Green tea catechin-grafted silk fibroin hydrogels with reactive oxygen species scavenging activity for wound healing applications

BACKGROUND: Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is known to delay wound healing by causing oxidative tissue damage and inflammation. The green tea catechin, (–)-Epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), has drawn a great deal of interest due to its strong ROS scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities. In this study, we developed EGCG-grafted silk fibroin hydrogels as a potential wound dressing material. METHODS: The introduction of EGCG to water-soluble silk fibroin (SF-WS) was accomplished by the nucleophilic addition reaction between lysine residues in silk proteins and EGCG quinone at mild basic pH. The resulting SF-EGCG conjugate was co-crosslinked with tyramine-substituted SF (SF-T) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/H(2)O(2) mediated enzymatic reaction to form SF-T/SF-EGCG hydrogels with series of composition ratios. RESULTS: Interestingly, SF-T70/SF-EGCG30 hydrogels exhibited rapid in situ gelation (< 30 s), similar storage modulus to human skin (≈ 1000 Pa) and superior wound healing performance over SF-T hydrogels and a commercial DuoDERM® gel dressings in a rat model of full thickness skin defect. CONCLUSION: This study will provide useful insights into a rational design of ROS scavenging biomaterials for wound healing applications. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40824-022-00304-3.