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Fabrication of nanozyme@DNA hydrogel and its application in biomedical analysis

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Abstract

Nanozymes have received great attention owing to the advantages of easy preparation and low cost. Unlike natural enzymes that readily adapt to physiological environments, artificial nanozymes are apt to passivate in complex clinical samples (e.g., serum), which may damage the catalytic capability and consequently limit the application in biomedical analysis. To conquer this problem, in this study, we fabricated novel nanozyme@DNA hydrogel architecture by incorporating nanozymes into a pure DNA hydrogel. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were adopted as a model nanozyme. Results indicate that AuNPs incorporated in the DNA hydrogel retain their catalytic capability in serum as they are protected by the hydrogel, whereas AuNPs alone totally lose the catalytic capability in serum. The detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose in serum based on the catalysis of the AuNPs@DNA hydrogel was achieved. The detection limit of each reaches 1.7 and 38 μM, respectively, which is equal to the value obtained using natural enzymes. Besides the mechanisms, some other advantages, such as recyclability and availability, have also been explored. This nanozyme@DNA hydrogel architecture may have a great potential for the utilization of nanozymes as well as the application of nanozymes for biomedical analysis in complex physiological samples.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21575088, 21235003, and 31200742), and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 14ZR1416500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Molecular Recognition and Biosensing, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Xiaoli Zhu, Xiaoxia Mao, Zihan Wang, Guifang Chen & Genxi Li

  2. School of life sciences, Anqing Normal University, Anqing, 246011, China

    Xiaoxia Mao

  3. State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, Department of Biochemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Chang Feng & Genxi Li

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  1. Xiaoli Zhu
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  2. Xiaoxia Mao
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  3. Zihan Wang
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Correspondence to Guifang Chen or Genxi Li.

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Zhu, X., Mao, X., Wang, Z. et al. Fabrication of nanozyme@DNA hydrogel and its application in biomedical analysis. Nano Res. 10, 959–970 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1354-9

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