Zhang Yuankai, Zhang Han, Zou Qianli, Xing Ruirui, Jiao Tifeng, Yan Xuehai
State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
J Mater Chem B. 2018 Nov 28;6(44):7335-7342. doi: 10.1039/c8tb01487f. Epub 2018 Oct 15.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising treatment against multiantibiotic-resistant bacteria with the advantage of a low tendency towards antibiotic resistance. Due to their high PDT efficiencies and superior chemical stabilities, fullerenes have been proposed as effective photosensitizers for the photodynamic inactivation of bacteria. However, the biomedical applications of fullerenes are hindered by their limited aqueous solubility and apparent tendency to undergo aggregation. Herein, we report a hybrid supramolecular hydrogel prepared by the peptide-modulated self-assembly of fullerenes for targeted and sustained photodynamic antibacterial therapy. Aggregation of the fullerene in the hydrogel is largely inhibited through the non-covalent interactions between the peptide and the fullerene. Consequently, the PDT efficiency of the peptide-fullerene hydrogel is highly improved as compared to the untreated fullerene. The incorporation of fullerene profoundly improves the mechanical properties of the hydrogel, making the peptide-fullerene hydrogel a better injectable formulation for biomedical applications. In vitro and in vivo antibacterial results indicate that the peptide-fullerene hydrogels can effectively inhibit multiantibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and promote wound healing. This study offers a promising paradigm to adapt self-assembling small peptides with integration of multiple functions for biomedical applications.
光动力疗法（PDT）是一种很有前景的针对多重耐药细菌的治疗方法，具有产生抗生素耐药性的倾向较低的优点。由于其高光动力疗法效率和优异的化学稳定性，富勒烯已被提议作为细菌光动力失活的有效光敏剂。然而，富勒烯的生物医学应用受到其有限的水溶性和明显的聚集倾向的阻碍。在此，我们报道了一种通过肽调控富勒烯自组装制备的杂化超分子水凝胶，用于靶向和持续的光动力抗菌治疗。通过肽与富勒烯之间的非共价相互作用，水凝胶中富勒烯的聚集在很大程度上受到抑制。因此，与未处理的富勒烯相比，肽 - 富勒烯水凝胶的光动力疗法效率得到显著提高。富勒烯的掺入极大地改善了水凝胶的力学性能，使肽 - 富勒烯水凝胶成为用于生物医学应用的更好的可注射制剂。体外和体内抗菌结果表明，肽 - 富勒烯水凝胶可以有效抑制多重耐药金黄色葡萄球菌并促进伤口愈合。这项研究为将具有多种功能的自组装小肽应用于生物医学提供了一个有前景的范例。
