Mackinawite nanozymes as reactive oxygen species scavengers for acute kidney injury alleviation

BACKGROUND: Iron sulfide nanomaterials have been successfully employed as therapeutic agents for bacterial infection therapy and catalytic-ferroptosis synergistic tumor therapy due to their unique structures, physiochemical properties, and biocompatibility. However, biomedical research and understanding of the biological functions of iron sulfides are insufficient, and how iron sulfide nanomaterials affect reactive oxygen species (ROS) in diseases remains unknown. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with high levels of ROS, and therefore nanomedicine-mediated antioxidant therapy has emerged as a novel strategy for its alleviation. RESULTS: Here, mackinawite nanozymes were synthesized from glutathione (GSH) and iron ions (Fe(3+)) (denoted as GFeSNs) using a hydrothermal method, and then evaluated as ROS scavengers for ROS-related AKI treatment. GFeSNs showed broad-spectrum ROS scavenging ability through synergistic interactions of multiple enzymes-like and hydrogen polysulfide-releasing properties. Furthermore, both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that GFeSNs exhibited outstanding cytoprotective effects against ROS-induced damage at extremely low doses and significantly improved treatment outcomes in AKI. CONCLUSIONS: Given the synergetic antioxidant properties and high biocompatibility, GFeSNs exhibit great potential for the treatment of AKI and other ROS-associated diseases. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-023-02034-7.