Supramolecular palladium complexes based on guanidinium pillar[5]arene for cancer therapy.

The supramolecular palladium complex G-Pd, formed self-assembly of the Pd-complex of guanidinium pillar[5]arene with Pd, was used to encapsulate doxorubicin to form G-Pd@DOX. The nanoparticles exhibit responsiveness to glutathione, controlled drug release, the ability to damage mitochondria, and potent anticancer activity while maintaining low toxicity towards normal cells. This work provides a good example for the application of pillararene-based palladium complexes in cancer therapy and is significant for the discovery of new medicines from supramolecular coordination complexes.

Lotus seedpod proanthocyanidins protect against neurotoxicity after methyl-mercuric chloride injury.

In the present study, to investigate the prevention mechanism of proanthocyanidins from lotus seedpod (LSPCs) on methyl mercuric chloride (MMC) induced neurotoxicity, neuron/astrocyte cells were co-cultured to simulate the microenvironment in vivo to the greatest extent. The results showed that, compared with MMC group, pretreatment with LSPCs not only improved cell survival rate, decreased the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), decreased the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, and prevented the increase of intracellular [Ca]i, but also significantly increased the total anti-oxidation capacity (T-AOC) (p＜0.05), the levels of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) (p＜0.

Nano-Porous Silica Aerogels as Promising Biomaterials for Oral Drug Delivery of Paclitaxel.

Not only dose oral administration have the highest safety, convenience and patient compliance, but also can improve patients' quality of life and reduce health care costs in many cases when compared to the parenteral route. However, many drugs, especially most anticancer drugs such as paclitaxel (PTX), are not orally bioavailable, which is attributed to low aqueous solubility, poor intestinal permeability, and the high level of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux. In this study, we developed a nano-porous silica aerogel delivery system for oral administration of PTX that improved the bioavailability, reduced the side effects of the drug and inhibited tumor growth.

Boron/nitrogen co-doped carbon synthesized from waterborne polyurethane and graphene oxide composite for supercapacitors.

We report B/N co-doped carbon materials synthesized by an efficient and easy one-step carbonization method with ferric catalyst treatment from a precursor with boric acid treatment after the formation of the composite between waterborne polyurethane (WPU) and graphene oxide (GO). The nitrogen content was improved with the introduction of numerous melamine in the synthetic process of WPU. In addition, WPU possessed a repetitive basic unit urethane bond (-NHCOO); thus, nitrogen heteroatom could be efficiently introduced into the WPU/GO composite from WPU as a nitrogen-rich carbon.