(Press-News.org) Hydrogels—materials like gelatin that can absorb and hold water—can aid wound healing and enable slow-release drug delivery, but they usually break down in acidic environments like the stomach. Inspired by the properties of gastric mucus, a team of researchers and clinicians led by Zuankai Wang of Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed an acid-resistant hydrogel called “ultrastable mucus-inspired hydrogel” (UMIH). Publishing September 4 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science, they showed that UMIH improved gastrointestinal wound healing in animals and outperformed a clinically approved mucosal protectant (a material used to protect the stomach lining).
“UMIH has potential for treating gastroesophageal reflux, gastric ulcers, and post-surgical wound protection and can be combined with endoscopic delivery for minimally invasive therapy,” says coauthor Bei Li of Sichuan University. “In both rat and pig models, it not only sticks firmly but also helps wounds heal faster and better.”
Like other hydrogels, UMIH consists of a meshwork of polymers that absorb water to create a strong but jelly-like consistency. To make it acid resistant, the researchers incorporated three key molecular components into UMIH’s structure: a protein called ELR-IK24 that binds to hydrogen ions under acidic conditions to reduce local acidity; tannic acid, which enhances the hydrogel’s ability to stick to surfaces; and a molecule called HDI that stabilizes the hydrogel’s structure under acidic conditions.
“UMIH represents a major step forward in biomaterials for gastrointestinal repair,” says Dr. Wang. “Its strong adhesion, durability, and scalable manufacturing process position it as a promising platform for clinical translation.”
In lab tests under acidic conditions (pH2), UMIH showed 15× stronger adhesive abilities compared to aluminum phosphate gel (APG), a clinically approved mucosal protectant and antacid that is used to manage gastric ulcers and acid reflux. And whereas APG degraded completely after 3 days, UMIH still maintained 50% of its structural integrity after 7 days in acidic conditions. UMIH was not associated with any toxicity issues in lab-grown gastrointestinal cells. It also inhibited the growth of E. coli and S. aureus bacteria, indicating that it has antimicrobial potential.
“UMIH achieves an adhesion strength 15 times higher than that of clinically approved materials in acidic conditions,” says coauthor Xiao Yang of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “It remains stable for 7 days and shows excellent biocompatibility and significant tissue repair capability.”
In pig and rat models of esophageal injury, UMIH adhered tightly to wounds and improved healing compared to control animals and animals treated with APG. UMIH was associated with less tissue damage, reduced inflammation, and it promoted the growth of new blood vessels, which is essential for healing.
Clinical trials will be needed to validate UMIH’s safety and efficacy in humans, but the researchers say that it has good potential for commercialization.
“This is a material that’s ready for both the operating room and the production line,” says coauthor Feng Lou of Sichuan University. “UMIH is low-cost, easy –to –mass produce, and built from components with established safety profiles. In [the] future, we plan to integrate UMIH with drug release systems and implantable flexible electronics to create smart gastrointestinal devices that can treat and monitor in real-time.”
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This research was supported by funding from the Innovation and Technology Commission of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen, and the Shenzhen Medical Research Fund.
Cell Reports Physical Science, Yang et al., “Mucus-inspired hydrogels with protonation-driven adhesion for extreme acidic conditions” https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(25)00371-6
Cell Reports Physical Science (@CellRepPhysSci), published by Cell Press, is a broad-scope, open access journal that publishes cutting-edge research across the spectrum of the physical sciences, including chemistry, physics, materials science, energy science, engineering, and related interdisciplinary work. Visit: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/home. To receive Cell Press media alerts, please contact press@cell.com.
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Researchers from University of California San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute have discovered that spaceflight accelerates the aging of human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), which are vital for blood and immune system health. In a study published in Cell Stem Cell, the team used automated artificial intelligence (AI)-driven stem cell-tracking nanobioreactor systems in four SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services missions to the International Space Station (ISS) to track stem cell changes in real time. The findings show that the cells lost some of their ability to make healthy new cells, became more prone to DNA damage and showed signs of faster aging ...
About The Study: In participants with moderate to severe generalized anxiety disorder, a single dose of MM120 (lysergide D-tartrate) produced a dose-dependent reduction in anxiety. Lysergide, or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug. An oral pharmaceutical formulation of LSD is MM120. These results support the dose-dependent efficacy of MM120 and inform the dose selection for phase 3 pivotal trials.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Daniel R. Karlin, MD, MA, email medaffairs@mindmed.co.
To ...
About The Study: In this study of short message service (SMS) vs human phone advising, a customizable SMS system produced significant 12-month walking increases for aging Latino/a adults comparable to the significant improvements attained by participants in the human advisors group. These results provide support for such mobile health platforms, which can expand program choices for broader segments of the population.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Abby C. King, PhD, email king@stanford.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.28858)
Editor’s ...
First-year undergraduates who grew up with overly cautious or controlling parents tend to experience increased anxiety when faced with stresses associated with the transition to university, researchers from McGill University and the University of California (Los Angeles) have found.
The researchers asked 240 first-year McGill students to fill out several questionnaires in the first six weeks of the fall semester. The questionnaires used well-established scales to measure the parenting style they were raised with, current anxiety symptoms and different types of stressors they encountered during the transition to university, including housing difficulties, personal loss ...
ANN ARBOR—Seagrass has the potential to be one of the world's most effective sponges at soaking up and storing carbon, but we don't yet know how nutrient pollution affects its ability to sequester carbon.
In a pair of studies, U-M researchers evaluated the impact of nitrogen and phosphorus on seagrass, short, turf-like grasses that live in shallow, coastal areas. Examining data gathered from a plot of seagrass enriched with nutrients over a period of nine years, the scientists found that nutrients can increase seagrass's ability ...
For more information, contact:
Nicole Fawcett, nfawcett@umich.edu
EMBARGOED for release at 10 a.m. ET Sept. 4, 2025
Study shows how smoking drives pancreatic cancer
Researchers trace how chemicals from cigarettes and other environmental toxins lead to higher risk of pancreatic cancer and worse outcomes
ANN ARBOR, Michigan — A new study explains why smokers have a higher chance of developing pancreatic cancer and why they tend to have worse outcomes than nonsmokers.
Researchers from the University of Michigan ...
Osaka, Japan - The research group led by Drs. Mitsuru Arase, Mari Murakami, and Prof. Kiyoshi Takeda (Graduate School of Medicine/ Immunology Frontier Research Center at The University of Osaka) revealed that transcription factors RUNX2 and BHLHE40 play crucial roles in inducing T cells involved in Crohn's disease.
Crohn's disease is an intractable disorder characterized by chronic inflammation in the digestive tract. Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM), which persist in long-term in the ...
The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) is a global network of scientists sequencing the genomes of Earth’s eukaryotes. They aim to create a digital library of DNA sequences to help us preserve and protect life on Earth, and tackle rapid environmental change and biodiversity loss.
Thanks to major technical advances, high-quality genomes can be produced 10 times faster and at significantly lower cost than before. Now, published in a Frontiers in Science lead article, the EBP Community of Scientists has revealed a refined strategy to scale up the sequencing of 150,000 ...
Canadian researchers show that stress modifies the morphology of brain cells in mice, directly influencing the rodents’ level of physical activity.
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Led by Ciaran Murphy-Royal of Université de Montréal’s affiliated hospital research centre, the CRCHUM, the scientists detail their finding in a study published in Nature Communications.
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Americans and people around the globe are grappling with increasing incidence of extreme weather, from flooding to droughts. Now, funded by a three-year, $1.9 million joint grant, the Awareness Against Health Threats of Extreme Weather Events (AWARE) project will unite University of Maryland researchers with partners from Nepal, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, ...
