Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Aptamer-Targeting Porous Silicon Nanocarrier.

Common treatment approaches for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are associated with severe side effects due to the unfavorable biodistribution profile of potent chemotherapeutics. Here, we explored the potential of TNBC-targeting aptamer-decorated porous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs) as targeted nanocarriers for TNBC. A "salt-aging" strategy was employed to fabricate a TNBC-targeting aptamer functionalized pSiNP that was highly colloidally stable.

An In Vitro-In Vivo Comparative Study Using Highly Sensitive Radioisotopic Assays to Assess the Predictive Power of Emerging Blood-Brain Barrier Models.

Microfluidic BBB-on-a-chip models (μBBB) aim to recapitulate the organotypic features of the human BBB with great potential to model CNS diseases and advance CNS therapeutics. Nevertheless, their predictive capacity for drug uptake into the brain remains uncertain due to limited evaluation with only a small number of model drugs. Here, the in vivo brain uptake of a panel of nine radiolabeled compounds is evaluated in Swiss-outbred mice following a single intravenously administered dose and compared against results from the microfluidic μBBB platform and the conventional Transwell BBB model.

High-density microneedle array-based wearable electrochemical biosensor for detection of insulin in interstitial fluid.

The development of point-of-care wearable devices capable of measuring insulin concentration has the potential to significantly improve diabetes management and life quality of diabetic patients. However, the lack of a suitable point-of-care device for personal use makes regular insulin level measurements challenging, in stark contrast to glucose monitoring. Herein, we report an electrochemical transdermal biosensor that utilizes a high-density polymeric microneedle array (MNA) to detect insulin in interstitial fluid (ISF).

A surface-independent bioglue using photo-crosslinkable benzophenone moiety.

Surface coating technology is broadly demanded across various fields, including marine and biomedical materials; therefore, a facile and versatile approach is desired. This study proposed an attractive surface coating strategy using photo-crosslinkable benzophenone (BP) moiety for biomaterials application. BP-containing "bioglue" polymer can effectively crosslink with all kinds of surfaces and biomolecules.

Insights into Targeted and Stimulus-Responsive Nanocarriers for Brain Cancer Treatment.

Brain cancers, especially glioblastoma multiforme, are associated with poor prognosis due to the limited efficacy of current therapies. Nanomedicine has emerged as a versatile technology to treat various diseases, including cancers, and has played an indispensable role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic as evidenced by the role that lipid nanocarrier-based vaccines have played. The tunability of nanocarrier physicochemical properties -including size, shape, surface chemistry, and drug release kinetics- has resulted in the development of a wide range of nanocarriers for brain cancer treatment.

Oral nanotherapeutic formulation of insulin with reduced episodes of hypoglycaemia.

Injectable insulin is an extensively used medication with potential life-threatening hypoglycaemic events. Here we report on insulin-conjugated silver sulfide quantum dots coated with a chitosan/glucose polymer to produce a responsive oral insulin nanoformulation. This formulation is pH responsive, is insoluble in acidic environments and shows increased absorption in human duodenum explants and Caenorhabditis elegans at neutral pH.

Influence of Surface Ligand Density and Particle Size on the Penetration of the Blood-Brain Barrier by Porous Silicon Nanoparticles.

Overcoming the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains a significant challenge with regard to drug delivery to the brain. By incorporating targeting ligands, and by carefully adjusting particle sizes, nanocarriers can be customized to improve drug delivery. Among these targeting ligands, transferrin stands out due to the high expression level of its receptor (i.

Fluoropolymer Functionalization of Organ-on-Chip Platform Increases Detection Sensitivity for Cannabinoids.

Microfluidic technology is applied across various research areas including organ-on-chip (OOC) systems. The main material used for microfluidics is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone elastomer material that is biocompatible, transparent, and easy to use for OOC systems with well-defined microstructures. However, PDMS-based OOC systems can absorb hydrophobic and small molecules, making it difficult and erroneous to make quantitative analytical assessments for such compounds.

Recent Advances in Formulations for Long-Acting Delivery of Therapeutic Peptides.

Recent preclinical and clinical studies have focused on the active area of therapeutic peptides due to their high potency, selectivity, and specificity in treating a broad range of diseases. However, therapeutic peptides suffer from multiple disadvantages, such as limited oral bioavailability, short half-life, rapid clearance from the body, and susceptibility to physiological conditions (e.g.

The potential impact of nanomedicine on COVID-19-induced thrombosis.

Extensive reports of pulmonary embolisms, ischaemic stroke and myocardial infarctions caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as well as a significantly increased long-term risk of cardiovascular diseases in COVID-19 survivors, have highlighted severe deficiencies in our understanding of thromboinflammation and the need for new therapeutic options. Due to the complexity of the immunothrombosis pathophysiology, the efficacy of treatment with conventional anti-thrombotic medication is questioned. Thrombolytics do appear efficacious, but are hindered by severe bleeding risks, limiting their use.

Differential Surface Engineering Generates Core-Shell Porous Silicon Nanoparticles for Controlled and Targeted Delivery of an Anticancer Drug.

An approach to differentially modify the internal surface of porous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs) with hydrophobic dodecene and the external surface with antifouling poly--(2-hydroxypropyl) acrylamide (polyHPAm) as well as a cell-targeting peptide was developed. Specifically, to generate these core-shell pSiNPs, the interior surface of a porous silicon (pSi) film was hydrosilylated with 1-dodecene, followed by ultrasonication to create pSiNPs. The new external surfaces were modified by silanization with a polymerization initiator, and surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization was performed to introduce polyHPAm brushes.

Wearable microneedle array-based sensor for transdermal monitoring of pH levels in interstitial fluid.

Microneedle-based wearable sensors offer an alternative approach to traditional invasive blood-based health monitoring and disease diagnostics techniques. Instead of blood, microneedle-based sensors target the skin interstitial fluid (ISF), in which the biomarker type and concentration profile resemble the one found in the blood. However, unlike blood, interstitial fluid does not have the same pH-buffering capacity causing deviation of pH levels from the physiological range.

Theranostic nanoparticles for the management of thrombosis.

Acute thrombosis and thromboembolisms are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries, placing a huge burden on health and economic systems. Early diagnosis is critical but currently limited in accuracy and hampered by a narrow time frame, where the short therapeutic window also severely restricts treatment options. Additionally, clinically used antithrombotics and thrombolytics suffer from severe side effects and are limited in efficacy by a short half-life and susceptibility to degradation.

Ionic Liquid-Based Low-Temperature Synthesis of Crystalline Ti(OH)OF·0.66HO: Elucidating the Molecular Reaction Steps by NMR Spectroscopy and Theoretical Studies.

We present an in-depth mechanistic study of the first steps of the solution-based synthesis of the peculiar hexagonal tungsten bronze-type Ti(OH)OF·0.66HO solid, using NMR analyses (H, C, F, and B) as well as modeling based on density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation. The reaction uses an imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL, e.

Silicon Micropillar Array-Based Wearable Sweat Glucose Sensor.

Wearable technologies have great potential in health monitoring and disease diagnostics. As a consequence, interest in the study of wearable sensors has dramatically increased over recent years. Successful translation of this technology from research prototypes to commercial products requires addressing some of the major challenges faced by wearable sensors such as loss of, and damage in, the biological recognition layer of the skin-interfaced sensors.

Development of Polymeric Nanoparticles for Blood-Brain Barrier Transfer-Strategies and Challenges.

Neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and brain cancers are difficult to treat with current drugs as their delivery efficacy to the brain is severely hampered by the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Drug delivery systems have been extensively explored in recent decades aiming to circumvent this barrier. In particular, polymeric nanoparticles have shown enormous potentials owing to their unique properties, such as high tunability, ease of synthesis, and control over drug release profile.

How is CO absorbed into a deep eutectic solvent?

Deep eutectic solvents show great potential as CO absorbents, which is highly desirable for the sustainable development of CO reduction and prevention of global climate changes. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble at pressures of 1 MPa and 5 MPa and at the corresponding experimental density are carried out to investigate the CO absorption in choline chloride: ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvent. Based on the structural analysis, there is a strong anion and hydrogen bond donor effect and a minor cation effect on CO solvation in the solvent.

TiCl Dissolved in Ionic Liquid Mixtures from ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

To gain a deeper understanding of the TiCl4 solvation effects in multi-component ionic liquids, we performed ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium [C4C1Im]+, tetrafluoroborate [BF4]-, chloride [Cl]- both with and without water and titanium tetrachloride TiCl4. Complex interactions between cations and anions are observed in all investigated systems. By further addition of water and TiCl4 this complex interaction network is extended.

Porous silicon nanomaterials: recent advances in surface engineering for controlled drug-delivery applications.

Porous silicon (pSi) nanomaterials are increasingly attractive for biomedical applications due to their promising properties such as simple and feasible fabrication procedures, tunable morphology, versatile surface modification routes, biocompatibility and biodegradability. This review focuses on recent advances in surface modification of pSi for controlled drug delivery applications. A range of functionalization strategies and fabrication methods for pSi-polymer hybrids are summarized.

Enhanced electrochemical sensing performance by insitu electrocopolymerization of pyrrole and thiophene-grafted chitosan.

Nowadays, there is increasing number of electrochemical biosensors which utilize chitosan (Ch); as an enzyme immobilization matrix, and conductive nanomaterials; as electron carriers improving sensitivity of the biosensor. However, the challenge these sensors face is the lack of uniform dispersion of nanomaterials throughout the Ch film, which can negatively affect analytical performance of the biosensor. In this study, we report the development of an enzyme immobilization matrix that displays enhanced electrochemical performance thanks to a novel conductive thin film prepared via in situ electrocopolymerization of pyrrole (Py) and thiophene-grafted chitosan (Th-Ch).

Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid Mixtures of Weakly and Strongly Coordinating Anions with and without Water.

With the aid of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate an ionic liquid (IL) mixture composed of three components 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium [CCIm], tetrafluoroborate [BF], and chloride [Cl] without and with water. In the pure IL mixture, we observe an already complex network of interactions between cations and anions, and addition of water to the system even extends the complexity. Observed number integrals show that the coordination number between cations and anions is reduced in the system with water compared to that in the pure system.

Functional Brush Poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazine)s: Synthesis by CROP and RAFT, Thermoresponsiveness and Grafting onto Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.

Brush polymers are highly functional polymeric materials combining the properties of different polymer classes and have found numerous applications, for example, in nanomedicine. Here, the synthesis of functional phosphonate-ester-bearing brush polymers based on poly(2-oxazine)s is reported through a combination of cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) of 2-ethyl-2-oxazine and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. In this way, a small library of well-defined (Đ ≤ 1.

Bioconjugation and Fluorescence Labeling of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Grafted with Bromomaleimide-Terminal Polymers.

Iron oxide nanoparticles have been widely applied in biomedical applications for their unique physical properties. Despite the relatively mature synthetic approaches for iron oxide nanoparticles, surface modification strategies for obtaining particles with satisfactory biofunctionality are still urgently needed to meet the challenge of nanomedicine. Herein, we report a surface modification and biofunctionalization strategy for iron oxide-based magnetic nanoparticles based on a dibromomaleimide (DBM)-terminated polymer with brushed polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains.

Influence of Size and Shape on the Biodistribution of Nanoparticles Prepared by Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly.

Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is a facile one-pot synthetic technique for preparing polymeric nanoparticles with different sizes and shapes for application in a variety of fields including nanomedicine. However, the in vivo biodistribution of nanoparticles obtained by PISA still remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we report the synthesis, cytotoxicity, and biodistribution in an in vivo tumor-bearing mouse model of polystyrene micelles with various sizes and polystyrene filomicelles with different lengths prepared by PISA.

An efficient and highly versatile synthetic route to prepare iron oxide nanoparticles/nanocomposites with tunable morphologies.

We report a versatile synthetic method for the in situ self-assembly of magnetic-nanoparticle-functionalized polymeric nanomorphologies, including spherical micelles and rod-like and worm-like micelles and vesicles. Poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate)-block-(methacrylic acid)-block-poly(styrene) (POEGMA-b-PMAA-b-PST) triblock copolymer chains were simultaneously propagated and self-assembled via a polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) approach. Subsequently, the carboxylic acid groups in the copolymers were used to complex an iron ion (Fe(II)/Fe(III)) mixture.