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Intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of ferromagnetic nanoparticles

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 577–583 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Nanoparticles containing magnetic materials, such as magnetite (Fe3O4), are particularly useful for imaging and separation techniques. As these nanoparticles are generally considered to be biologically and chemically inert, they are typically coated with metal catalysts, antibodies or enzymes to increase their functionality as separation agents. Here, we report that magnetite nanoparticles in fact possess an intrinsic enzyme mimetic activity similar to that found in natural peroxidases, which are widely used to oxidize organic substrates in the treatment of wastewater or as detection tools. Based on this finding, we have developed a novel immunoassay in which antibody-modified magnetite nanoparticles provide three functions: capture, separation and detection. The stability, ease of production and versatility of these nanoparticles makes them a powerful tool for a wide range of potential applications in medicine, biotechnology and environmental chemistry.

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Figure 1: Fe3O4 MNPs show peroxidase-like activity.
Figure 2: The peroxidase-like activity of the Fe3O4 MNPs is pH, temperature, H2O2 concentration and size dependent.
Figure 3: Demonstration that Fe3O4 activity does not result from iron leaching.
Figure 4: Steady-state kinetic assay and catalytic mechanism of Fe3O4 MNPs.
Figure 5: Comparision of the stability of Fe3O4 MNPs and HRP.
Figure 6: Immunoassays based on the peroxidase activity of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Sishen Xie and Chen Wang for helpful discussions. This work is partly supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (90406020, 30670428), the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (kjcx-yw-m02, kjcx2-sw-h12), the Chinese Ministry of Sciences 973 Project (2006CB933204, 2006CB500703, 2006CB910901, 2006CB910903), and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan.

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  1. Lizeng Gao and Jie Zhuang: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Lizeng Gao, Jie Zhuang, Jinbin Zhang, Jing Feng, Dongling Yang, Sarah Perrett & Xiyun Yan

  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences–University of Tokyo Joint Laboratory of Structural Virology and Immunology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Lizeng Gao, Jie Zhuang, Jinbin Zhang, Jing Feng, Dongling Yang & Xiyun Yan

  3. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lizeng Gao, Jie Zhuang, Leng Nie & Jinbin Zhang

  4. Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 10080, China

    Leng Nie & Taihong Wang

  5. State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Yu Zhang & Ning Gu

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  1. Lizeng Gao
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Contributions

L. G., J. Zhuang, S. P. and X. Y. designed the research. L. G., J. Zhuang, J. F., D. Y. and J. Zhang performed the research. L. N., Y. Z., N. G., and T. W. contributed new reagents and analytic tools. L. G., J. Zhuang, J. Zhang and X. Y. analysed the data. L. G., S. P. and X. Y. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sarah Perrett or Xiyun Yan.

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Gao, L., Zhuang, J., Nie, L. et al. Intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Nature Nanotech 2, 577–583 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.260

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