Effects of Micro-environmental pH of Liposome on Chemical Stability of Loaded Drug.

Liposome is a promising carrier system for delivering bioactive molecules. However, the successful delivery of pH-sensitive molecules is still limited by the intrinsic instability of payloads in physiological environment. Herein, we developed a special liposome system that possesses an acidic micro-environment in the internal aqueous chamber to improve the chemical stability of pH-sensitive payloads.

Effect of tetrahedral DNA nanostructures on osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells via activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are considered to be ideal stem cell sources for bone regeneration owing to their ability to differentiate into osteo-like cells. Therefore, they have attracted increasing attention in recent years. Tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs), a new type of DNA-based biomaterials, have shown great potential for biomedical applications.

A Chiral Nitrogen Ligand for Enantioselective, Iridium-Catalyzed Silylation of Aromatic C-H Bonds.

Iridium catalysts containing dative nitrogen ligands are highly active for the borylation and silylation of C-H bonds, but chiral analogs of these catalysts for enantioselective silylation reactions have not been developed. We report a new chiral pyridinyloxazoline ligand for enantioselective, intramolecular silylation of symmetrical diarylmethoxy diethylsilanes. Regioselective and enantioselective silylation of unsymmetrical substrates was also achieved in the presence of this newly developed system.

Understanding the Biomedical Effects of the Self-Assembled Tetrahedral DNA Nanostructure on Living Cells.

Recently, much attention has been paid to DNA again due to the successful synthesis of DNA-based nanostructures that can enter cells via endocytosis and thus have great potential in biomedical fields. However, the impacts of DNA nanostructures on life activities of a living cell are unknown. Herein, the promotion effect of tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN) on cell growth and the underlying molecular mechanisms are reported.

Insight into the Interaction of Graphene Oxide with Serum Proteins and the Impact of the Degree of Reduction and Concentration.

As novel applied nanomaterials, both graphene oxide (GO) and its reduced form (rGO) have attracted global attention, because of their excellent properties. However, the lack of comprehensive understanding of their interactions with biomacromolecules highly limits their biomedical applications. This work aims to initiate a systematic study on the property changes of GO/rGO upon interaction with serum proteins and on how their degree of reduction and exposure concentration affect this interaction, as well as to analyze the possible biomedical impacts of the interaction.

Independent effect of polymeric nanoparticle zeta potential/surface charge, on their cytotoxicity and affinity to cells.

Objectives: Up to now, little research has been focussed on discovering how zeta potential independently affects polymeric nanoparticle (NP) cytotoxicity.

Methods: Polymeric nanoparticles of gradient zeta potential ranging from -30 mv to +40 mv were fabricated using the same poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate (PHBHHx) biopolymer. Interaction forces between nanoparticles and cells were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Enhanced biostability of nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems by albumin corona.

Aims: The long-term efficacy of nanoparticles is limited by their rapid metabolism in tissues. In this work, we aim to enhance nanoparticle biostability by preforming a bovine serum albumin (BSA) corona.

Materials & Methods: A BSA corona was formed by incubating poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate nanoparticles with BSA solution and confirmed by SDS-PAGE and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Nanocomplex based on biocompatible phospholipids and albumin for long-circulation applications.

Achieving long circulating delivery of nanoparticles (NPs) is important for efficient drug therapy, but it is difficult due largely to proteins adsorption (opsonization) or/and nonsufficient stability of NPs. In this present work, we aimed to address the above issues by constructing a phospholipid and BSA-based nanocomplex system, namely BSA-phospholipid NPs (BSA-PL-NPs). Combining sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and proteins adsorption property, we confirmed that some BSA molecules were fixed on the inner surface of BSA-PL-NPs via hydrophobic interactions and the others were located in the core area.