Ultrasmall Ag6Cu2 clusters for accelerating wound healing through the activation of antibacterial activity and endogenous anti-inflammatory property

Significal challenges exist to bacterial infection wound healing. The bacterial infection and inflammation generated by oxidative stress inevitably hinder the process of wound healing. Ag6Cu2 nanoclusters in this study were successfully prepared and displayed excellent physiological stability. Noticeably, Ag6Cu2 nanoclusters exhibited efficient therapeutic potentials for accelerating the process of wound healing, which had good biosafety under the appropriate concentration. The treatment of Ag6Cu2 was able to suppress the bacterial proliferation by destructing the bacterial, resulting in the secondary release of bacterial contents and to exert anti-inflammatory properties via scavenging the overproduction of reactive oxygen species and upregulating the expression of Nrf2 as well as its downstream genes including HO-1 and NQO1. In-vivo studies further validated the efficient therapeutic effects of Ag6Cu2 nanoclusters by inhibiting the activation of the cascade of inflammatory factors and the proliferation of bacteria as a novel agent in a nano scale for accelerating the process of wound healing.