Capillary-driven hemostatic microenvironment in oriented collagen/CMC-Ca composite scaffold for rapid hemostasis

Abstract Current hemostatic materials often exhibit insufficient fluid absorption, poor mechanical stability, and limited tissue regenerative capacity. To overcome these limitations, this study proposed the concept of a capillary-driven hemostatic microenvironment. Through acid-enzymatic extraction of collagen from bovine hide (95.7% purity) and ion-exchange purification of carboxymethyl cellulose calcium (CMC-Ca) to enhance Ca ²⁺ content, oriented porous collagen/CMC-Ca composite scaffolds were fabricated using directional freeze-drying technology to construct aligned microchannels. The composite exhibited excellent in vitro hemocompatibility with hemolysis rates <3% and 40%–60% accelerated coagulation. In vivo evaluations using Sprague–Dawley rats tail amputation and liver hemorrhage models demonstrated that the optimal formulation (Col@2.5%CMC-Ca) achieved rapid hemostasis (tail: 120 ± 11 s, 0.49 ± 0.05 g blood loss; liver: 24.3 ± 8.7 s, 0.1 ± 0.08 g blood loss), reducing blood loss by 52%–86% compared to commercial controls. Furthermore, the scaffold promoted liver regeneration, showing significant tissue repair at 14 d post-implantation. This study establishes a dual-functional biomaterial integrating rapid hemostasis with proactive tissue repair, offering a promising solution to overcome existing limitations in hemostatic materials.