Carbogenic Nanozyme with Ultrahigh Reactive Nitrogen Species Selectivity for Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), especially reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are intermediate products during incidence of nervous system diseases, showing continuous damage for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Here, we developed a carbogenic nanozyme, which shows an antioxidant activity 12 times higher than ascorbic acid (AA) and behaves as multienzyme mimetics. Importantly, the nanozyme exhibits an ultrahigh scavenging efficiency (∼16 times higher than AA) toward highly active RNS, such as •NO and ONOO– as well as traditional reactive oxygen species (ROS) including O2 •–, H2O2, and •OH. In vitro experiments show that neuron cells injured by H2O2 or lipopolysaccharide can be significantly recovered after carbogenic nanozyme treatment via scavenging all kinds of RONS. Moreover, the carbogenic nanozyme can serve as various enzyme mimetics and eliminate the harmful peroxide and glutathione disulfide from injured mice, demonstrating its potential as a therapeutic for acute TBI.

Antioxidants and Nanotechnology: Promises and Limits of Potentially Disruptive Approaches in the Treatment of Central Nervous System Diseases

“…Mu et al synthetized a carbogenic nanozyme starting from lysine and ascorbic acid with increased antioxidant activity with respect to plain ascorbic acid; this nanoplatform presents multienzyme mimetic activity, reducing peroxide and glutathione disulfide in a thrauma‐injured murine model in vivo ( Figure ) …”

“…a) Optical images of mice brains showing the BBB permeability by Evans blue staining (the higher the blue intensity, the higher the BBB permeability); b) analysis of the BBB permeability assay showing the decrease of the permeability after treatment with nanozymes; c,d) MMP‐9 level in hippocampus and e,f) astrocytes activation level decrement following nanozyme injection; g) SOD activity, h) H 2 O 2 concentration, i) lipid peroxidation, and j) glutathione disulfide concentration after nanozyme treatment. Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.…”

Catalytically potent and selective clusterzymes for modulation of neuroinflammation through single-atom substitutions

“…ue to their exclusive catalytic activity and selectivity, artificial enzymes are exploited as promising tools for wide-reaching biomedical implications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] , particularly as advanced diagnostics 9,10 and therapeutics [11][12][13][14][15][16] of diseases. Earlier studies shed light on the oxidase-and peroxidase-like activities of noble metals 17 .…”

Phenol-like group functionalized graphene quantum dots structurally mimicking natural antioxidants for highly efficient acute kidney injury treatment

“…17 Recently, a series of carbogenic nanodots, such as graphene quantum dots (GQDs), nitrogen-doped carbon dots, selenium-doped carbon dots, chlorine-doped GQDs, and nitrogen/sulphur-co-doped carbon dots, have emerged as antioxidants for ROS elimination. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] In particular, GQDs have shown efficient renal clearance properties and long body retention, providing them great kidney targeting ability. 26,27 Signicantly, the biological effects of GQDs functionalized with enriched oxygenated groups have been investigated exhaustively, and they exhibit high biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo even at a high dose.…”