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1.
Electrochemically Exfoliated High-Quality 2H-MoS2 for Multiflake Thin Film Flexible Biosensors.
Zhang, P, Yang, S, Pineda-Gómez, R, Ibarlucea, B, Ma, J, Lohe, MR, Akbar, TF, Baraban, L, Cuniberti, G, Feng, X
Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany). 2019;(23):e1901265
Abstract
2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) gives a new inspiration for the field of nanoelectronics, photovoltaics, and sensorics. However, the most common processing technology, e.g., liquid-phase based scalable exfoliation used for device fabrication, leads to the number of shortcomings that impede their large area production and integration. Major challenges are associated with the small size and low concentration of MoS2 flakes, as well as insufficient control over their physical properties, e.g., internal heterogeneity of the metallic and semiconducting phases. Here it is demonstrated that large semiconducting MoS2 sheets (with dimensions up to 50 µm) can be obtained by a facile cathodic exfoliation approach in nonaqueous electrolyte. The synthetic process avoids surface oxidation thus preserving the MoS2 sheets with intact crystalline structure. It is further demonstrated at the proof-of-concept level, a solution-processed large area (60 × 60 µm) flexible Ebola biosensor, based on a MoS2 thin film (6 µm thickness) fabricated via restacking of the multiple flakes on the polyimide substrate. The experimental results reveal a low detection limit (in femtomolar-picomolar range) of the fabricated sensor devices. The presented exfoliation method opens up new opportunities for fabrication of large arrays of multifunctional biomedical devices based on novel 2D materials.
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2.
Elucidating the mechanism of the structure-dependent enzymatic activity of Fe-N/C oxidase mimics.
Wang, Y, Zhang, Z, Jia, G, Zheng, L, Zhao, J, Cui, X
Chemical communications (Cambridge, England). 2019;(36):5271-5274
Abstract
Herein, we develop an Fe-N/C-CNT nanomaterial with Fe-N3 units as a paradigm for excellent oxidase mimics by theoretical prediction and experimental implementation. The mechanism of the structure-dependent enzymatic activity is systematically investigated and elucidated from the perspective of the different configurations of M-Nx models (x = 0, 3, 4, and 5; M = Fe, Co, and Ni).
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3.
Enzyme mimetic activities of spinel substituted nanoferrites (MFe2O4): A review of synthesis, mechanism and potential applications.
Chaibakhsh, N, Moradi-Shoeili, Z
Materials science & engineering. C, Materials for biological applications. 2019;:1424-1447
Abstract
Recently, the intrinsic enzyme-like activities of some nanoscale materials known as "nanozymes" have become a growing area of interest. Nanosized spinel substituted ferrites (SFs) with general formula of MFe2O4, where M represents a transition metal, are among a group of magnetic nanomaterials attracting researchers' enormous attention because of their excellent catalytic performance, biomedical applications and capability for environmental remediation. Due to their unique nanoscale physical-chemical properties, they have been used to mimic the catalytic activity of natural enzymes such as peroxidases, oxidases and catalases. In addition, various nanocomposite materials based on SFs have been introduced as novel artificial enzymes. This review mainly highlights the synthetic approaches for newly developed SF-nanozymes and also the structural/experimental factors that are effective on the kinetics and catalytic mechanisms of enzyme-like reactions. SF-nanozymes have been found potentially capable of being applied in various fields such as enzyme-free immunoassays and biosensors for colorimetric detection of biological molecules. Therefore, the application of SF nanoparticles, as efficient enzyme mimetics have been detailed discussed.
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4.
Ultrasound-assisted preparation of different nanocarriers loaded with food bioactive ingredients.
Koshani, R, Jafari, SM
Advances in colloid and interface science. 2019;:123-146
Abstract
Developing green and facile approaches to produce nanostructures suitable for bioactives, nanoencapsulation faces some challenges in the nutraceutical and food bioactive industries due to potential risks arising from nanomaterials fabrication and consumption. High-intensity ultrasound is an effective technology to generate different bio-based structures in sub-micron or nanometer scale. This technique owing to some intrinsic advantages such as safety, straightforward operation, energy efficiency, and scale-up potential, as well as, ability to control over size and morpHology has stood out among various nanosynthetic routes. Ultrasonically-provided energy is mainly transferred to the droplets and particles via acoustic cavitation (which is formation, growth, and implosive collapse of bubbles in solvent). This review provides an outlook on the fundamentals of ultrasonication and some applicable setups in nanoencapsulation. Different kinds of nanostructures based on surfactants, lipids, proteins and carbohydrates formed by sonication, along with their advantages and disadvantages are assessed from the viewpoint of stability, particle size, and process impacts on some functionalities. The gastrointestinal fate and safety issues of ultrasonically prepared nanostructures are also discussed. Sonication, itself or in combination with other encapsulation approaches, alongside biopolymers generate nano-engineered carriers with enough stability, small particle sizes, and a low polydispersity. The nano-sized systems improve techno-functional activities of encapsulated bioactive agents including stability, solubility, dissolution, availability, controlled and targeted release profile in vitro and in vivo plus other bioactive properties such as antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities. Ultrasonically prepared nanocarriers show a great potential in fortifying food products with desired bioactive components, especially for the industrial applications.
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5.
Three-Dimensional and Chemical Mapping of Intracellular Signaling Nanodomains in Health and Disease with Enhanced Expansion Microscopy.
Sheard, TMD, Hurley, ME, Colyer, J, White, E, Norman, R, Pervolaraki, E, Narayanasamy, KK, Hou, Y, Kirton, HM, Yang, Z, et al
ACS nano. 2019;(2):2143-2157
Abstract
Nanodomains are intracellular foci which transduce signals between major cellular compartments. One of the most ubiquitous signal transducers, the ryanodine receptor (RyR) calcium channel, is tightly clustered within these nanodomains. Super-resolution microscopy has previously been used to visualize RyR clusters near the cell surface. A majority of nanodomains located deeper within cells have remained unresolved due to limited imaging depths and axial resolution of these modalities. A series of enhancements made to expansion microscopy allowed individual RyRs to be resolved within planar nanodomains at the cell periphery and the curved nanodomains located deeper within the interiors of cardiomyocytes. With a resolution of ∼ 15 nm, we localized both the position of RyRs and their individual phosphorylation for the residue Ser2808. With a three-dimensional imaging protocol, we observed disturbances to the RyR arrays in the nanometer scale which accompanied right-heart failure caused by pulmonary hypertension. The disease coincided with a distinct gradient of RyR hyperphosphorylation from the edge of the nanodomain toward the center, not seen in healthy cells. This spatial profile appeared to contrast distinctly from that sustained by the cells during acute, physiological hyperphosphorylation when they were stimulated with a β-adrenergic agonist. Simulations of RyR arrays based on the experimentally determined channel positions and phosphorylation signatures showed how the nanoscale dispersal of the RyRs during pathology diminishes its intrinsic likelihood to ignite a calcium signal. It also revealed that the natural topography of RyR phosphorylation could offset potential heterogeneity in nanodomain excitability which may arise from such RyR reorganization.
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6.
Nanotechnology in regenerative ophthalmology.
Sahle, FF, Kim, S, Niloy, KK, Tahia, F, Fili, CV, Cooper, E, Hamilton, DJ, Lowe, TL
Advanced drug delivery reviews. 2019;:290-307
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Abstract
In recent years, regenerative medicine is gaining momentum and is giving hopes for restoring function of diseased, damaged, and aged tissues and organs and nanotechnology is serving as a catalyst. In the ophthalmology field, various types of allogenic and autologous stem cells have been investigated to treat some ocular diseases due to age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy, and corneal and lens traumas. Nanomaterials have been utilized directly as nanoscaffolds for these stem cells to promote their adhesion, proliferation and differentiation or indirectly as vectors for various genes, tissue growth factors, cytokines and immunosuppressants to facilitate cell reprogramming or ocular tissue regeneration. In this review, we reviewed various nanomaterials used for retina, cornea, and lens regenerations, and discussed the current status and future perspectives of nanotechnology in tracking cells in the eye and personalized regenerative ophthalmology. The purpose of this review is to provide comprehensive and timely insights on the emerging field of nanotechnology for ocular tissue engineering and regeneration.
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7.
Nanoemulsion and Nanoliposome Based Strategies for Improving Anthocyanin Stability and Bioavailability.
Chen, BH, Stephen Inbaraj, B
Nutrients. 2019;(5)
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anthocyanins, a flavonoid class of water-soluble pigments, are reported to possess several biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer. However, anthocyanins are highly susceptible to degradation in high pH, light, heat, and oxygen during processing and storage. Conventional microencapsulation techniques fail to provide stability to anthocyanins under physiological environments mainly because of their large particle size as well as low zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency. METHODS Nanotechnology provides novel strategies for preparing nanoformulations to enhance the physicochemical stability of anthocyanins. Nanoemulsion and nanoliposome are the two most commonly used nanosystems in pharmaceutical and food-related fields. In this review, an overview of various nanoemulsion and nanoliposome systems reported recently for enhancing stability, bioavailability, and bioactivity of anthocyanins is presented. RESULTS Anthocyanin nanoemulsions with different oil, water, surfactant, and cosurfactant ratios were prepared from extracts of mangosteen peel, purple sweet potato, cranberry, red cabbage, blueberry, jaboticaba peel, and acai berry and evaluated for their antioxidant activity, enhancement of physicochemical stability, topical skin application, and urinary tract infection. Likewise, unilamellar and multilamellar nanoliposomes were prepared using different types and levels of lecithin without or with cholesterol from anthocyanin standards and extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa, mulberry, elderberry, black carrot, and pistachio green hull for the evaluation of physicochemical and oxidative stability, in vitro bioaccessibility, and melanogenic activity, as well as protective effects against diabetes mellitus and cataract. CONCLUSION This review provides an insight into the current nanotechnology updates on enhancement of anthocyanin stability and biological activity.
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8.
Biosensing methods for determination of creatinine: A review.
Pundir, CS, Kumar, P, Jaiwal, R
Biosensors & bioelectronics. 2019;:707-724
Abstract
Creatinine is a metabolic product of creatine phosphate in muscles, which provides energy to muscle tissues. Creatinine has been considered as indicator of renal function specifically after dialysis, thyroid malfunction and muscle damage. The normal level of creatinine in the serum and its excretion through urine in apparently healthy individuals is 45-140 μM and 0.8-2.0 gm/day respectively. The level of creatinine reaches >1000 μM in serum during renal, thyroid and kidney dysfunction or muscle disorder. A number of conventional methods such as colorimetric, spectrophotometric and chromatographic are available for determination of creatinine. Besides the advantages of being highly sensitive and selective, these methods have some drawbacks like time-consuming, requirement of sample pre-treatment, high cost instrumental set-up and skilled persons to operate. The sensors/biosensors overcome these drawbacks, as these are fast, easy, cost effective and highly sensitive. This review article describes the classification, operating principles, merits and demerits of various creatinine sensors/biosensors, specifically nanomaterials based biosensors. Creatinine biosensors work optimally within 2-900 s, potential range 0.1-1.0 V, pH range 4.0-10.0, temperature range 25-35 °C and had linear range, 0.004-30000 µM for creatinine with the detection limit between 0.01.01 µM and 520 µM. These biosensors measured creatinine level in sera and urine samples and had storage stability between 4 and 390 days, while being stored dry at 4 °C. The future perspective for further improvement and commercialization of creatinine biosensors are discussed.
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9.
Deciphering the Rules for Amino Acid Co-Assembly Based on Interlayer Distances.
Bera, S, Mondal, S, Tang, Y, Jacoby, G, Arad, E, Guterman, T, Jelinek, R, Beck, R, Wei, G, Gazit, E
ACS nano. 2019;(2):1703-1712
Abstract
Metabolite materials are extremely useful to obtain functional bioinspired assemblies with unique physical properties for various applications in the fields of material science, engineering, and medicine by self-assembly of the simplest biological building blocks. Supramolecular co-assembly has recently emerged as a promising extended approach to further expand the conformational space of metabolite assemblies in terms of structural and functional complexity. Yet, the design of synergistically co-assembled amino acids to produce tailor-made functional architectures is still challenging. Herein, we propose a design rule to predict the supramolecular co-assembly of naturally occurring amino acids based on their interlayer separation distances observed in single crystals. Using diverse experimental techniques, we demonstrate that amino acids with comparable interlayer separation strongly interact and co-assemble to produce structural composites distinctly different from their individual properties. However, such an interaction is hampered in a mixture of differentially layer-separated amino acids, which self-sort to generate individual characteristic structures. This study provides a different paradigm for the modular design of supramolecular assemblies based on amino acids with predictable properties.
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10.
A novel fluorescent biosensor based on dendritic DNA nanostructure in combination with ligase reaction for ultrasensitive detection of DNA methylation.
Zhang, S, Huang, J, Lu, J, Liu, M, Li, Y, Fang, L, Huang, H, Huang, J, Mo, F, Zheng, J
Journal of nanobiotechnology. 2019;(1):121
Abstract
BACKGROUND DNA methylation detection is indispensable for the diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases including malignancies. Hence, it is crucial to develop a simple, sensitive, and specific detection strategy. METHODS A novel fluorescent biosensor was developed based on a simple dual signal amplification strategy using functional dendritic DNA nanostructure and signal-enriching polystyrene microbeads in combination with ligase detection reaction (LDR). Dendritic DNA self-assembled from Y-DNA and X-DNA through enzyme-free DNA catalysis of a hairpin structure, which was prevented from unwinding at high temperature by adding psoralen. Then dendritic DNA polymer labeled with fluorescent dye Cy5 was ligated with reporter probe into a conjugate. Avidin-labeled polystyrene microbeads were specifically bound to biotin-labeled capture probe, and hybridized with target sequence and dendritic DNA. LDR was triggered by adding Taq ligase. When methylated cytosine existed, the capture probe and reporter probe labeled with fluorescent dye perfectly matched the target sequence, forming a stable duplex to generate a fluorescence signal. However, after bisulfite treatment, unmethylated cytosine was converted into uracil, resulting in a single base mismatch. No fluorescence signal was detected due to the absence of duplex. RESULTS The obtained dendritic DNA polymer had a large volume. This method was time-saving and low-cost. Under the optimal experimental conditions using avidin-labeled polystyrene microbeads, the fluorescence signal was amplified more obviously, and DNA methylation was quantified ultrasensitively and selectively. The detection range of this sensor was 10-15 to 10-7 M, and the limit of detection reached as low as 0.4 fM. The constructed biosensor was also successfully used to analyze actual samples. CONCLUSION This strategy has ultrasensitivity and high specificity for DNA methylation quantification, without requiring complex processes such as PCR and enzymatic digestion, which is thus of great value in tumor diagnosis and biomedical research.