Abstract：
Dental caries is a widespread bacterial infectious disease that imposes a significant public health burden globally. The primary culprits in caries development are cariogenic bacteria, notably Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), due to their robust biofilm-forming capabilities. To address this issue, a series of cationic pyridinium-substituted photosensitizers with aggregation-induced emission have been designed. All of these aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) exhibit outstanding microbial visualization and photodynamic killing of S. mutans, thanks to their luminous fluorescence and efficient singlet oxygen generation ability. Notably, one of the membrane-anchored AIEgens (TDTPY) can inactivate planktic S. mutans and its biofilm without causing significant cytotoxicity. Importantly, application of TDTPY-mediated photodynamic treatment on in vivo rodent models has yielded commendable imaging results and effectively slowed down caries progression with assured biosafety. Unlike traditional single-mode anticaries materials, AIEgens integrate the dual functions of detecting and removing S. mutans and are expected to build a new caries management diagnosis and treatment platform. To the best of our knowledge, this is also the first report on the use of AIEgens for anticaries studies both in vitro and in vivo.
摘要：
龋齿是一种广泛的细菌感染性疾病，在全球范围内造成重大的公共卫生负担。龋齿发展的主要罪魁祸首是致龋细菌，特别是变形链球菌(S.mutans)，由于其强大的生物膜形成能力。为了解决这个问题，设计了一系列具有聚集诱导发射的阳离子吡啶取代光敏剂。所有这些聚集诱导的发光原（AIEgens）都表现出出色的微生物可视化和对变形链球菌的光动力杀死，由于其发光荧光和高效的单线态氧生成能力。值得注意的是,一种膜锚定的AIEgens（TDTPY）可以使浮游变形链球菌及其生物膜失活，而不会引起明显的细胞毒性。重要的是,TDTPY介导的光动力治疗在体内啮齿动物模型上的应用已产生了值得赞扬的成像结果，并有效地减缓了龋齿的进展，并确保了生物安全性。与传统的单模防龋材料不同，AIEgens集成了检测和去除变形链球菌的双重功能，有望建立一个新的龋病管理诊断和治疗平台。据我们所知,这也是关于使用AIEgens进行体外和体内防龋研究的第一份报告。
