Prevention of
bacterial infection and reduction of
hemorrhage, the primary challenges posed by
trauma before hospitalization, are essential steps in prolonging the patient's life until they have been transported to a trauma center. Extracellular matrix (ECM)
hydrogel is a promising
biocompatible material for accelerating
wound closure. However, due to the lack of antibacterial properties, this
hydrogel is difficult to be applied to acute contaminated
wounds. This study formulates an
injectable dermal extracellular matrix
hydrogel (porcine acellular dermal matrix (ADM)) as a scaffold for skin defect repair. The
hydrogel combines
vancomycin, an
antimicrobial agent for inducing hemostasis, expediting antimicrobial activity, and promoting tissue repair. The
hydrogel possesses a porous structure beneficial for the adsorption of
vancomycin. The
antimicrobial agent can be timely released from the
hydrogel within an hour, which is less than the time taken by bacteria to infest an injury, with a cumulative release rate of approximately 80%, and thus enables a relatively fast bactericidal effect. The cytotoxicity investigation demonstrates the biocompatibility of the ADM
hydrogel. Dynamic coagulation experiments reveal accelerated blood coagulation by the
hydrogel. In vivo antibacterial and
hemostatic experiments on a rat model indicate the healing of infected tissue and effective control of hemorrhaging by the
hydrogel. Therefore, the
vancomycin-loaded ADM
hydrogel will be a viable
biomaterial for controlling
hemorrhage and preventing
bacterial infections in
trauma patients.