Soft bioelectronics embedded with self-confined tetrahedral DNA circuit for high-fidelity chronic wound monitoring.

Abstract

Monitoring wound protein biomarkers, especially inflammation-related proteins, is essential to assess wound progression and guide treatment. However, high-fidelity wound biosensing is challenging because of current biosensors' limitations in detecting low-abundance proteins and their vulnerabilities to mechanical deformation, biofouling, and performance degradation. Here, we introduce a soft bioelectronics embedded with Self-Confined Tetrahedral DNA circuit (SCTD) for wound monitoring. In SCTD, proteins in wound exudate trigger DNA self-circulation amplification confined in the hydrophilic area, decreasing detection limits by an order of magnitude. The tetrahedral DNA structure ensures excellent mechanical stability (within 3% variation after 1000 bending cycles), prolonged stability (within 8% signal attenuation over 4 weeks), and reduced biofouling (over 50% BSA adhesion reduction). Coupled with wireless readout, this platform simultaneously monitors multiple wound healing-related proteins (TNF-α, IL-6, TGF-β1, and VEGF) and biophysical parameters. The wireless platform demonstrates accurate in-situ monitoring of both non-infected and infected wounds on diabetic male mice without hindering the healing process, offering quantitative and comprehensive evaluation to guide treatment.