Positively Charged Carbon Dots with Antibacterial and Antioxidant Dual Activities for Promoting Infected Wound Healing

Oct 18, 2026

Uploaded by Aldword

Bacterial infection and excess reactive oxygen species are key factors that lead to slow or substantially delayed wound healing. It is crucial to design and develop new nanomaterials with antibacterial and antioxidative capabilities for wound healing. Here, positively charged carbon dots are rationally designed and synthesized to show strong biocompatibility, potent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, and effective free-radical scavenging to reduce oxidative damage and accelerate healing in an infected mouse skin model.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

| [www.acsami.org](www.acsami.org) Research Article
Positively Charged Carbon Dots with Antibacterial and Antioxidant Dual Activities for Promoting Infected Wound Healing
Xiaoqing Qu, Chenxi Gao, Lei Fu, Yuefeng Chu, * Jian-Hua Wang, * Hongdeng Qiu, and Jia Chen *
Cite This: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2023, 15, 18608−18619

Read Online | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ACCESS | Metrics & More | Article Recommendations | *sı Supporting Information | ABSTRACT: Bacterial infection and excess reactive oxygen species are key factors that lead to slow or substantially delayed wound healing. It is crucial to design and develop new nanomaterials with antibacterial and antioxidative capabilities for wound healing. Here, positively charged carbon dots (CDs) are rationally designed and synthesized from p-phenylenediamine and polyethyleneimine by a facile one-pot solvothermal method, which show good biocompatibility in in vitro cytotoxicity, hemolysis assays, and in vivo toxicity evaluation. The positively charged CDs show superior antimicrobial effect against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) at very low concentrations, reducing the risk of wound infection. At the same time, CDs with surface defects and unpaired electrons can effectively scavenge excess free radicals to reduce oxidative stress damage, accelerate wound inflammation−proliferation transition, and promote wound healing. The mouse model of skin infection demonstrates that CDs can effectively promote the wound healing of skin infection without obvious side effects by simply dropping or spraying onto the wound. We believe that the prepared CDs have satisfactory biocompatibility, antioxidant capacity, and excellent antibacterial activity and have great application potential in wound healing. KEYWORDS: positively charged carbon dots, electrostatic interaction, antibacterial, antioxidative, wound healing 1. INTRODUCTION As the first physiological barrier of the human body, with the role of protection, excretion, regulation of body temperature, and sensing external stimuli, the skin is in direct contact with the external environment, and it is more susceptible to serious damage.1,2 Wound healing is accomplished by a complex and highly coordinated series of processes in which bacterial infections are especially likely to occur, in particular, infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), leading to serious complications and prolonged wound healing time.3−5 Therefore, the elimination of bacterial infection is essential for better recovery of wound tissue. Nevertheless, owing to the misuse of antibiotics in recent years, bacteria have overcome the threat posed by these antibiotics by reducing the infiltration of antibiotics or promoting the efflux of antibiotics to minimize the intracellular concentration of antibiotics, thus changing or destroying the chemical structure of antibiotics and the generation of biofilms.6−8 This greatly increases the difficulty of wound infection treatment. Meanwhile, the wound site is often accompanied by an inflammatory response, which induces the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radicals (•OH), and superoxide anion radicals (O2•−).9−12 Excessive ROS can cause intense oxidative stress that destroys proteins and leads to normal cell damage, resulting in chronic wounds that can be life-threatening in severe cases.13, 14 With the rapid development of nanomedicine and the continuous exploration of the nature of microorganisms, the in depth understanding and research of various traditional materials and functional materials are promoted. Various nanomaterials and functional wound dressings have been developed to promote wound healing and injury treatment, for example, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, 15, 16 metal − organic frames (MOFs),17 antimicrobial peptides, 18, 19 and functionalized hydrogel dressings,20−22 but these materials usually have certa

FAQs

What problem do the positively charged carbon dots target in wound healing?

They address bacterial infection and excess reactive oxygen species (ROS), both of which can delay wound repair and worsen outcomes.

How were the positively charged carbon dots prepared?

They were synthesized from p-phenylenediamine and polyethyleneimine using a facile one-pot solvothermal method.

What evidence supports both antibacterial and antioxidant effects?

The study reports strong antimicrobial performance against Staphylococcus aureus at very low concentrations and free-radical scavenging capability that reduces oxidative stress damage, with performance also demonstrated in an infected mouse skin model.

Oct 18, 2026

Uploaded by Aldword