Mesoporous silica-stabilized magnetite nanoparticles with peroxidase-like activities for sensitively detecting cholesterol in animal-derived foods

Sensitive detection of cholesterol in animal-derived foods is crucial for maintaining human healthy diets. In this study, an elegant approach utilizing inorganic nanozyme-based magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MMSNs) for the highly sensitive detection of cholesterol in animal-derived food products was reported. The results revealed the fabricated MMSNs exhibited remarkably intrinsic peroxidase (POD)-like catalytic activities with improved affinity, and the catalytic behavior aligned well with Michaelis-Menten equation. In addition, the data indicated that the MMSNs enabled visual colorimetric detection of cholesterol with a remarkably low detection limit of 7.12 μM by combining catalytic oxidation with cholesterol oxidase (ChOx). Furthermore, the prepared MMSNs were successfully employed for assessing cholesterol content in milk and egg yolk samples, indicating potential applications for cholesterol detection in animal-derived foods in future.