Fig. 7: Bactericidal properties and induction of osteomyelitis regression by in situ administration with GaCuVan&HACHO-BSA hydrogel.
A Experimental protocol for treating osteomyelitis by in situ hydrogel administration including constructing MRSA-infected osteomyelitis, in situ administration with different hydrogels, and then animal sampling and performing various experiments at different time points (G1, Sham; G2, PBS; G3, Van; G4, GaVan; G5, GaCuVan; G6, GaCuVan&HACHO-BSA) (Created in BioRender. Chen, H. (2025) https://BioRender.com/mo6lg6a). Representative MRSA bioluminescence images (B) and corresponding quantitative data (C) were analyzed using IVIS on days 1, 3, and 7 after injection of different hydrogels. Representative standard plate coating photographs (D) and CFU counts (E) of MRSA in bone marrow on days 7, 14, and 28 of infection, with PBS, GaVan, GaCuVan, GaCuVan&HACHO-BSA hydrogels, and Van pretreated in all rat groups. F Representative photographs of surrounding soft tissue (left) and tibia (right) from MRSA-infected rats after the above treatments, captured at days 7, 14, and 28 post-treatments. Changes in body temperature (G) and body weight (H) of rats were recorded throughout the treatment period. I Following treatment with the different hydrogels, routine blood tests were performed at days 7, 14, and 28. H&E staining (J) of bone marrow sections from osteomyelitis rats and the number of NEUT (K), indicated by red arrows, were analyzed after all rat groups were pretreated with PBS, GaVan, GaCuVan, GaCuVan&HACHO-BSA hydrogels, and Van. L Wright-Giemsa staining of bone marrow sections from osteomyelitis rats on days 14 and 28, with bacteria indicated by red arrows, was performed after all rat groups were pretreated with the above treatments. The data in (E, G, H, K) were expressed as the mean ± s.d. (n = 4 biologically independent samples per group), with the results shown as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance and P values were determined by two-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparison test (G, H) or one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison test (E, K). A was generated using BioRender.com, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license.
