Catechol-Modified Chitosan Thermosensitive Hydrogels Incorporating Silver-Doped Bioglass Nanoparticles for Bone Regeneration

Chitosan-based thermosensitive hydrogels are promising biomaterials for tissue engineering owing to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ability to undergo a sol–gel transition at physiological temperature. In this study, we developed hydrogels based on catechol-modified chitosan (Chit-Cat) to improve tissue adhesion under wet conditions and combined them with silver-doped bioglass nanoparticles (Ag-BGNPs) to enhance antibacterial activity. The hydrogels were formed via electrostatic interactions, using β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) as a crosslinker. The resulting hydrogels demonstrated suitable shear-thinning behaviour for injectability and cytocompatibility against L929 fibroblasts (~84%) and human osteoblast cells (~92%). Overall, the developed thermosensitive hydrogels combine physiological-temperature gelation, enhanced adhesion, antibacterial activity, and cytocompatibility, highlighting their potential as multifunctional injectable biomaterials for tissue engineering and bone regeneration.