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

Neurodegenerative\ndiseases like Parkinson’s disease (PD)\nare intimately associated with oxidative stress due to the excessive\nhighly reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to the damage of dopaminergic\nneurons. Herein, we develop a Co–Cu dual-atom nanozyme (CoCu-DAzyme)\nby uniformly anchoring Co and Cu active sites onto an AlO(OH) substrate\nthat exhibits remarkable catalase-like catalytic activity, far exceeding\nthat of the Co or Cu single-atom counterparts. The following density\nfunctional theory calculations reveal that the Co sites efficiently\nenable H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> adsorption, while Cu sites promote\ncharge transfer, synergistically promoting the catalytic decomposition\nof H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> into H<sub>2</sub>O and O<sub>2</sub>. Encouragingly, the developed CoCu-DAzyme notably ameliorates α-synuclein\naggregation and alleviates the motor dysfunction inCaenorhabditis elegansPD models by substantively\nscavenging <i>in vivo</i> ROS. This research shows a novel\ntherapeutic strategy for oxidative-stress-related neurodegenerative\ndisorders by developing well-engineered nanozymes.