Abstract Corneal scarring resulting from corneal injury presents a critical clinical challenge, exacerbated by the serious shortage of donor corneas and the potential risk of postoperative infections. Here, an EPPH Janus hydrogel with the bottom PPH layer is developed prepared through an in situ cross‐linking process between four‐arm polyethylene glycol (PEG) and negatively charged heparin, and the top layer formed by introducing ɛ‐poly‐L‐lysine (EPL) through a spray‐coating process. The PPH hydrogel exhibits excellent optical transparency, mechanical strength, bio‐adhesion, and biocompatibility. Most importantly, it electrostatically adsorbs cytokines secreted by the damaged corneal epithelium via its negatively charged heparin to inhibit the apoptosis and transdifferentiation of keratocytes, thus inhibiting corneal fibrosis. Moreover, the top EPL layer of EPPH hydrogel provides significant antibacterial properties and effectively prevents methicillin‐resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. The corneal defect model confirms the effectiveness of the EPPH hydrogel in preventing corneal fibrosis with an 84.8% reduction and alleviating the burden of postoperative care for infection. Thus, this work shows the great potential of versatile EPPH hydrogel with asymmetric anti‐fibrosis and anti‐infection functions as an artificial corneal graft, offering a possible alternative to corneal transplantation.
Qie et al. (Mon,) studied this question.