Enhanced thermal stability and pH behavior of glucose oxidase on electrostatic interaction with polyethylenimine

Manganese(III) Phthalocyanine Complex Nanoparticle-Loaded Glucose Oxidase to Enhance Tumor Inhibition through Energy Metabolism and Macrophage Polarization

Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) have demonstrated efficacy in eliminating tumor cells by modifying the tumor microenvironment and inducing the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Nevertheless, the transient nature and limited diffusion distance inherent in ROS present significant challenges in cancer treatment. In response to these limitations, we have developed a nanoparticle (MnClPc-HSA@GOx) that not only inhibits tumor energy metabolism but also facilitates the transition of TAMs from the M2 type (anti-inflammatory type) to the M1 type (proinflammatory type). MnClPc-HSA@GOx comprises a manganese phthalocyanine complex (MnClPc) enveloped in human serum albumin (HSA), with glucose oxidase (GOx) loaded onto MnClPc@HSA nanoparticles. GOx was employed to catalyze the decomposition of glucose to produce H2O2 and gluconic acid. Additionally, in the presence of MnClPc, it catalyzes the conversion of H2O2 into •O2- and 1O2. Results indicate that the nanoparticle effectively impedes the glucose supply to tumor cells and suppresses their energy metabolism. Simultaneously, the ROS-mediated polarization of TAMs induces a shift from M2 to M1 macrophages, resulting in a potent inhibitory effect on tumors. This dual-action strategy holds promising clinical inhibition applications in the treatment of cancer.

Novel biocatalysts based on enzymes in complexes with nano- and micromaterials

In today's world, there is a wide array of materials engineered at the nano- and microscale, with numerous applications attributed to these innovations. This review aims to provide a concise overview of how nano- and micromaterials are utilized for enzyme immobilization. Enzymes act as eco-friendly biocatalysts extensively used in various industries and medicine. However, their widespread adoption faces challenges due to factors such as enzyme instability under different conditions, resulting in reduced effectiveness, high costs, and limited reusability. To address these issues, researchers have explored immobilization techniques using nano- and microscale materials as a potential solution. Such techniques offer the promise of enhancing enzyme stability against varying temperatures, solvents, pH levels, pollutants, and impurities. Consequently, enzyme immobilization remains a subject of great interest within both the scientific community and the industrial sector. As of now, the primary goal of enzyme immobilization is not solely limited to enabling reusability and stability. It has been demonstrated as a powerful tool to enhance various enzyme properties and improve biocatalyst performance and characteristics. The integration of nano- and microscale materials into biomedical devices is seamless, given the similarity in size to most biological systems. Common materials employed in developing these nanotechnology products include synthetic polymers, carbon-based nanomaterials, magnetic micro- and nanoparticles, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, metal-organic frameworks, nano-sized mesoporous hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks, protein-based nano-delivery systems, lipid-based nano- and micromaterials, and polysaccharide-based nanoparticles.

Glucose biosensors based on Michael addition crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels with chemo-optical sensing microdomains

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices have the potential to lead to better disease management and improved outcomes in patients with diabetes. Chemo-optical glucose sensors offer a promising, accurate, long-term alternative to the current CGMs that require frequent calibration and replacement. Recently, we have proposed glucose sensor designs using phosphorescence lifetime-based measurement of chemo-optical glucose sensing microdomains embedded within alginate hydrogels. Due to the poor long-term stability of calcium-crosslinked alginate, we propose poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels synthesized via thiol-Michael addition chemistry as an alternative hydrogel carrier. The objective of this study was to evaluate the suitability of Michael addition crosslinked PEG hydrogels compared to calcium crosslinked alginate hydrogels for encapsulating glucose-sensing microdomains. PEG hydrogels crosslinked via thiol-vinyl sulfone addition achieved gelation in under 5 minutes, resulting in an even distribution of sensing microdomains. The shear storage modulus of the PEG hydrogels was tunable from 2.2 ± 0.1 kPa to 9.5 ± 1.8 kPa, which was comparable to the alginate hydrogels (10.5 ± 0.8 kPa), and the inclusion of microdomains did not significantly impact stiffness. The high water content of PEG hydrogels resulted in high glucose permeability that closely corresponded to the glucose permeability of alginate (D = 0.09 and 0.12 cm² s^-1, respectively; p = 0.47), but the PEG hydrogels exhibited superior stability. Both PEG and alginate-embedded sensors exhibited a sensing range up to ∼200 mg dL^-1 glucose. The lower limits of detection (LOD) for PEG and alginate-based glucose sensors were 19.8 and 20.6 mg dL^-1 with a difference of just 4.2% variation. The small difference between PEG and alginate embedded sensors indicates that their sensing properties are primarily determined by the glucose sensing microdomains rather than the hydrogel matrix. Overall, the results of this study indicate that Michael addition-crosslinked PEG hydrogels are a promising platform for encapsulation of chemo-optical glucose sensing microdomains.

The Impact of the Functional Layer Composition of Glucose Test-Strips on the Stability of Electrochemical Response

Herein, the impact of the chemical stability of RedOx mediator ferricyanide, K3[Fe(CN)6] (FC), a type of buffer solution used for bioreceptor preparation, gel composition (carboxymethylcellulose, CMC, Aerosile, AS, and alginate, ALG) on the long term stability of glucose test-strips and their analytical performance was examined. By simple addition of ALG to the functional gel aiming to improve its viscosity, we managed to enhance the sensitivity of conventional CMC-containing amperometric glucose test-strips from 3.3 µA/mM to 3.9 µA/mM and extend their shelf life from 8 months to 1.7 years. Moreover, during the course of investigations, it was revealed that the activity of enzyme in dependence with the used buffer did not linearly correlate with its activity in a dried functional layer, and the entire long-term electrochemical signal of glucose test-strips was determined by RedOx mediator FC chemical stability. The most stable and sensitive test-strips were obtained by the screen-printing approach from a gel containing 24 mg/mL GOx prepared in citrate buffer with pH 6, 200 mg/mL of FC and 10 mg/mL of CMC supplemented with 25 mg/mL of ALG.

A novel enhanced enrichment glucose oxidase@ZIF-8 biomimetic strategy with 3-mercaptophenylboronic acid for highly efficient catalysis of glucose

Herein, a glucose oxidase@ZIF-8 composite (3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8) with enhanced enrichment was enabled the rapid encapsulation of glucose oxidase (GOx) into microporous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) for the first time. The 3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8 not only has improved affinity and catalytic efficiency to the substrate but also can shorten the formation time. The optimum loading amount of GOx on ZIF-8 was determined to be 470 mg/g. The as-prepared 3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8 composite maintained the native conformation of the enzyme and showed excellent bioactivity, even in chemical agents or at high temperature. Furthermore, the 3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8 showed satisfactory reusability, preserving almost 80.8 % activity after 7 cycles. The Michaelis constant K_m and specificity constant k_cat/K_m of the 3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8 were 0.03 ± 0.02 mM and 63.87 ± 1.96 s^-1 mM^-1, respectively, which were superior to corresponding values of free GOx. Therefore, the 3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8 displayed high catalytic efficiency, high loading efficiency and enhanced stability. Moreover, a new type of visual colorimetric sensor for screening of the diabetes was realized through the 3-MPBA/GOx@ZIF-8, which provided a new strategy for the analysis field of glucose.

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions Mediated by Highly Efficient Biomimetic Quasi Metal-Organic Frameworks

The integration of chemo- and enzymatic catalysis for effective multistep cascades has presented critical challenges for decades. In this work, the biomimetic quasi NH₂-MIL-101 (qNM) with highly efficient peroxidase-like activity was synthesized via a palmitic acid-induced strategy followed by pyrolysis. The effects of the amount of palmitic acid and calcination temperature on the synthesis of qNM were optimized. It was found that qNM was an excellent catalyst for oxidations of various peroxidase substrates, and a possible mechanism was proposed, i.e., the presence of Fe^II species in qNM was responsible for its excellent activity, which facilitated the transition between Fe^II and Fe^III species to produce more hydroxyl radicals by H₂O₂ decomposition. The qNM served as the potential matrix for enzyme immobilization through a cross-linking method, and kinetic studies revealed that the catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) for the immobilized GOx (23.7 mM^-1 s^-1) is comparable to that of free GOx (26.9 mM^-1 s^-1). The immobilized GOx also showed improved stability against high temperatures and organic solvents compared to free GOx, and analysis of the secondary structure of GOx indicated that the improved stability resulted from enzyme rigidity by the intense covalent linkage with qNM. Furthermore, qNM contributed its biomimetic activity to cooperate with a single enzyme (GOx) or two enzymes (β-Gal and GOx) for the enzymatic cascade reactions. Compared with the mixture of each component in the solution, the combination of the single-enzyme system (GOx) or the two-enzyme system (β-Gal and GOx) in qNM achieved 2.67-fold and 1.83-fold enhancements in the activity of catalytic cascades, respectively. This study provides new insights into the construction of effective and synergistic cascade reactions by integrating biomimetic MOF with natural enzyme, which holds potential for applications in biotechnology and ecofriendly and biomimetic catalysis.

Surface modification of polyester fabric using plasma-dendrimer for robust immobilization of glucose oxidase enzyme

Robust immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme was achieved on poly(ethylene terephthalate) nonwoven fabric (PN) after integration of favourable surface functional groups through plasma treatments [atmospheric pressure-AP or cold remote plasma-CRP (N₂ + O₂)] and/or chemical grafting of hyperbranched dendrimers [poly-(ethylene glycol)-OH or poly-(amidoamine)]. Absorption, stability, catalytic behavior of immobilized enzymes and reusability of resultant fibrous bio-catalysts were comparatively studied. Full characterization of PN before and after respective modifications was carried out by various analytical, instrumental and arithmetic techniques. Results showed that modified polyester having amine terminal functional groups pledged better surface property providing up to 31% enzyme loading, and 81% active immobilized enzymes. The activity of the enzyme was measured in terms of interaction aptitude of GOx in a given time to produce hydrogen peroxide using colorimetric assay. The immobilized GOx retained 50% of its original activity after being reused six (06) times and exhibited improved stability compared with the free enzyme in relation to temperature. The reaction kinetics, loading efficiency, leaching, and reusability analysis of enzyme allowed drawing a parallel to the type of organic moiety integrated during GOx immobilization. In addition, resultant fibrous bio-catalysts showed substantial antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria strains (Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli) in the presence of oxygen and glucose. These results are of great importance because they provide proof-of-concept for robust immobilization of enzymes on surface-modified fibrous polyester fabric for potential bio-industrial applications.

Printable Heterostructured Bioelectronic Interfaces with Enhanced Electrode Reaction Kinetics by Intermicroparticle Network

Printable organic bioelectronics provide a fast and cost-effective approach for the fabrication of novel biodevices, while the general challenge is to achieve optimized reaction kinetics at multiphase boundaries between biomolecules and electrodes. Here, we present an entirely new concept based on a modular approach for the construction of heterostructured bioelectronic interfaces by using tailored functional "biological microparticles" combined with "transducer microparticles" as modular building blocks. This approach offers high versatility for the design and fabrication of bioelectrodes with a variety of forms of interparticle spatial organization, from layered-structures to more advance bulk heterostructured architectures. The heterostructured biocatalytic electrodes delivered twice the reaction rate and a six-fold increase in the effective diffusion kinetics in response to a catalytic model using glucose as the substrate, together with the advantage of shortened diffusion paths for reactants between multiple interparticle junctions and large active particle surface. The consequent benefits of this improved performance combined with the simple means of mass production are of major significance for the emerging printed electronics industry.

Molecular Dynamic Studies of the Complex Polyethylenimine and Glucose Oxidase

Glucose oxidase (GOx) is an enzyme produced by Aspergillus, Penicillium and other fungi species. It catalyzes the oxidation of β-d-glucose (by the molecular oxygen or other molecules, like quinones, in a higher oxidation state) to form d-glucono-1,5-lactone, which hydrolyses spontaneously to produce gluconic acid. A coproduct of this enzymatic reaction is hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). GOx has found several commercial applications in chemical and pharmaceutical industries including novel biosensors that use the immobilized enzyme on different nanomaterials and/or polymers such as polyethylenimine (PEI). The problem of GOx immobilization on PEI is retaining the enzyme native activity despite its immobilization onto the polymer surface. Therefore, the molecular dynamic (MD) study of the PEI ligand (C14N8_07_B22) and the GOx enzyme (3QVR) was performed to examine the final complex PEI-GOx stabilization and the affinity of the PEI ligand to the docking sites of the GOx enzyme. The docking procedure showed two places/regions of major interaction of the protein with the polymer PEI: (LIG1) of −5.8 kcal/mol and (LIG2) of −4.5 kcal/mol located inside the enzyme and on its surface, respectively. The values of enthalpy for the PEI-enzyme complex, located inside of the protein (LIG1) and on its surface (LIG2) were computed. Docking also discovered domains of the GOx protein that exhibit no interactions with the ligand or have even repulsive characteristics. The structural data clearly indicate some differences in the ligand PEI behavior bound at the two places/regions of glucose oxidase.

Linear and Branched PEIs (Polyethylenimines) and Their Property Space

A chemical property space defines the adaptability of a molecule to changing conditions and its interaction with other molecular systems determining a pharmacological response. Within a congeneric molecular series (compounds with the same derivatization algorithm and thus the same brute formula) the chemical properties vary in a monotonic manner, i.e., congeneric compounds share the same chemical property space. The chemical property space is a key component in molecular design, where some building blocks are functionalized, i.e., derivatized, and eventually self-assembled in more complex systems, such as enzyme-ligand systems, of which (physico-chemical) properties/bioactivity may be predicted by QSPR/QSAR (quantitative structure-property/activity relationship) studies. The system structure is determined by the binding type (temporal/permanent; electrostatic/covalent) and is reflected in its local electronic (and/or magnetic) properties. Such nano-systems play the role of molecular devices, important in nano-medicine. In the present article, the behavior of polyethylenimine (PEI) macromolecules (linear LPEI and branched BPEI, respectively) with respect to the glucose oxidase enzyme GOx is described in terms of their (interacting) energy, geometry and topology, in an attempt to find the best shape and size of PEIs to be useful for a chosen (nanochemistry) purpose.