Abstract / Summary
ABSTRACT The wound dressing with good injectability, self‐healing ability, tissue adhesion, and especially antibacterial properties has significant potential in the healthcare field. Here, we developed an injectable hydrogel through the one‐pot radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) in the presence of quaternized chitosan (QCS) and pre‐formed polydopamine (PDA). In this system, the PDA‐QCS‐AA (DQA) hydrogel is primarily formed by the in situ polymerization of the hydrophilic anionic monomer AA within the natural cationic polysaccharide QCS. Due to the reversible physical crosslinking network, the hydrogel exhibits injectability and self‐healing properties. In addition, the inclusion of the hydrophilic PAA network and adhesion molecules PDA and QCS endows the hydrogel with good adherence. Furthermore, thanks to the inherent antibacterial capability of QCS, this hydrogel demonstrates outstanding antibacterial performance. Moreover, the hydrogel also shows excellent biocompatibility. In vivo experiments indicate that this hydrogel dressing can significantly accelerate the healing of surgical site infected (SSI) wound models. These findings suggest that the injectable, adhesive, and antibacterial DQA hydrogel warrants further investigation as a dressing for infected surgical wounds.