Dynamic Antibacterial‐to‐Regenerative Switching via NIR/Visible Light Activation: Copper Single‐Atom Nanozyme with CO‐Mediated Scarless Healing for Chronic Diabetic Wounds
Poor healing of diabetic wounds is critically hindered by multidrug-resistant biofilm infections and persistent inflammation, highlighting the need for precise therapeutic strategies that dynamically modulate the wound microenvironment to simultaneously achieve antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and pro-angiogenic functions. A phenylboronic acid-functionalized copper single-atom nanozyme (PBA-Cu SAzyme) is engineered that dynamically adapts to the wound microenvironment, enabling spatiotemporally controlled "antibacterial-to-regenerative" switching via dual-light activation (NIR/visible light). In the infected microenvironment, the SAzyme activates peroxidase/glutathione oxidase-like activities, generating ROS and depleting antioxidants for potent antibacterial effects. Concomitantly, the C─N coordination confers under mild NIR irradiation (808 nm) to intensify antibacterial activity by triggering intracellular copper aggregation and inducing bacterial cuproptosis-like death. Crucially, visible light (400-700 nm) photocatalytically converts endogenous CO<sub>2</sub> to CO, enabling spatiotemporal gas therapy: high local CO concentrations within infected zones synergize with antibacterial effects, whereas the diffused low-dose CO in cleared areas resolves inflammation and stimulates angiogenesis, orchestrating the functional transition. In multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa-infected diabetic rats, this dynamically modulated strategy achieves rapid, near-scarless healing by disrupting biofilms, dampening pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α), robustly stimulating vascularization, and remodeling collagen. This work seamlessly integrates adaptive nanozyme catalysis with gas therapy, dynamically coordinating infection eradication with microenvironment-driven tissue regeneration for chronic wound management.
Authors
- Rui Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3025-9975)
- Chungu Zhang
- Yu Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6723-1490)
- Jia An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0025-2991)
- Mei Yao
- Mingyu Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2047-3441)
- Shun Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1602-0244)
- Xian Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8129-3812)
- Wen Dong
Institutions
- Southwest Jiaotong University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2025-07-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506681
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Nanomaterials in Catalysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.04
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China