Surgical site infections (SSIs) remain a primary postoperative complication that conventional passive sutures fail to address. We present a conductive thermoresponsive silk suture (CTS) with a dual-layer architecture, featuring an inner reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layer that enables real-time strain sensing, an outer thermoresponsive hydrogel layer designed for on-demand drug delivery. The integrated design provides mechanical robustness, stable electromechanical and intelligent release, significantly accelerating elution at fever temperatures (40 and 42 °C) compared to the basal release at normal body temperature (37 °C). In vivo studies confirmed CTS significantly modulated inflammatory response by reducing tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and CD68 levels at day 7, and accelerated tissue integration at days 14 and 28 by promoting angiogenesis (CD31) and collagen deposition. This sense-and-treat suture can track suture tension and wound status, demonstrating clinical potential for precise postoperative management in diverse surgical settings.
Wang et al. (2026) studied this question.