Bioactive hybrid hydrogels reinforced with biomimetic nanocomposites and dual-biomolecular cross-linking for enhanced antibacterial and photothermal therapeutic effects

Abstract

Bioactive hydrogels hold great promise in advancing biomedical treatments, offering potential solutions for drug delivery, tissue engineering, as well as tumor diagnosis and therapy applications. To extend biomedical applications of hydrogels, enhancing their biocompatibility and structural doping to achieve multifunctional capabilities are key challenges. In this study, we develop a biomimetic bioactive hybrid hydrogels via bioinspired synthesis and dual-biomolecular cross-linking techniques to enable multifunctional biomedical applications, specifically as antibacterial and photothermal therapy (PTT) materials. Initially, peptide-bioinspired silver nanoparticles (PAN) are synthesized through a coordination reaction between peptide molecules and Ag⁺ and then biomimetic synthesis strategy, which are then loaded onto graphene oxide (GO) via electrostatic interactions, forming the GO/PAN nanohybrids (PGA). PGA is subsequently combined with chitosan (CS) and dopamine (DA) to form hybrid hydrogels under the oxidation of ammonium persulfate. Experimental results indicate that the synergistic effects of CS and PAN notably enhance the hydrogel's antibacterial properties. In addition, the hydrogels demonstrate high photothermal conversion efficiency under the NIR laser irradiation, enabling injectable tumor cell ablation through in vitro and in vivo PTT tests. The biomimetic bioactive hybrid hydrogels developed in this work exhibit enhanced antibacterial and PTT properties, offering a novel material candidate for tumor therapy and antibacterial applications.