Chirality-Dependent Angiogenic Activity of MoS₂ Quantum Dots toward Regulatable Tissue Regeneration

Despite great advances in understanding the biological behaviors of chiral materials, the effect of chirality-configured nanoparticles on tissue regeneration-related biological processes remains poorly understood. Herein, the chirality of MoS₂ quantum dots (QDs) is tailored by functionalization with l-/d-penicillamine, and the profound chiral effects of MoS₂ QDs on cellular activities, angiogenesis, and tissue regeneration are thoroughly investigated. Specifically, d-MoS₂ QDs show a positive effect in promoting the growth, proliferation, and migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) in d-MoS₂ QDs group is substantially up-regulated, resulting in enhanced tube formation activity. This distinct phenomenon is largely due to the higher internalization efficiency of d-MoS₂ QDs than l-MoS₂ QDs and chirality-dependent nano-bio interactions. In vivo angiogenic assay shows the expression level of angiogenic markers in newly-formed skin tissues of d-MoS₂ QDs group is higher than that in l-MoS₂ QDs group, leading to an accelerated re-epithelialization and improved skin regeneration. The findings of chirality-dependent angiogenesis activity of MoS₂ QDs provide new insights into the biological activity of MoS₂ nanomaterials, which also opens up a new path to the rational design of chiral nanomaterials for tissue regeneration application.