Anaerobes are a major constituent of the gut microbiome and profoundly influence the overall health of humans. However, the lack of a simple, cost-effective, and scalable system that mimics the anaerobic conditions of the human gut is hindering research on the gut microbiome and the development of therapeutics. Here, we address this gap by using glucose oxidase and catalase containing gelatin microparticles (GOx-CAT-GMPs) to precisely regulate dissolved oxygen concentration [O₂] via GOx-mediated consumption of oxygen. Fluorescence images generated using conjugated polymer afterglow nanoparticles showed that [O₂] can be tuned from 257.9 ​± ​6.2 to 0.0 ​± ​4.0 ​μM using GOx-CAT-GMPs. Moreover, when the obligate anaerobe Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron was inoculated in media containing GOx-CAT-GMPs, bacterial growth under ambient oxygen was comparable to control conditions in an anaerobic chamber (5.4 ​× ​10⁵ and 8.8 ​× ​10⁵ colony forming units mL⁻¹, respectively). Finally, incorporating GOx-CAT-GMPs into a bioreactor that permitted continuous radial diffusion of oxygen and glucose generated a gut-mimetic [O₂] gradient of 132.4 ​± ​2.6 ​μM in the outer ring of the reactor to 7.9 ​± ​1.7 ​μM at the core. Collectively, these results indicate that GOx-CAT-GMPs are highly effective oxygen-regulating materials. These materials can potentially be leveraged to advance gut microbiome research and fecal microbiota transplantation, particularly in low-resource settings.

厌氧菌是肠道微生物群的主要组成部分，深刻影响人类的整体健康。然而，缺乏模拟人类肠道厌氧条件的简单、经济高效且可扩展的系统阻碍了肠道微生物组的研究和治疗方法的开发。在这里，我们通过使用含有葡萄糖氧化酶和过氧化氢酶的明胶微粒 (GOx-CAT-GMP) 来通过 GOx 介导的氧气消耗来精确调节溶解氧浓度 [O ₂ ]，从而解决了这一差距。使用共轭聚合物余辉纳米颗粒生成的荧光图像表明，使用 GOx-CAT-GMP 可以将 [O ₂ ] 从 257.9 ± 6.2 调整到 0.0 ± 4.0 μM。此外，当专性厌氧菌Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron接种在含有 GOx-CAT-GMP 的培养基中时，环境氧下的细菌生长与厌氧室中的对照条件相当（5.4 ​× ​10 ⁵和 8.8 ​× ​10 ⁵菌落形成单位）分别为mL ^-1 ）。最后，将 GOx-CAT-GMP 纳入生物反应器中，允许氧气和葡萄糖连续径向扩散，在反应器外环产生模拟肠道 [O ₂ ] 梯度，从 132.4 ± 2.6 μM 到 7.9 ±核心为 1.7 μM。总的来说，这些结果表明 GOx-CAT-GMP 是高效的氧气调节材料。这些材料有可能被用来推进肠道微生物组研究和粪便微生物群移植，特别是在资源匮乏的环境中。