NIR-intervened thermally accelerated urease-propelled MOF nanosubmarine for antibiotic-free antibacterial inhibition via single-wavelength synergistic PDT/PTT

The increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics poses a serious threat to global human health. Herein, we have developed a thermal-accelerated biomacromolecular urease-driven MOF-based nanomotor (ZIF-8@PDA@ICG@Ur) mediated via NIR-intervened antimicrobial therapy. In this system, we have attempted for the first time to introduce an easy-to-operate light combination therapy strategy (only one light source is required) into an enzyme-driven MOF motor system to achieve antibiotic-free antibacterial therapy. The purpose of this research is to utilize the increased thermal energy from the photothermal effect to enhance the activity of urease, boost the driving force, which further increases the contact efficiency of the nanocarrier with the bacteria to enhance the bacterial killing power. In 50 mM urea solution, the rate of nanomotor movement was increased by about 1.24 times under NIR light irradiation compared to that without light. In addition, the synergistic effect of enhanced autonomous movement, NIR-controlled on-demand phototherapy and zinc ions release achieved 99.99 % antibacterial activity without antibiotics. The developed NIR-intervened design in this manuscript endows urease-based nanomotors with attractive propulsion feature and contributes to a novel strategy for against diseases caused by bacterial infections.