Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are generally considered as biocompatible nanocarriers for biomedical applications; however, no study has provided conclusive evidence regarding the antimicrobial toxicity of MSNs. Here, we systematically evaluated the toxicity of MSNs against Escherichia coli (E. coli) by investigating not only the removal rate of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) from the MSNs, but also functional decorations of specific organic moieties such as polydopamine (PDA) and graphene oxide (GO). The mortality of E coli was strongly dependent on the residual CTAB that was not completely removed from the MSNs by acid etching process. On the other hand, for the removal of CTAB from the MSNs the reduced etching time and increased H₂O content in the etchant increased the survival of E. coli, probably because of the reduction of bioactive H⁺ ions that inhibit bacterial growth. Notably, PDA-coated and GO-wrapped MSNs demonstrated the higher toxicity than the pristine MSNs, because of the strong interplay of antibacterial activity of functional decoration (PDA and GO). This study provides a useful guideline for the design of biocompatible MSNs for biomedical applications.

介孔二氧化硅纳米粒子 (MSN) 通常被认为是用于生物医学应用的生物相容性纳米载体；然而，没有研究提供关于 MSN 的抗菌毒性的确凿证据。在这里，我们系统地评价针对的MSN的毒性大肠杆菌（大肠杆菌通过调查从MSN中十六烷基三甲基溴化铵（CTAB）的不仅去除速率），但也是特定有机部分的功能的装饰品，如聚多巴胺（PDA）和氧化石墨烯（GO）。大肠杆菌的死亡率强烈依赖于未通过酸蚀刻工艺从 MSN 中完全去除的残留 CTAB。另一方面，为了从 MSN 中去除 CTAB，减少了蚀刻时间并增加了 H蚀刻剂中的₂ O 含量增加了大肠杆菌的存活率，可能是因为抑制细菌生长的生物活性 H ⁺离子减少。值得注意的是，由于功能装饰（PDA 和 GO）的抗菌活性的强相互作用，PDA 涂层和 GO 包裹的 MSN 表现出比原始 MSN 更高的毒性。这项研究为设计用于生物医学应用的生物相容性 MSN 提供了有用的指导。