Turning gold nanoflowers from prooxidant to plasmon-enhanced antioxidant for diabetic wound therapy

Plasmonic gold nanoflowers (AuNFs) exhibit considerable potential in wound repair therapy due to their excellent photothermal conversion capability, high surface area, and multi-enzyme activities. However, the intrinsic pro-oxidative properties of AuNFs limit their therapeutic efficacy in diabetic wound treatment. To overcome this limitation, a near-infrared plasmonic Au@CDCe nanohybrid system that can enhance antioxidative performance through the synergistic effects of localized surface plasmon resonance-induced photothermal effect and hot electrons is developed. Specifically, AuNFs serve as near-infrared plasmonic exciters, generating hot electrons that are efficiently transferred to cerium-doped carbon dots (CDCe). Combined with mild photothermal effects, these processes synergistically enhance hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, as well as superoxide dismutase- and catalase-mimicking activities. In vitro experiments demonstrate that Au@CDCe effectively protects cells from oxidative damage, and promotes cell proliferation and migration. In vivo evaluations confirm its ability to modulate the immune microenvironment and accelerate diabetic wound healing. This work establishes a new paradigm for modulating the oxidative stress microenvironment through antioxidant gold-based plasmonic nanozymes and provides novel insights into tuning of prooxidant nanozyme into plasmon-enhanced antioxidant nanozyme.