Carbon dots crosslinked egg white hydrogel as a effective dressing for accelerated diabetic wound healing

Abstract

Diabetic wounds are a severe complication of diabetes, imposing a significant economic burden on patients and their families. Egg white (EW) is a natural, cost-effective, and easily accessible nutrient that contains various bioactive compounds with anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic properties. Carbon dots (CDs) exhibit excellent biocompatibility and low toxicity. This study introduces a CDs-crosslinked EW hydrogel (CEWH), prepared using CDs as crosslinkers for EW. Our previous study has established CEWH as a multifunctional biomaterial for tissue engineering. In this study, we further demonstrate that CEWH acts as a scaffold for diabetic wound healing in a mouse model by recruiting macrophages and promoting their polarization toward the M2 phenotype, thereby improving the local wound microenvironment. Its large pore size and extended degradation profile facilitate vascular infiltration into the wound site. Moreover, CEWH not only enhances the proliferation of skin tissue cells but also promotes the regeneration of hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and nerves while facilitating collagen deposition, ultimately restoring normal skin architecture and accelerating wound closure in diabetic mice. Overall, our findings underscore CEWH’s potential as an effective and affordable wound dressing, providing a safe and economically viable solution for diabetic wound treatment.