Chronic diabetic
wounds represent the most common
diabetes complication. Wound healing depends on scavenging
reactive oxygen species (ROS), neovascularization, and controlling
infection. A naturally derived
gelatin-based
hydrogel is biocompatible, biodegradable, does not promote
inflammation, and can remove ROS, but strategies for developing a
gelatin-based
hydrogel currently require careful chemical modification of
gelatin and time-consuming purification and post-crosslinking processing. Herein, a facile method of combining
zirconium (Zr4+),
gelatin, and
quercetin (QCN) to generate an
injectable gelatin-based
hydrogel (QCN@Gel-Zr) for diabetic
wound treatment was presented. Adding QCN improved the mechanical, injection, and adhesive performance of the Gel-Zr
hydrogel and conferred antibacterial and
free radical-scavenging abilities. These properties induced cellular proliferation and migration, protection against oxidative stress, and reduction in inflammatory expression. In vivo models of acute and chronic diabetic skin
wounds were used to demonstrate biocompatibility and the ability of the
gelatin hydrogels to promote wound healing. The histological analysis showed that the QCN@Gel-Zr
hydrogel promoted angiogenesis,
collagen deposition, and hair follicle regeneration with no detectable cytotoxicity. This study demonstrates the preparation of
gelatin-based
hydrogel with various flexible functions to address the complex biological requirements of diabetic
wound repair.