Facile fabrication of chitosan/polysialic acid composite hydrogels crosslinked with tannic acid to enhance wound healing after cesarean section

Infections and post-wound healing following a cesarean section are among the most challenging complications of surgery. In the current study, novel chitosan/polysialic acid (CTS/PSA) crosslinked hydrogels were designed and employed as superficial wound dressings to increase the healing ability of cesarean wounds and prevent bactericidal infections. The impact of crosslinking was more pronounced with a lower concentration of tannic acid (TA), which still formed a crosslinked network. The impact of TA crosslinking on CTS/PSA hydrogel system was 15 wt% TA. The morphology of the hydrogels was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The pore sizes of CTS/PSA, TA@CTS/PSA-5%, TA@CTS/PSA-10%, and TA@CTS/PSA-15% were 96.7±6.3, 122.3±7.1, 166.8±9.3, and 271.2±20.3 μm, respectively. In addition, the swelling ratio, degradation, and mechanical performance of the hydrogels were studied. The crosslinked CTS/PSA hydrogels were shown to be effective against the gram-positive and gram-negative strains of S. aureus and E. coli. Furthermore, the TA@CTS/PSA hydrogels exhibited good cytocompatibility towards non-cancerous L929 fibroblast cells. The results demonstrated that TA@CTS/PSA hydrogels are potential dressings for post-cesarean-section wound care.