Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines

Nanozymes (NZs) are nanomaterials able to mimic natural enzymes, offering the advantages of better durability, wider range of operational conditions, and easier functionalization. In addition, some NZs exhibit multiple enzyme‐like activities and effective tandem/self‐cascade reactions. In this conte...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Giulia Mirra, Lorenzo Cursi, Luca Boselli, Pier Paolo Pompa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley-VCH 2025-02-01
Series:Small Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/smsc.202400487
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850269353294954496
author Giulia Mirra
Lorenzo Cursi
Luca Boselli
Pier Paolo Pompa
author_facet Giulia Mirra
Lorenzo Cursi
Luca Boselli
Pier Paolo Pompa
author_sort Giulia Mirra
collection DOAJ
description Nanozymes (NZs) are nanomaterials able to mimic natural enzymes, offering the advantages of better durability, wider range of operational conditions, and easier functionalization. In addition, some NZs exhibit multiple enzyme‐like activities and effective tandem/self‐cascade reactions. In this context, metallic and metal–oxide nanoparticles are among the most promising candidates for biomedical/biotechnological applications, thanks to their efficient oxidoreductase activities. However, characterizing NZs is challenging because the experimental set‐up of different assays strongly influence their performances. Consequently, currently available literature provides limited understanding of the characteristics of the various NZs, especially in terms of activity‐related performance, hindering their optimal selection and applicative potential. Here, leveraging on accurate characterization methodology, we report a direct comparison of several NZs (gold‐Au, platinum‐Pt, palladium‐Pd, ceria, iron oxide) possessing multi‐enzymatic activities. Our main findings indicate that 1) PtNZs outperform the other tested NZs in catalase‐like activity; 2) Pt and PdNZs present superior superoxide dismutase‐like activity; 3) for peroxidase‐ and oxidase‐like activity, the best‐performing NZ is substrate‐dependent; 4) competitive reactions in multifunctional NZs play a key role in their specific performance, and AuNZs can be the optimal choice in some peroxidase/oxidase configurations; 5) metallic NZs are more efficient than metal‐oxide ones, but 6) ceria presents unique phosphatase‐like activity.
format Article
id doaj-art-8d3c85c1610c494c855d85c3b6aae55b
institution OA Journals
issn 2688-4046
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher Wiley-VCH
record_format Article
series Small Science
spelling doaj-art-8d3c85c1610c494c855d85c3b6aae55b2025-08-20T01:53:10ZengWiley-VCHSmall Science2688-40462025-02-0152n/an/a10.1002/smsc.202400487Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored GuidelinesGiulia Mirra0Lorenzo Cursi1Luca Boselli2Pier Paolo Pompa3Nanobiointeractions & Nanodiagnostics Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30 16163 Genova ItalyNanobiointeractions & Nanodiagnostics Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30 16163 Genova ItalyNanobiointeractions & Nanodiagnostics Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30 16163 Genova ItalyNanobiointeractions & Nanodiagnostics Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) Via Morego 30 16163 Genova ItalyNanozymes (NZs) are nanomaterials able to mimic natural enzymes, offering the advantages of better durability, wider range of operational conditions, and easier functionalization. In addition, some NZs exhibit multiple enzyme‐like activities and effective tandem/self‐cascade reactions. In this context, metallic and metal–oxide nanoparticles are among the most promising candidates for biomedical/biotechnological applications, thanks to their efficient oxidoreductase activities. However, characterizing NZs is challenging because the experimental set‐up of different assays strongly influence their performances. Consequently, currently available literature provides limited understanding of the characteristics of the various NZs, especially in terms of activity‐related performance, hindering their optimal selection and applicative potential. Here, leveraging on accurate characterization methodology, we report a direct comparison of several NZs (gold‐Au, platinum‐Pt, palladium‐Pd, ceria, iron oxide) possessing multi‐enzymatic activities. Our main findings indicate that 1) PtNZs outperform the other tested NZs in catalase‐like activity; 2) Pt and PdNZs present superior superoxide dismutase‐like activity; 3) for peroxidase‐ and oxidase‐like activity, the best‐performing NZ is substrate‐dependent; 4) competitive reactions in multifunctional NZs play a key role in their specific performance, and AuNZs can be the optimal choice in some peroxidase/oxidase configurations; 5) metallic NZs are more efficient than metal‐oxide ones, but 6) ceria presents unique phosphatase‐like activity.https://doi.org/10.1002/smsc.202400487metal/metal oxide nanoparticlesnanozymesoxidoreductase activities
spellingShingle Giulia Mirra
Lorenzo Cursi
Luca Boselli
Pier Paolo Pompa
Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines
Small Science
metal/metal oxide nanoparticles
nanozymes
oxidoreductase activities
title Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines
title_full Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines
title_fullStr Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines
title_full_unstemmed Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines
title_short Screening Oxidoreductase Activities of Nanozymes: Toward Activity‐Tailored Guidelines
title_sort screening oxidoreductase activities of nanozymes toward activity tailored guidelines
topic metal/metal oxide nanoparticles
nanozymes
oxidoreductase activities
url https://doi.org/10.1002/smsc.202400487
work_keys_str_mv AT giuliamirra screeningoxidoreductaseactivitiesofnanozymestowardactivitytailoredguidelines
AT lorenzocursi screeningoxidoreductaseactivitiesofnanozymestowardactivitytailoredguidelines
AT lucaboselli screeningoxidoreductaseactivitiesofnanozymestowardactivitytailoredguidelines
AT pierpaolopompa screeningoxidoreductaseactivitiesofnanozymestowardactivitytailoredguidelines