Probing the interaction at nano-bio interface using synchrotron radiation-based analytical techniques

Understanding the interactions of nanomaterials(NMs) with biomolecules, organelles, cells, and organic tissues at the nano-bio interface can offer important information for their uptake, distribution, translocation, metabolism and degradation in vitro and in vivo, which can help to precisely tune and design "smart" NMs for biomedical applications. However, probing the interactions at the nano-bio interface, which generally requires dedicated analytical methods and tools, is remarkably complicated due to the dynamically changed nature of the nano-bio interface. Because of the advantages of high spatial resolution, high sensitivity, excellent accuracy, low matrix effects and non-destructiveness, synchrotron radiation(SR)-based analytical techniques have become extremely valuable tools. Herein, we present a comprehensive overview of SR-based techniques for the visualized study of NMs at cellular and subcellular interfaces and their transformation in vitro; the exploration of biodistribution, translocation, metabolism and degradation of NMs in vivo; and clarification of the molecular mechanisms of NMs' reactions with biomolecules. Rapid development of advanced light source means that in situ, real-time analysis of NMs at the nano-bio interface will be achieved.     

石墨烯材料与模拟生物膜界面相互作用的研究进展

石墨烯材料在生物领域的蓬勃发展使其纳米生物界面研究已成为纳米生物学研究的热点方向。生物膜是石墨烯材料进入生物体系环境中的第一道屏障,深入理解石墨烯材料与磷脂膜间的相互作用,对于石墨烯基生物材料的功能界面优化设计和生物学效应控制具有极为重要的意义。本文对石墨烯材料进行了简要介绍,系统总结了近几年石墨烯材料与模拟生物膜相互作用的研究进展,并对其研究方向进行了展望。     

无机纳米晶-生物界面作用的分子机制

无机纳米晶材料以其独特的光、电、磁、力学性质,成为疾病诊断与治疗功能的关键材料.本文总结了无机纳米晶的表面化学活性、离子释放性、晶相结构、晶格缺陷、表面吸附和表面修饰等与尺寸相关的理化性质与生物效应之间的关系.综述了无机纳米晶与蛋白质、磷脂生物膜间的界面相互作用,探讨了纳米晶-生物界面作用的分子机理.这有助于理解无机纳米晶的生物行为和毒理性质,指导设计安全、高效的纳米晶生物医学材料.     

Electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymers: perceptions based on recent literature for soon-to-be world-class scientists

Electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymers (e-MIPs) are interesting selective electrochemically produced materials that imitate biological antibody–antigen systems. This review of recent developments (2018–2020) on the application of e-MIPs in analytical chemistry introduces beginners to this promising field of research, describing their development, common functional monomers, applied characterization techniques, and the instrumental detection techniques used. However, it also intends to tell experienced readers some of the advances and trends: the use of graphene and nanomaterials, recurring to synergetic computational studies (to predict and understand polymerization and molecular imprinted polymer–analyte interactions), the simultaneous detection of more than one analyte, multiplex e-MIP systems, enzymatic template removal, using epitopes as templates for large molecules and bacteria, or the application of electrochemical tags.     

Miniaturized sample preparation and separation methods for environmental and drug analyses.

Miniaturized extraction and separation media have been successfully developed from precisely controlled technologies. In this article, recent developments in these high performance analytical methods, such as miniaturized sample preparation methods and the coupling of these techniques with microscale separation systems, have been reviewed, along with some applications to environmental and biological analysis. The advantage of the miniaturization is not only for the environmental compatibility but also for the developments of the high performance analytical systems. Down-sizing also makes it possible to investigate and introduce various compounds and materials as novel media (such as tailor-made materials and devices) in separation science. As a typical example of the novel miniaturized sample preparation system, the applications of fibrous materials for microcolumn liquid-phase separation methods are described.     

Optical molecular imaging for systems biology: from molecule to organism

The development of highly efficient analytical methods capable of probing biological systems at system level is an important task that is required in order to meet the requirements of the emerging field of systems biology. Optical molecular imaging (OMI) is a very powerful tool for studying the temporal and spatial dynamics of specific biomolecules and their interactions in real time in vivo. In this article, recent advances in OMI are reviewed extensively, such as the development of molecular probes that make imaging brighter, more stable and more informative (e.g., FPs and semiconductor nanocrystals, also referred to as quantum dots), the development of imaging approaches that provide higher resolution and greater tissue penetration, and applications for measuring biological events from molecule to organism level, including gene expression, protein and subcellular compartment localization, protein activation and interaction, and low-mass molecule dynamics. These advances are of great significance in the field of biological science and could also be applied to disease diagnosis and pharmaceutical screening. Further developments in OMI for systems biology are also proposed.     

Studies of the interface of conducting polymers with inorganic surfaces

Many of the properties of multi-material systems and relevant devices depend on the interfaces between the different components. This review focuses on characterization of the interfaces between intrinsically conducting polymers and inorganic materials consisting of metals and metal oxides. These materials are chosen because of their importance in several analytical applications. Although use of conducting polymers and metals or metal oxides in analytical systems, specifically in sensing, is well established, the number of novel materials used for analytical purposes is continuously increasing. This further increases the possible number of effective combinations of different materials within multicomponent systems. As a consequence, innovative characterization techniques have become as important as more conventional techniques. On the other hand, sophisticated characterisation techniques are increasingly widespread and, consequently, also readily accessible. This critical review is not an exhaustive discussion of all possible analytical techniques suitable for characterization of interfaces. It is, instead, limited to an overview of the most effective, relatively widespread techniques, emphasising their most significant recent advances. Critical analysis of the individual techniques is complemented by a few selected examples.     

Advances in the separation,sensitive detection,and characterization of heparin and heparan sulfate

Elucidation of the relationship between the structure and biological function of the glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) heparin and heparan sulfate (HS) presents an important analytical challenge mainly due to the difficulty in determining their fine structure. Heparin and HS are responsible for mediation of a wide range of biological actions through specific binding to a variety of proteins including those involved in blood coagulation, cell proliferation, differentiation and adhesion, and host–pathogen interactions. Therefore, there is a growing interest in characterizing the microstructure of heparin and HS and in elucidating the molecular level details of their interaction with peptides and proteins. This review discusses recent developments in the analytical methods used for sensitive separation, detection, and structural characterization of heparin and HS. A brief discussion of the analysis of contaminants in pharmaceutical heparin is also presented.     

Recent Developments in Spectrophotometric Methods for Determination of Vanadium

Owing to the toxic and essential nature of vanadium in biological systems, there has been considerable interest in the determination of its content in different kinds of samples. Among several analytical techniques for the determination of vanadium, spectrophotometric methods are very popular due to their simplicity and low-cost instrumentation. Various attempts have been made to modify these methods in order to improve their sensitivity and selectivity. This review shows recent developments in the spectrophotometric determination of vanadium and highlights those which can be used for speciation analysis of this element.     

Recent developments in the analysis of brominated flame retardants and brominated natural compounds

This article reviews recent literature on the analysis of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and brominated natural compounds (BNCs). The main literature sources are reviews from the last five years and research articles reporting new analytical developments published between 2003 and 2006. Sample pretreatment, extraction, clean-up and fractionation, injection techniques, chromatographic separation, detection methods, quality control and method validation are discussed. Only few new techniques, such as solid-phase microextraction (SPME) or pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), have been investigated for their ability of combining the extraction and clean-up steps. With respect to the separation of BFRs, the most important developments were the use of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and the growing tendency for liquid-chromatographic techniques for hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) stereoisomers and of tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A). At the detection stage, mass spectrometry (MS) has been developed as well-established and reliable technology in the identification and quantification of BFRs. A growing attention has been paid to quality assurance. Interlaboratory exercises directed towards BFRs have grown in popularity and have enabled laboratories to validate analytical methods and to guarantee the quality of their results. The analytical procedures used for the identification and characterization of several classes of BNCs, such as methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-PBDEs) (also metabolites of PBDEs), halogenated methyl or dimethyl bipyrroles (DBPs), are reviewed here for the first time. These compounds were generally identified during the routine analysis of BFRs and have received little attention until recently. For each topic, an overview is presented of its current status.     

亲和毛细管电泳技术在蛋白质-DNA相互作用研究中的应用

蛋白质-DNA的相互作用在决定细胞命运的许多过程中发挥重要作用,对蛋白质-DNA相互作用的分子机制研究有利于对基本生命过程的理解,为相关疾病的临床治疗及药物筛选提供理论指导。另一方面,利用一些已知的蛋白质-DNA相互作用可以帮助开发先进的生物工程和生命分析技术,为相关研究提供有力的技术支持。因此,建立灵敏、快速的分析方法用于表征蛋白质-DNA的相互作用十分重要。高效毛细管电泳(capillary electrophoresis, CE)技术因其超高的分离效率、极低的样品消耗与较短的分析时间等优势被广泛应用于化学、生命科学和环境科学等多个研究领域。其中,亲和毛细管电泳(affinity capillary electrophoresis, ACE)技术已经成为考察分子间相互作用的重要研究工具。这篇文章综述了亲和毛细管电泳技术自建立以来在蛋白质-DNA相互作用分析方面的研究进展,并对经典的研究工作进行了着重介绍,主要包括三方面的内容:(1)亲和毛细管电泳技术简介;(2)利用亲和毛细管电泳技术进行蛋白质-DNA相互作用的基础分子机制研究;(3)利用已知的蛋白质-DNA相互作用发展针对目标分子...     

Thermal Analysis,Microcalorimetry and Combined Techniques for the Study of Pharmaceuticals

Modern thermal analysis, microcalorimetry and new emerging combined techniques which deliver calorimetric, microscopic and spectroscopic data offer a powerful analytical battery for the study of pharmaceuticals. These techniques are very useful in all steps of development of new drug products as well as methods for quality control in production. The characterization of raw materials enables to understand the relationships between polymorphs, solvates and hydrates and to choose the proper development of new drug products with very small amount of material in a very short time. Information on stability, purity is valuable for new entities as well as for marketed drug substances from different suppliers. Excipients which vary from single organic or inorganic entity to complexes matrixes or polymers need to be characterized and properly controlled. The thermodynamic phase-diagrams are the basis of the studies of drug-excipients interactions. They are very useful for the development of new delivery systems. A great number of new formulations need proper knowledge of the behaviour of the glass transition temperature of the components. Semi-liquid systems, interactions in aqueous media are also successfully studied by these techniques. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Electrochemical study of dopamine and noradrenaline at the water/1,6-dichlorohexane interface

Interfaces between two immiscible electrolyte solutions are recognized as a simplified model for biological systems and they can be of great relevance to the characterization of biomolecules and their role in biological systems. In this work, ion transfer and facilitated ion transfer of protonated catecholamines (dopamine and noradrenaline) by dibenzo-18-crown-6 are investigated at the water/1,6-dichlorohexane interface. The formation constant of the complex between both dopamine and noradrenaline with dibenzo-18-crown-6 was evaluated and the experimental conditions for the analytical determination of those catecholamines are established. These results can improve the understanding of the pharmacodynamics of the catecholamines, and contribute to the study of their interaction with biological membranes. Furthermore it can be used to develop an alternative method for the determination of neural signal transmission catecholamines.     

Fractionation and characterization of nano- and microparticles in liquid media

Submicron and micron particles present in liquid environmental, biological, and technological samples differ in their dimensions, shape, mass, chemical composition, and charge. Their properties cannot be reliably studied unless the particles are fractionated. Synthetic particles applied as components of analytical systems may also need preliminary fractionation and investigation. The review is focused on the methods for fractionation and characterization of nanoparticles and microparticles in liquid media, the most representative examples of their application, and the trends in developing novel approaches to the separation and investigation of particles. Among the separation techniques, the main attention is devoted to membrane filtration, field-flow fractionation, chromatographic, and capillary electrokinetic methods. Microfluidic systems employing the above-mentioned and other separation principles and providing a basis for the fabrication of lab-on-chip devices are also examined. Laser light scattering methods and other physical techniques for the characterization of particles are considered. Special attention is given to “hyphenated” techniques which enable the separation and characterization of particles to be performed in online modes.     

Interactions of amphiphilic block copolymers with lipid model membranes

Studies on interactions between amphiphilic block copolymers and lipid membranes have been focused traditionally on ABA triblock copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide), widely due to their commercial availability. However, new architectures of amphiphilic block copolymer have been synthesized in recent years partially taking advantage of new polymerization techniques. This review focuses on amphiphilic block copolymers with potential biological activity and on model membrane systems used for studying interactions with such block copolymers. Experimental methods to study block copolymer–phospholipid interactions in Langmuir monolayers, liposomes, and planar bilayers are summarized. This work is intended to convey a better understanding of amphiphilic block copolymers used for in vitro and in vivo experiments in medicine and pharmacy. Recent developments and open questions are addressed.     

Automation and Standardization—A Coupled Approach towards Reproducible Sample Preparation Protocols for Nanomaterial Analysis

Whereas the characterization of nanomaterials using different analytical techniques is often highly automated and standardized, the sample preparation that precedes it causes a bottleneck in nanomaterial analysis as it is performed manually. Usually, this pretreatment depends on the skills and experience of the analysts. Furthermore, adequate reporting of the sample preparation is often missing. In this overview, some solutions for techniques widely used in nano-analytics to overcome this problem are discussed. Two examples of sample preparation optimization by automation are presented, which demonstrate that this approach is leading to increased analytical confidence. Our first example is motivated by the need to exclude human bias and focuses on the development of automation in sample introduction. To this end, a robotic system has been developed, which can prepare stable and homogeneous nanomaterial suspensions amenable to a variety of well-established analytical methods, such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), field-flow fractionation (FFF) or single-particle inductively coupled mass spectrometry (sp-ICP-MS). Our second example addresses biological samples, such as cells exposed to nanomaterials, which are still challenging for reliable analysis. An air–liquid interface has been developed for the exposure of biological samples to nanomaterial-containing aerosols. The system exposes transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids under reproducible conditions, whilst also allowing characterization of aerosol composition with mass spectrometry. Such an approach enables correlative measurements combining biological with physicochemical analysis. These case studies demonstrate that standardization and automation of sample preparation setups, combined with appropriate measurement processes and data reduction are crucial steps towards more reliable and reproducible data.     

New methods for nanotoxicology: synchrotron radiation-based techniques

Nanotoxicology, a new branch of bionanoscience, deals with the study and application of the toxic or biological effects of nanomaterials or nanostructures, and aims to fill gaps in our knowledge of interactions between nano- and biosystems. However, progress in this new discipline largely relies on developing methodology to characterize nanomaterials in biological samples, quantify nanoparticles in living systems, and study their uptake, translocation, biodistribution, location and chemical status in vitro and in vivo, etc. In this review article, we focus on the main features of synchrotron radiation-based methods and their application to the study of the toxicological activities of nanomaterials. Synchrotron radiation-based analytical techniques are shown to provide a potent means for characterizing the toxic or biological behaviors of nanoparticles in biological systems.     

Apoptosis Evaluation by Electrochemical Techniques

Apoptosis has close relevance to pathology, pharmacology, and toxicology. Accurate and convenient detection of apoptosis would be beneficial for biological study, clinical diagnosis, and drug development. Based on distinct features of apoptotic cells, a diversity of analytical techniques have been exploited for sensitive analysis of apoptosis, such as surface plasmon resonance, electrochemical methods, flow cytometry, and some imaging assays. Among them, the features of simplicity, easy operation, low cost, and high sensitivity make electrochemical techniques powerful tools to investigate electron‐transfer processes of in vitro biological systems. In this contribution, a general overview of current knowledge on various technical approaches for apoptosis evaluation is provided. Furthermore, recently developed electrochemical biosensors for detecting apoptotic cells and their advantages over traditional methods are summarized. One of the main considerations focuses on designing the recognition elements based on various biochemical events during apoptosis.     

Study of silver nanoparticle-hemoglobin interaction and composite formation

Nanoscience is now an expanding field of research and finds potential application in biomedical area, but it is limited due to lack of comprehensive knowledge of the interactions operating in nano-bio system. Here, we report the studies on the interaction and formation of nano-bio complex between silver nanoparticle (AgNP) and human blood protein hemoglobin (Hb). We have employed several spectroscopic (absorption, emission, Raman, FTIR, CD, etc.) and electron diffraction techniques (FE-SEM and HR-TEM) to characterize the Hb-AgNP complex system. Our results show the Hb-AgNP interaction is concentration and time dependent. The AgNP particle can attach/come closer to heme, tryptophan, and amide as well aromatic amine residues. As a result, the Hb undergoes conformational change and becomes unfolded through the increment of β-sheet structure. The AgNP-Hb can form charge-transfers (CT) complex where the Hb-heme along with the AgNP involved in the electron transfer mechanism and form Hb-AgNP assembled structure. The electron transfer mechanism has been found to be dependent on the size of silver particle. The overall study is important in understanding the nano-bio system and in predicting the avenues to design and synthesis of novel nano-biocomposite materials in material science and biomedical area.