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. RESULTS: Herein, we proposed the noninvasive delivery route to brain trauma by employing highly active gold clusters with enzyme-like activity to achieve the early intervention. The decomposition rate to H(2)O(2) of the ultrasmall gold clusters is 10 times that of glassy carbon (GC) electrodes, indicating excellent catalytic activity. The gold clusters can relieve the oxidative stress and decrease the excessive O(2)(·−) and H(2)O(2) both in vitro and in vivo. Besides, gold clusters can accelerate the wound healing of brain trauma and alleviate inflammation via inhibiting the activation of astrocytes and microglia through noninvasive adminstration. decrease the peroxide and superoxide of brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Present work shows noninvasive treatment is a promising route for early intervention of brain trauma. [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-021-01071-4.