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Peptide-Engineered AIE Nanofibers with Excellent and Precisely Adjustable Antibacterial Activity
Kunzhong Guo1, Minjie Zhang2, Junyi Cai1
1National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|March 21, 2022
Summary
New nanofibers combine aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties with peptides to create adjustable antibacterial treatments. These materials precisely target and eliminate bacteria using reactive oxygen species (ROS) and peptide synergy, offering a novel approach for photodynamic therapy (PDT).
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Biomedical Engineering
- Photochemistry
Background:
- Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) for antibacterial applications.
- Developing AIE materials with tunable antibacterial activity is challenging due to limited molecular designs.
- Photodynamic therapy (PDT) shows promise for treating bacterial infections.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel AIE nanofibers (AIE-NFs) with precisely adjustable antibacterial activity.
- To investigate the synergistic antibacterial effects of ROS and peptide ligands.
- To explore the potential of these AIE-NFs for treating bacterial infections in vitro and in vivo.
Main Methods:
- Synthesized AIE-NFs using DTPM as the AIEgen core and various peptides (HHC36, ditryptophan, polyarginine, polylysine) as bacterial recognition ligands.
- Investigated antibacterial activity by varying decorated peptides to modulate bacterial aggregation and inhibition.
- Performed mechanistic analysis to understand the combined action of ROS and peptides.
- Evaluated the efficacy of optimized AIE-NFs (NFs-K18) against clinical bacterial strains in vitro and in vivo models.
Main Results:
- AIE-NFs demonstrated precisely adjustable antibacterial activity based on the choice of peptide ligands.
- The optimized NFs-K18 efficiently aggregated and killed four types of clinical bacteria under irradiation.
- NFs-K18 inhibited methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection and promoted wound healing in vivo.
- Synergistic antibacterial activity was attributed to the combined effects of ROS and peptides.
Conclusions:
- This study presents the first report of AIE-NFs with precisely adjustable antibacterial activity.
- The developed AIE-NFs offer a versatile platform for photodynamic therapy (PDT) against bacterial infections.
- The findings provide new opportunities for developing advanced antimicrobial strategies.
