Comparison of two hemostatic skin adhesive dressings, incorporating multi-metal bioactive glass

Current bioadhesive dressings, though potential in wound care, often exhibit inadequate adhesion and lack essential properties for optimal wound healing, such as being antibacterial, hemostatic, and angiogenic. While various scaffolds containing natural adhesive molecules such as 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (DOPA) and tannic acid (TA) have been individually assessed, the comparison of adhesives containing these molecules are scarcely studied. This study addresses these limitations by developing two innovative composite hydrogel adhesives, based on DOPA and TA, which are integrated with novel multi-metal bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGNs). A comprehensive comparison of their properties was conducted to evaluate their potential in improving wound healing outcomes.

BGNs were synthesized using sol-gel approach, yielding an amorphous and porous structure. Incorporation of 10 % w/w BGNs with uniform distribution enhanced the mechanical and adhesive properties of both hydrogels, with TA-based dressings demonstrating superior performance. While both dressings demonstrated biocompatibility and hemocompatibility, TA-based adhesive outperformed DOPA-based adhesive in cell viability and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, while DOPA-based composites showed better in vitro angiogenic and hemostatic capabilities.

Regarding in vivo investigations, conducted on mice model of full-thickness skin wounds, DOPA- incorporated adhesive dressing which contained 10 % BGN exhibited slightly superior performance in re-epithelialization, collagen formation and blood vessel density, indicating its potential for acute wound healing applications.