Cytocompatible, hemocompatible, and bioactive hydrogel fabricated using decellularized tendon, carboxymethyl chitosan and oxidized pullulan with antibacterial and ROS-scavenging properties

In recent years, hydrogels based on decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) from tendons have been used in tissue scaffold preparation and guided tissue regeneration. However, pure dECM hydrogel may be limited in biomedical applications due to slow gelation kinetics, poor mechanical properties, and other suboptimal characteristics. To enhance functionality, dECM hydrogel can be remodelled using natural polysaccharide polymers. In this study, carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) and oxidized pullulan (OPL) were employed to remodel dECM synthesized from porcine Achilles tendon, resulting in the fabrication of dECM-based composite hydrogels (CLD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and X-ray computed microtomography (Micro-CT) confirmed the interconnected microstructure of CLD hydrogels. Furthermore, the CLD hydrogels exhibited favorable self-healing ability and adhesion properties. In vitro hemolysis test using the red blood cells demonstrated good hemocompatibility of CLD hydrogels. CLD hydrogels exhibited favorable antibacterial capabilities against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as effective reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capabilities and good cytocompatibility. Collectively, these findings suggested that the fabricated dECM-based remodelling hydrogels hold potential in future biomedical applications.