The construction of efficient nanozyme with multienzyme activities
in a simple way is vital for the wide biological and chemical applications.
Generally, the mimic enzyme activities depend on their sizes, surface
states, and materials types. Quantum dots (QDs), one type of zero-dimensional
nanomaterials, are much appealing due to their abundant catalytically
active surface deficiency. The vanadium oxide (VO
x
) is one special transition metal oxides possessing different
valence states. Inspired by these views, we synthesized VO
x
QDs herein via a one-pot top-down ethanol-thermal
method using bulk VO2 as the precursor. The VO
x
QDs showed not only oxidase- and peroxidase-like
activities in ethanol as the main background solution (ethanol-BGS),
but also exhibited additional superoxide dismutase mimetic activity
in phosphate buffer solution. Furthermore, the TMB-VO
x
QDs system in the ethanol-BGS produced three distinct
colors in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at three different concentration gradients (10–90 μM,
0.1–10 mM, and 20–100 mM). Accordingly, we constructed
a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system (3D-CS) by using the three
variables: the initial velocities, the maximum absorption values and
the visual colors of the enzymatic reaction system. As a result, the
rapid detection of H2O2 can be achieved while
effectively avoiding the faked appearance due to the inhibition effects
to the enzymatic system at too high H2O2 concentration.
The applicability of the VO
x
QDs based
3D-CS was further proved via the facile and accurate H2O2 assays in three different practical samples.
Algal products are well known for their health promoting effects. Nonetheless, an in depth understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms is still only fragmentary. Here, we show that aqueous furbelow extracts (brown algae, Saccorhiza polyschides) lengthen the life of both sexes of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster substantially, if used as nutritional additives to conventional food. This life prolonging effect became even more pronounced in the presence of stressors, such as high-fat dieting of living under drought conditions. Application of the extracts did not change food intake, excretion, or other major physiological parameters. Nevertheless, effects on the intestinal microbiota were observed, leading to an increased species richness, which is usually associated with healthy conditions. Lifespan extension was not observed in target of rapamycin (TOR)-deficient animals, implying that functional TOR signaling is necessary to unfold the positive effects of brown algae extract (BAE) on this important trait. The lack of life lengthening in animals with deregulated TOR signaling exclusively targeted to body fat showed that this major energy storage organ is instrumental for transmitting these effects. In addition, expression of Imaginal morphogenesis protein-Late 2 (Imp-L2), an effective inhibitor of insulin signaling implies that BAE exerts their positive effects through interaction with the tightly interwoven TOR- and insulin-signaling systems, although insulin levels were not directly affected by this intervention.
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