Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) remain a devastating threat to human health. While hydrogels are promising systems for DFU-based wound management, their effectiveness is often hindered by the immune response and hostile wound microenvironment associated with the uncontrollable accumulation of reactive oxygen species and hypoxia. Here, we develop a therapeutic wound dressing using a biomimetic hydrogel system with the decoration of catalase-mimic nanozyme, namely, MnCoO@PDA/CPH. The hydrogel can be designed to match the mechanical and electrical cues of skins simultaneously with H2O2-activated oxygenation ability. As a proof of concept, DFU-based rat models are created to validate the therapeutic efficacy of the MnCoO@PDA/CPH hydrogel in vivo. The results indicate that the developed hydrogel can promote DFU healing and improve the quality of the healed wound as featured by alleviated proinflammatory, increased re-epithelialization, highly ordered collagen deposition, and functional blood vessel growth.
Keywords: conductive hydrogels; diabetic foot ulcers; nanozymes; oxygen; reactive oxygen species.