Copper-incorporated Calcium Silicate Nanorods Composite Hydrogels for Tumor Therapy and Skin Wound Healing

Developing a hydrogel with tumor therapy and skin wound healing is of great significance for eliminating residual tumor cells and promoting skin wound healing after surgical resection of skin cancers. Here, copper-incorporated calcium silicate (Cu-CS) nanorods were prepared by a molten salt method with calcium hydrate silicate as matrix, NaCl and KCl as molten salt, and CuSO4 center dot 5H(2)O as Cu source, and then incorporated into sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel to achieve Cu-CS/SA composite hydrogel. The results showed that Cu content of Cu-CS nanorods increased with the increase of the Cu source addition and the treatment temperature, but their catalytic activity for producing hydroxy radical (center dot OH) from H2O2 exhibited the trend of increasing and then decreasing. Nanorods, prepared with 3% copper source (3Cu-CS) at 700 degrees C, displayed the best catalytic performance. Cu with +2 valence state could be uniformly distributed on the surface of Cu-CS nanorods, with Cu content as low as 0.61%. Importantly, Cu-CS/SA hydrogel with Cu-CS nanorods less than 20% were biocompatible and could catalyze H2O2 to produce cytotoxic center dot OH in a simulated tumor microenvironment, exhibiting outstanding chemodynamic effect. Furthermore, Cu-CS/SA hydrogel could promote proliferation and migration of human umbilicle vein endothelial cells and human dermal fibroblast. Therefore, Cu-CS/SA hydrogel is a promising material for applying in tumor therapy and skin wound healing.