Coordination polymer nanozymes-integrated colorimetric microneedle patches for intelligent wound infection management

Biomedical patches are playing an indispensable role in wound infection management. Current efforts have focused on designing smart patches with both treating and sensing abilities to recognize wound infections and kill bacteria efficiently. Here, we present intelligent colorimetric microneedle patches (MNs) integrated with Fe ion-gallic acid coordination polymer nanodots (FNDs) for on-demand treatment and real-time report of infected wounds. Such FNDs are fabricated by coordination reactions among polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), gallic acid, and Fe ion, and are loaded inside the MNs using a template replication method (FNDs-MNs). Benefitting from the pHdependent peroxidase mimic activity of the FNDs, the integrated MNs can catalyze H2O2 to generate much more center dot OH at the acidic condition for bacteria killing. Besides, these FNDs-MNs also possess pH and H2O2 dependent color changes, and thus can timely reflect the wound repair and infection states. During the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infected wounds in mice, the FNDs-MNs exhibit obvious color changes at infected stages and achieve on-demand therapeutic effects. Thus, it is believed that such FNDs-MNs have great potentials for efficient wound infection management and will find wide applications in wound care.

Automated summary

Biomedical patches are essential in managing wound infections. Researchers have developed intelligent colorimetric microneedle patches that can detect and treat infected wounds while monitoring the healing process. These patches are integrated with Fe ion-gallic acid coordination polymer nanodots (FNDs) that exhibit pH and H2O2 dependent color changes and have the ability to kill bacteria.