ROS scavenging and corneal epithelial wound healing by a self-crosslinked tissue-adhesive hydrogel based-on dual-functionalized hyaluronic acid

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging is a viable approach to promote corneal epithelium wound healing. This study created a single-component hydrogel (HA Gel) with a novel dual-functionalized hyaluronic acid derivative (HA-GA-PBA) containing gallol and phenylboronic acid (PBA) moieties. Both of these moieties were dual-functional. Specifically, they not only functioned as structural building blocks for hydrogel formation, but also served as bioactive ingredients for therapeutic purpose. Dynamic covalent complexation between gallol and PBA moieties led to the self-crosslinked HA Gel, which was antioxidative and tissue-adhesive. It was demonstrated that the hydrogel enhanced the proliferation rate of human corneal epithelial cells by over 2.5 folds. When treating the mouse corneal alkali burn model with HA Gel, the corneal epithelial healing percentages reached 69.19 ± 9.41 % and 84.12 ± 6.09 % on day 3 and 5, respectively, which were significantly higher than the placebo group (51.14 ± 9.63 % and 67.32 ± 10.54 % on day 3 and 5, respectively). Meanwhile, reduced scar formation and inflammation was observed. These findings indicated HA Gel could find applications in various of ocular diseases for improved corneal epithelial wound healing.