Oat β-glucan enhances gut barrier function and maintains intestinal homeostasis in naturally aging mice.

In the process of aging, adverse changes such as weakened intestinal barrier function, increased chronic inflammation, and decreased gut microbiota diversity often occur. We explored the protective effects of Oat β-glucan (BG) on the gut homeostasis of naturally aging mice. The study shows that daily intervention with 400 mg/kg BG effectively modulates the intestinal mucosal structure, mechanical barrier function [Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), occludin, and claudin], and anti-inflammatory [Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-1β], as well as antioxidant responses in aging mice.

Chiral Inorganic Nanomaterial-Based Diagnosis and Treatments for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Chiral nanomaterials are widely investigated over recent decades due to their biocompatibility and unique chiral effects. These key properties have significantly promoted the rapid development of chiral nanomaterials in bioengineering and medicine. In this review, the basic principles of constructing chiral nanomaterials along with the latest progress in research are comprehensively summarized.

Generating Strong Circularly Polarized Luminescence from Self-assembled Films of Chiral Selenium Nanoparticles and Upconversion Nanoparticles.

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) has garnered significant research attention. Achieving a high luminescence dissymmetry factor (g) is a key challenge in this field. Herein, we reported, for the first time, the fabrication of a chiral assembled film consisting of chiral D-/L-Selenium nanoparticles (D-/L-Se NPs) and DSPE-PEG-NH modified upconversion nanoparticles (DPNUCNPs) with remarkable CPL properties that were generated by the interfacial self-assembly technique.

Development of a visual immunosensing platform based on fluorescent microspheres for the rapid detection of ochratoxins in cereals.

Ochratoxins (OTs, including OTA, OTB, and OTC), exhibit nephrotoxicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, and immunotoxicity, contaminating wheat, maize, and rice, so endangering human health. In this study, we designed and screened haptens using computational chemistry to prepare mAb 4G11, which simultaneously recognized OTA, OTB, and OTC with high sensitivity and specificity. We developed a fluorescent microsphere immunochromatographic assay (FMIA), which could detect the total amount of OTs with a visual detection limit of 0.

Improved Catalytic Performance of Lipase Within Hydrogel Microspheres Incorporating L/D-CoO Nanoparticles.

Lipases have drawn significant attention due to their crucial roles across various industries, including oil processing, food, medicine, and daily chemicals. Nevertheless, their catalytic efficiency is susceptible to fluctuations in external environmental conditions, which remains a major barrier to their broader application. In this research, chiral hydrogel microspheres (HMSs) are developed by incorporating L/D-CoO nanoparticles (NPs) into the synthetic process of HMSs, which are discovered to enhance the catalytic performance of lipases.

Ultrasensitive and highly selective Co detection based on the chiral optical activities of L-glutathione-modified gold nanoclusters.

Developing highly sensitive and selective detection methods is crucial for environmental and healthcare monitoring. In this study, the chiral and fluorescent signals of L-glutathione-modified gold nanoclusters (L-GSH-Au NCs) were discovered to be responsive to Co, which displayed linear correlations with the concentration changes of Co. Notably, the chiral signal was more sensitive than the FL signal, whose limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.

Chiral Au@CeO Helical Nanorods with Spatially Separated Structures for Polarization-Dependent N Photofixation.

Chiral photocatalytic nanomaterials possess numerous unique properties and hold promise for various applications in chemical synthesis, environmental protection, energy conversion, and photoelectric devices. Nevertheless, it is uncommon to develop effective means to enhance the asymmetric catalytic performances of chiral plasmonic nanomaterials. In this study, a type of L/D-Au@CeO helical nanorods (HNRs) was fabricated by selectively growing CeO on the surface of Au HNRs via a facile wet-chemistry construction method.

Chiral Intranasal Nanovaccines as Antivirals for Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

This study aimed to develop an intranasal nanovaccine by combining chiral nanoparticles with the RSV pre-fusion protein (RSV protein) to create L-nanovaccine (L-Vac). The results showed that L-NPs increased antigen attachment in the nasal cavity by 3.83 times and prolonged its retention time to 72 h.

Immunochromatographic strip for rapid and sensitive detection of bupirimate residues in peach, orange, and carrot.

Bupirimate (BPM) is a high-efficiency and low-toxicity fungicide used to combat powdery mildew in crops. To mitigate potential health risks to consumers resulting from improper BPM usage, we prepared a monoclonal antibody against BPM based on novel hapten synthesis, which has high sensitivity and strong specificity, and then successfully designed a colloidal gold-based immunochromatographic (ICG) strip. The newly designed ICG strip was then employed for detecting BPM residues in peach, orange, and carrot.

A paper-based lateral flow immunochromatographic sensor for the detection of tricyclazole in rice.

Tricyclazole is commonly used to prevent rice blast to meet the carbohydrate intake needs of half of the global population, and a large number of toxicological reports indicate that monitoring of tricyclazole is necessary. Here, we analyzed the structure of tricyclazole and designed different hapten derivatization strategies to prepare a high-performance monoclonal antibody (half inhibition concentration of 1.61 ng/mL), and then a lateral flow immunochromatographic sensor based on gold nanoparticles for the detection of tricyclazole in rice, with a limit of detection of 6.

Emerging trends in chiral inorganic nanomaterials for enantioselective catalysis.

Asymmetric transformations and synthesis have garnered considerable interest in recent decades due to the extensive need for chiral organic compounds in biomedical, agrochemical, chemical, and food industries. The field of chiral inorganic catalysts, garnering considerable interest for its contributions to asymmetric organic transformations, has witnessed remarkable advancements and emerged as a highly innovative research area. Here, we review the latest developments in this dynamic and emerging field to comprehensively understand the advances in chiral inorganic nanocatalysts and stimulate further progress in asymmetric catalysis.

Quantitative immunochromatographic assay for rapid and cost-effective on-site detection of benzo[a]pyrene in oilfield chemicals.

Contamination of oilfield chemicals (OFCs) by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is increasingly becoming a severe environmental security issue. There is an urgent need to develop a rapid and accurate method for B[a]P detection in OFCs. In this study, B[a]P hapten was designed using computer aided molecular design.

Tapered chiral nanoparticles as broad-spectrum thermally stable antivirals for SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The incessant mutations of viruses, variable immune responses, and likely emergence of new viral threats necessitate multiple approaches to novel antiviral therapeutics. Furthermore, the new antiviral agents should have broad-spectrum activity and be environmentally stable. Here, we show that biocompatible tapered CuS nanoparticles (NPs) efficiently agglutinate coronaviruses with binding affinity dependent on the chirality of surface ligands and particle shape.

Modulation by Co (II) Ion of Optical Activities of L/D-glutathione (GSH)-modified Chiral Copper Nanoclusters for Sensitive Adenosine Triphosphate Detection.

Chiral nanoscale enantiomers exhibit different biological effects in living systems. However, their chirality effect on the detection sensitivity for chiral biological targets still needs to be explored. Here, we discovered that Co can modulate the luminescence performance of L/D-glutathione (GSH)-modified copper nanoclusters (L/D-Cu NCs) and induce strong chiroptical activities as the asymmetric factor was enhanced 223-fold with their distribution regulating from the ultraviolet to visible region.

Identifying the effective combination of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicinal herbs for postmenopausal osteoporosis therapy through studies of their molecular regulation of bone homeostasis.

Worldwide, as the population age, osteoporosis is becoming increasingly common, and osteoporotic fractures have a significant economic burden. Postmenopausal women are the most susceptible to developing osteoporosis and the most critical time to prevent it is during the perimenopausal and early menopausal years. In this regard, we hypothesize rational combination of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the form of herbal extract could prevent osteoporosis in women.

Immunological strip sensor for the rapid determination of niacin in dietary supplements and foods.

Herein, four haptens of niacin (Vitamin B3, VB3) were designed, and after a series of experiments, it was concluded that hapten D had the best immune effect. To avoid false positives in the detection of real samples, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against VB3 was prepared by a matrix effect-enhanced mAb screening method. The concentration of the inhibition rate reaching 50% (IC) was 603.

Near-Infrared Chiroptical Activity Titanium Dioxide Supraparticles with Circularly Polarized Light Induced Antibacterial Activity.

Titanium dioxide (TiO) has attracted significant attention in the fields of antibacterial activity and pollutant degradation due to its well-known photocatalytic properties. However, the application of TiO is significantly limited by its large band gap width, which only allows excitation by ultraviolet light below 400 nm. Here, we propose the use of surface chiral functionalization of TiO to tune its band gap width, thus enabling it to be excited by near-infrared-region light (NIR), resulting in the effective separation of electron-hole pairs.

Chiral Nanomaterials for Cancer Vaccines.

Chirality is a fundamental characteristic of living organisms and is commonly observed at the biomolecule, cellular, and tissue levels. Chiral nanomaterials play an irreplaceable role in nanomedicine and nanobiology because of their unique enantioselectivity with biological components. Here, research progress relating to chiral nanomaterials in the field of vaccines is reviewed, including antigen presenting systems, immune adjuvants, and cancer vaccines.

Chiral nanoparticle-remodeled gut microbiota alleviates neurodegeneration via the gut-brain axis.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid-β accumulation in the brain and hyperphosphorylated tau aggregation, as well as neuroinflammation. The gut-brain axis has emerged as a therapeutic target in neurodegenerative diseases by modulating metabolic activity, neuroimmune functions and sensory neuronal signaling. Here we investigate interactions between orally ingested chiral Au nanoparticles and the gut microbiota in AD mice.

Immunoassay for the detection of cyproconazole in foods: From hapten synthesis to the establishment of a gold immunochromatographic assay.

Cyproconazole (CPZ) is extensively used in agricultural production. However, its overuse can lead to high residue problems in crops. Existing detection methods are still dominated by instrumental methods and the development of rapid, sensitive field detection remains a challenge.

Enhancing Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Quantum Dots through Chiral Coordination-Mediated Growth at the Liquid/Liquid Interface.

Here, we develop a novel methodology for synthesizing chiral CdSe@ZnS quantum dots (QDs) with enhanced circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) by incorporating l-/d-histidine (l-/d-His) ligands during ZnS shell growth at the water/oil interface. The resulting chiral QDs exhibit exceptional absolute photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 67.2%, surpassing the reported limits of 40.

Gold nanoparticle-based immunochromatographic assay for rapid detection of imazalil.

Imazalil (IMZ) is a commonly used fungicide for controlling fungus in agriculture, leaving residual IMZ in crops that could be hazardous to human health. In this work, we designed IMZ haptens for mice immunization and prepared sensitive monoclonal antibody (mAb) against IMZ. The subtype of anti-IMZ mAb is IgG2a.

Sensitive and Selective Dual-Mode Responses to Reactive Oxygen Species by Chiral Manganese Dioxide Nanoparticles for Antiaging Skin.

Excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) can lead to oxidative stress and oxidative damage, which is one of the important factors for aging and age-related diseases. Therefore, real-time monitoring and the moderate elimination of ROS is extremely important. In this study, a ROS-responsive circular dichroic (CD) at 553 nm and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dual-signals chiral manganese oxide (MnO ) nanoparticles (NPs) are designed and synthesized.

Chiral Iron Oxide Supraparticles Enable Enantiomer-Dependent Tumor-Targeted Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The chemical, physical and biological effects of chiral nanomaterials have inspired general interest and demonstrated important advantages in fundamental science. Here, chiral iron oxide supraparticles (Fe O SPs) modified by chiral penicillamine (Pen) molecules with g-factor of ≈2 × 10 at 415 nm are fabricated, and these SPs act as high-quality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Therein, the transverse relaxation efficiency and T -MRI results demonstrated chiral Fe O SPs have a r relaxivity of 157.