The future of gene therapy relies on the development of efficient and safe delivery vectors. Poly(β-amino ester)s are promising cationic polymers capable of condensing oligonucleotides into nanoparticles - polyplexes - and deliver them into the cell nucleus, where the gene material would be expressed. The complexation state during the crossing of biological barriers is crucial: polymers should tightly complex DNA before internalization and then release to allow free DNA to reach the nucleus. However, measuring the complexation state in cells is challenging due to the nanometric size of polyplexes and the difficulties to study the two components (polymer and DNA) independently. Here we propose a method to visualize and quantify the two components of a polyplex inside cells, with nanometre scale resolution, using two-colour direct stochastic reconstruction super-resolution microscopy (dSTORM). With our approach, we tracked the complexation state of pBAE polyplexes from cell binding to DNA release and nuclear entry revealing time evolution and the final fate of DNA and pBAE polymers in mammalian cells.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9nr02858g | DOI Listing |
Development
January 2025
Pediatric Genomics Discovery Program, Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
Emerging evidence suggests that the nuclear pore complex can have unique compositions and distinct nucleoporin functions in different cells. Here, we show that Nup107, a key component of the NPC scaffold, varies in expression over development: it is expressed at higher levels in the blastula compared to the gastrula suggesting a critical role prior to gastrulation. We find depletion of Nup107 affects the differentiation of the early germ layers leading to an expansion of the ectoderm at the expense of endoderm and mesoderm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Med Educ
January 2025
Department of Medical Education, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive MS 4061, WWAMI Medical Education, Moscow, ID, 83844-9803, United States, 1 5092090908.
Background: Medical students often struggle to engage with and retain complex pharmacology topics during their preclinical education. Traditional teaching methods can lead to passive learning and poor long-term retention of critical concepts.
Objective: This study aims to enhance the teaching of clinical pharmacology in medical school by using a multimodal generative artificial intelligence (genAI) approach to create compelling, cinematic clinical narratives (CCNs).
JMIR Serious Games
January 2025
Department of Interaction Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Rm.701-4, Design Building, No.1, Sec.3, Chung-hsiao E. Rd, Taipei, 10608, Taiwan, 886 912-595408, 886 2-87732913.
Background: Complications due to dysphagia are increasingly prevalent among older adults; however, the tediousness and complexity of conventional tongue rehabilitation treatments affect their willingness to rehabilitate. It is unclear whether integrating gameplay into a tongue training app is a feasible approach to rehabilitation.
Objective: Tongue training has been proven helpful for dysphagia treatment.
Adv Mater
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
New carbon-based materials (CMs) are recommended as attractively active materials due to their diverse nanostructures and unique electron transport pathways, demonstrating great potential for highly efficient energy storage applications, electrocatalysis, and beyond. Among these newly reported CMs, metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived CMs have achieved impressive development momentum based on their high specific surface areas, tunable porosity, and flexible structural-functional integration. However, obstacles regarding the integrity of porous structures, the complexity of preparation processes, and the precise control of active components hinder the regulation of precise interface engineering in CMs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYi Chuan
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
Since Darwin's era, speciation has been one of the most central issues in evolutionary biology studies. Understanding the processes of species origin is crucial in deepening our understanding of the formation of species biodiversity, which is essential for their protections. However, speciation research has been challenging due to the rather complex evolutionary histories of many extant species.
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