Universal Markers Unveil Metastatic Cancerous Cross-Sections at Nanoscale.

The characterization of cancer histological sections as metastatic, M, or not-metastatic, NM, at the cellular size level is important for early diagnosis and treatment. We present timely warning markers of metastasis, not identified by existing protocols and used methods. Digitized atomic force microscopy images of human histological cross-sections of M and NM colorectal cancer cells were analyzed by multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and the generalized moments method analysis.

Viscoelasticity and Noise Properties Reveal the Formation of Biomemory in Cells.

Living cells are neither perfectly elastic nor liquid and return a viscoelastic response to external stimuli. Nanoindentation provides force-distance curves, allowing the investigation of cell mechanical properties, and yet, these curves can differ from point to point on the cell surface, revealing its inhomogeneous character. In the present work, we propose a mathematical method to estimate both viscoelastic and noise properties of cells as these are depicted on the values of the scaling exponents of relaxation function and power spectral density, respectively.

Dynamics and Physics of Integrin Activation in Tumor Cells by Nano-Sized Extracellular Ligands and Electromagnetic Fields.

Integrins are stress-sensing proteins expressed on the surface of cells. They regulate bidirectional signal transduction during cell-cell or cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) contacts. Integrins link the ECM with the cytoplasm through interaction with their ligands.

Entropy and Random Walk Trails Water Confinement and Non-Thermal Equilibrium in Photon-Induced Nanocavities.

Molecules near surfaces are regularly trapped in small cavitations. Molecular confinement, especially water confinement, shows intriguing and unexpected behavior including surface entropy adjustment; nevertheless, observations of entropic variation during molecular confinement are scarce. An experimental assessment of the correlation between surface strain and entropy during molecular confinement in tiny crevices is difficult because strain variances fall in the nanometer scale.

Tiny Rare-Earth Fluoride Nanoparticles Activate Tumour Cell Growth via Electrical Polar Interactions.

Localised extracellular interactions between nanoparticles and transmembrane signal receptors may well activate cancer cell growth. Herein, tiny LaF and PrF nanoparticles in DMEM+FBS suspensions stimulated tumour cell growth in three different human cell lines (A549, SW837 and MCF7). Size distribution of nanoparticles, activation of AKT and ERK signalling pathways and viability tests pointed to mechanical stimulation of ligand adhesion binding sites of integrins and EGFR via a synergistic action of an ensemble of tiny size nanoparticles (< 10 nm).

The indispensable contribution of s38 protein to ovarian-eggshell morphogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.

Drosophila chorion represents a remarkable model system for the in vivo study of complex extracellular-matrix architectures. For its organization and structure, s38 protein is considered as a component of major importance, since it is synthesized and secreted during early choriogenesis. However, there is no evidence that proves its essential, or redundant, role in chorion biogenesis.

Photons Probe Entropic Potential Variation during Molecular Confinement in Nanocavities.

In thin polymeric layers, external molecular analytes may well be confined within tiny surface nano/microcavities, or they may be attached to ligand adhesion binding sites via electrical dipole forces. Even though molecular trapping is followed by a variation of the entropic potential, the experimental evidence of entropic energy variation from molecular confinement is scarce because tiny thermodynamic energy density diverseness can be tracked only by sub-nm surface strain. Here, it is shown that water confinement within photon-induced nanocavities in Poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), (PHEMA) layers could be trailed by an entropic potential variation that competes with a thermodynamic potential from electric dipole attachment of molecular adsorbates in polymeric ligands.

Selective aggregation of PAMAM dendrimer nanocarriers and PAMAM/ZnPc nanodrugs on human atheromatous carotid tissues: a photodynamic therapy for atherosclerosis.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the action of photons on photosensitive molecules, where atomic oxygen or OH(-) molecular species are locally released on pathogenic human cells, which are mainly carcinogenic, thus causing cell necrosis. The efficacy of PDT depends on the local nanothermodynamic conditions near the cell/nanodrug system that control both the level of intracellular translocation of nanoparticles in the pathogenic cell and their agglomeration on the cell membrane. Dendrimers are considered one of the most effective and promising drug carriers because of their relatively low toxicity and negligible activation of complementary reactions.