Nanomaterials as carriers to improve the photodynamic antibacterial therapy

Abstract

The main treatment for bacterial infections is antibiotic therapy, but the emergence of bacterial resistance has severely limited the efficacy of antibiotics. Therefore, another effective means of treating bacterial infections is needed to alleviate the therapeutic pressure caused by antibiotic resistance. Photodynamic antibacterial therapy (PDAT) has gradually entered people’s field of vision as an infection treatment method that does not depend on antibiotics. PDAT induces photosensitizers (PS) to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) under light irradiation, and kills bacteria by destroying biological macromolecules at bacterial infection sites. In recent years, researchers have found that some nanomaterials delivering PS can improve PDAT through targeted delivery or synergistic therapeutic effect. Therefore, in this article, we will review the recent applications of several nanomaterials in PDAT, including metal nanoclusters, metal-organic frameworks, and other organic/inorganic nanoparticles, and discuss the advantages and disadvantage of these nanomaterials as carriers for delivery PS to further advance the development of PDAT.

In Vitro Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Inhibition Using a Green Light Source

“…However, the use of free PS entails certain restrictions, such as limited biodistribution and bioavailability. To overcome these obstacles, nanotechnology has been used [ 72 , 73 ]. The results have been encouraging, as the ability of PS to penetrate bacterial cells has been increased and self-aggregation of these compounds has been prevented, which is a significant advance [ 74 ].…”

The Development of New Nanoplatforms Based on Albumin and Graphene Oxide for Aticancer Therapy

“…Carbon nanomaterials represent extremely interesting nanoplatforms for protein immobilization as they exhibit high surface area, low toxicity after proper functionalization and acceptable biocompatibility [14]. Nowadays, graphene derivatives are extensively studied as potential candidates for advanced biomedical applications such as smart drug delivery [15], gene therapy [16], anticancer treatments [17], controlled and stimuli-responsive drug delivery [18], theranostics [19], antibacterial [20] and antitumoral [21] phototherapies. Graphene oxide (GO) is obtained by chemical oxidation of graphite in the presence of strong oxidizing agents and ultrasonic cleavage, at the end presenting on its surface a significant number of reactive groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl and epoxy that can be conveniently submitted to further functionalization and protein binding [22].…”

Singlet oxygen production of Zn-Ag-In-S quantum dots for photodynamic treatment of cancer cells and bacteria

“…4,5 Beyond cancer therapy, PDT also shows its promising potential in antimicrobial therapy. 6 Microbial contamination and bacterial infections become more challenging to handle due to increasing resistance to antibiotics and difficulty to develop new drugs. Very similar to antibiotic resistance, cancer also gains drug resistance to chemotherapy, turning effective therapy into ineffective one and resulting in disease relapse.…”