Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising antibacterial agents in the fight against multidrug resistant pathogens. However, their application to skin infections is limited by the absence of a realizable topical delivery strategy. Herein, a hybrid hierarchical delivery system for topical delivery of AMPs is accomplished through the incorporation of AMPs into dendritic nanogels (DNGs) and their subsequent embedding into poloxamer gel. The high level of control over the crosslink density and the number of chosen functionalities makes DNGs ideal capsules with tunable loading capacity for DPK-060, a human kininogen-derived AMP. Once embedded into the poloxamer gel, DPK-060 encapsulated in DNGs displays a slower release rate compared to those entrapped directly in the gels. In vitro EpiDerm Skin Irritation Tests show good biocompatibility, while MIC and time-kill curves reveal the potency of the peptide toward Staphylococcus aureus. Anti-infection tests on ex vivo pig skin and in vivo mouse infection models demonstrate that formulations with 0.5% and 1% AMPs significantly inhibit the growth of S. aureus. Similar outcomes are observed for an in vivo mouse surgical site infection model. Importantly, when normalizing the bacteria inhibition to released/free DPK-060 at the wound site, all formulations display superior efficacy compared to DPK-060 in solution.

Human placenta is a source of extracellular matrix for tissue engineering. In this study, placenta powder (PP), made from decellularized human placenta, was physically incorporated into synthetic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogels via UV-initiated thiol-ene coupling (TEC). The PP-incorporated PEG hydrogels (MoDPEG+) showed tunable storage moduli ranging from 1080 ± 290 to 51,400 ± 200 Pa. The addition of PP (1, 4, or 8 wt %) within the PEG hydrogels increased the storage moduli, with the 8 wt % PP hydrogels showing the highest storage moduli. PP reduced the swelling ratios compared with the pristine hydrogels (MoDPEG). All hydrogels showed good biocompatibility in vitro toward human skin cells and murine macrophages, with cell viability above 91%. Importantly, cells could adhere and proliferate on MoDPEG+ hydrogels due to the bioactive PP, while MoDPEG hydrogels were bio-inert as cells moved away from the hydrogel or were distributed in a large cluster on the hydrogel surface. To showcase their potential use in application-driven research, the MoDPEG+ hydrogels were straightforwardly (i) 3D printed using the SLA technique and (ii) produced via high-energy visible light (HEV-TEC) to populate damaged soft-tissue or bone cavities. Taking advantage of the bioactivity of PP and the tunable physicochemical properties of the synthetic PEG hydrogels, the presented MoDPEG+ hydrogels show great promise for tissue regeneration.

To address the current problems of delivery of antisense oligonucleotide (ON) therapeutics, a macromolecular platform was proposed based on the combination of metal-ion coordination and releasable covalent conjugation. Two kinds of therapeutic molecules, bisphosphonate (BP) and antisense ON, were conjugated to a natural polysaccharide hyaluronic acid (HA). The use of two linkers with a set of terminal chemoselective groups including Nhydroxysuccinimide carbonate, 2-dithiopyridyl, and aromatic aldehyde allowed orthogonal conjugation of the two therapeutics with subsequent detachment under potentially different conditions. In this work, disulfide linkages of varied steric accessibility were utilized in the linkers allowing the release of the linked therapeutics with different kinetics upon incubation in a reducing buffer. The therapeutics were conjugated to HA via their amino groups, and the self-immolative feature of the linkers permitted traceless release of both drugs as free amines. The obtained dual macromolecular prodrug was converted into either nanogels or macroscopic hydrogels upon coordination with calcium ions via Ca2+-mediated bridging of BP groups. Macroscopic hydrogels demonstrated self-healing properties which are useful for the noninvasive administration of ONs as biodegradable implants. Moreover, transformation of the macromolecular prodrug into a nanogel under dilute conditions is a useful property to prolong the circulation of the prodrug and protect antisense ON therapeutics against degradation in vivo.

Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are globally a major threat, leading to high mortality rates and increased economic burden. Novel treatment strategies are therefore urgently needed by healthcare providers to protect people. Biomaterials that have inherent antibacterial properties and do not require the use of antibiotics present an attractive and feasible avenue to achieve this goal. Herein, we demonstrate the effect of a new class of cationic hydrogels based on amino-functional hyperbranched dendritic-linear-dendritic copolymers (HBDLDs) exhibiting excellent antimicrobial activity toward a wide range of clinical Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including drug-resistant strains isolated from wounds. Intriguingly, the hydrogels can induce the expression of the antimicrobial peptides RNase 7 and psoriasin, promoting host-mediated bacterial killing in human keratinocytes (HaCaT). Moreover, treatment with the hydrogels decreased the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1 beta, reactive nitrogen species (NO), and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) in S. aureus-infected HaCaT cells, conjunctively resulting in reduced inflammation.

Due to its unique properties resembling living tissues, hydrogels are attractive carriers for the localized and targeted delivery of various drugs. Drug release kinetics from hydrogels are commonly controlled by network properties and the drug-network interactions. However, and simultaneously, the programmable delivery of multiple drugs with opposing properties (hydrophilicity, molecular weight, etc.) from hydrogels with determined network properties is still challenging. Herein, we describe the preparation of injectable self-healing hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels that release hydrophobic simvastatin and hydrophilic aminobisphosphonate (BP) drugs independently in response to acidic and thiol-containing microenvironments, respectively. We apply a prodrug strategy to BP by conjugating it to HA via a self-immolative disulfide linker that is stable in the blood plasma and is cleavable in the cytoplasm. Moreover, we utilize HA-linked BP ligands to reversibly bind Ca2+ ions and form coordination hydrogels. Hydrazone coupling of hydrophobic ligands to HA permits the encapsulation of simvastatin molecules in the resulting amphiphilic HA derivative and the subsequent acid-triggered release of the drug. The conjugation of BP and hydrophobic ligands to HA enables preparation of both bulk self-healing hydrogels and nanogels. Moreover, the developed hydrogel system is shown to be multi-responsive by applying orthogonally cleavable linkers. The presented hydrogel is a potential candidate for the combination treatment of osteoporosis and bone cancers as well as for bone tissue regeneration since it can deliver bone anabolic and anti-catabolic agents in response to bone diseases microenvironments.

Biocompatible and degradable dual-delivery gel systems based on hyperbrancheddendritic−linear−dendritic copolymers (HBDLDs) is herein conceptualizedand accomplished via thiol-ene click chemistry. The elasticity of thehydrogels is tunable by varying the lengths of PEG (2, 6, 10 kDa) or the dryweight percentages (20, 30, 40 wt%), and are found to be between 2–14.7 kPa,comparable to human skin. The co-delivery of antibiotics is achieved, wherethe hydrophilic drug novobiocin sodium salt (NB) is entrapped within thehydrophilic hydrogel, while the hydrophobic antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) isencapsulated within the dendritic nanogels (DNGs) with hydrophobic cores(DNGs-CIP). The DNGs-CIP with drug loading capacity of 2.83 wt% are thenphysically entrapped within the hybrid hydrogels through UV curing. Thehybrid hydrogels enabled the quick release of NB and prolonged released ofCIP. In vitro cell infection assays showed that the antibiotic-loaded hybridhydrogels are able to treat bacterial infections with significant bacterialreduction. Hybrid hydrogel band aids are fabricated and exhibited betterantibacterial activity compared with commercial antimicrobial band aids.Remarkably, most hydrogels and hybrid hydrogels showed enhanced humandermal cell proliferation and could be degraded into non-toxic constituents,showing great promise as wound dressing materials.

Natural polymers such as collagen are popular materials for tissue engineering scaffolds due to their innate bioactivity and biocompatibility. Being derived from animal sources, however, means that batch-to-batch consistency is often low and the extraction of collagen is costly. This conundrum facilitates the need for synthetic alternatives as scaffolding materials. In this study, a system of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based thiol-ene coupled (TEC) hydrogel scaffolds is presented for tissue engineering purposes. The platform includes several necessary features, namely cytocompatibility, high swelling ability, biodegradability, tunable stiffness, and fast, straightforward fabrication. The swelling ability is provided by the hydrophilicity of the ether-links of PEG, which facilitated the formation of high water content hydrogels that match the water content of soft tissues for the proper diffusion of nutrients and waste compounds. TEC ensures fast and facile fabrication, with cross-linking moieties that allow for the biodegradation of the hydrogel network through hydrolytic cleavage. The mechanical properties of the scaffolds are made tunable in the range of storage moduli spanning <1 kPa to >100 kPa. It is also shown that despite the synthetic nature of the hydrogels, human dermal fibroblasts and murine macrophages, Raw 264.7, were able to survive and produce extracellular protein excretions while embedded in the 3D hydrogels.

Microbial infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major threat to humans, associated with a high mortality and for the society increased economic burden. To address this, a series of cationic hydrogels based on amino-functional hyperbranched dendritic−linear−dendritic copolymers (HBDLDs) were formed easily within 1 min through interactions between the amino-terminated HBDLDs and di(N-hydroxysuccinimide ester) functionalized polyethylene glycol (PEG). The hydrogels exhibited excellent inherent antimicrobial activity towards a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative clinical bacteria including drug-resistant strains, isolated from wounds. In vitro cell infection assays showed that the hydrogels were able to significantly reduce cell infections caused by different strains, with the highest killing efficacy of 96% towards S. aureus. The hydrogels also inhibited the initiation of E. coli biofilm formation. Remarkably, the hydrogels induced the expression of the antimicrobial peptides, RNase 7 and psoriasin, in keratinocytes (HaCaT) which suggests that the hydrogels are likely able to promote host-mediated bacterial killing. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β, reactive nitrogen species (NO) and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) in S. aureus-infected HaCaT cells were reduced after the treatment with the hydrogels. The hydrogels degraded within 24 h, showing great promise for treating skin infections and reducing inflammation.