Radiation cross-linked gelatin/sodium alginate/carboxymethylcellulose sodium hydrogel for the application as debridement glue paste

Autolytic debridement can accelerate wound healing by removing necrotic tissue. A hydrogel was fabricated from an aqueous solution of gelatin, sodium alginate and carboxymethylcellulose sodium by radiation-induced cross-linking at room temperature, which was aiming at the application of debridement glue paste. The swelling ratio of the debridement glue paste is 30 times to its dry weight, when the weight ratio of gelatin/sodium alginate/carboxymethylcellulose sodium was 2:2:2 and the absorbed dose was 20 kGy, with dose rate of 20 Gy/min. The extrusion and compressive assay have confirmed that it possessed stable mechanical strength, and the weight ratio had little effect on the molecular structure by FTIR and TGA. Cell culture experiments demonstrated the debridement glue pastes with the cytotoxicity of grade 0 or 1 (biosafe). The debridement glue paste group could remove the necrotic tissue within 4 days and showed complete wound healing within 18 days; comparatively, the control group without treatment removed the necrotic tissue within 10 days and showed complete wound healing within 26 days in animal experiments using rabbit scald model. Histologic analysis exhibited that more granulation tissue was observed in debridement glue paste. The result of this study suggested that debridement glue pastes had excellent biocompatibility, could selectively remove necrotic tissue, induced granulation tissue formation and accelerated the wound healing.