Dynamic Slide‐Ring Hydrogels with Dityrosine‐Driven pH‐Responsive Fluorescence: Enabling 3D Printing, Enhanced Drug Delivery and Regenerative Therapy
The development of intelligent hydrogels with multifunctional capabilities holds great promise for advancing medical applications. In this work, we developed a dynamic slide-ring supramolecular hydrogel with dual molecular innovations: a dityrosine (DY)-driven pH-responsive fluorescence core in four-arm PEG (4A-PD) and Arginine-Glycine-Aspartic acid peptide (RGD) peptide-functionalized hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG)-modified α-cyclodextrin (CHR) for enhanced cell adhesion and drug loading. The host-guest interactions between 4A-PD and CHR form a network with shear-thinning, rapid self-healing, and UV-triggered covalent stabilization, enabling room-temperature extrusion-based 3D printing. The printed constructs exhibit high shape fidelity and porous architectures that promote RGD-mediated cell adhesion and proliferation. The DY core imparts the hydrogel with pH-dependent blue fluorescence (emission peak: 400 nm), allowing real-time microenvironmental monitoring. HPG modification of α-CD significantly enhances the drug-loading capacity, demonstrated by the sustained release of tobramycin (TOB) for effective infection control. In a full-thickness infected rat wound model, the TOB-loaded hydrogel accelerates wound closure (97.67% ± 0.56% by day 14), promotes collagen deposition, and modulates inflammation (reduced IL-6, increased IL-10), while enhancing angiogenesis. This multifunctional hydrogel integrates 3D printing, drug delivery, and responsive sensing, offering a versatile platform for regenerative medicine.
Authors
- Fengjuan Ni
- Meng Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4208-7856)
- Han Xiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4124-9411)
- Hangyu Shen
- Shunyun Zeng
- Lei Zhang
- Yong Li
- Hongkui Li
- Yuhui Ma
Institutions
- Kunming University of Science and Technology (CN)
- First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province (CN)
- Yunnan Yingmao Biotechnology (China) (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Healthcare Materials
- Published
- 2026-01-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202503936
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 22.64