Synergistic Co–Cu Dual-Atom Nanozyme with Promoted Catalase-like Activity for Parkinson’s Disease Treatment

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease (PD) are intimately associated with oxidative stress due to the excessive highly reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to the damage of dopaminergic neurons. Herein, we develop a Co–Cu dual-atom nanozyme (CoCu-DAzyme) by uniformly anchoring Co and Cu active sites onto an AlO(OH) substrate that exhibits remarkable catalase-like catalytic activity, far exceeding that of the Co or Cu single-atom counterparts. The following density functional theory calculations reveal that the Co sites efficiently enable H 2 O 2 adsorption, while Cu sites promote charge transfer, synergistically promoting the catalytic decomposition of H 2 O 2 into H 2 O and O 2 . Encouragingly, the developed CoCu-DAzyme notably ameliorates α-synuclein aggregation and alleviates the motor dysfunction in Caenorhabditis elegans PD models by substantively scavenging in vivo ROS. This research shows a novel therapeutic strategy for oxidative-stress-related neurodegenerative disorders by developing well-engineered nanozymes.