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Bacterial infection, biofilm formation, and immune dysfunction are common triggers and aggravators in periodontitis, which render periodontal restoration challenging. Thus, a strategy with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunoregulatory capacities has great promise in the clinical practice of periodontitis. Herein, carvacrol (CA)-based near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive nano-drug delivery system is developed for the first time. The system consists of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs, which upconvert 808 nm NIR to blue light), mesoporous silica (mSiO2, the carrier channel), and hydrophobic CA (blue light response properties). Under the irradiation of 808 nm NIR, owing to the synergy of CA and upconverted blue light, the UCNPs@mSiO2-CA (UCMCs) exhibit the properties of specific anti-bacteria (including anaerobic bacteria), anti-inflammation, and immunomodulation. Notably, high-throughput sequencing results exhibit that many classic inflammatory immune-related signaling pathways, including the MAPK signaling pathway, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, and IL-17 signaling pathway, are enriched to remodel the immune microenvironment. Additionally, UCMCs with NIR irradiation accelerate periodontal restoration and serve as promising non-invasive management of periodontitis. Altogether, this study verifies the feasibility of herbal monomer combined with light-responsive in situ nano-drug delivery system and provides a more effective and reliable strategy for various potential applications of deep tissue diseases.

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 17 October 2022
Revised: 17 November 2022
Accepted: 19 November 2022
Published: 15 February 2023
Issue date: May 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31860263, 81860477, 32071223, and 82260194), Key Youth Project of Jiangxi Province (No. 20202ACB216002), Key Research and Development Program of Jiangxi Province (Nos. 20212BBG73004, 20212BBG71005, and 20192ACB50014), the Local Science and Technology Development Fund (No. 20221ZDG020068), Key Laboratory of Jiangxi Province for Transfusion Medicine (No. 20212BCD42006), and Graduate Innovative Special Fund Projects of Jiangxi Province (Nos. YC2021-B045 and YC2021-B057).

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