Gelatin, as natural macromolecular material, has been used in biomedical fields widely. In this study, various
injectable gelatins A, B, and their compound AB
microsphere-based
gels (A-GMGs, B-GMGs and AB-GMGs) were prepared through water-in-oil
emulsion method for hemostasis, and the effects of blood coagulation in vitro and
surgical hemostasis (a deep liver
wound model) in vivo were evaluated. Furthermore, the influences of
gelatin sorts, the size of
microsphere, zeta potential (ZP) and viscoelastic properties on hemostasis were also assessed. Results showed that the
gelatin microspheres (GMs) exhibited smooth surface, good sphericity and the particle size of a rough normal distribution. GMs carried negative charges and their electronegativity was stronger than that of
gelatin A (GA) and
gelatin B (GB) raw materials. Rheological analysis showed that a decreasing particle size of the
microspheres led to stronger gel strength, and solid-like
gels were exhibited under low stress conditions and liquid-like
gels were exhibited under high stress conditions. The blood clotting time of B-GMGs was within 60 s, which exhibited a significantly higher blood clotting effect compared with control groups. The hemostasis assay in vivo showed that the
gels had better
hemostatic effect on a deep liver
wound bleeding model compared with control groups, especially B-GMGs. However, in vivo and vitro
hemostatic experiments, particle size of GMs had no obvious influence on the
hemostatic effect of the
gels. In addition, the
CCK-8 assay of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of murine (mMSCs) indicated non-cytotoxicity of GMs for cells. These results demonstrated that the
gelatin microsphere-based
gels (GMGs) had potential to be an effective
hemostatic material for intracavitary and deep
wound bleeding in surgery.