Increased mortalities associated with uncontrolled and excessive bleeding is still of paramount concern in the clinics, caregivers and military medics. Herein, we designed a shape memory cryogel based on chitosan (C) and functionalized-dextran (D), incorporated with Kaolin (K) and calcium (Ca2+) as haemostatic agents. The developed cryogel (CDKCa) exhibits a uniform interconnected porous architecture with profound fluid absorption ability, rapid blood clotting, stable clot formation and good antibacterial activity. The CDKCa elucidates significantly less clotting time (~30 s; in-vitro) and increased aggregation and activation of platelets/red blood cells in comparison to the control groups and commercial dressings (Axiostat and QuikClot). The developed CDKCa also significantly reduced the aPTT and PT values by ~58 % and 31 % respectively, leading to the activation of intrinsic and extrinsic coagulation cascades. The CDKCa cryogel displays enhanced mechanical stability, flexibility and a good shape memory, a property quintessential to cease uncontrolled bleeding in irregular and non-compressible wounds. Further, the Kaolin and Ca2+ incorporated shape memory CDKCa cryogel demonstrates a rapid blood coagulation and stable clot formation in different compressible and non-compressible rat liver and femur hemorrhagic models. In summary, the endorsed results of CDKCa suggest that the design, fabrication and excellent clotting ability may attribute to high haemostatic efficiency of CDKCa dressing and have a great potential to prevent uncontrollable hemorrhages. 

The increased complexity of the healing process and interplay of various pathological factors in cutaneous wounds, in particular, chronic wounds, entails a meticulous and spatiotemporally sufficient treatment to accomplish successful therapy. Here, we have developed the hybrid bilayer scaffold system using cryogelation and electrospinning techniques to closely resemble the native three-dimensional architecture of skin. The bilayer scaffold involves curcumin dextran nanoparticles (CDNp) and cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2) loaded gelatin cryogel layer and polyvinyl alcohol-poly (vinyl pyrrolidone)-iodine-potassium iodide (PPI-KI) electrospun fibrous layer towards the outer side. The developed scaffold exhibited high water uptake capability, degradation and hemocompatibility besides showing sustained and prolonged release of CDNp (65% ± 2.61 in 120 h) and iodine (66.47% ± 2.073 in 72 h). The in-vitro studies of bilayer scaffold, cryogels and electrospun sheet demonstrated enhanced cell viability and accelerated cell migration apart from displaying a strong antioxidant and antibacterial activity. The developed scaffolds elucidated a faster-wound closure rate in the in-vivo wound model in comparison to commercially available dressing and other groups. Further, in the infected wound model, the bilayer scaffold prevented wound infection and showed rapid and efficient healing of wounds. The developed dressing was observed to promote mature epithelialization with ample hair growth and increased deposition of mature collagen. Thus, the novel synergistic approach can remarkably provide new insights for the design of advanced and multifunctional wound dressing with potential application in accelerating the healing of cutaneous wounds.