Green Tea Derivative Driven Smart Hydrogels with Desired Functions for Chronic Diabetic Wound Treatment

TLDR

Current treatments for chronic diabetic wounds remain unsatisfactory because ideal dressings that combine mechanical strength, rapid self‑healing, easy dressing change, and multiple therapeutic effects are lacking. The study aims to create a smart hydrogel dressing that exploits EGCG’s catechol groups and therapeutic properties. This dressing is fabricated by copolymerizing an EGCG–APBA complex, which forms boronate ester bonds, with acrylamide. The resulting hydrogel displays adequate mechanical strength, self‑healing, and tissue adhesion, while sustained EGCG release delivers antioxidant, antibacterial, anti‑inflammatory, pro‑angiogenic effects and macrophage polarization modulation, accelerating wound healing and enabling easy dressing changes, thereby offering an effective solution for diabetic chronic wounds and potentially other complex wounds.

Abstract

Abstract Current treatments for chronic diabetic wounds remain unsatisfactory due to the lack of ideal wound dressings that can integrate matching mechanical strength, fast self‐healability, facile dressing change, and multiple therapeutic effects into one system. In this work, benefiting from the catechol groups and therapeutic effect of epigallocatechin‐3‐gallate (EGCG, green tea derivative), a smart hydrogel dressing can be conveniently obtained through copolymerization of the complex formed by EGCG and 3‐acrylamido phenylboronic acid (APBA) (the formation of boronate ester bond) and acrylamide. The resulting hydrogel features adequate mechanical properties, self‐healing capability, and tissue adhesiveness. Otherwise, the substantial release of EGCG can not only realize anti‐oxidation, antibacterial, anti‐inflammatory and proangiogenic effect, and modulation of macrophage polarization to accelerate wound healing, but also facilitate easy dressing change. This advanced hydrogel provides a facile and effective way for diabetic chronic wound management and may be extended for the therapy of other complicated wound healings.