Abstract
Acne, caused by Cutibacterium acnes, triggers inflammatory lesions. The hypoxic biofilm microenvironment exacerbates acne progression, while inadequate hydrogen peroxide and dense biofilm barriers hinder oxygen generation and nanomedicine penetration. Here, we develop microneedles patch loaded with near infrared-driven self-oxygenating Z@P-M nanomotors for photothermal therapy of acne. Zinc peroxide nanoparticles are asymmetrically modified with polydopamine, followed by in-situ manganese dioxide growth on polydopamine to form Z@P-M nanomotors. Z@P-M nanomotors loaded microneedles penetrate the stratum corneum to deliver antibacterial nanoparticles into the dermis. In female murine acne, Zinc peroxide slowly releases hydrogen peroxide in acidic biofilm, catalyzed by manganese dioxide to generate oxygen, thus alleviating hypoxia and skin inflammation. After near infrared laser irradiation, the thermal gradient generated by the asymmetrically modified polydopamine coating endows the nanomotors with enhanced diffusion to promote biofilm penetration, further improving photothermal therapy efficacy and showing a potential for active acne treatment.
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Source data are provided with this paper. The source data produced by this study can be found in the Supplementary Information/Source Data file. The source data are available in Figshare dataset: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30226972. All data supporting the findings of this study are available from corresponding authors upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFA1206900, Y.T.), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (22175083, Y.T. and 22375224, F.P.).
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Z.H. and Y.G. contributed equally to this work. Z.H. and Y.T. participated in the conceptualization of the project. Z.H. and Y.S. were involved in the synthesis and characterization of nanomotors. Z.H., H.Q., and L.L. (Lu Liu) perform experiments in vitro. Z.H., Y.G., L.L. (Limeng Liu), and Z.F. contributed to the animal experiments. Z.H., Y.G. and Y.T. wrote the manuscript. Y.T., Z.F. and F.P. supervised the project.
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Nature Communications thanks Tijana Miseljic, who co-reviewed with Ziqiao Li, Tzanko Tzanov, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.
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Hu, Z., Gan, Y., Song, Y. et al. Near-infrared light-driven nanomotors-based microneedles for the active therapy of bacterial infected acne. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68376-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68376-6
