Green preparation of ginger-derived carbon dots accelerates wound healing

Inflammation is thought to impact the wound healing pathology and is highly related to many chronic wounds which do not heal. Natural derived herbs with anti-inflammation effects have gained attention with their availability and affordability for clinical treatment. In this study, the ginger (Zingiber officinale) -derived carbon dots (GCDs) were prepared by a green, fast, low-cost microwave-assisted hydrothermal approach at 180 °C by using ginger aqueous as the only precursor without any organic reagent or surface passivation agents. The GCDs showed a small size distribution with the mean particle size of 2.3 nm, enable emit intense blue photoluminescence and exhibited good biocompatibility. The GCDs was successfully applied in a bio-imaging in vitro. Accelerating wound healing by high anti-inflammatory activity was verified both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, the GCDs effectively blocked the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-mediated nuclear factor-kappa B (NFκB) pathway to significantly dephosphorylate IκBα and inhibited the nuclear translocation of p65 protein, which reduced the expression of proinflammatory factors. On the mRNA levels, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Nitric oxide (NO) were decreased, and the inhibition rate were 51.6%, 81.7%, 86.0%, and 58.7%, respectively, all of which indicated excellent anti-inflammatory effect of the GCDs. Therefore, fluorescent GCDs have a promising application as an imaging tool and functional wound dressing for wound clinical management. The study also brings a new idea for the discovery of effective special substances that is not limited to bioactive small-molecule compounds.