Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) plays an important role in skeleton formation and bone remodeling. Synthetic HAP is similar to naturally occurring HAP and has been widely used in orthopedic and dental implantation. While it is known nano-HAP easily aggregates at high concentrations, the intracellular fate and mechanisms-of-action of dispersed nano-HAP in osteoblast differentiation remain to be fully elucidated. In the present study, we treated the osteoblast cell line MC3T3E1 with autoclaved nano-HAP and added sodium hexametaphosphate to control nanoparticle agglomeration...

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been used in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with ischemic diseases, such as myocardial infarction and limb ischemia, as they could secrete angiogenic growth factors and promote neovascularization. However, the clinical employment of EPC therapy relies on the establishment of a noninvasive, timely, effective, and safe assessment system. In this study, we recruited superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to track EPCs in vitro ...

So far, epidemiological data have revealed that the elevation of fine ambient particulate matter (aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μ m; PM2.5) is closely associated with an exacerbation of asthma while the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Using a murine model, we investigated the impact of PM2.5 on the development of asthma. Before OVA challenge, mice were administrated with PM2.5, phosphate-buffer saline (PBS) or control filter extracts (CFE). Results showed that compared to PBS or CSF, PM2.5 co-exposure with OVA led to a higher airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and a severer eosinophils infiltration...

Efficient intracellular delivery of bioactive compounds into cancer cells is critically important for treatment, as some compounds only validate for therapy after entering cancer cells. The boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) applies thermal neutron irradiation to react with 10 B-compounds that existed inside cancer cells to generate secondary killing irradiations to eradicate cancer cells. The effective distance of the emitted secondary killing irradiations is as long as a cellular diameter, which requires the cellular uptake of 10 B-compounds for efficient tumor BNCT...

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is a protypical nanorod-shaped bioparticles that has been used as a building block to construct a variety of self-assembled nanomaterials for different biomedical applications, including drug delivery, in vivo imaging, tumor immunotherapy and tissue engineering. In this work, the roles of TMV and its mutant TMV-RGD1 nanoparticles on the differentiation of human bone marrow stem cells (hBMSCs), an important process in bone regeneration, were carefully investigated. We observed that cells cultured on the TMV-RGD1 nanorods coated substrate showed significantly higher levels of gene and protein expression of osteo-specific markers osteocalcin (OCN) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2)...

Based on molecular targeting, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an ideal noninvasive approach for tumor diagnosis. Construction of targeting probes to enhance the MRI efficacy has become a research hotspot recently. In this study, magnetic endoglin aptamer (mEND) imaging nanoprobes based on mEND-modified magnetic carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) nanoparticles (denoted mEND-Fe₃O₄@CMCS) were developed. The mEND-Fe₃O₄@CMCS naoprobe was prepared using mEND as the recognition molecule and Fe₃O₄@CMCS as the carrier to enhance the MRI efficacy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)...

In this study, we aimed to investigate the in vitro impacts and mechanisms of graphene oxide (GO) nanocolloids on autophagy in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Our results showed that GO nanocolloids treatment induced autophagosome accumulation in mESCs. In addition, we found that this effect was mediated by the blockade of autophagic flux rather than autophagic induction, as evidenced by the elevated autophagic substrate SQSTM1/p62 level and LC3B turn over. Moreover, our data further revealed that GO nanocolloids disrupted autophagic flux by impairing lysosomal function, including lysosomal alkalinization and lysosome membrane permeabilization...

Bufalin has significant antitumor effects on various kinds of tumors. However, bufalin's clinical utility is severely limited because of its side effects, toxicity, and fast metabolism. We made bufalin-loaded, targeted nanospheres with the aim of overcoming bufalin's limitations. Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-modified nanospheres with encapsulated bufalin showed increased toxicity in colorectal cancer cells, inhibition of cell proliferation, and induction of apoptosis relative to the non-EGF-modified nanospheres...

Nanoparticles have great promise in drug delivery, but their functional mechanisms are very complicated. Monitoring the payloads or carriers by conventional labeling strategies may result in an inaccurate perception of the effectiveness of nano drug delivery systems (NDDSs). A GSH/ATP dual-responsive fluorescence enhancement probe was developed by manipulating the electron transfer pathways of surface-modified quantum dots (QDs). Because the intracellular concentrations of GSH and ATP are one hundred times greater than those in the extracellular environment, the intracellular drug release process could be observed by the fluorescence signal of this probe after it is loaded into NDDSs as drug simulants...

Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death in men worldwide. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new emerging and promising strategy for the treatment of prostate cancer. PDT uses a combination of light and a photosensitizer (PS) to kill cancer cells. However, most photosensitizers (PS) accumulate in normal tissues, in particular the skin and eyes, and can be activated by sunlight, causing severe side effects such as prolonged skin photosensitivity that have limited the clinical application of PDT. Herein, a novel strategy is presented to overcome these limitations using Indocyanine green (ICG) as an activatable PDT agent...

In this study, hollow mesoporous ferrite nanoparticles (HMFNs) were prepared. It showed a spherical morphology with a diameter about 320 nm, with a negatively charged surface, and with a great superparamagnetic property. Negative charge attribute to the free -OH group of the HMFNs shell, which improved nanoparticles hydrophilic and biocompatibility. Superparamagnetic property could avoids particle agglomeration. The particles were shown to be internalized into the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in vitro ...

Nanomaterials-based drug delivery systems display potent applications in cancer therapy. We synthesized a novel anticancer drug, nano-gold loaded with resveratrol (Res-GNPs), which were characterized using UV-Prove, zetasizer and transmission electron microscope. MTT assay, flow cytometry, TUNEL, immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis were performed to explore the antitumor activity of Res-GNPs in liver cancer cells and tumor xenografts. Res-GNPs showed a stronger effect on inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis in Hepg2 cells than that of free Res...

Due to the significant role of the periosteum in bone regeneration, we fabricated a novel twin-fiber membrane with antibacterial and osteo-inductive properties as an artificial periosteum by a double spinneret electrospinning method. The antibacterial drug moxifloxacin (MOX) and Chinese medicine icariin (ICA) were introduced into PCL/gelatin and PCL micro/nano fibers respectively to endow the membrane with antibacterial and osteoinduction properties. The twin-fiber structure membrane not only acted as carriers for two different drugs with drastically different solubility in the same fiber membrane, but also achieved stepwise and controlled drug release profiles based on different degradation rates of the two fibers matrix and diffusion rates of the two drugs...

Microwave ablation is emerging as an effective local treatment for solid tumors. The efficiency of microwave ablation in treating hepatocellular carcinoma is evidently limited by the incomplete ablation of large tumors and tumors in high-risk locations. Microwave ablation in conjunction with localized chemotherapy is a promising strategy for cancer therapy. In this study, we prepared As₂O₃-mPEG-PLGA-PLL nanoparticles by double emulsion method and investigated their efficacy to eliminate residual cancer cells and inhibit lung metastasis after microwave ablation of hepatic VX2 tumor...

Engraftment of tissue-engineered bone plays a pivotal role in the treatment of large bone defects. However, promoting thorough vascularization in the central area of tissue-engineered constructs remains a great challenge for clinical application. Here, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) co-culture system using biphasic calcium phosphate bioceramic (BCPB) scaffold seeded with rabbit peripheral blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PB-MSCs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) to improve new bone formation and vascularization for long bone segmental defects...

Iohexol is a commonly used second generation non-ionic iodinated contrast agent with a multitude of advantages such as low osmolarity and competent intravenous countenance having minimum adverse reactions. Our study anticipated to improve the efficacy of Iohexol as a contrast enhancing agent for Computed Tomography, by envisaging bio-compatible albumin based Iohexol nanoparticles. This nanoparticulate system was developed primarily to enhance the anatomic imaging while increasing its residence time in the blood pool...

Due to the special magnetic performance and nano-size, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIOs) have been extensively investigated in cancer diagnosis and therapy, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), drug delivery, magnetic hyperthermia treatment, and so on. The development of nanomedicine brings challenges and innovations to magnetic materials, multifunction and integration become a kind of trend for material designs. Recent studies show that cancer-targeted MRI and drug delivery, or MRI-guided drug delivery and magnetic hyperthermia treatment in vivo , external magnetic field guided MRI, drug delivery and magnetic hyperthermia treatment in vitro , had become the research hotpots...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Alternative antibody (aptamer)-based biosensors are attracting increasing attention owing to advantages such as simplicity and low cost, which are beneficial for point-of-care diagnosis, particularly where resources are limited. In this study based on in silico modeling predictions made with Autodock Vina, the binding affinity of an optimized novel peptide (Pf_P1: KITTTDEEVEGIFD) was altered compared to that of the original epitope peptide (P1: KITDEEVEGIFDC). The binding energy of Pf_P1 implies that it has stronger interactions with Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) than with human LDH...