Engineering an Ionic Aggregation-Induced Luminescence-Labeled Fluorescence Lateral Flow Immunoassay for C-Reactive Protein in Human Plasma.

The surge of lateral flow immunoassays (LFAs) stimulates researchers to explore the novel vibrant aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen)-doped nanoparticles to improve the accuracy and reliability of LFAs. However, the loading amount of AIEgens currently used for the LFA in microspheres is limited due to their symmetrical large conjugated skeleton structure, which significantly reduces the fluorescence brightness of the signal reporter in the LFA. Herein, an ionic AIEgens with a donor-acceptor type was developed as the signal reporter of the LFA for C-reactive protein (CRP).

Atomic-level design of biomimetic iron-sulfur clusters for biocatalysis.

Designing biomimetic materials with high activity and customized biological functions by mimicking the central structure of biomolecules has become an important avenue for the development of medical materials. As an essential electron carrier, the iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters have the advantages of simple structure and high electron transport capacity. To rationally design and accurately construct functional materials, it is crucial to clarify the electronic structure and conformational relationships of Fe-S clusters.

Plasmonic and nanozyme dual-channel-based logic judgment for enhancing gold nanoparticle based colorimetric Hg ion sensing performance.

An AND logic gate-based Hg ion colorimetric assay was constructed using the plasmonic and nanozyme dual signal channels of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). This assay increased the judgment criteria for the identification of Hg ions and effectively improved the accuracy of Hg ion detection.

A Nanozyme-Based Electrode for High-Performance Neural Recording.

Implanted neural electrodes have been widely used to treat brain diseases that require high sensitivity and biocompatibility at the tissue-electrode interface. However, currently used clinical electrodes cannot meet both these requirements simultaneously, which hinders the effective recording of electronic signals. Herein, nanozyme-based neural electrodes incorporating bioinspired atomically precise clusters are developed as a general strategy with a heterogeneous design for multiscale and ultrasensitive neural recording via quantum transport and biocatalytic processes.

Bioactive NIR-II gold clusters for three-dimensional imaging and acute inflammation inhibition.

Strong fluorescence and high catalytic activities cannot be achieved simultaneously due to conflicts in free electron utilization, resulting in a lack of bioactivity of most near-infrared-II (NIR-II) fluorophores. To circumvent this challenge, we developed atomically precise Au clusters with strong NIR-II fluorescence ranging from 950 to 1300 nm exhibiting potent enzyme-mimetic activities through atomic engineering to create active Cu single-atom sites. The developed AuCu clusters show 18-fold higher antioxidant, 90-fold higher catalase-like, and 3-fold higher superoxide dismutase-like activities than Au clusters, with negligible fluorescence loss.

Catalytically active gold clusters with atomic precision for noninvasive early intervention of neurotrauma.

Background: Neurotrauma is a worldwide public health problem which can be divided into primary and secondary damge. The primary damge is caused by external forces and triggers the overproduction of peroxides and superoxides, leading to long-lasting secondary damage including oxidative stress, wound infection and immunological reactions. The emerging catalysts have shown great potential in the treatment of brain injury and neurogenic inflammation, but are limited to biosafety issues and delivery efficiency.

Ligand-Modulated Catalytic Selectivity of Ag Clusterzyme for Relieving Multiorgan Injury via Inhabiting Acute Oxidative Stress.

The artificial enzymes at the atomic level have shown great potential in chemical biology and nanomedicine, and modulation of catalytic selectivity is also critical to the application of nanozymes. In this work, atomic precision Ag clusterzymes protected by single- and dual-ligand were developed. Further, the catalytic activity and selectivity of Ag clusterzymes were modulated by adjusting doping elements and ligand.

Atomic Engineering of Clusterzyme for Relieving Acute Neuroinflammation through Lattice Expansion.

Natural enzymes are efficient and versatile biocatalysts but suffer in their environmental tolerance and catalytic stability. As artificial enzymes, nanozymes can improve the catalytic stability, but it is still a challenge to achieve high catalytic activity. Here, we employed atomic engineering to build the artificial enzyme named AuAg clusterzyme that hosts an ultrahigh catalytic activity as well as strong physiological stability via atom manipulation.

Catalytic Nanozyme for Radiation Protection.

Radiotherapy has been widely used in clinical cancer treatment. However, the ionizing radiation required to kill the tumor will inevitably cause damage to the surrounding normal tissues. To minimize the radiation damage and side effects, small molecular radioprotective agents have been used as clinical adjuvants for radiation protection of healthy tissues.

Catalytic patch with redox Cr/CeO nanozyme of noninvasive intervention for brain trauma.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a sudden injury to the brain, accompanied by the production of large amounts of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and acute neuroinflammation responses. Although traditional pharmacotherapy can effectively decrease the immune response of neuron cells via scavenging free radicals, it always involves in short reaction time as well as rigorous clinical trial. Therefore, a noninvasive topical treatment method that effectively eliminates free radicals still needs further investigation.

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

Emerging artificial enzymes with reprogrammed and augmented catalytic activity and substrate selectivity have long been pursued with sustained efforts. The majority of current candidates have rather poor catalytic activity compared with natural molecules. To tackle this limitation, we design artificial enzymes based on a structurally well-defined Au cluster, namely clusterzymes, which are endowed with intrinsic high catalytic activity and selectivity driven by single-atom substitutions with modulated bond lengths.

In Vivo Neuroelectrophysiological Monitoring of Atomically Precise Au Clusters at an Ultrahigh Injected Dose.

Atomically precise Au(SG) clusters have shown great promise in near-infrared II cerebrovascular imaging, X-ray imaging, and cancer radiotherapy due to their high atomic number, unique molecular-like electronic structure, and renal clearable properties. Therefore, it is important to study the in vivo toxicity of Au clusters. Unfortunately, previous toxicological investigations focused on low injected doses (<100 mg kg) and routine research methods, such as blood chemistry and biochemistry, which cannot reflect neurotoxicity or tiny changes in neural activity.

Real-Time Pharmaceutical Evaluations of Near-Infrared II Fluorescent Nanomedicine Bound Polyethylene Glycol Ligands for Tumor Photothermal Ablation.

Pharmaceutical evaluations of nanomedicines are of great significance for their further launch into industry and clinic. Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging plays essential roles in preclinical drug development by providing important insights into the biodistributions of drugs with deep tissue penetration and high spatiotemporal resolution. However, NIR-II fluorescence imaging has rarely been exploited for real-time pharmaceutical evaluations of nanomedicine.

Illuminating Platinum Transportation while Maximizing Therapeutic Efficacy by Gold Nanoclusters Simultaneous Near-Infrared-I/II Imaging and Glutathione Scavenging.

Killing tumor cells with a visualized system is a promising strategy in tumor therapy to achieve minimal side effects and high efficiency. Herein, a theranostic nanomedicine (AuNCs-Pt) is developed based on nanocarrier gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with bifunctions of both NIR-I/NIR-II imaging and glutathione-scavenging abilities. AuNCs-Pt possesses NIR-II imaging capability on a fatal high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) model in the deep abdomen, thus facilitating it to be a promising tool for monitoring platinum transportation.

Enzyme-Like Properties of Gold Clusters for Biomedical Application.

In recent years, the rapid development of nanoscience and technology has provided a new opportunity for the development and preparation of new inorganic enzymes. Nanozyme is a new generation of artificial mimetic enzyme, which like natural enzymes, can efficiently catalyze the substrate of enzyme under mild conditions, exhibiting catalytic efficiency, and enzymatic reaction kinetics similar to natural enzymes. However, nanozymes exist better stability than native enzymes, it can still maintain 85 % catalytic activity in strong acid and alkali (pH 2~10) or large temperature range (4~90°C).

Carbon dot targeting to nitrogen signaling molecules for inhibiting neuronal death.

Free radical-induced oxidative damage and nitrosative stress have been identified as key factors in neuroinflammation responses after traumatic brain injury (TBI), with which reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), especially nitrogen signaling molecules, are strongly associated. Here, we prepared ultrasmall carbon dot (CD) by using a simple and facile method. In vitro assessment experiments show that the antioxidative CD exhibits an ultrahigh target-scavenging effect for nitrogen signaling molecules, especially the highly reactive ˙NO and ONOO-.

Dual pH-triggered catalytic selective Mn clusters for cancer radiosensitization and radioprotection.

Hypoxia is known to be a common feature within many types of solid tumors, which is closely related to the limited efficacy of radiotherapy. Meanwhile, due to the non-discriminatory killing effect of both normal and cancer cells during the radiation process, traditional radiosensitizers could bring severe non-negligible side-effects to the whole body. In this work, stable and atomically precise Mn clusters which possess efficient pH-triggered catalytic selective capacity are developed rationally.

Atomic-Precision Gold Clusters for NIR-II Imaging.

Near-infrared II (NIR-II) imaging at 1100-1700 nm shows great promise for medical diagnosis related to blood vessels because it possesses deep penetration and high resolution in biological tissue. Unfortunately, currently available NIR-II fluorophores exhibit slow excretion and low brightness, which prevents their potential medical applications. An atomic-precision gold (Au) cluster with 25 gold atoms and 18 peptide ligands is presented.

Nanozyme-Based Bandage with Single-Atom Catalysis for Brain Trauma.

Neurotrauma is one of the most serious traumatic injuries, which can induce an excess amount of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) around the wound, triggering a series of biochemical responses and neuroinflammation. Traditional antioxidant-based bandages can effectively decrease infection preventing oxidative stress, but its effectiveness is limited to a short period of time due to the rapid loss of electron-donating ability. Herein, we developed a nanozyme-based bandage using single-atom Pt/CeO with a persistent catalytic activity for noninvasive treatment of neurotrauma.

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

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 O, HO, and OH.

Redox Trimetallic Nanozyme with Neutral Environment Preference for Brain Injury.

Metal nanozyme has attracted wide interest for biomedicine, and a highly catalytic material in the physiological environment is highly desired. However, catalytic selectivity of nanozyme is still highly challenging, limiting its wide application. Here, we show a trimetallic (triM) nanozyme with highly catalytic activity and environmental selectivity.

Enhanced catalysis of ultrasmall Au-MoS clusters against reactive oxygen species for radiation protection.

Ionizing radiation produces excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) which impose detrimental effects on biological systems. Thus, it is important to explore clinically safe and efficacious radioprotection agents to scavenge ROS and reduce the risks of radiotherapy. Recently, emerging catalytic nanomaterials such as sulfide nanomaterials have shown capability of clearing ROS in vivo by unique electron transfers between atoms, but their catalytic activities are yet suboptimal.