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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

A multifunctional chitosan–polylevodopa hydrogel for photothermal treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-infected wounds

Desheng Cai1# ,  Kairu Che1# ,  Qing Zhang1# ,  Yuqin Yang2 ,  Ting Cao3 ,  Hong Wang1 ,  Zhicheng Yin1 ,  Ruyue Zhang1 ,  Yunlong Yu4* ,  Jiayu Zhang1*
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1 Yantai Engineering Research Center for Biotransformation Technology of Medicinal and Edible Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Tarditional Chinese Medicine, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, Shandong, China
2 Formula-syndrome Research Center, Institute of Basic Theory for Chinese Medicine Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
3 Department of Laboratory Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
4 Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing, China
BMT, 226 https://doi.org/10.12336/bmt.25.00226
Submitted: 14 November 2025 | Revised: 21 December 2025 | Accepted: 26 December 2025 | Published: 10 February 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). Licensee Biomaterials Translational, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en)
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Abstract

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been recognized as a potential antibacterial therapeutic approach, particularly for skin infections. However, PTT can cause thermal damage to tissues during treatment. Hence, to address this limitation, we developed an injectable multifunctional hydrogel using a one-step eco-friendly synthetic approach, enabling smart photothermal sterilization under mild conditions. The chitosan (CS)/poly(3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) (PDOPA)@naringin (Nar) hydrogel was engineered by leveraging CS to orchestrate the self-polymerization of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine into PDOPA, serving as an efficient photothermal agent. The CS/PDOPA@Nar hydrogel exhibited superior mechanical properties (strain: 1,077%), along with adhesion, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, and pro-angiogenic properties. Under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the hydrogel exhibited remarkable photothermal antibacterial efficacy, generating an inhibition zone radius of 18.5 ± 0.3 mm. In methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-infected full-thickness skin wound models, the hydrogel dressing notably accelerated tissue regeneration, achieving an exceptional wound closure rate of 98.73% within 11 days after NIR treatment. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the hydrogel effectively suppressed the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, interleukin 6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha, while enhancing the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, alpha-smooth muscle actin, cluster of differentiation (CD) 31, and CD34. Notably, the Nar component amplified neovascularization while maintaining favorable biosafety profiles in both cellular and animal evaluations. The CS/PDOPA@Nar hydrogel demonstrates substantial potential as a clinically viable wound management system, offering a smart, multimodal therapeutic approach that integrates on-demand infection control, regulation of inflammation modulation, and accelerated tissue regeneration.

Keywords
Adhesion
Hemostasis
Photothermal antibacterial
Anti-inflammatory
Wound healing
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82174039), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020MH371), the Taishan Young Scholar Program of Shandong (TSQN202103110), the Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Program of Shandong Province (Z-2022085), the Matching Support Program for Provincial and Above Leading Talents in Yantai City (10073801), the Yantai School-Land Integration Development Project (26165701), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82204600), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Public Welfare Research Institutes (No. YZX202229), and the Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Innovation Development Joint Fund (CSTB2024NSCQ-LZX0018).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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