Antibacterial performance of nanoscaled visible-light responsive platinum-containing titania photocatalyst in vitro and in vivo

The TiO2-Pt nanoparticle is a visible-light responsive photocatalyst, which has superior apparent quantum efficiency and antibacterial activity, as compared with several commercially available and laboratory prepared photocatalysts. Antibacterial experiments in vitro indicated that the high performance of TiO2-Pt on the attenuation of pathogenic bacteria is contributed by two major effects: the killing and the reduction of resistance against phagocytes of the bacteria. A mouse model further demonstrated that skin penetrative visible light can trigger TiO2-Pt-mediated photocatalysis and thus ameliorate the subcutaneous Staphylococcus aureus infection in vivo. These findings suggest that TiO2-Pt may have potential application on the development of a high performance photocatalyst to be used in both in vitro and in vivo settings.150