Hydrogel dressings capable of
infection monitoring and precise treatment administration show promise for advanced
wound care. Existing methods involve embedd ingorganic
dyes or flexible electronics into preformed
hydrogels, which raise safety issues and adaptability challenges. In this study, an
injectable hydrogel based smart
wound dressing is developed by integrating food-derived
anthocyanidin as a visual pH probe for
infection monitoring and
poly(L-lactic acid)
microcapsules as ultrasound-responsive delivery systems for
antibiotics into a poly(
ethylene glycol)
hydrogel. This straightforwardly prepared
hydrogel dressing maintains its favorable properties for
wound repair, including porous morphology and excellent biocompatibility. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the
hydrogel enabled visual assessment of pH within the range of 5 ∼ 9.Meanwhile, the release of
antibiotics could be triggered and controlled by ultrasound. In vivo evaluations using infected
wounds and diabetic
wounds revealed that the
wound dressing effectively detected
wound infection by monitoring pH levels and achieved antibacterial effects through ultrasound-triggered drug release. This led to significantly enhanced wound healing, as validated by histological analysis and the measurement of inflammatory
cytokine levels. This
injectable hydrogel-based smart
wound dressing holds great potential for use in clinical settings to inform timely and precise clinical intervention and in community to improve
wound care management.