Zwitterionic polymer nanocomposite hydrogels with immunoregulation for effectively preventing postoperative abdominal adhesions.

Authors

Siyu Bao, Xiawei Zhao, Danyang Chen, Hongying Wang, Xu Tian, Qiao Li, Rongrong Qin, Jianhai Yang, Wenguang Liu

Published in

Biomaterials. Volume 336. Pages 124444. Jul 09, 2026. Epub Jul 09, 2026.

Abstract

Zwitterionic hydrogels are attractive physical barriers for preventing postoperative abdominal adhesions because of their outstanding antifouling properties; however, their inherent biological inertness and poor degradability often hinder therapeutic efficacy and clinical translational potential. Herein, we report a bioactive and dissociable zwitterionic nanocomposite hydrogel that integrates zwitterionic polymer chains with clearance potential, hydrolytically dissociable networks, and Prussian blue (PB) nanozymes. A molecular-weight-controlled polycarboxybetaine acrylate precursor (PCBOAA, ∼50 kDa) was prepared by reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization and subsequently crosslinked with dithiothreitol via thiol-acrylate Michael addition reaction to form a zwitterionic hydrogel featuring β-thioether ester linkage, which could gradually dissociate under physiological conditions into low-molecular-weight polymer with reduced risk of prolonged retention. Incorporation of PB nanoparticles further endowed the PCBOAA@PB hydrogel with antioxidative and immunomodulatory activity. In vitro, PCBOAA@PB hydrogel could effectively resist protein adsorption and cell adhesion and suppress pro-inflammatory macrophage polarization. In a rat cecum-abdominal wall adhesion model, it exhibited markedly superior anti-adhesion efficacy compared with a clinically used hyaluronic acid hydrogel. Mechanistically, this excellent anti-adhesion efficacy of PCBOAA@PB hydrogel as a physical barrier stemmed from its dual ability to reprogram the postoperative inflammatory-fibrotic microenvironment and reduce excessive collagen deposition. In summary, this work provides a zwitterionic hydrogel design strategy that integrates antifouling, microenvironment modulation, and clearance potential for effective adhesion prevention.

PMID:
42430828
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.