AIE‐Active Glycomimetics Triggered Bacterial Agglutination and Membrane‐Intercalating toward Efficient Photodynamic Antiseptic

Abstract

Opportunistic infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) are particularly difficult to treat due to the altered membrane permeability and inherent resistance to conventional antibiotics. Here, a cationic glycomimetics is designed and synthesized with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics namely TPyGal, which self‐assembles into the spherical aggregates with galactosylated surface. TPyGal aggregates can effectively cluster P. aeruginosa through multivalent carbohydrate‐lectin interactions and auxiliary electrostatic interactions and subsequently trigger membrane‐intercalating, which results in efficient photodynamic eradication of P. aeruginosa under white light irradiation by in situ singlet oxygen (1O2) burst to disrupt bacterial membrane. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that TPyGal aggregates promote the healing of infected wounds, indicating the potential for clinical treatment of P. aeruginosa infections.

Targeted antibacterial photodynamic therapy with aggregation‐induced emission photosensitizers

“…developed TPyGal containing cationic AIE PS and galactosyl groups, which could self‐assemble into spherical aggregates with multiple galactosyl groups on the surface to monitor and damage P. aeruginosa (Figure 5A). 39 Supported by the synergistic interactions of polyvalent sugar‐lectin and ancillary electrostatics, TPyGal could target and cluster P. aeruginosa , and then insert into the bacterial membrane for PDT in situ (Figure 5B). Under light irradiation (20 mW/cm 2 ), TPyGal almost killed all P. aeruginosa at the concentration of 20 μM while caused less damage to normal liver cells LO 2 up to 128 μM, which proved the selective recognition of bacteria by TpyGal.…”

“…(C) Wound healing in P. aeruginosa ‐infected mice after different treatments. Reproduced with permission 39 . Copyright 2023, John Wiley and Sons.…”