Self-healing quaternized chitosan and guar gum hydrogel enabling antibiotic-free antibacterial action and wound hemostasis

Open wounds not only cause bleeding but also increase the risk of bacterial contamination, which can lead to infection and inflammation. Therefore, it is imperative to develop wound dressings that integrate both antibacterial and hemostatic functionalities. Herein, we report a natural polysaccharide-based cationic hydrogel (QFCG) via the phenylboronic ester reaction between QCS-FPBA and cationic guar gum (CGG). Owing to the superior reversibility of phenylboronic ester bonds, this hydrogel demonstrated remarkable self-healing, adaptive, and injectable properties. Moreover, through both electrostatic interactions and phenylboronic ester chemistry on the bacterial surface, the antibiotic-free cationic hydrogel efficiently aggregated a substantial number of bacteria, leading to their effective inactivation. In vitro blood coagulation study demonstrated that the positively charged QFCG hydrogel could significantly enhance blood cell aggregation via electrostatic adsorption. Further in vivo results demonstrated that the QFCG hydrogel can rapidly achieve hemostasis in a liver hemorrhage model, highlighting its significant potential for wound healing applications. Therefore, the QFCG hydrogel represents a new effective wound dressing, and our study may provide valuable insights for the rational design of polysaccharide-based hydrogels for wound healing.