Ultrasmall Ag6Cu2 clusters for accelerating wound healing through the activation of antibacterial activity and endogenous anti-inflammatory property

Abstract

Significal challenges exist to bacterial infection wound healing. The bacterial infection and inflammation generated by oxidative stress inevitably hinder the process of wound healing. Ag₆Cu₂ nanoclusters in this study were successfully prepared and displayed excellent physiological stability. Noticeably, Ag₆Cu₂ nanoclusters exhibited efficient therapeutic potentials for accelerating the process of wound healing, which had good biosafety under the appropriate concentration. The treatment of Ag₆Cu₂ was able to suppress the bacterial proliferation by destructing the bacterial, resulting in the secondary release of bacterial contents and to exert anti-inflammatory properties via scavenging the overproduction of reactive oxygen species and upregulating the expression of Nrf2 as well as its downstream genes including HO-1 and NQO1. In-vivo studies further validated the efficient therapeutic effects of Ag₆Cu₂ nanoclusters by inhibiting the activation of the cascade of inflammatory factors and the proliferation of bacteria as a novel agent in a nano scale for accelerating the process of wound healing.