https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2025.10.029
This new article publication from
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses probiotic living microneedles designed by interbacterial competition for accelerated infected wound healing.
Probiotic therapy offers a promising strategy for chronic infected wound management through pathogen suppression and immune modulation. However, its efficacy remains restricted by weak competitiveness in pathogen-rich niches and poor penetration across biofilm barriers. Inspired by bacterial competitive interactions, the authors of this article developed a multifunctional microneedle (MN) platform to overcome these limitations.
Lactobacillus reuteri (Lr) was coated with poly-l-lysine-modified metal–phenolic networks (MPNs) encapsulating doxorubicin (DOX), yielding DOX@MPN–PLL@Lr (DMP@Lr). The engineered probiotics were incorporated into dissolving MNs enriched with nutrient broth to ensure excellent microneedle performance and probiotic function. This design leverages MPN multifunctionality to reduce early-stage pathogenic burden
via photothermal-assisted bacterial killing and near-infrared (NIR)-promoted antibiotic release, thereby enhancing probiotic competitiveness. Meanwhile, MNs physically disrupt biofilms for precise delivery into deep infection sites.
In vitro, DMP@Lr achieved >99.9% (5.5 log) bactericidal efficiency, and its MNs exhibited a 1.4-fold higher biofilm clearance compared with blank MNs.
In vivo, a single DMP@Lr MN patch promoted 93.9% wound closure, demonstrating potent antibacterial activity and accelerated healing.
This study presents an innovative, translatable probiotic-based MN therapy for the effective treatment of chronically infected wounds.
Keywords: Microneedles, Infected wound healing, Probiotic,
Lactobacillus reuteri, Metal–phenolic networks, Biofilm disruption, Antibacterial, Anti-inflammatory
Graphical Abstract: available
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2211383525007075-ga1_lrg.jpg
Probiotic living microneedles (DMP@Lr MNs), inspired by the principle of interbacterial competition, are capable of penetrating biofilms and exerting synergistic antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and pro-healing effects for the treatment of chronic infected wounds.
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The Journal of the
Institute of Materia Medica, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the
Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.
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https://www.journals.elsevier.com/acta-pharmaceutica-sinica-b/
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CiteScore: 24.3
Impact Factor: 14.6 (Top 6 journal in the category of Pharmacology and pharmacy)
JIF without self-citation: 13.8
ISSN 2211-3835
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Honglei Wang, Zibei Wu, Chen Gao, Wenhao Wang, Minglong Chen, Lin Yuan, Jiating Wang, Cairong Xiao, Yang Zhou, Fan Tong, Hanmei Li, Huile Gao, Xiang Gao, Jintao Fu, Probiotic living microneedles designed by interbacterial competition for accelerated infected wound healing, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, Volume 15, Issue 12, 2025, Pages 6571-6586, ISSN 2211-3835,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2025.10.029