Tough and tissue-adhesive polyacrylamide/collagen hydrogel with dopamine-grafted oxidized sodium alginate as crosslinker for cutaneous wound healing

Natural collagen has good biocompatibility and ability to promote tissue regeneration; however, its low flexibility and easy degradation hinder its applications in wound repair. In this study, we synthesized a skin wound-repairing hydrogel with good bioactivity and high toughness and adhesion. Inspired by the good adhesion of natural mussels, dopamine was grafted onto oxidized sodium alginate to synthesize a new crosslinker (COA), which was introduced into the collagen/polyacrylamide (PAM-Col) double network to synthesize hydrogel. The morphological characterization of the hydrogel using scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the hydrogel formed a more chaotic interconnected structure after the introduction of COA. PAM-Col-COA hydrogel had good mechanical properties, skin tissue adhesion, water absorption, and sustained biological activity. In vivo wound healing experiments showed that hydrogel accelerates the wound healing process and has potential applications in wound dressings.