Construction of CeO2/Ti3C2Tx heterojunction with antibacterial and antioxidant capabilities for diabetic wound healing.

Diabetic wounds are highly prone to persistent pathogenic infections due to the complex nature of their microenvironment, which significantly hinders the healing process under hyperglycemic conditions. In this study, we developed a bio-heterojunction enzyme system consisting of hollow CeO2/Ti3C2Tx MXene quantum dots (CeO2@MQD) integrated with glucose oxidase (GOx-CeO2@MQD). The GOx-CeO2@MQD system exhibits multifunctional enzymatic activities, including peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT)-like activity, resulting in the production of •OH and O2, alongside the consumption of glucose and glutathione (GSH). The incorporation of GOx effectively mitigates the hyperglycemic microenvironment by catalyzing glucose, leading to a significant increase in H2O2 production, which is subsequently converted into bactericidal •OH through POD activity. Furthermore, H2O2 can be catalyzed into H2O and O2 via the CAT pathway, thereby alleviating inflammation caused by the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species. In vitro antibacterial assays demonstrated that the GOx-CeO2@MQD system achieved remarkable bactericidal efficiencies of 99.99% against E. coli and S. aureus at concentrations of 12.5 ppm and 2.0 ppm, respectively. In vivo experiments further revealed that GOx-CeO2@MQD significantly promoted angiogenesis, accelerated wound epithelialization, and induced a strong anti-inflammatory response, thus facilitating the regeneration of infected diabetic skin. This study proposes a novel approach for diabetic wound treatment by harnessing the synergistic effects of multiple enzyme-like activities.