A 3D chemotactic-thermo-promo bacterial hunting system: Programmatic bacterial attract, capture, killing and healing the wound

Although antibiotics have saved many lives, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics have made infectious wound difficult to treat. The antibiotic-free therapy has obtained intense interests. Here we reported that a smart nanohybrid can spontaneously hunt Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a leading opportunistic pathogen causing multi-drug resistance, and then kill them. The nanohybrid is composed of l-lysine conjugated antimicrobial peptide HHC-36 on mussel-inspired coating (PDA) to graphene oxide (GO), namely, l-Lys/[email protected] We verified, compared and optimized multiple chemoattractants by moving agar plate and quantitative capillary method, and found that l-lysine showed strongest chemotactic effect. Capillary quantitative chemotactic method proves the bacterial chemotactic amount of l-Lys/[email protected] for 30 min was significant; it can eradicate the captured bacteria using photothermal therapy via NIR. In vivo we found that the bacteria on the wound and within the tissue can be captured and completely eliminated. Due to the outcome of antibacterial activities, l-Lys/[email protected] showed anti-inflammatory, promoted cell proliferation and vascularization effects in wound healing. This new antibiotic-free nanohybrid to hunt the bacteria, which is promising to avoid tissue damage while killing bacteria and no drug residues in the tissue.