Polymer vesicles for the delivery of inhibitors of cariogenic biofilm.

Objectives: The goal of this study is to develop a novel drug delivery platform for the pH-responsive delivery of biofilm inhibitors as a potential avenue to prevent and treat dental caries.

Methods: Biofilm and growth inhibition assays were performed in polystyrene microtiter 96-well plates. Docking analysis was performed using the reported GtfB + HA5 co-crystal structure (PDB code: 8fg8) in SeeSAR 13.

Hydrogel-Encapsulated Biofilm Inhibitors Abrogate the Cariogenic Activity of .

We designed and synthesized analogues of a previously identified biofilm inhibitor to improve solubility, retain inhibitory activities, and to facilitate encapsulation into pH-responsive hydrogel microparticles. The optimized lead compound showed improved solubility of 120.09 μg/mL, inhibited biofilm with an IC value of 6.

Direct Radiolabeling of Trastuzumab-Targeting Triblock Copolymer Vesicles with Zr for Positron Emission Tomography Imaging.

Radiolabeled drug nanocarriers that can be easily imaged positron emission tomography (PET) are highly significant as their outcome can be quantitatively PET-traced with high sensitivity. However, typical radiolabeling of most PET-guided theranostic vehicles utilizes modification with chelator ligands, which presents various challenges. In addition, unlike passive tumor targeting, specific targeting of drug delivery vehicles binding affinity to overexpressed cancer cell receptors is crucial to improve the theranostic delivery to tumors.

Localized cytotoxic T cell-associated antigen 4 and antioxidant islet encapsulation alters macrophage signaling and induces regulatory and anergic T cells to enhance allograft survival.

The loss of functional β-cell mass is a hallmark of type 1 diabetes. Islet transplantation represents a promising alternative approach, but immune-mediated graft destruction remains a major challenge. We sought to use islet encapsulation technologies to improve graft survival and function without systemic immunosuppression.

Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Ultrathin Multilayer Hydrogels through Layer-by-Layer Assembly.

Stimuli-responsive multilayer hydrogels have opened new opportunities to design hierarchically organized networks with properties controlled at the nanoscale. These multilayer materials integrate structural, morphological, and compositional versatility provided by alternating layer-by-layer polymer deposition with the capability for dramatic and reversible changes in volumes upon environmental triggers, a characteristic of chemically cross-linked responsive networks. Despite their intriguing potential, there has been limited knowledge about the structure-property relationships of multilayer hydrogels, partly because of the challenges in regulating network structural organization and the limited set of the instrumental pool to resolve structure and properties at nanometer spatial resolution.