Glyoxal-crosslinked acacia gum hydrogel reinforced with graphene oxide and zinc ferrite for antibacterial and biomedical applications

Abstract

The development of multifunctional hydrogels with balanced mechanical strength, swelling behavior, cytocompatibility, and antibacterial performance remains a key challenge in wound-dressing applications. In this study, a glyoxal-crosslinked acacia gum (AG) hydrogel reinforced with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) nanoparticles was developed as a tri-component nanocomposite system. The incorporation of GO and ZnFe₂O₄ within the crosslinked AG network produced formulation-dependent structural and functional changes. The peak compressive strength was numerically higher in the final formulation (0.682 vs. 0.173 MPa), while the equilibrium swelling ratio decreased significantly from 463% to 292%. Rheological analysis showed elastic-dominant behavior, indicating stable gel-like viscoelastic properties under the tested conditions. Biological evaluation demonstrated high extract-based cytocompatibility toward MG-63 cells. Furthermore, preliminary antibacterial testing showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli , with inhibition values of 99.0% and 93.4%, respectively, in the representative CFU dataset. The proposed membrane-perturbation and oxidative-stress-related mechanisms are literature-supported and were not directly validated in this study. Overall, the ternary formulation showed higher peak compressive strength, significantly lower equilibrium swelling, favorable extract-based cytocompatibility, and preliminary antibacterial activity under the tested conditions. These findings support further investigation of this material as an antibacterial wound-dressing candidate following additional biological validation.