Dual‐Fuel Propelled Nanomotors with Two‐Stage Permeation for Deep Bacterial Infection in the Treatment of Pulpitis

• Published in: Advanced science 2024-02, Vol.11 (5), p.e2305063-n/a
• Main Authors: Wang, Heping, Chen, Xi, Zhang, Lulu, Han, Ziwei, Zheng, Jinxin, Qi, Yilin, Zhao, Weitao, Xu, Xihan, Li, Tianqi, Zhou, Yutong, Bao, Pingping, Xue, Xue
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antibacterial activity; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Biocompatibility; Dental pulp; Dentin; dual‐fuel propulsion; Fourier transforms; Glucose; Infections; Inflammation; nanomotor; Nanoparticles; Permeability; pulpitis therapy; Reynolds number; Spectrum analysis; Stem cells; Thermogravimetric analysis; two‐stage permeation
• ISSN: 2198-3844; 2198-3844
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202305063

Bacterial infection‐induced inflammatory response could cause irreversible death of pulp tissue in the absence of timely and effective therapy. Given that, the narrow structure of root canal limits the therapeutic effects of passive diffusion‐drugs, considerable attention has been drawn to the development of nanomotors, which have high tissue penetration abilities but generally face the problem of insufficient fuel concentration. To address this drawback, dual‐fuel propelled nanomotors (DPNMs) by encapsulating L‐arginine (L‐Arg), calcium peroxide (CaO2) in metal‐organic framework is developed. Under pathological environment, L‐Arg could release nitric oxide (NO) by reacting with reactive oxygen species (ROS) to provide the driving force for movement. Remarkably, the depleted ROS could be supplemented through the reaction between CaO2 with acids abundant in the inflammatory microenvironment. Owing to high diffusivity, NO achieves further tissue penetration based on the first‐stage propulsion of nanomotors, thereby removing deep‐seated bacterial infection. Results indicate that the nanomotors effectively eliminate bacterial infection based on antibacterial activity of NO, thereby blocking inflammatory response and oxidative damage, forming reparative dentine layer to avoid further exposure and infection. Thus, this work provides a propagable strategy to overcome fuel shortage and facilitates the therapy of deep lesions. A new strategy for constructing dual‐fuel‐propelled nanomotors is developed to overcome the challenge of insufficient fuel concentration. The enhanced motion of nanomotors in pulp tissue promotes the deep delivery of nitric oxide (NO). The high penetration ability of the nanomotors and NO self‐diffusion collectively removes deep bacterial infection, thereby alleviating inflammatory response and forming a reparative dentine layer.