Cyanobacteria-based self-oxygenated photodynamic therapy for anaerobic infection treatment and tissue repair

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an important technique to deal with drug-resistant bacterial infections in the post-antibiotic era. However, the hypoxic environment in intractable infections such as refractory keratitis and periodontitis, makes PDT more difficult. In this work, spontaneous oxygen-producing cyanobacteria were used as the carrier of photosensitizer (Ce6), and ultrasmall Cu_5.4O nanoparticles (Cu_5.4O USNPs) with catalase activity for infection and inflammation elimination and rapid tissue repair (CeCycn-Cu_5.4O). The loading of Ce6 and Cu_5.4O USNPs onto cyanobacteria surface were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, nano particle size analyzer, scanning electron microscopy. <i>In vitro</i> sterilization and biofilm removal experiments demonstrated that the restriction of hypoxic environment to PDT was significantly alleviated due to the oxygen production of cyanobacteria. Under laser irradiation, the close transfer of energy photons to oxygen produced by cyanobacteria reduced more than 90% of Ce6 dosages (660 nm, 200 mW/cm², 2 min). It is worth mentioning that both rapid sterilization through PDT and long-term oxidized free radicals elimination were achieved by adjusting the ratio of Ce6 and Cu_5.4O USNPs. Both periodontitis and refractory keratitis animal models proved the excellent self-oxygenation enhanced antibacterial property and promotion of tissue repair.