Oxygen self-sufficient nanodroplet composed of fluorinated polymer for high-efficiently PDT eradicating oral biofilm

Bing Cao; Yingfei Ma; Jian Zhang; Yanan Wang; Yating Wen; Yun Li; Ruixue Wang; Donghai Cao; Ruiping Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.mtbio.2024.101091

Oxygen self-sufficient nanodroplet composed of fluorinated polymer for high-efficiently PDT eradicating oral biofilm

Mater Today Bio. 2024 May 15:26:101091. doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2024.101091. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Bing Cao^{1

2}, Yingfei Ma^{3

4}, Jian Zhang⁵, Yanan Wang⁶, Yating Wen^{1

2}, Yun Li^{1

2}, Ruixue Wang^{1

2}, Donghai Cao⁷, Ruiping Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Tongji Shanxi Hospital, Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030032, China.
² Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
³ The Radiology Department of Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Five Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China.
⁴ College of Medical Imaging, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China.
⁶ The Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China.
⁷ College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Food Engineering, Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan, 030024, China.

Abstract

Oral biofilm is the leading cause of dental caries, which is difficult to completely eradicate because of the complicated biofilm structure. What's more, the hypoxia environment of biofilm and low water-solubility of conventional photosensitizers severely restrict the therapeutic effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for biofilm. Although conventional photosensitizers could be loaded in nanocarriers, it has reduced PDT effect because of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) phenomenon. In this study, we fabricated an oxygen self-sufficient nanodroplet (PFC/TPA@FNDs), which was composed of fluorinated-polymer (FP), perfluorocarbons (PFC) and an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizer (Triphenylamine, TPA), to eradicate oral bacterial biofilm and whiten tooth. Fluorinated-polymer was synthesized by polymerizing (Dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate, fluorinated monomer and 1-nonanol monomer. The nanodroplets could be protonated and behave strong positive charge under bacterial biofilm acid environment promoting nanodroplets deeply penetrating biofilm. More importantly, the nanodroplets had extremely high PFC and oxygen loading efficacy because of the hydrophobic affinity between fluorinated-polymer and PFC to relieve the hypoxia environment and enhance PDT effect. Additionally, compared with conventional ACQ photosensitizers loaded system, PFC/TPA@FNDs could behave superior PDT effect to ablate oral bacterial biofilm under light irradiation due to the unique AIE effect. In vivo caries animal model proved the nanodroplets could reduce dental caries area without damaging tooth structure. Ex vivo tooth whitening assay also confirmed the nanodroplets had similar tooth whitening ability compared with commercial tooth whitener H₂O₂, while did not disrupt the surface microstructure of tooth. This oxygen self-sufficient nanodroplet provides an alternative visual angle for oral biofilm eradication in biomedicine.

Keywords: AIE photosensitizer; Dental caries; Fluorinated-polymer; Nanodroplets; Oral-biofilm.