Design of Sulfated Chitosan/Polydopamine-Based Hydrogel for Combined Antiviral and Antioxidant abilities

While the development of biomaterials has contributed to advances in antiviral field, the research of platforms that simultaneously integrate antiviral and antioxidant capabilities remains of considerable importance. Here, we report a biobased ionic hydrogel platform composed of alginic acid (AA)/sulfated chitosan (S-CS)/polydopamine (PDA), and this hydrogel displayed dual anti-HSV-1 and-reactive oxygen species (ROS) performances, where HSV-1 stands for herpes simplex virus-1. Among the hydrogel, S-CS was rich in multivalent sulfate groups and therefore could block HSV-1 attachment and thus inhibit infection. Meanwhile, incorporation of PDA endowed the hydrogel with potent ROS-neutralizing activity through catechol/quinone redox cycling. Transwell model and cellular ROS assays demonstrated that the Ca²⁺-S-CS HMw/PDA/AA hydrogel effectively inhibited HSV-1 infection and protected cells from ROS stress, which was further supported by the observed lack of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) activation. This bifunctional hydrogel offers a promising strategy to simultaneously block viral entry and mitigate oxidative stress, providing a promising therapeutic option for virus-resulted damage and potential secondary injury protection.