Injectable self-healing anti-inflammatory europium oxide-based dressing with high angiogenesis for improving wound healing and skin regeneration

Lanthanide-based nanomaterials have shown the promising applications in bioimaging and therapy due to their unique optical, magnetic and catalytic properties. However, the effect and promising application of lanthanide-based nanomaterials in wound healing and skin regeneration was rarely reported. Herein, we develop an injectable self-healing anti-inflammatory angiogenic europium oxide nanorods (Eu₂O₃ NRs) reinforced nanocomposites (FHAE) dressing and demonstrate the important role of Eu₂O₃ NRs in enhancing wound healing and skin regeneration. The FHAE dressing showed the temperature-sensitive, injectable, and self-healing properties, as well as the excellent cytocompatibility and blood compatibility. The in vivo mouse skin defect model experiments exhibited that FHAE dressing could significantly accelerate the wound healing and promote the skin appendage tissue regeneration through inhibiting inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-6) and enhancing the angiogenesis (α-SMA and CD31). This study suggests that Eu₂O_3-based biomaterials probably have promising applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.