Inflammation-sensing catalase-mimicking nanozymes alleviate acute kidney injury via reversing local oxidative stress

BACKGROUND: The reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation, a critical contributor to tissue damage, is well-known to be associated with various disease. The kidney is susceptible to hypoxia and vulnerable to ROS. Thus, the vicious cycle between oxidative stress and renal hypoxia critically contributes to the progression of chronic kidney disease and finally, end-stage renal disease. Thus, delivering therapeutic agents to the ROS-rich inflammation site and releasing the therapeutic agents is a feasible solution. RESULTS: We developed a longer-circulating, inflammation-sensing, ROS-scavenging versatile nanoplatform by stably loading catalase-mimicking 1-dodecanethiol stabilized Mn(3)O(4) (dMn(3)O(4)) nanoparticles inside ROS-sensitive nanomicelles (PTC), resulting in an ROS-sensitive nanozyme (PTC-M). Hydrophobic dMn(3)O(4) nanoparticles were loaded inside PTC micelles to prevent premature release during circulation and act as a therapeutic agent by ROS-responsive release of loaded dMn(3)O(4) once it reached the inflammation site. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study demonstrated the successful attenuation of inflammation and apoptosis in the IRI mice kidneys, suggesting that PTC-M nanozyme could possess promising potential in AKI therapy. This study paves the way for high-performance ROS depletion in treating various inflammation-related diseases. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-022-01410-z.