Metal-Based Photosensitizers as Emerging Antibacterial Agents for Infected Wound Healing

Wound infection has become a significant public health challenge worldwide. Inappropriate wound care and excessive use of antibiotics often compromise treatment outcomes, leading to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Hence, development of novel, more effective treatment strategies is essential to reduce infection-associated mortality and minimize treatment-related side effects. Recently, antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has attracted considerable attention for the management of infected wounds. Several studies have investigated the application of aPDT for wound healing using in vivo animal models. aPDT effectively eliminates pathogenic bacteria while also promoting fibroblast proliferation and accelerating tissue regeneration and wound repair. To further improve aPDT efficiency, the development of advanced photosensitizers (PSs) has become a key research focus. Recently, metal-based PSs have attracted significant attention owing to their strong light absorption, long-lived excited states, and efficient generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which enhance light-triggered antimicrobial activity. Despite these promising properties, their application in the healing of infected wounds remains largely underexplored, with only a few reports to date. This highlights an important opportunity to further develop metal-based PSs as effective aPDT agents for wound treatment. Therefore, this perspective critically discusses recent advances and outlines future directions for developing more effective PDT-assisted wound-healing strategies.