Effectively targeting and killing microbial pathogens is a major challenge in the treatment of infectious diseases. Inspired by the high efficacy of natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), in this study we prepared two types of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) by pyrolysis of lysine and arginine, the two major functional moieties of natural AMPs. Both lysine-derived CQDs (Lys-CQDs) and arginine-derived CQDs (Arg-CQDs) exhibited distinctive antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria without inducing drug resistance. They also effectively inhibited the formation of bacterial biofilms. Such excellent antibacterial properties might be the result of positive charges derived from the amino acid residues on CQD surface and the generation of rich intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Surprisingly, instead of being cytotoxic, CQDs dramatically promoted the growth of typical mammalian cells. Moreover, no hemolysis of red blood cells (RBCs) happened when CQD concentration was less than 4,000 μg/mL. In vivo, administration of CQDs to infected wounds effectively inhibited bacterium growth and accelerated wound healing. Together, findings from this study indicate that Lys-CQDs and Arg-CQDs can simultaneously kill bacteria and facilitate cell growth, and may therefore be promising candidates for treating bacterial infections and promoting tissue repair.

有效地靶向和杀死微生物病原体是治疗传染病的主要挑战。受天然抗菌肽（AMPs）的高效率启发，在这项研究中，我们通过赖氨酸和精氨酸的热解制备了两种类型的碳量子点（CQD），这是天然AMPs的两个主要功能部分。赖氨酸衍生的CQDs（Lys-CQDs）和精氨酸衍生的CQDs（Arg-CQDs）对革兰氏阴性和革兰氏阳性细菌均表现出独特的抗菌活性，而不会引起耐药性。它们还有效抑制细菌生物膜的形成。如此出色的抗菌性能可能是源自CQD表面氨基酸残基的正电荷和丰富的细胞内活性氧（ROS）产生的结果。出奇，CQD不仅具有细胞毒性，还可以显着促进典型哺乳动物细胞的生长。此外，当CQD浓度低于4,000μg/ mL时，没有发生红细胞（RBC）溶血。在体内，对感染的伤口施用CQD可有效抑制细菌生长并加速伤口愈合。总之，这项研究的结果表明，Lys-CQD和Arg-CQD可以同时杀死细菌并促进细胞生长，因此可能有望成为治疗细菌感染和促进组织修复的候选药物。