Bioengineered composite hydrogel scaffold for accelerated skin regeneration and wound repair

Abstract

Wound repair is a common clinical challenge and is critical to patients’ life quality after skin injuries. Despite extensive efforts, the wound healing remains unsatisfied due to the complicated cell behavior and biochemistry of the wound healing process. In recent years, biomaterials have gained attention for their potential to promote skin regeneration, underscoring the need for innovative materials that effectively enhance the healing process. This study introduces a novel hydrogel, HADA/HRR-Cur, developed by combining dopamine-grafted-hyaluronic acid (HADA) with a functional self-assembling peptide (HRR, HGF(RADA)₄DGDRGD_S) and curcumin (Cur). The hydrogel shows good tissue adhesion, excellent self-healing properties, and sustained release of Cur, alongside notable anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory effects. When integrated with silk fibroin/small intestinal submucosa decellularized extracellular matrix (SF/SIS-dECM) nanofibrous membranes, this composite scaffold exhibited remarkable promotion on wound healing through supporting collagen formation, vascular regeneration and anti-inflammatory in a rat wound repair model. The reported material is a promising tool for wound repair and may be applied to diverse tissue engineering application.