Multifunctional fluorescent gold nanoclusters with enhanced aggregation-induced emissions (AIEs) and excellent antibacterial effect for bacterial imaging and wound healing

Yuxian Wang; Bowen Shen; Zhengyi Zhang; Yao Chen; Liying Zhu; Yangheng Zhang; He Huang; Ling Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.212841

Multifunctional fluorescent gold nanoclusters with enhanced aggregation-induced emissions (AIEs) and excellent antibacterial effect for bacterial imaging and wound healing

Biomater Adv. 2022 Jun:137:212841. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.212841. Epub 2022 May 13.

Authors

Yuxian Wang¹, Bowen Shen¹, Zhengyi Zhang¹, Yao Chen¹, Liying Zhu², Yangheng Zhang³, He Huang⁴, Ling Jiang⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.
² School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.
³ Department of Periodontology, Nanjing Stomatological Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China.
⁴ College of Pharmaceutical Science, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China; School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China. Electronic address: huangh@njtech.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Food Science and Light Industry, State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China. Electronic address: jiangling@njtech.edu.cn.

PMID: 35929270
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.212841

Abstract

To explore new alternatives to combat increasing risk of bacterial infection, in this work, a cationic antimicrobial peptide (HHC10) and glutathione (GSH) co-ligand protected ultra-small gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) was constructed by a simple one-pot method. The intrinsic luminescent property of GSH-protected Au NCs (Au_xGSH) endowed enhanced aggregation-induced emissions (AIEs) of co-ligand-protected Au NCs (Au_xGSH-HHC10), which exhibited a very strong orange luminescence. Based on the AIE effect, for one thing, Au_xGSH could be applied to rapidly and selectively detect Gram-positive bacteria. For another, Au_xGSH-HHC10 exhibited potential for multicolor imaging of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Besides, as-synthesized Au_xGSH-HHC10 could act as potent nanoantibiotics against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, which could not only avoid drug tolerance but also be effective toward drug-resistance bacteria. The antibacterial mechanism indicated that the synergetic effect of the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), binding with DNA, and broad-spectrum antibacterial activity of HHC10 led to the membrane damage, depolarization, and interference of biological function, thus enhancing the antibacterial effect. More importantly, such an Au NCs could realize excellent therapeutic outcomes for wound healing in vivo, and showed good biocompatibility and biosafety toward health tissues. The results will provide a great potential for the application of Au NCs for imaging-guided antibacterial platform.

Keywords: Aggregation-induced emissions (AIEs); Antibacterial effect; Antimicrobial peptide; Gold nanoclusters; Imaging; Wound healing.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
Glutathione / chemistry
Gold* / chemistry
Gram-Negative Bacteria / drug effects
Gram-Negative Bacteria / isolation & purification
Gram-Positive Bacteria / drug effects
Gram-Positive Bacteria / isolation & purification
Ligands
Metal Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Metal Nanoparticles* / therapeutic use
Molecular Imaging
Wound Healing

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Fluorescent Dyes
Ligands
Gold
Glutathione