/Zn hybrid hydrogel can regulate macrophage responses in the inflammatory microenvironment, circumventing the use of any additives. The immunomodulatory properties of the hydrogel can be harnessed for safe and efficient therapeutics that accelerate the three phases of wound repair and serve as a promising dressing for the management of diabetic wounds. In this study, a glycyrrhizic acid (GA) hybrid hydrogel is developed as an immunoregulatory scaffold for diabetic wound repair. This hybrid hydrogel consists of inorganic Zn2+‐induced self‐assembled GA as a first network and photoenhanced methyl acrylylated silk fibroin as a second network, realizing both excellent injectability and mechanical strength. Notably, this hybrid hydrogel could regulate macrophage responses without exogenous addition.