Nicotine exacerbates tacrolimus-induced renal injury by programmed cell death.

Background/aims: Cigarette smoking is an important modifiable risk factor in kidney disease progression. However, the underlying mechanisms for this are lacking. This study aimed to assess whether nicotine (NIC), a major toxic component of cigarette smoking, would exacerbates tacrolimus (TAC)-induced renal injury.

L-carnitine treatment attenuates renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction.

Background/aims: Accumulating evidence indicates that L-carnitine (LC) protects against multiorgan damage through its antioxidant properties and preservation of the mitochondria. Little information is available about the effects of LC on renal fibrosis. This study examined whether LC treatment would provide renoprotection in a rat model of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and in vitro.

Ru(ii) polypyridyl complex-incorporated and folate-conjugated vehicle for cancer cell imaging and photoinduced inactivation.

Ru(ii) polypyridyl complexes have been expected as promising therapeutic agents against cancer owing to its DNA photocleavage activity. However, the lack of cell selectivity poses a significant obstacle to their practical application. Herein, the strategy combining cell-specific imaging with photoinduced cell death based on [Ru(phen)2(dppz)](2+) has been developed by incorporating [Ru(phen)2(dppz)](2+) into folate-conjugated liposomes.

A fast and biocompatible living virus labeling method based on sialic acid-phenylboronic acid recognition system.

The sialic acid (SA)-phenylboronic acid (PBA) recognition system is of particular interest in the bioconjugation field, because it is simple, fast, efficient, and biocompatible. In this paper, we report a novel method for reversibly labeling living virus with quantum dots (QDs) by taking advantage of this SA-PBA recognition system. The QDs were initially modified with PBA (QDs-PBA) to target them to the surface of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which has abundant with SA on its envelope.