Fluorescent Silicon-based Nanomaterials Imaging Technology in Diseases

Fluorescence imaging analysis of microscale dynamic process (e.g., metabolism, mitosis, endocytosis, exocytosis, etc.) is of particular significance to study the related pathogenesis and design the intracellular drug delivery systems. Owing to unique physical, chemical and/or biological properties, silicon(Si)-based nanomaterials have been employed to design and construct diffe-rent types of nanoprobes for the imaging analysis of diseases. Thus, we herein present an overview of recent advances in fluorescent silicon nanomaterials imaging technology for analyzing and diagno-sing diseases. Firstly, we mainly introduce the construction of Si nanomaterials-based bioprobes for long-term fluorescence imaging analysis of cancer-related biological information, such as tumour cells, biomarkers and nanocarriers. Afterwards, we focus on the Si nanomaterials-based imaging technology for monitoring the dynamic process of pathological changes of various ocular diseases (e.g., ocular angiogenesis, bacterial keratitis, etc.). Then, we outline the construction of Si-based nanoprobes and their applications in simultaneously imaging and treating the bacteria-induced diseases caused by broad-spectrum bacteria-related pathogens. Finally, we further discuss the major challenges and prospects for developing silicon-based fluorescence imaging technology.     

Recent Development of Brain Organoids for Biomedical Application

Over the years, scientists have studied the behavior and anatomy of many animals to understand the own species. However, despite the continuous efforts, it is often difficult to know for certain how the brain works due to the differences between the brains of animals and the human brain. While the use of animal models for research continues, the origin of human cognition and neurological disorders needs further elucidation. To that end, in vitro organoids that exhibit in vivo characteristics of the human brain have been recently developed. These brain-like organoids enable researchers to dive deeper into understanding the human brain, its neurological structures, and the causes of neurological pathologies. This paper reviews the recent developments in the regeneration of brain-like organoids using Matrigel and other alternatives. Further, gel-free methods that may enhance the regeneration process of organoids are discussed. Finally, the vascularized brain organoid growth and development in both in vitro and in vivo conditions are detailed.     

基于微生物体系合成无机纳米材料的研究进展

无机纳米材料在能源、生物医学等领域应用非常广泛,过去几十年间关于无机纳米材料合成方法的研究一直受到广泛关注。自然界中普遍存在的生物矿化过程赋予了生物体合成含有特殊结构和功能的无机纳米材料的能力。微生物体系合成的无机纳米材料具有环境友好、成本低廉、生物相容性好等优点,正成为纳米材料科学的一个重要研究领域。我们主要聚焦于微生物体系合成无机纳米材料的机理、影响因素、材料分类及其应用,总结了近年来关于微生物体系合成无机纳米材料的研究历程,并对该领域面临的挑战及未来的发展方向进行了展望。     

The Peptide Functionalized Inorganic Nanoparticles for Cancer-Related Bioanalytical and Biomedical Applications

In order to improve their bioapplications, inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are usually functionalized with specific biomolecules. Peptides with short amino acid sequences have attracted great attention in the NP functionalization since they are easy to be synthesized on a large scale by the automatic synthesizer and can integrate various functionalities including specific biorecognition and therapeutic function into one sequence. Conjugation of peptides with NPs can generate novel theranostic/drug delivery nanosystems with active tumor targeting ability and efficient nanosensing platforms for sensitive detection of various analytes, such as heavy metallic ions and biomarkers. Massive studies demonstrate that applications of the peptide–NP bioconjugates can help to achieve the precise diagnosis and therapy of diseases. In particular, the peptide–NP bioconjugates show tremendous potential for development of effective anti-tumor nanomedicines. This review provides an overview of the effects of properties of peptide functionalized NPs on precise diagnostics and therapy of cancers through summarizing the recent publications on the applications of peptide–NP bioconjugates for biomarkers (antigens and enzymes) and carcinogens (e.g., heavy metallic ions) detection, drug delivery, and imaging-guided therapy. The current challenges and future prospects of the subject are also discussed.     

模板法制备无机纳米材料的研究进展

模板法在无机纳米材料的制备过程中能够有效地控制形貌、粒径和结构,已成为合成无机纳米材料的前沿方法。综述了模板法制备无机纳米材料的研究进展,主要介绍了硬模板剂(多孔阳极氧化铝、介孔碳)和软模板剂(高分子聚合物、生物高分子)的制备及其应用,结合模板法的作用机制,重点论述了不同种类的模板剂在无机纳米材料制备过程中对于形貌的影响。并对模板法制备无机纳米材料的前景和现存问题进行了总结。参考文献35篇。     

Fluorination Enhances NIR-II Fluorescence of Polymer Dots for Quantitative Brain Tumor Imaging

Here, we describe a fluorination strategy for semiconducting polymers for the development of highly bright second near-infrared region (NIR-II) probes. Tetrafluorination yielded a fluorescence QY of 3.2 % for the polymer dots (Pdots), over a 3-fold enhancement compared to non-fluorinated counterparts. The fluorescence enhancement was attributable to a nanoscale fluorous effect in the Pdots that maintained the molecular planarity and minimized the structure distortion between the excited state and ground state, thus reducing the nonradiative relaxations. By performing through-skull and through-scalp imaging of the brain vasculature of live mice, we quantitatively analyzed the vascular morphology of transgenic brain tumors in terms of the vessel lengths, vessel branches, and vessel symmetry, which showed statistically significant differences from the wild type animals. The bright NIR-II Pdots obtained through fluorination chemistry provide insightful information for precise diagnosis of the malignancy of the brain tumor.     

同步辐射X射线成像技术在脑成像研究中的应用

脑疾病的诊疗、 探索高级脑功能机制和理解意识本源对脑科学研究具有重要意义. 成像技术在阐明脑科学神经系统结构和功能中发挥了重要作用. 迄今, 核磁共振成像、 光学成像和电子显微镜成像技术已为脑科学研究提供了强有力的手段, 取得了突出的进展. 同步辐射X射线显微成像技术具有高分辨率、 快成像速度和高穿透深度等优点, 是一类与已有技术互补的新型脑成像技术. 本文介绍了核磁共振波谱、 光学显微镜和电子显微镜等成像方法在脑成像领域中的应用, 重点阐述了同步辐射X射线成像的优势以及在脑结构成像和功能成像中的应用. 在此基础上, 展望了同步辐射X射线成像应用于脑科学研究的未来发展方向, 讨论了该技术在绘制人脑联接图谱中的优势及可行性.     

Advances in Electrostatic Spinning of Polymer Fibers Functionalized with Metal-Based Nanocrystals and Biomedical Applications

Considering the metal-based nanocrystal (NC) hierarchical structure requirements in many real applications, starting from basic synthesis principles of electrostatic spinning technology, the formation of functionalized fibrous materials with inorganic metallic and semiconductor nanocrystalline materials by electrostatic spinning synthesis technology in recent years was reviewed. Several typical electrostatic spinning synthesis methods for nanocrystalline materials in polymers are presented. Finally, the specific applications and perspectives of such electrostatic spun nanofibers in the biomedical field are reviewed in terms of antimicrobial fibers, biosensing and so on.     

多光谱光声层析成像及其在生物医学中的应用

多光谱光声层析成像(MSOT)技术是一种将多光谱成像与光声层析成像(PACT)技术相结合的新技术,该技术利用不同生物组织的光谱吸收特性,用多组不同波长的短脉冲激光照射组织以产生组织特异性的光声信号,从而更好地进行光声成像和组分识别。MSOT兼具光学成像的高灵敏度、高分辨率优势和超声成像可对数厘米深组织成像的长处,同时又能弥补光学成像深度有限和超声成像对比度差的短处,能够实现深层组织的高分辨率、高对比度、高穿透深度的实时无损伤成像。迄今为止,MSOT已应用于肿瘤内光吸收粒子的检测、血管结构和血液氧合作用的评价、生物荧光蛋白的成像以及乳腺癌患者检测的初步研究。随着光声成像系统的不断改进,MSOT与生物标记物(如荧光试剂、金纳米颗粒等)结合对体内分子进行成像,在生物医学中得到了广泛的应用。本文简要综述了MOST的成像原理、实验装置及其性能特点,着重总结了其在生物医学领域的最新应用进展,尤其是在新生血管成像、肿瘤的早期诊断及肿瘤的原位成像方面。     

Fluorous Tagged Peptides for Intracellular Delivery and Biomedical Imaging

Fluorous tagged peptides have shown promising features for biomedical applications such as drug delivery and multimodal imaging. The bioconjugation of fluoroalkyl ligands onto cargo peptides greatly enhances their proteolytic stability and membrane penetration via a proposed “fluorine effect”. The tagged peptides also efficiently deliver other biomolecules such as DNA and siRNA into cells via a co-assembly strategy. The fluoroalkyl chains on peptides with antifouling properties enable efficient gene delivery in the presence of serum proteins. Besides intracellular biomolecule delivery, the amphiphilic peptides can be used to stabilized perfluorocarbon-filled microbubbles for ultrasound imaging. The fluorine nucleus on fluoroalkyls provides intrinsic probes for background-free magnetic resonance imaging. Labeling of fluorous tags with radionuclide ¹⁸F also allows tracing the biodistribution of peptides via positron emission tomography imaging. This mini-review will discuss properties and mechanism of the fluorous tagged peptides in these applications.     

二维过渡金属硫族化合物在生物医学中的应用

二维过渡金属硫族化合物(TMDs)是继石墨烯纳米材料发展之后一类新型的二维纳米材料. 由于其特殊的物理化学性质, TMDs二维纳米材料在能源、光电器件、催化反应等多个领域引起了人们广泛的研究兴趣. 近年来这类材料在纳米生物医学方面也得到人们广泛的关注. 这篇综述简单介绍TMDs二维层状纳米材料的制备、表面修饰、生物成像、肿瘤治疗和毒理学研究, 并对二维TMDs纳米材料未来在生物医学领域的发展做出展望.     

纳米材料修饰电极在电化学分析中的应用研究进展

综述了纳米材料修饰电极在电化学分析中的应用研究.主要总结了国内外纳米金属材料、纳米金属氧化物材料、碳纳米管与碳纳米管复合物以及其他纳米材料在电化学分析中的应用研究,并指出了纳米材料修饰电极在电化学分析应用中存在的问题.     

Phosphonated Near‐Infrared Fluorophores for Biomedical Imaging of Bone

The conventional method for creating targeted contrast agents is to conjugate separate targeting and fluorophore domains. A new strategy is based on the incorporation of targeting moieties into the non‐delocalized structure of pentamethine and heptamethine indocyanines. Using the known affinity of phosphonates for bone minerals in a model system, two families of bifunctional molecules that target bone without requiring a traditional bisphosphonate are synthesized. With peak fluorescence emissions at approximately 700 or 800 nm, these molecules can be used for fluorescence‐assisted resection and exploration (FLARE) dual‐channel imaging. Longitudinal FLARE studies in mice demonstrate that phosphonated near‐infrared fluorophores remain stable in bone for over five weeks, and histological analysis confirms their incorporation into the bone matrix. Taken together, a new strategy for creating ultra‐compact, targeted near‐infrared fluorophores for various bioimaging applications is described.     

新型氧化锌纳米材料在电化学检测对硝基苯酚中的应用

通过溶剂热法控制合成了花生形氧化锌纳米材料,并利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线粉末衍射仪(XRD)和傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)对材料进行了表征和分析.循环伏安和Nyquist测试结果表明,该材料具有良好的电化学导电性,且对对硝基苯酚(p-NP)具有良好的选择性.侧分脉冲伏安法(DPV)测试结果表明,在p-NP浓度为0.8~24μmol/L和32~80μmol/L这2个浓度范围内,电流强度与浓度呈线性关系,通过3倍信噪比计算得出检测限分别为0.25和0.61μmol/L.该材料修饰的电极具有良好的稳定性和重现性,用于实际样品中p-NP含量的测定显示出优良的效果.     

Selective Electrochemical Detection of Explosives with Nanomaterial Based Electrodes

Explosive detection technologies play a critical role in maintaining national security, remain an active research field with many devices and analytical/electroanalytical techniques. Analytical chemistry needs for homeland defense against terrorism make it clear that real-time and on-site detection of explosives and chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are in urgent demand. Thus, current detection techniques for explosives have to be improved in terms of sensitivity and selectivity, opening the way to electrochemical devices suitable to obtain the targeted analytical information in a simpler, cheaper and faster way. For the electrochemical determination of energetic substances, a large number of sensor electrodes have been presented in literature using different modification materials, especially displaying higher selectivity with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). MIPs have already been utilized for the detection of hazardous materials due to their mechanical strength, flexibility, long-time storage and low cost. The sensitivity of MIP-based electrosensors can be enhanced by coupling with nanomaterials such as graphene oxide (GOx), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), or nanoparticles (NPs). Specific characteristics of involved nanomaterials, their modification, detection mechanism, and other analytical aspects are discussed in detail. Non-MIP electrosensors are generally functionalized with materials capable of charge transfer, H-bonding or electrostatic interactions with analytes for pre-concentration and electrocatalysis on their surface, whereas nanobio-electrosensors use analyte-selective aptamers having specific sequences of DNA, peptides or proteins to change the potential or current. This review intends to provide a combination of information related to MIPs and nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensors, limited to the most significant and illustrative work recently published.     

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.     

Biomedical Investigations of Biodegradable PHAs

This work is a review of the results of biomedical studies of polymer devices (films, fibers, microparticles, 3D implants) made from resorbable PHAs synthesized by the bacterium Wautersia (Ralstonia) eutropha B5786, using the technology developed at the Institute of Biophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Two types of PHAs – polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and a hydroxybutyrate/hydroxyvalerate copolymer (PHB/PHV) – have been proven to be biocompatible in vitro in cultures of fibroblasts, endothelial cells, hepatocytes, and osteoblasts, and in short- and long-duration experiments on animals. Polymer films and membranes have been found to be usable as scaffolds for functioning cells and monofilament suture fibers – for stitching muscular-fascial wounds and in abdominal surgery. Ectopic bone formation assay and experiments with the model of segmental osteotomy showed that 3D PHB and PHB/HA implants can be used for reparative osteogenesis. The paper reports beneficial results of using polymers to repair bone defects in oral surgery.     

基于树状大分子的SPECT成像造影剂的构建及其应用

树状大分子具有精准的化学结构,包括小分子内核、多分枝形成的内部空腔以及表面大量的官能团,可用于负载多种纳米颗粒及进行功能化修饰.此外,基于树状大分子的优异性能,具有良好的生物相容性及稳定性,经过功能化修饰后,其可在体内实现较长时间的血液循环和较高的组织特异性.因此,近年来常将树状大分子作为构建SPECT成像造影剂的理想...     

Cartilage‐Specific Near‐Infrared Fluorophores for Biomedical Imaging

A novel class of near‐infrared fluorescent contrast agents was developed. These agents target cartilage with high specificity and this property is inherent to the chemical structure of the fluorophore. After a single low‐dose intravenous injection and a clearance time of approximately 4 h, these agents bind to all three major types of cartilage (hyaline, elastic, and fibrocartilage) and perform equally well across species. Analysis of the chemical structure similarities revealed a potential pharmacophore for cartilage targeting. Our results lay the foundation for future improvements in tissue engineering, joint surgery, and cartilage‐specific drug development.     

磷光成像技术及其在肿瘤和视血管疾病诊断中的应用

本文简述了磷光成像技术的基本原理及其在肿瘤和其它与体内氧浓度变化有关的疾病的早期诊断中潜在的应用价值。并指出该技术尚存在的问题及今后研究的课题。