Infectious cutaneous wounds are a thorny clinical problem.
The
microenvironment of the infectious wound is complicated and changes
at different healing stages. Traditional treatments either have a
single effect such as anti-inflammation, antibacteria, or angiogenesis
or a simple mixture of several functions. They fail to deal with the
change of the physiological healing process, leading to unsatisfactory
outcomes. Herein, we have designed a logic-based smart nanoplatform
(named as ZEM), aiming to self-monitor the wound microenvironment
and accordingly react to the changes of the healing process, fitting
multiple needs of physiological repair at different stages. ZEM was
synthesized using zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) coated
with an epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)/Mg2+ complex. We
characterized ZEM in the aspects of morphology, physical and chemical
properties, and ion release pattern. At the initial stage, ZEM sensed
the weakly acidic environment and responsively released a large number
of zinc ions to eliminate bacterial infection. Then came the second
inflammation stage, where ZEM responded to the oxidative stress of
the local wound area with EGCG absorbing excessive reactive oxygen
species (ROS), contributing to the downregulation of intracellular
ROS. Meanwhile, local inflammation was alleviated by reducing the
expression of proinflammatory M1 phenotype factors (IL-6, TNF-α,
and IL-1β). Since the balance of local ROS had been achieved,
the resulting disintegration of the EGCG/Mg2+ complex gave
rise to the sustainable release of Mg2+ at the proliferation
stage, promoting vascularized healing. In vivo animal experiments
further proved the diagnostic and therapeutic functions of ZEM. All
these results demonstrated that ZEM was a promising treatment strategy
in soft tissue engineering.