Chemiluminescent carbon nanodots for dynamic and guided antibacteria

• Published in: Light, science & applications science & applications, 2023-05, Vol.12 (1), p.104-104, Article 104
• Main Authors: Han, Jiang-Fan, Lou, Qing, Ding, Zhong-Zheng, Zheng, Guang-Song, Ni, Qing-Chao, Song, Run-Wei, Liu, Kai-Kai, Zang, Jin-Hao, Dong, Lin, Shen, Cheng-Long, Shan, Chong-Xin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/624/399/354; 639/624/399/54; Antibacterial agents; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Carbon; Chemiluminescence; Drug resistance; Hydrogen peroxide; I.R. radiation; Inflammation; Lasers; Microenvironments; Microwaves; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Precision medicine; Reactive oxygen species; RF and Optical Engineering; Wound infection
• ISSN: 2047-7538; 2095-5545; 2047-7538
• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-023-01149-8

Advanced antibacterial technologies are needed to counter the rapid emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. Image-guided therapy is one of the most promising strategies for efficiently and accurately curing bacterial infections. Herein, a chemiluminescence (CL)-dynamic/guided antibacteria (CDGA) with multiple reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation capacity and chemiexcited near-infrared emission has been designed for the precise theranostics of bacterial infection by employing near-infrared emissive carbon nanodots (CDs) and peroxalate as CL fuels. Mechanistically, hydrogen peroxide generated in the bacterial microenvironment can trigger the chemically initiated electron exchange between CDs and energy-riched intermediate originated from the oxidized peroxalate, enabling bacterial induced inflammation imaging. Meanwhile, type I/II photochemical ROS production and type III ultrafast charge transfer from CDs under the self-illumination can inhibit the bacteria proliferation efficiently. The potential clinical utility of CDGA is further demonstrated in bacteria infected mice trauma model. The self-illuminating CDGA exhibits an excellent in vivo imaging quality in early detecting wound infections and internal inflammation caused by bacteria, and further are proven as efficient broad-spectrum antibacterial nanomedicines without drug-resistance, whose sterilizing rate is up to 99.99%. Chemiluminescence-dynamic/guided antibacterial agents with multiple reactive oxygen species generation capacity and chemi-excited near-infrared emission from carbon nanodots have been designed for precise theranostics of bacterial infection.