Issue 24, 2020

Conductive and antimicrobial macroporous nanocomposite hydrogels generated from air-in-water Pickering emulsions for neural stem cell differentiation and skin wound healing

Abstract

Electro-active conducting hydrogels have shown promising applications in promoting soft tissue regeneration. However, achieving good conductive performance while simultaneously imparting macroporous structures to these hydrogels still remains challenging. In this study, we report the development of multifunctional conductive macroporous nanocomposite hydrogels (MNHs) prepared by an air-in-water emulsion template that is stabilized by colloidal hybrids of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and gelatin methacryloyl. The MNH hydrogels demonstrated tunable pore size, electrical conductivity and mechanical properties with various CNT concentrations in the crosslinking matrices. An in vitro cell assay showed that the MNH hydrogels could promote the spreading and differentiation of NE-4C neural stem cells. Furthermore, sustainable release of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from the MNH hydrogel can be achieved and the released AMPs maintained high S. aureus killing activity. An in vivo evaluation of the MNH hydrogel using a murine dorsal skin model further showed that the conductive MNH hydrogel loaded with AMPs demonstrated appealing antimicrobial and wound healing performance in two weeks.

Graphical abstract: Conductive and antimicrobial macroporous nanocomposite hydrogels generated from air-in-water Pickering emulsions for neural stem cell differentiation and skin wound healing

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 avq 2020
Accepted
14 okt 2020
First published
14 okt 2020

Biomater. Sci., 2020,8, 6957-6968

Conductive and antimicrobial macroporous nanocomposite hydrogels generated from air-in-water Pickering emulsions for neural stem cell differentiation and skin wound healing

M. Xu, Q. Li, Z. Fang, M. Jin, Q. Zeng, G. Huang, Y. Jia, L. Wang and Y. Chen, Biomater. Sci., 2020, 8, 6957 DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01466D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements