Injectable adhesive carboxymethyl chitosan-based hydrogels with self-mending and antimicrobial features for the potential management of periodontal diseases

Treating periodontal diseases is a great challenge owing to the motion and wet conditions, bacterial infection, and tissue defects. Therefore, designing bioactive materials with outstanding wet-tissue adhesion, antimicrobial features, as well as favorable cell responses, is highly desirable to meet practical necessity. In this work, bio-multifunctional melatonin-loaded carboxymethyl chitosan/polyaldehyde dextran (CPM) hydrogels have been developed through the dynamic Schiff-base reaction. Our results demonstrate that the CPM hydrogels display injectability, structural stability, and high tissue adhesion in the wet and motional state, as well as self-healing features. In addition, the designed hydrogels show great antibacterial properties and excellent biocompatibility. The prepared hydrogels display a slow release of melatonin. Moreover, the in vitro cellular assay indicates that the developed hydrogels containing 10 mg per mL melatonin significantly promote cell migration. Thus, the synthesized bio-multifunctional hydrogels show great promise in the treatment of periodontal disease.