Hemostatic and antibacterial calcium–copper zeolite gauze for infected wound healing

Abstract

The design and development of wound dressings with excellent procoagulant and antibacterial activity to achieve high wound healing effectiveness are highly desirable in clinical applications. In this work, we develop a calcium–copper zeolite gauze (CaCu-ZG) by a two-step process involving calcium and copper ion exchange in a zeolite gauze. The CaCu-ZG exhibits remarkable procoagulant and antibacterial abilities, as well as good biocompatibility. Compared with the medical gauze, the blood clotting time of CaCu-ZG significantly decreases and the antibacterial activity increases in both in vivo and in vitro experiments. The remarkable ability of wound healing has been verified using a mouse dorsal skin-infected wound model, demonstrating its great potential for wound treatment in clinical applications.