Super-hydrophilic and super-lubricating Zwitterionic hydrogel coatings coupled with polyurethane to reduce postoperative dura mater adhesions and infections.

The dura trauma or large defects due to neurosurgical procedures can result in potential complications. Dural replacements have proven effective to reduce the risk of seizures, meningitis, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, cerebral herniation, and infection. Although various artificial dural patches have been developed, addressing iatrogenic infections and cerebral adhesions resulting from patches implantation remains a challenge.

Janus polyurethane sponge as an antibiofouling, antibacterial, and exudate-managing dressing for accelerated wound healing.

The non-fouling condition, bacteria-free environment and suitable moisture at wound site are crucial for chronic wound healing. However, it remains highly meaningful yet challenging to develop wound dressings that can simultaneously achieve these desirable functions. In this work, a kind of multifunctional Janus polyurethane sponge (Janus-PU) was designed and fabricated by coating near-infrared (NIR)-responsive and superhydrophobic nanoparticles (F-ZnO@Ag NPs) on one surface of sponge.

Organic Nanoplatforms for Iodinated Contrast Media in CT Imaging.

X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging can produce three-dimensional and high-resolution anatomical images without invasion, which is extremely useful for disease diagnosis in the clinic. However, its applications are still severely limited by the intrinsic drawbacks of contrast media (mainly iodinated water-soluble molecules), such as rapid clearance, serious toxicity, inefficient targetability and poor sensitivity. Due to their high biocompatibility, flexibility in preparation and modification and simplicity for drug loading, organic nanoparticles (NPs), including liposomes, nanoemulsions, micelles, polymersomes, dendrimers, polymer conjugates and polymeric particles, have demonstrated tremendous potential for use in the efficient delivery of iodinated contrast media (ICMs).

Polymers for Improved Delivery of Iodinated Contrast Agents.

X-ray computed tomography (CT), as one of the most widely used noninvasive imaging modalities, can provide three-dimensional anatomic details with high resolution, which plays a key role in disease diagnosis and treatment assessment. However, although they are the most prevalent and FDA-approved contrast agents, iodinated water-soluble molecules still face some challenges in clinical applications, such as fast clearance, serious adverse effects, nonspecific distribution, and low sensitivity. Because of their high biocompatibility, tunable designability, controllable biodegradation, facile synthesis, and modification capability, the polymers have demonstrated great potential for efficient delivery of iodinated contrast agents (ICAs).

Strategies and applications of covalent organic frameworks as promising nanoplatforms in cancer therapy.

Cancer nanomedicine is the best option to face the limits of conventional chemotherapy and phototherapy methods, and thus the intensive quest for new nanomaterials to improve therapeutic efficacy and safety is still underway. Owing to their low density, well-defined structures, large surface area, finely tunable pore size, and metal ion free features, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been extensively studied in many research fields. The recent great interest in nanoscale COFs to improve the properties of bulk COFs has led to broadening of their applicability in the biomedical field, such as nanocarriers with an outstanding loading capacity and efficient delivery of therapeutic agents, smart theranostic nanoplatforms with excellent stability, high ROS generation, light-to-heat conversion capabilities, and different response and diagnostic characteristics.

Screening and Matching Amphiphilic Cationic Polymers for Efficient Antibiosis.

The amphiphilic cationic polymers that mimic antimicrobial peptides have received increasing attention due to their excellent antibacterial activity. However, the relationship between the structure of cationic polymers and its antibacterial effect remains unclear. In our current work, a series of PEG blocked amphiphilic cationic polymers composed of hydrophobic alkyl-modified and quaternary ammonium salt (QAS) moieties have been prepared.

Multi-transformable nanocarrier with tumor extracellular acidity-activated charge reversal, size reduction and ligand reemergence for in vitro efficient doxorubicin loading and delivery.

Various nanoparticles as drug delivery system provide significant improvements in the cancer treatment. However, their clinical success remains elusive in large part due to their inability to overcome both systemic and tumor tissue barriers. The nanosystems with nanoproperty-transformability (surface, size, stability and target) hold great promise for achieving enhanced delivery efficacy.

Layer-by-layer zwitterionic modification of diverse substrates with durable anti-corrosion and anti-fouling properties.

A versatile coating strategy, which is suitable for the anti-corrosion and anti-fouling modification of chemically distinct substrates, is crucial in many industries. The immobilization of zwitterionic polymers onto the surface has been proven to be an excellent approach for the improvement of antibiofouling potency. However, the anti-corrosion property has not always been considered simultaneously.