In Situ Constructed Exogenous‐Payload‐Free Hydrogel for Electrochemical Therapy of Diabetic Burn Infection
Aihui Wang, Xingyu Liu, Yaxuan Lin, Ziqi Ling, Weifeng Chen, Liqian Zheng, Rimei Huang, Shenghai Zhang, Fei Lv, Mingli Zhong, Shichen Ji, Hong Liang, Xing‐Can Shen, Bang‐Ping Jiang, Yu LiuABSTRACT
Diabetic wounds remain a critical clinical challenge due to their hostile microenvironment featured by high infection risk, persistent inflammation, etc . Herein, we innovatively constructed an exogenous‑payload‑free hydrogel via in situ photopolymerization for electrochemical therapy (ECT) of diabetic burn wounds, which utilized (3‐acrylamidopropyl)trimethylammonium chloride as monomer and hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan as biomass scaffold. Cationic quaternary ammonium groups on the hydrogel backbone first captured bacteria through electrostatic attraction. The platinum electrodes embedded within hydrogel generated therapeutic agents under a mild 2.0 V: counter Cl − within the hydrogel matrix was oxidized at the anode into reactive chlorine species for sterilization, while water in the hydrogel was electrolyzed to produce H 2 at the cathode to downregulate pro‐inflammatory cytokines IL‐6 and IL‐1β. Meanwhile, the electric field accelerated fibroblast migration and angiogenesis by activating the PI3K/AKT and VEGF pathways. By harnessing the hydrogel's own structural components as the sole therapeutic resources, this work established an exogenous‑payload‑free strategy for multifunctional ECT toward diabetic wound healing.