Bio-Multifunctional Hydrogel Patches for Repairing Full-Thickness Abdominal Wall Defects

Developing bio-multifunctional patches with natural extracellular matrix-like structures, excellent high adhesion in the wet state, self-healing ability, antibacterial activity, and favorable cell responses for accelerating tissue healing is highly desirable in clinical applications. Herein, bio-multifunctional composite hydrogels are developed by coupling carboxymethyl chitosan and 4-arm poly (ethylene glycol) aldehyde for full-thickness abdominal wall defect repair. The prepared hydrogels exhibit excellent self-healing and mechanical properties, high adhesion in the wet state, and significant antibacterial ability. In vitro cellular experiments show that the hydrogels combined with recombinant bovine basic fibroblast growth factor remarkably promote cell proliferation and then accelerate full-thickness abdominal wall defect repair in a rat model. The histomorphological evaluation shows that compared to the commercial polypropylene mesh used clinically, the designed hydrogel patches facilitate an increase in the thickness and integrity of the abdominal wall tissue by upregulating the production of Ki67, enhancing the formation of collagen, inducing neovascularization, and inhibiting inflammation by reducing the expression of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β. The results demonstrate that this novel bio-multifunctional hydrogel patch holds great potential for the treatment of full-thickness abdominal wall defects.