Curcumin-laden hyaluronic acid-co-Pullulan-based biomaterials as a potential platform to synergistically enhance the diabetic wound repair

Injectable hydrogel with multifunctional tunable properties comprising biocompatibility, anti-oxidative, anti-bacterial, and/or anti-infection are highly preferred to efficiently promote diabetic wound repair and its development remains a challenge. In this study, we report hyaluronic acid and Pullulan-based injectable hydrogel loaded with curcumin that could potentiate reepithelization, increase angiogenesis, and collagen deposition at wound microenvironment to endorse healing cascade compared to other treatment groups. The physical interaction and self-assembly of hyaluronic acid-Pullulan-grafted-pluronic F127 injectable hydrogel were confirmed using nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and cytocompatibility was confirmed by fibroblast viability assay. The CUR-laden hyaluronic acid-Pullulan-g-F127 injectable hydrogel promptly undergoes a sol-gel transition and has proved to potentiate wound healing in a streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model by promoting 93% of wound closure compared to other groups having 35%, 38%, and 62%. The comparative in vivo study and histological examination was conducted which demonstrated an expeditious recovery rate by significantly reducing the wound healing days i.e. 35 days in a control group, 33 days in the CUR suspension group, 21 days in unloaded injectable, and 13 days was observed in CUR loaded hydrogel group. Furthermore, we suggest that the injectable hydrogel laden with CUR showed a prompt wound healing potential by increasing the cell proliferation and serves as a drug delivery platform for sustained and targeted delivery of hydrophobic moieties.