Liquid-Metal-Loaded Hydrogel with Antibacterial Effect and Sustained Release of Growth Factor for Wound Healing

Multifunctional medical hydrogels play an important role in wound healing because of their excellent biocompatibility, convenient operation, and drug release capacity. So far, many efforts have been exploited to developing new-generation hydrogels with distinctive capabilities in promoting wound healing. Herein, the liquid-metal (LM)-loaded hydrogels are reported with antibacterial effect under an 808 nm near-infrared laser irradiation for wound healing therapeutic strategies. The addition of LM droplets enables the hydrogel to control the temperature rise and plays an antibacterial effect with the release of gallium³⁺ under laser irradiation. Benefiting from the porous network structure of hydrogels, the encapsulated growth factors can be released stably at the wound site. Under the synergistic effect of LM and growth factors in the wound tissue, the hydrogel displays antibacterial features and promotes the regeneration of epithelial tissue and neovascularization, thereby further accelerating wound healing. This hydrogel has proven biosafety and low toxicity in vitro and in vivo. With these advantages, such hydrogel is a promising candidate to be developed as a new medical product for future clinical medicine.