Photodynamic Antimicrobial Therapy Based on Conjugated Polymers

Abstract

Pathogenic microorganisms have been a serious threat to human life and have become a public health problem of global concern. However, in the actual treatment there is a lack of efficient antimicrobial strategies which do not easily develop drug resistance; this can lead to inaccurate drug treatment that worsens the infection and even threatens life. With the emergence of a variety of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi, photodynamic therapy has gradually become one of the most promising treatment methods for drug-resistant bacteria infection; this is because it is controllable, non-invasive, and not prone to cause the development of drug resistance. Organic conjugated polymers that possess high fluorescence intensity, a large molar extinction coefficient, excellent light stability, an adjustable energy band, easy modification, good biocompatibility, and the ability to photosensitize oxygen to produce reactive oxygen species have been widely used in the fields of solar cells, highly sensitive detection systems, biological imaging, and anti-cancer and anti-microbial treatment. Photodynamic therapy is non-invasive and has high temporal and spatial resolution and is a highly effective antimicrobial treatment that does not easily induce drug resistance; it has also stimulated the scientific research enthusiasm of researchers and has become a research hotspot in the antimicrobial field. In this review, the photodynamic antibacterial applications of conjugated polymers with different structure types are summarized, and their development directions are considered.

Antimicrobial Hydrogels: Potential Materials for Medical Application

“…Chitosan (CS), dopamine (PDA), gelatin (Gel), agarose, sodium hyaluronate (HA), cellulose and alginate not only have good solubility, biocompatibility, and easy modification, but also synthesized antibacterial hydrocolloids have good antibacterial properties, and can release antibacterial agents accurately, and most of them are not resistant to bacteria, so they are often used to prepare antibacterial hydrogels. [ 183 ] Vasquez et al. studied an in situ generated PEGDA/HA‐SH hydrogel, which has antibacterial activity against a variety of gram‐positive bacteria ( Staphylococcus aureus and 59 strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis ), drug‐resistant gram‐positive bacteria (MRSA and MRSE), gram‐negative bacteria ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Escherichia coli , and Acinetobacter baumannii ) and drug‐resistant gram‐negative bacteria ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli ), and can be used to treat infections.…”

Stille polycondensation: a multifaceted approach towards the synthesis of polymers with semiconducting properties

“…To effectively assemble the monomeric units, the Stille polycondensation method has been extensively utilized, yielding high-performance polymers with easily functionalized monomers. [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72] These advances have led to the development and application of several high-performance polymers in OFET technology. Numerous conjugated polymer systems containing DPP moieties have demonstrated high carrier mobilities and exceptional device performance.…”

“…To effectively assemble the monomeric units, the Stille polycondensation method has been extensively utilized, yielding high-performance polymers with easily functionalized monomers. 61–72 These advances have led to the development and application of several high-performance polymers in OFET technology.…”

Nanomaterials as carriers to improve the photodynamic antibacterial therapy

“…There is a hypoxic environment in deep inflammatory tissues, and with the increase of depth, the effect of PDAT is limited by the limitation of light penetration ability, which is also the biggest limitation faced by PDAT (Yuan et al, 2022). On this basis, Zhou (Zhou et al, 2022a) designed a near-infrared driven nanoplatform composed of tin disulfide (SnS 2 ) nanosheets (POS NSs), UCNPs and ICG molecules (POS-UCNPs/ICG) by simultaneously generating O 2 and CO are used in…”