Chitosan modified ultra-thin hollow nanoparticles for photosensitizer loading and enhancing photodynamic antibacterial activities

Antibacterial photodynamic therapy (PDT) has attracted extremely attention due to not inducing bacteria to generate resistance. However, the poor utilization and low reactive oxygen species (ROS) field of photosensitizers hinder their further application for antibacterial. Here, we designed ultra-thin hollow silica nanoparticles (UHSN), followed by pore-engineering including covalent anchoring of chitosan (UHSN@CS) for enhanced loading and photodynamic property of photosensitizer. The UHSN@CS exhibit high loading efficiency (80.6%, pH = 6.0) and controllable pH-responsive release for Ce6. Additionally, UHSN@CS can enhance the ROS yield of photosensitizers and effectively adhere to S. aureus, thus enormously enhancing antibacterial performance toward bacteria. Moreover, UHSN@CS-Ce6 can obliterate mature S. aureus biofilm and cause an 81% decrease in the biomass, showing a better therapeutic effect than Ce6 (59.2%) under laser irradiation. In vivo results confirm that UHSN@CS-Ce6 is effective to promote infectious wound regeneration. As photodynamic-based nanoplatforms, UHSN@CS-Ce6 are potential antibacterial agents for skin infection therapy.