NIR responsive nitric oxide nanogenerator for enhanced biofilm eradication and inflammation immunotherapy against periodontal diseases

Periodontal disease is one of the most common oral infectious diseases and closely related to many systemic diseases which is in urgent need of novel and effective drugs. In particular, the problems of deep lesion location and synchronization of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory needs to be addressed. Herein, near infrared (NIR) light triggered nanoplatform with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory dual-functions by antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT), photothermal therapy (PTT) and gas therapy was realized by loading S-nitrosothiols (SNO) and ICG into mesoporous silica-coated gold nanorods. Using a single 808 nm NIR light, the excellent antibacterial efficacy can be achieved not only by aPDT-induced bacteria killing but also by PTT-triggered biofilm dispersal. Furthermore, SNO molecules would also be thermally activated to release nitric oxide (NO) gas molecules at the site of periodontal disease, exerting inflammation inhibition by suppressing the assembly of pro-inflammatory factors and NLRP3 inflammasome. Additionally, such nanoplatform could validly combat pathogenic bacterial biofilm, and modulate the inflammatory immunity, leading to favorable therapeutics on animal models with periodontal diseases. Hence, this design provides an effective solution to solve the problems of deep tissue treatment along with simultaneously antibacterial/anti-inflammatory capabilities, which provides a bright prospect for clinical treatment of periodontal diseases, even extended to other refractory infections in deep sites.