Hydrothermal vs microwave nanoarchitechtonics of carbon dots significantly affects the structure, physicochemical properties, and anti-cancer activity against a specific neuroblastoma cell line.

Carbon dots (CDs) from glucose were synthesized using two of the most common bottom-up methods, namely, microwave assisted (MW) and hydrothermal carbonization (HT). Synthetic parameters such as reaction time, temperature, and precursor concentration were changed to study the effects of each parameter on CD size, structure, surface functionalities, charge, photoluminescence behavior, quantum yield, cytotoxicity, blood-brain barrier (BBB) crossing ability and bioimaging. A detailed analysis is performed to compare the structure and properties of the CDs synthesized in ten different conditions.

Carbon Dots: A Future Blood-Brain Barrier Penetrating Nanomedicine and Drug Nanocarrier.

Drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is one of the biggest challenges in modern medicine due to the BBB's highly semipermeable property that limits most therapeutic agents of brain diseases to enter the central nervous system (CNS). In recent years, nanoparticles, especially carbon dots (CDs), exhibit many unprecedented applications for drug delivery. Several types of CDs and CD-ligand conjugates have been reported successfully penetrating the BBB, which shows a promising progress in the application of CD-based drug delivery system (DDS) for the treatment of CNS diseases.

Crossing the blood-brain barrier with carbon dots: uptake mechanism and cargo delivery.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a major obstacle for drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) such that most therapeutics lack efficacy against brain tumors or neurological disorders due to their inability to cross the BBB. Therefore, developing new drug delivery platforms to facilitate drug transport to the CNS and understanding their mechanism of transport are crucial for the efficacy of therapeutics. Here, we report (i) carbon dots prepared from glucose and conjugated to fluorescein (GluCD-F) cross the BBB in zebrafish and rats without the need of an additional targeting ligand and (ii) uptake mechanism of GluCDs is glucose transporter-dependent in budding yeast.

Metformin derived carbon dots: Highly biocompatible fluorescent nanomaterials as mitochondrial targeting and blood-brain barrier penetrating biomarkers.

Carbon dots (CDs) have been intensively studied since their discovery in 2004 because of their unique properties such as low toxicity, excellent biocompatibility, high photoluminescence (PL) and good water dispersibility. In this study metformin derived carbon dots (Met-CDs) were synthesized using a microwave assisted method. Met-CDs were meticulously characterized using ultra-violet spectroscopy (UV-vis), photoluminescence (PL), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force (AFM) and transmission electron (TEM) microscopies.

pH and redox triggered doxorubicin release from covalently linked carbon dots conjugates.

Tumor microenvironment responsive drug delivery systems are potential approaches to reduce the acute toxicity caused by high-dose cancer chemotherapy. Notwithstanding the conventional nano-drug delivery systems, the redox and pH stimuli drug delivery systems are currently gaining attention. Therefore, the current study was designed to compare three different covalent carbon dots (C-dots) systems based on doxorubicin (dox) release profiles and cancer cell viability efficacy under acidic and physiological conditions.

Direct conjugation of distinct carbon dots as Lego-like building blocks for the assembly of versatile drug nanocarriers.

As a promising drug nanocarrier, carbon dots (CDs) have exhibited many excellent properties. However, some properties such as bone targeting and crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) only apply to a certain CD preparation with limited drug loading capacity. Therefore, it is significant to conjugate distinct CDs to centralize many unique properties on the novel drug nanocarrier.

Recent Advances on Utilization of Bioprinting for Tumor Modeling.

Despite the recent rigorous studies towards a possible cure, cancer still remains as one of the most daunting problems faced by the humanity. Currently utilized two-dimensional cancer models are known to have various insuperable limitations such as insufficient biomimicry of the heterogeneous conditions of tumors and their three-dimensional structures. Discrepancies between the laboratory models and the actual tumor environment significantly impair a thorough comprehension of the carcinogenesis process and development of successful remedies against cancer.

Close-Packed Langmuir Monolayers of Saccharide-Based Carbon Dots at the Air-Subphase Interface.

Carbon dots (CDs) are zero-dimensional carbon-based spherical nanoparticles with diameters less than 10 nm. Here, we report for the first time CDs forming stable Langmuir monolayers at the air-subphase interface. Langmuir monolayers are of great interest both fundamentally to study the interactions at the interfaces and for many applications such as the development of sensors.

Nanoparticle-mediated targeted drug delivery for breast cancer treatment.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women worldwide, and one of the deadliest after lung cancer. Currently, standard methods for cancer therapy including BC are surgery followed by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, both chemotherapy and radiotherapy often fail to treat BC due to the side effects that these therapies incur in normal tissues and organs.

Embedding Carbon Dots in Superabsorbent Polymers for Additive Manufacturing.

A type of orange carbon dots (O-CDs) synthesized via an ultrasonication route with citric acid and 1,2-phenylenediamine as precursors was embedded into sodium polyacrylate (SPA) as the ink for 3D printing. Characterizations of these spherical O-CDs revealed an ultra-small size (~2 nm) and excitation-independent, but solvent dependent, emission. The O-CDs were evenly distributed with low degree of aggregation in sodium polyacrylate (SPA), which was achieved due to the property that SPA can absorb water together with O-CDs.

The identification of inhibitory compounds of Rickettsia prowazekii methionine aminopeptidase for antibacterial applications.

Methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) is a dinuclear metalloprotease responsible for the cleavage of methionine initiator residues from nascent proteins. MetAP activity is necessary for bacterial proliferation and is therefore a projected novel antibacterial target. A compound library consisting of 294 members containing metal-binding functional groups was screened against Rickettsia prowazekii MetAP to determine potential inhibitory motifs.

Surface Chemistry and Spectroscopic Study of a Cholera Toxin B Langmuir Monolayer.

In this article, we explored the surface chemistry properties of a cholera toxin B (CTB) monolayer at the air-subphase interface and investigated the change in interfacial properties through in situ spectroscopy. The study showed that the impact of the blue shift was negligible, suggesting that the CTB molecules were minimally affected by the subphase molecules. The stability of the CTB monolayer was studied by maintaining the constant surface pressure for a long time and also by using the compression-decompression cycle experiments.

Crossing the blood-brain barrier with nanoparticles.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is one of the most essential protection mechanisms in the central nervous system (CNS). It selectively allows individual molecules such as small lipid-soluble molecules to pass through the capillary endothelial membrane while limiting the passage of pathogens or toxins. However, this protection mechanism is also a major obstacle during disease state since it dramatically hinders the drug delivery.

Activation of the transforming growth factor-β/SMAD transcriptional pathway underlies a novel tumor-promoting role of sulfatase 1 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Unlabelled: In vitro studies have proposed a tumor suppressor role for sulfatase 1 (SULF1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, high expression in human HCC has been associated with poor prognosis. The reason underlying this paradoxical observation remains to be explored. Using a transgenic (Tg) mouse model overexpressing Sulf1 (Sulf1-Tg), we assessed the effects of SULF1 on the diethylnitrosamine model of liver carcinogenesis.