Near‐Infrared‐Controlled,Targeted Hydrophobic Drug‐Delivery System for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

Hydrophobicity has been an obstacle that hinders the use of many anticancer drugs. A critical challenge for cancer therapy concerns the limited availability of effective biocompatible delivery systems for most hydrophobic therapeutic anticancer drugs. In this study, we have developed a targeted near‐infrared (NIR)‐regulated hydrophobic drug‐delivery platform based on gold nanorods incorporated within a mesoporous silica framework (AuMPs). Upon application of NIR light, the photothermal effect of the gold nanorods leads to a rapid rise in the local temperature, thus resulting in the release of the entrapped drug molecules. By integrating chemotherapy and photothermotherapy into one system, we have studied the therapeutic effects of camptothecin‐loaded AuMP‐polyethylene glycol‐folic acid nanocarrier. Results revealed a synergistic effect in vitro and in vivo, which would make it possible to enhance the therapeutic effect of hydrophobic drugs and decrease drug side effects. Studies have shown the feasibility of using this nanocarrier as a targeted and noninvasive remote‐controlled hydrophobic drug‐delivery system with high spatial/temperal resolution. Owing to these advantages, we envision that this NIR‐controlled, targeted drug‐delivery method would promote the development of high‐performance hydrophobic anticancer drug‐delivery system in future clinical applications.     

Carbon Dots Prepared by Hydrothermal Treatment of Dopamine as an Effective Fluorescent Sensing Platform for the Label‐Free Detection of Iron(III) Ions and Dopamine

A facile, economic and green one‐step hydrothermal synthesis route using dopamine as source towards photoluminescent carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) is proposed. The as‐prepared CNPs have an average size about 3.8 nm. The emission spectra of the CNPs are broad, ranging from approximately 380 (purple) to approximately 525 nm (green), depending on the excitation wavelengths. Due to the favorable optical properties, the CNPs can readily enter into A549 cells and has been used for multicolor biolabeling and bioimaging. Most importantly, the as‐prepared CNPs contain distinctive catechol groups on their surfaces. Due to the special response of catechol groups to Fe³⁺ ions, we further demonstrate that such wholly new CNPs can serve as a very effective fluorescent sensing platform for label‐free sensitive and selective detection of Fe³⁺ ions and dopamine with a detection limit as low as 0.32 μM and 68 nM , respectively. The new “mix‐and‐detect” strategy is simple, green, and exhibits high sensitivity and selectivity. The present method was also applied to the determination of Fe³⁺ ions in real water samples and dopamine in human urine and serum samples successfully.     

Design and Synthesis of Lipidic Organoalkoxysilanes for the Self‐Assembly of Liposomal Nanohybrid Cerasomes with Controlled Drug Release Properties

This paper reports the facile design and synthesis of a series of lipidic organoalkoxysilanes with different numbers of triethoxysilane headgroups and hydrophobic alkyl chains linked by glycerol and pentaerythritol for the construction of cerasomes with regulated surface siloxane density and controlled release behavior. It was found that the number of triethoxysilane headgroups affected the properties of the cerasomes for encapsulation efficiency, drug loading capacity, and release behavior. For both water‐soluble doxorubicin (DOX) and water‐insoluble paclitaxel (PTX), the release rate from the cerasomes decreased as the number of triethoxysilane headgroups increased. The slower release rate from the cerasomes was attributed to the higher density of the siloxane network on the surface of the cerasomes, which blocks the drug release channels. In contrast to the release results with DOX, the introduction of one more hydrophobic alkyl chain into the cerasome‐forming lipid resulted in a slower release rate of PTX from the cerasomes due to the formation of a more compact cerasome bilayer. An MTT viability assay showed that all of these drug‐loaded cerasomes inhibited proliferation of the HepG2 cancer cell line. The fine tuning of the chemical structure of the cerasome‐forming lipids would foster a new strategy to precisely regulate the release rate of drugs from cerasomes.     

铈对三角帆蚌钙代谢影响的研究

研究了不同浓度稀土Ce3+(0,0.5,1.0,2.5 mg·L-1)处理30,60 d时对2龄植片三角帆蚌钙代谢和珍珠质沉积的影响。结果表明:Ce3+对三角帆蚌珍珠质沉积量、外套膜和鳃组织中组织钙含量、钙调蛋白基因mRNA的表达量、腺苷三磷酸酶(ATPase)活性、碱性磷酸酶(ALP)活性的影响总体上均表现出明显的"低促高抑"的剂量效应和高浓度下"先促后抑"的时间效应。推测稀土Ce3+对钙调蛋白基因mRNA表达水平及关键酶活性的调节可能是其影响三角帆蚌钙代谢和珍珠质沉积的途径之一。     

Computer simulation studies on the interactions between nanoparticles and cell membrane

In recent times,nanoparticles(NPs)have received intense attention not only due to their potential applications as a candidate for drug delivery,but also because of their undesirable effects on human health.Although extensive experimental studies have been carried out in literature in order to understand the interaction between NPs and a plasma membrane,much less is known about the molecular details of the interaction mechanisms and pathways.As complimentary tools,coarse grained molecular dynamics(CGMD)and dissipative particle dynamics(DPD)simulations have been extensively used on the interaction mechanism and evolution pathway.In the present review we summarize computer simulation studies on the NP-membrane interaction,which developed over the last few years,and particularly evaluate the results from the DPD technique.Those studies undoubtedly deepen our understanding of the NP-membrane interaction mechanisms and provide a design guideline for new NPs.     

Density functional theory study on the reaction mechanism of Ni+-catalysed cyclohexane dehydrogenation

Structural Chemistry - A detailed theoretical analysis of the mechanism of chemical bond activation in cyclohexane catalysed by the atomic transition-metal cation Ni+ was performed by density...     

Flexible strain sensor with ridge-like microstructures for wearable applications

The flexible stretchable sensors have great potential for implementation in various applications, such as intelligent soft robots, health monitoring, and motion detection. However, most of the flexible stretchable sensors with microstructures and high sensitivities are fabricated by expensive templates and complex processes. In consideration of large-scale fabrication, a low cost and efficient way is in great demand. Herein, electroless plating on Nafion films with decent swelling ratios are proposed to fabricate stretchable sensors with wrinkle-structured electrodes. By adding isopropanol (IPA) to the electroless plating process, the H₂O-IPA sensor with larger swelling ratio shows deeper surface wrinkles, higher surface roughness, and better sensitivity to strain. At the same time, the H₂O-IPA sensor exhibit good durability (500 cycles). By mounting the sensor on the joint of human finger, the motion of the finger bending and even the bending degree can be accurately detected, indicating the potential use in the field of wearable devices and soft electronic skins.     

自振荡凝胶的仿生运动

定向运动是生命体最基本的功能,是其进化、生存和繁衍的前提。近年来为了研究生命体的运动机制,许多人工系统被相继开发并用于模拟部分生命体的运动行为。在诸多人工仿生系统里,自振荡凝胶由于同时具有内部驱动产生动能、运动定向性、无缆化和环境自适应等性能而备受瞩目。本文介绍了自振荡凝胶仿生运动的化学-机械能转换的理论根源并综述了仿生运动模式研究近期的进展,在此基础上展望了自振荡凝胶运动研究面临的机遇、挑战和未来发展方向。     

A sensitive and selective HPLC–MS3 method for therapeutic drug monitoring of meropenem and its validation by comparison with HPLC–MS2 methods

Meropenem, a representative β-lactam antibiotic, is widely used to treat complicated and serious infections. Therefore, it is of great significance to monitor the plasma drug concentration for individualized antimicrobial therapy. This study first describes the development and validation of high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry cubed method for monitoring meropenem in human plasma. Protein precipitation with methanol and a chromatographic analysis time of 7 min make this method simple and of high throughput. Meropenem was extracted from human plasma with recoveries >94.1%. Calibration curves were linear (R² > 0.995) in the concentration range of 0.5–50 μg/mL. Overall accuracy and precision did not exceed 8.0% as well as no significant matrix effect was observed. The novelty of this method is that the triple-stage mass spectrometry technology improves the selectivity and sensitivity. A comparison of the presented method and traditional liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was assessed in 44 patients treated with meropenem and Passing–Bablok regression coefficients and Bland–Altman plots showed that no significant difference between the two methods. So the triple-stage mass spectrometry method developed in this study is appropriate and practical for the monitor of meropenem in the daily clinical laboratory practice.