A Shear‐Thinning, Self‐Healing, Dual‐Cross Linked Hydrogel Based on Gelatin/Vanillin/Fe3+/AGP‐AgNPs: Synthesis, Antibacterial, and Wound‐Healing Assessment

Abstract

AbstractA shear‐thinning and self‐healing hydrogel based on a gelatin biopolymer is synthesized using vanillin and Fe3+ as dual crosslinking agents. Rheological studies indicate the formation of a strong gel found to be injectable and exhibit rapid self‐healing (within 10 min). The hydrogels also exhibited a high degree of swelling, suggesting potential as wound dressings since the absorption of large amounts of wound exudate, and optimum moisture levels, lead to accelerated wound healing. Andrographolide, an anti‐inflammatory natural product is used to fabricate silver nanoparticles, which are characterized and composited with the fabricated hydrogels to imbue them with anti‐microbial activity. The nanoparticle/hydrogel composites exhibit activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Burkholderia pseudomallei, the pathogen that causes melioidosis, a serious but neglected disease affecting southeast Asia and northern Australia. Finally, the nanoparticle/hydrogel composites are shown to enhance wound closure in animal models compared to the hydrogel alone, confirming that these hydrogel composites hold great potential in the biomedical field.