Heterostructured Au/CeO2 metallic aerogel nanozyme for healing MRSA-infected diabetic ulcers.

Diabetic ulcers (DUs) are severe complications of diabetes characterized by hyperglycemia, persistent infection, hypoxia, and chronic inflammation. This hostile microenvironment promotes biofilm formation and weakens endogenous antioxidant defenses, leading to stalled healing. Herein, we develop heterostructured Au/CeO2 metallic aerogels as a multifunctional platform for infected DU therapy. The aerogels combine second near-infrared (NIR-II) photothermal heating with intrinsic glucose oxidase (GOx)/peroxidase (POD)-like cascade catalysis for efficient killing of drug-resistant planktonic bacteria and biofilm-associated infections, while their superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like and catalase (CAT)-like activities alleviate oxidative stress by scavenging excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and attenuating inflammatory signaling (including nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB)). In vitro and in vivo results further demonstrate enhanced vascular regeneration and collagen deposition, leading to accelerated wound closure. Collectively, these findings suggest a stage-adaptive nanozyme strategy that addresses the coupled infection-oxidative stress-inflammation barriers in infected DUs.