posted on 2023-11-16, 21:20authored byDingyuan Yan, Yue Huang, Jianyu Zhang, Qian Wu, Guangjie Song, Jian Ji, Qiao Jin, Dong Wang, Ben Zhong Tang
The
ever-increasing threats of multidrug-resistant bacteria and
their biofilm-associated infections have bred a desperate demand for
alternative remedies to combat them. Near-infrared (NIR)-absorbing
photothermal agent (PTAs)-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) is particularly
attractive for biofilm ablation thanks to its superiorities of noninvasive
intervention, satisfactory antibacterial efficiency, and less likelihood
to develop resistance. Herein, three butterfly-shaped aggregation-induced
emission luminogens (AIEgens) with balanced nonradiative decay (for
conducting PTT) and radiative decay (for supplying fluorescence in
the NIR-II optical window) are rationally designed for imaging-assisted
photothermal obliteration of bacterial biofilms. After being encapsulated
into cationic liposomes, AIEgens-fabricated nanoparticles can eradicate
a wide spectrum of biofilms formed by Gram-positive bacteria (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) upon an 808 nm laser irradiation. In vivo experiments firmly demonstrate that the NIR-II AIE
liposomes with excellent biocompatibility perform well in both the P. aeruginosa biofilm-induced keratitis mouse model and
the MSRA biofilm-induced skin infection mouse model.