Periodontitis is a highly prevalent chronic inflammatory disease worldwide. It leads to periodontal tissue destruction, alveolar bone resorption, and ultimately tooth loosening and loss, severely impacting patients' oral function and quality of life. Bacterial biofilms in periodontitis are formed by Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum , which establish highly organized microbial communities within periodontal pockets. Furthermore, the narrow, irregular shape of periodontal pockets, coupled with prolonged erosion by saliva and gingival crevicular fluid, further weakens the retention and sustained effect of antimicrobial drugs.
Current clinical treatment largely relies on mechanical debridement and local antimicrobial therapy. However, the tolerance of mature biofilms, insufficient antimicrobial penetration, and the potential risk of drug resistance limit treatment efficacy. More importantly, even if mechanical debridement and local antimicrobial therapy reduce the bacterial concentration within periodontal pockets, persistent infection-induced immune cell metabolic disorders may still maintain the inflammatory response. In an inflammatory state, macrophages shift their metabolic pathway from mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis, accompanied by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and the release of pro-inflammatory factors. This drives macrophages towards M1 polarization, leading to inflammatory bone resorption in the periodontal region. Therefore, periodontitis treatment not only requires effectively disrupting bacterial biofilms but also reshaping the local immune metabolic microenvironment to fundamentally break the vicious cycle of "infection-inflammation-bone resorption."
Recently, the team led by Lin Quan and Zhou Yanmin at Jilin University developed an injectable MXene-based composite hydrogel (GQM) for the treatment of periodontitis. The hydrogel consists of oxidized gellan gum (OG), quaternized chitosan (QCS), and magnesium-tannic acid modified MXene nanosheets (MTA-Mg). The formation of dynamic imine bonds between OG and QCS enables GQM to be injectable, self-healing, and adaptable to the irregular space of the periodontal pocket, thereby stably delivering MTA-Mg and retaining it within the periodontal pocket.
In terms of antibacterial properties, the cationic quaternary ammonium groups of QCS can electrostatically adsorb and neutralize anionic components in bacterial membranes and biofilm matrices, thereby disrupting bacterial membrane barriers and extracellular polymer structures. Simultaneously, MTA-Mg generates a mild photothermal effect under 808 nm near-infrared irradiation, capable of breaking down dense biofilms. The combination of these two elements forms a biofilm-disrupting strategy that combines electrostatic sterilization with photothermal stimulation.
In terms of immune regulation, MXene nanosheets in MTA-Mg nanosheets can serve as electron transport channels. The reversible redox cycle of tannins (phenol/quinone) helps stabilize the electron transfer process at the material interface, and magnesium ion coordination further enhances the stability of this interface. This electron transfer process helps restore the NAD⁺/NADH balance in inflamed macrophages, reactivates the mitochondrial respiratory chain, and increases oxidative phosphorylation levels, thereby inducing macrophages to transform from a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype to a repair M2 phenotype. This study provides a new therapeutic strategy for periodontitis treatment through a dual mechanism of "biomembrane disruption-immunometabolic reprogramming."
This research titled "MXene-based Hydrogel Disrupt Bacterial Biofilms and Reprogram Immune Cell Metabolism via Photothermal-Electron Transfer Effects to Reverse Bone Resorption in Periodontitis" was published in Nano Research on July 3.
This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province (SKL202302002).
DOI Link:
https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2026.94908819
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.
Nano Research
MXene-based Hydrogel Disrupt Bacterial Biofilms and Reprogram Immune Cell Metabolism to Reverse Bone Resorption in Periodontitis
3-Jul-2026