Near-infrared light-triggered nitric oxide release combined with low-temperature photothermal therapy for synergetic antibacterial and antifungal

Abstract In recent years, nitric oxide (NO) has been widely studied as a non-drug resistant antimicrobial agent, but the issue of low NO loading capacity as well as premature leakage during transportation limit its further application. Herein, we have developed a BNN6-loading molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoflowers denoted PEG-MoS2-BNN6 with near-infrared light-triggered NO release and hyperthermia properties to realize the antibacterial and antifungal capability. The PEG-MoS2-BNN6 was synthesized by grafting polyethylene glycol (PEG) to MoS2 nanoflowers and the NO donor BNN6 was subsequently loaded via hydrophobic interaction. The incorporation of PEG can effectively improve the biocompatibility of MoS2. Moreover, BNN6 achieves a high payload thanks to the layered nanoflower structure of PEG-MoS2. Under the 808 ​nm laser irradiation for 10 ​min, the obtained PEG-MoS2-BNN6 could not only generate heat locally for low-temperature photothermal therapy (PTT) but also activate the decomposition of BNN6 to release NO. Notably, the simultaneously generated NO and gentle hyperthermia could trigger great antimicrobial effects against both S. aureus and Candida albicans, which effectively solved the limitations of monotherapy. Overall, this nanoplatform with low-temperature PTT/NO synergistic effects provides a new strategy to solve bacterial and fungal infections, which is promising in biomedical application in the future.