pH‐Sensitive Glucose‐Powered Nanomotors for Enhanced Intracellular Drug Delivery and Ferroptosis Efficiency

Abstract

We propose a glucose‐powered Janus nanomotor where two faces are functionalized with glucose oxidase (GOx) and polydopamine‐Fe3+ chelates (PDF), respectively. In the glucose fuel solution, the GOx on the one side of these Janus nanomotors catalytically decomposes glucose fuels into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to drive them at a speed of 2.67 μm/s. The underlying propulsion mechanism is the glucose‐based self‐diffusiophoresis owing to the generated local glucose concentration gradient by the enzymatic reaction. Based on the enhanced diffusion motion, such nanomotors with catalytic activity increase the contact probability towards cells and subsequently exhibit excellent capabilities for Fe3+ ions delivery and H2O2 generation for enhancing ferroptosis efficiency for inducing cancer cell death. In particular, the Fe3+ ions are released from nanomotors in a slightly acidic environment, and subsequently generate toxic hydroxyl radicals via Fenton reactions, which accumulation reactive oxygen species (ROS) level (~300%) and further lipid peroxidation (LPO) strengthened ferroptosis therapy for cancer treatment. Such a pH‐sensitive nanomotor with efficient diffusion can exhibit Fe ions overloading and sufficient H2O2 to promote ferroptosis efficiency, which provides great potential for future cancer precise therapy.

Polysaccharide-Based Micro/Nanomotors for Active Ingredient Delivery in Food

“…Therefore, the micro- and nanomotors utilize their self-propulsion characteristics to rapidly traverse barriers within the internal environment, consequently reducing the time required to reach the target location. Several studies have utilized GOx to modify and construct asymmetric systems, relying on the uneven decomposition of glucose in the substrate solution to generate chemical electrophoretic motion for material transport. , The motor speed can also be controlled by adjusting the concentration of the substrate solution …”

“…Several studies have utilized GOx to modify and construct asymmetric systems, relying on the uneven decomposition of glucose in the substrate solution to generate chemical electrophoretic motion for material transport. 11,55 The motor speed can also be controlled by adjusting the concentration of the substrate solution. 56…”

Strategic Structural Control of Polyserotonin Nanoparticles and Their Application as pH-Responsive Nanomotors

“…The current paradigm of smart responsiveness involves MNMs autonomously reacting to external stimuli or environmental changes. Among these, harnessing the pH gradient in the physiological milieu for navigation and motion control of MNMs represents a novel and intelligent approach [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. This mainly involves the modification of pH-responsive media such as polymers or catalytic materials with pH-dependent activities on the MNM surface, and the motion direction and enhancement are predominantly achieved through alterations in the reactions of pH-responsive media and substrate [ 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”