A phenylboronic acid-modified gelatin/oxidized chondroitin sulfate hydrogel with reversible adhesion and self-healing properties for enhanced chronic wound treatment.

Chronic wounds are a major clinical challenge, commonly associated with diabetes, vascular diseases, and prolonged immobilization. Their varying depths and irregular geometries require wound dressings that can conform closely to complex wound surfaces while maintaining reliable adhesion. Although adhesive and dynamic hydrogels have been widely explored for wound management, integrating stable adhesion during application with controllable and gentle on-demand detachment, while retaining self-healing and injectability for irregular chronic wounds, remains challenging. Therefore, this study aimed to develop an adaptive hydrogel dressing capable of conforming to irregular chronic wounds while providing stable adhesion during application and controllable, gentle detachment on demand. To achieve this aim, we developed a temperature-responsive phenylboronic acid-modified gelatin/oxidized chondroitin sulfate (GP-OCS) hydrogel, integrating Schiff base and borate ester bonds formed between phenylboronic acid-modified gelatin and oxidized chondroitin sulfate. The resulting dual dynamic network endowed the hydrogel with favorable mechanical properties, self-healing ability, injectability, and temperature-responsive reversible adhesion, enabling close conformity to irregular wound surfaces and on-demand removal. These findings demonstrate a dual-dynamic-covalent hydrogel strategy that combines conformability, stable adhesion, and temperature-triggered atraumatic removal, providing a promising approach for the development of adaptive wound dressings for chronic wound management.