Topical application of Zanthoxylum piperitum extract improves lateral canthal rhytides by inhibiting muscle contractions.

Facial wrinkles are the predominant phenotypes of skin aging. To date, one of the most effective ways to improve wrinkles is botulinum toxin type A (BoNT/A) injection, which inhibits muscle contractions by reducing acetylcholine release from neurons. However, since BoNT/A is a hazardous neurotoxin, the injection can only be performed by medical doctors and the procedure is only possible through invasive injection, causing inconveniences such as pain.

Enhancement of exfoliating efficacy of L-carnitine with ion-pair method monitored by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Carnitine (CAR), an amino acid derivative, has great potential as a facial exfoliating agent owing to its calcium chelating property under weakly acidic or neutral conditions. However, its application is limited by its poor transdermal penetration. To optimise its exfoliation efficacy with minimal concentration, we propose the ion-pair method.

Amino acids disrupt calcium-dependent adhesion of stratum corneum.

In the stratum corneum, the intercellular junction made up of cadherin proteins provides the structural integrity of the framework. Ca2+ ions are known to play a key role in maintaining this junction. In this study, we hypothesized that Ca2+ chelation in stratum corneum will weaken the bond of the tissue and consequently promote exfoliation.

Identification and validation of amino acid-based mild exfoliating agents through a de novo screening method.

Background: Due to internal or external factors, the desquamation (turnover) rate of the stratum corneum slows down, resulting in skin problems. Therefore, adjusting the exfoliation rate through cosmetics is an important issue.

Objective: This report aimed to develop exfoliating agents with lesser adverse effects and higher efficiency through an ex vivo screening method and in vivo turnover rate analysis of human skin.

Four-fold Channel-Nicked Human Ferritin Nanocages for Active Drug Loading and pH-Responsive Drug Release.

Human ferritins are emerging platforms for non-toxic protein-based drug delivery, owing to their intrinsic or acquirable targeting abilities to cancer cells and hollow cage structures for drug loading. However, reliable strategies for high-level drug encapsulation within ferritin cavities and prompt cellular drug release are still lacking. Ferritin nanocages were developed with partially opened hydrophobic channels, which provide stable routes for spontaneous and highly accumulated loading of Fe -conjugated drugs as well as pH-responsive rapid drug release at endoplasmic pH.

A Rhizavidin Monomer with Nearly Multimeric Avidin-Like Binding Stability Against Biotin Conjugates.

Developing a monomeric form of an avidin-like protein with highly stable biotin binding properties has been a major challenge in biotin-avidin linking technology. Here we report a monomeric avidin-like protein-enhanced monoavidin-with off-rates almost comparable to those of multimeric avidin proteins against various biotin conjugates. Enhanced monoavidin (eMA) was developed from naturally dimeric rhizavidin by optimally maintaining protein rigidity during monomerization and additionally shielding the bound biotin by diverse engineering of the surface residues.

A facile synthesis of fluorescent silver nanoclusters with human ferritin as a synthetic and interfacing ligand.

Water-soluble fluorescent silver nanoclusters (NCs) formed on biomolecule ligands have been extensively studied due to their great potential as new biocompatible fluorescent materials for biosensors. As synthetic ligands, proteins in particular can provide unique structures and functions to the assembled fluorescent silver clusters. A key challenge, however, is to develop appropriate protein ligands and synthetic approaches for cluster formation, especially using native aqueous solutions, to fully preserve the valuable properties of the protein templates.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticle-based cisplatin prodrug delivery and anticancer effect under reductive cellular environment.

This work demonstrates the judicious application of a prodrug delivery strategy to achieve a highly improved anticancer drug effect of cisplatin using mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Our effort primarily addressed several pressing needs to overcome various impediments such as toxicity concerns, rapid inactivation, and low drug efficiency of cisplatin prodrug. The developed delivery system utilizes fluorescent mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a template to host the cisplatin prodrug through a reducible linkage.

Nano-engineered optimal templates for surface-plasmon enhanced Raman scattering.

We investigated the critical conditions to realize reliable and nano-engineered templates for surface-plasmon enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Ultra-sensitive SERSs of thymine oligonucleotides were successfully realized on the template of Au nanoparticle arrays which were prepared by the combination of electron-beam lithography and post-chemical modification techniques. Drastic enhancement of Raman signal from the thymine oligonucleotides was only observed on the optimized templates, where the tuning of the plasmon resonance condition and the formation of the hot spots were both critical.

Solvent-free acid-catalyzed ring-opening of epoxidized oleochemicals using stearates/stearic acid, and its applications.

Toxic solvent and strong acid catalysts causing environmental issues have been mainly used for ring-opening of epoxidized oleochemicals. Here, we demonstrated that magnesium stearate (Mg-stearate) was a high efficient catalyst for solvent-free ring-opening of epoxidized methyl oleate, a model compound of midchain epoxide. Mg-stearate resulted in the highest yield (95%) and conversion rate (99%) toward midchain alkoxyesters under the same conditions (160 °C, 12 h) superior to other fatty acid derivatives such as a Lewis acid (lithium and sodium stearate) and Brønsted acid (stearic acid).