RT Journal Article
T1 Squaraine-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles for antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy against bacterial infection
A1 Melese Dereje, Degnet
A1 García Fontecha, Ana
A1 Pontremoli, Carlotta
A1 González Ortiz, Blanca
A1 Colilla Nieto, Montserrat
A1 Vallet Regí, María Dulce Nombre
A1 Izquierdo Barba, Isabel
A1 Barbero, Nadia
AB Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) shows promise as a complementary or alternative approach to conventional antimicrobial treatments. Despite possessing some key advantages, many challenges remain, such as optimizing the delivery of photosensitizers, improving light penetration into tissues, and determining the most effective combinations of photosensitizers and light wavelengths for different infections. Moreover, addressing the challenges associated with the aggregation tendency and poor solubility of some photosensitizers, squaraine dyes (SQs) in particular, is crucial for unlocking their full potential in biomedical applications. This contribution focuses on designing innovative  anophotosensitizers with antimicrobial properties using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) loaded with a SQ dye (i.e. Br-SQ). MSNs before and after Br-SQ loading were deeply characterized using different techniques, proving the successful incorporation of the dye into the nanocarriers. Upon visible light (640 nm) irradiation, these nanosystems demonstrated remarkable antibacterial activities against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli). Our results confirmed that MSNs are valuable nanocarriers of hydrophobic photosensitizers, such as Br-SQ, bringing up new opportunities to develop antibiotic-free  anoformulations to treat bacterial infection while minimizing the risk of antimicrobial resistance.
YR 2024
FD 2024-03-14
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/104846
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/104846
LA eng
NO (CUP: D13C22003520001) and “´ (p)), the European Research Council ERC-2015-AdG (VERDI) grant No. 694160 and the Fundacion ´ Ramon ´ Areces (FD5/22_01, Nano4Infection) for their support
NO University of Torino, Italy
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO European Research Council
NO Fundación Ramón Areces
DS Docta Complutense
RD 8 abr 2025