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  3. Thermosensitive hydrogel with antioxidant and photothermal antibacterial effects accelerates healing of bacterial-inflamed maxillofacial wounds

Thermosensitive hydrogel with antioxidant and photothermal antibacterial effects accelerates healing of bacterial-inflamed maxillofacial wounds

  • J Colloid Interface Sci. 2026 Feb 15;704(Pt 1):139366. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.139366.
Luotong Chen 1,  Jing Wu 2,  Jingbo Huang 1,  Xiaolong Zhu 1,  Yuxin Qian 3,  Yan Lin 2,  Wentao Wang 4,  Ben Zhong Tang 5,  Ming Zhang 6,  Yuanyuan Li 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China.
  • 2 College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base of Research, Prevention and Treatment for Oral Diseases, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
  • 4 College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 5 Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Aggregate Science, School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen), Guangdong 518172, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 6 State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base of Research, Prevention and Treatment for Oral Diseases, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 7 State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 41197459 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.139366
Abstract

Bacterial-infected wound treatment remains a substantial clinical challenge due to the deterioration of the tissue microenvironment, including excessive M1 macrophages, impaired angiogenesis, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and Bacterial infections. To accelerate the healing of maxillofacial trauma, an immunomodulatory thermosensitive hydrogel was developed that combines scavenging of ROS, alleviation of oxidative stress damage, facilitation of macrophage polarization to the M2 phenotype, and elimination of Bacterial infections through thermotherapy, thereby regulating the inflammatory immune microenvironment. In vitro experiments confirmed that the immunomodulatory hydrogel dressing with good antioxidant ability could remove various radicals (1O2, ·O2-, ·OH, and H2O2). Based on the excellent photothermal properties of the near-infrared II (NIR-II) absorption conjugated polymer, the hydrogel had a superior bactericidal effect against E. coli (100 %) and S. aureus (100 %). The results of treating total skin wounds and subcutaneous abscesses in the maxillofacial region showed that this hydrogel accelerated the wound-healing process efficiently with 1064 nm laser irradiation. The current work might open a new avenue for developing novel dressings for bacterial-inflamed wounds.

Keywords

Hydrogel dressing; Immunomodulatory; Photothermal; Radical scavenging; Wound healing.

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