Bioenzyme-responsive L-arginine-based carbon dots: the replenishment of nitric oxide for nonpharmaceutical therapy

Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived, bioactive gas that has been found to have affinitive effects on cardiovascular diseases as well as cancer biology, while NO deficiency may cause serious pathological responses. The existing chemically-synthesized NO donors have inevitable systemic toxicity and cannot be released adaptively. Hence, L-arginine, an endogenous NO precursor, merits investigation as a natural efficient NO donor. Herein, we designed amino acid-doped L-arginine CDs-based bioenzyme-responsive NO donors, which could adaptively replenish NO/ONOO− in response to different microenvironments. Our results indicated the mechanism of the NO/ONOO− supplementation of L-arginine-based CDs and their potential for nonpharmaceutical gas-involving theranostics for the first time.