Although antibacterial hydrogels are emerging as promising biomaterials for effective inhibition of bacterial infections, monitoring their dynamic release behaviors in a visual manner remains greatly challenging. Herein, non-conjugated luminescent polymers (NCLPs) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics are used for the first time to develop a visualization strategy to monitor the release process of the drug-loaded hydrogel. The novel antimicrobial peptide polymers with intrinsic AIE effect, namely nanoengineered peptide-grafted hyperbranched polymers (NPGHPs), are encapsulated in an anionic polyelectrolyte to construct the AIE-active fluorescent polymeric hydrogel (NPGHPs/SA gel). Interestingly, the rigid environment mediated by hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction contributes to promoting the unconventional luminescence of fluorescent clusters. Moreover, the successive drug release process of NPGHPs/SA gel can be tracked in real time by using fluorescence microscopy. The hydrogel also has potent antibacterial activities against Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli, P. aeruginosa) and Gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus, B. subtilis). Overall, this work not only provides an advanced biomedical material with broad-spectrum antibacterial ability but also opens a facile avenue up for the investigation of drug release from gel systems.

尽管抗菌水凝胶正在成为有效抑制细菌感染的有前途的生物材料，但以视觉方式监测其动态释放行为仍然具有很大的挑战性。在此，首次使用具有聚集诱导发射 (AIE) 特性的非共轭发光聚合物 (NCLP) 来开发可视化策略来监测载药水凝胶的释放过程。将具有内在 AIE 效应的新型抗菌肽聚合物，即纳米工程肽接枝超支化聚合物 (NPGHPs)，封装在阴离子聚电解质中以构建 AIE 活性荧光聚合物水凝胶 (NPGHPs/SA 凝胶)。有趣的是，由氢键和静电相互作用介导的刚性环境有助于促进荧光簇的非常规发光。此外，可以使用荧光显微镜实时跟踪 NPGHPs/SA 凝胶的连续药物释放过程。这种水凝胶还对革兰氏阴性菌具有强效抗菌活性。大肠杆菌、铜绿假单胞菌）和革兰氏阳性菌（金黄色葡萄球菌、枯草芽孢杆菌）。总的来说，这项工作不仅提供了一种具有广谱抗菌能力的先进生物医学材料，而且为研究凝胶系统的药物释放开辟了一条捷径。