There is an increasing interest in developing bio-responsive materials using reactive oxygen species (ROS) as biological stimulus.1 These materials, with the potential to be used in several biomedical applications, i.e. wound healing,2 should have the capacity to specifically reduce the excess of ROS at sites of inflammation and promote tissue healing.
Wood derived cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) have emerged as an interesting nanomaterial with highly tunable properties that could be of value for wound care applications. In our group, we have demonstrated the ability of CNF-based hydrogels to aid in the healing of acute wounds,3 being an excellent platform for the development of bioactive wound healing dressings.
In the present work, ROS-sensitive peptides were covalently incorporated into carboxymethylated CNFs (c-CNF) using two well-known chemical reactions; amine coupling through EDC/NHS activation and reductive amination. The obtained materials were characterized in terms of chemical structure (CP/MAS 13C-NMR spectroscopy), degree of substitution (elemental analysis of nitrogen content) and degree of crosslinking (ninhydrin test).
The new synthetized biomaterials (figure 1) showed susceptibility to an oxidative environment and their ROS scavenging properties were confirmed by their cell-protective effect in the presence of high levels of ROS. These results serve as an excellent starting point for the development of CNF-based dressings capable of promoting the resolution of chronic wounds.