TY - JOUR
T1 - Synergistic antibacterial effect of photocatalytic coatings activated by visible light and photodynamic therapy for rapid peri-implantitis treatment
AU - Nagay, Bruna Egumi
AU - Costa, Raphael Cavalcante
AU - Malheiros, Samuel Santana
AU - Cordeiro, Jairo Matozinho
AU - Dini, Caroline
AU - Santos, Ariane Bezerra
AU - Cantiga, Cristiane
AU - Rios, Barbara Ribeiro
AU - Li, Xiang
AU - Ruixin, Zhang
AU - Rao, Xi
AU - Stolf, Camila Schmidt
AU - Casarin, Renato Corrêa Viana
AU - da Cruz, Nilson Cristino
AU - de Souza, Fabiane Hiratsuka Veiga
AU - Cintra, Luciano Tavares Angelo
AU - Gnanasekar, Sathishkumar
AU - Murugesan, Selvakumar
AU - Xu, Liqun
AU - Faverani, Leonardo Perez
AU - van den Beucken, Jeroen J.J.P.
AU - Barão, Valentim A.R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
PY - 2026/10
Y1 - 2026/10
N2 - Biofilm accumulation and subsequent implant-related infections pose significant challenges in the biomedical field. Photocatalytic coatings hold promise for antimicrobial efficacy; however, their effectiveness in dynamic polymicrobial infections for clinical use remains a novel and ongoing challenge. To address this, combining visible-light-triggered photocatalytic coatings with methylene blue-mediated photodynamic therapy (MB-PDT) has the potential to optimize treatment efficacy and simplify multifunctional coating designs for diverse implant therapy needs. Herein, a one-step plasma electrolytic oxidation technique is employed to create a photocatalytic coating composed of crystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2) doped with bismuth (Bi-TiO2). This coating enhances bioactivity, hardness, and wear resistance, which are favorable properties for an implant biointerface. Furthermore, this coating generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) under visible light, which is robustly boosted when combined with MB-PDT due to the synergistic wavelength absorption between Bi-TiO2 and methylene blue, leading to highly effective microbial eradication within just 1 min of treatment. Further in vivo assays confirm the antimicrobial efficacy and demonstrate a reduction in inflammatory responses, thereby favoring the wound repair process. Our proof-of-concept data offer a promising solution for peri-implant infections, using visible-light-driven photocatalytic coatings in combination with PDT to combat biofilm-related infections while maintaining the properties that affect the longevity of dental implants.
AB - Biofilm accumulation and subsequent implant-related infections pose significant challenges in the biomedical field. Photocatalytic coatings hold promise for antimicrobial efficacy; however, their effectiveness in dynamic polymicrobial infections for clinical use remains a novel and ongoing challenge. To address this, combining visible-light-triggered photocatalytic coatings with methylene blue-mediated photodynamic therapy (MB-PDT) has the potential to optimize treatment efficacy and simplify multifunctional coating designs for diverse implant therapy needs. Herein, a one-step plasma electrolytic oxidation technique is employed to create a photocatalytic coating composed of crystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2) doped with bismuth (Bi-TiO2). This coating enhances bioactivity, hardness, and wear resistance, which are favorable properties for an implant biointerface. Furthermore, this coating generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) under visible light, which is robustly boosted when combined with MB-PDT due to the synergistic wavelength absorption between Bi-TiO2 and methylene blue, leading to highly effective microbial eradication within just 1 min of treatment. Further in vivo assays confirm the antimicrobial efficacy and demonstrate a reduction in inflammatory responses, thereby favoring the wound repair process. Our proof-of-concept data offer a promising solution for peri-implant infections, using visible-light-driven photocatalytic coatings in combination with PDT to combat biofilm-related infections while maintaining the properties that affect the longevity of dental implants.
KW - Biofilms
KW - Coating
KW - Implants
KW - Photocatalysis
KW - Photodynamic therapy
KW - Titanium
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038204328
U2 - 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.03.041
DO - 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.03.041
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105038204328
SN - 2452-199X
VL - 64
SP - 373
EP - 393
JO - Bioactive Materials
JF - Bioactive Materials
ER -