Design of dry/wet-loaded drug composite materials with sandwich structure for efficient synergistic hemostasis

Wet hemostatic materials, such as hydrogels, are highly advantageous in trauma treatment owing to their excellent wound wetting effect. However, the application of these materials in hemostasis is limited by challenges such as limited blood absorption capacity, poor mechanical properties, and low adhesive strength. Herein, we propose a dry/wet-loaded drug composite material (DDCM) with a sandwich structure, incorporating an array-perforated drug-loaded hydrophilic hydrogel as the wound-contacting layer, a medical gauze as the middle layer, and a superhydrophobic hydrogel as the outer layer. This material showed excellent hemostatic efficiency in liver puncture and myocardial injury bleeding models, as well as superior performance to traditional hemostatic materials, attributed to the synergistic effect between the sandwich structure and the intrinsic hemostatic activity of the drug. Importantly, the DDCM exhibited remarkable hemostatic efficacy in rat liver and heart injury models, significantly reducing the hemostasis time by 71.8 % and 64.9 %, as well as the blood loss by 76.9 % and 34.0 %, respectively. Notably, the outer layer of the DDCM, equipped with a superhydrophobic coating, provides excellent anti-fouling and antibacterial properties. Our novel design offers unique advantages that can pave the way for rapid hemostasis and life-saving applications.