Conductive graphene oxide-based hydrogel containing human-like collagen combined with electrical stimulation for wound treatment

Skin is the largest organ of the human body, it bears the important function of protecting the body. Mechanical injuries destroy the integrity of the skin and make it more vulnerable to infection and injury. Conductive hydrogel is a new biomaterial with high conductivity, good biocompatibility, and high water content, and it has a wide potential for application in the biomedical field. In recent years, the combination of conductive hydrogel and electrical stimulation has attracted widespread attention, but there are few systematic studies in this field. In this paper, graphene oxide (GO) was used as the main conductive body, and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was obtained by improving the Hummers method to improve the conductivity of hydrogel. Re-adsorbing Human-Like Collagen (HLC), a new composite hydrogel, was prepared by the one-pot method, and its wound repair was evaluated. The hydrogel was reduced in order to obtain a hydrogel with higher conductivity, and the conductivity of the hydrogel reached 1.79 × 10⁻⁴ S/m after 24 h of reduction. In vitro experiments showed that the hydrogel has good antibacterial properties, biocompatibility, hemostasis, and certain promotion of cell growth and migration. The results of the mouse full-thickness skin defect model showed that the wound healing speed of mice treated with conductive hydrogel combined with electrical stimulation was faster than that of mice treated with hydrogel alone. These finding indicate that the prepared conductive hydrogel drug delivery system can be used for promoting wound healing.