LHRH/TAT dual peptides-conjugated polymeric vesicles for PTT enhanced chemotherapy to overcome hepatocellular carcinoma

Combination therapy such as photothermal therapy (PTT) enhanced chemotherapy is regarded as a promising strategy for cancer treatment. Herein, we developed redox-responsive polymeric vesicles based on the amphiphilic triblock copolymer PCL-ss-PEG-ss-PCL. To avoid the limited therapeutic effect of chemotherapeutic drugs caused by systemic exposures and drug resistance, the redox-sensitive polymeric vesicles were cargoed with two chemotherapeutics: doxorubicin (DOX) and paclitaxel (PTX). Besides, indocyanine green (ICG) was encapsulated, and cell-penetrating peptides and LHRH targeting molecule were modified on the surface of polymeric vesicles. The results indicated that the polymeric vesicles can load different kinds of drugs with high drug loading content, trigger drug release in responsive to the reductive environment, realize high cellular uptake via dual peptides and laser irradiation, and achieve higher cytotoxicity via chemo-photothermal combination therapy. Hence, the redox-responsive LHRH/TAT dual peptides-conjugated PTX/DOX/ICG co-loaded polymeric micelles exhibited great potential in tumor-targeting and chemo-photothermal therapy.     

Multimode Self‐Oscillating Vesicle Transformers

Engineering synthetic materials that mimic the complex rhythmic oscillatory behavior of living cells is a fundamental challenge in science and technology. Up to now, the reported synthetic model system still cannot compete with nature in oscillatory modes and amplitudes. Presented here is a novel alternating copolymer vesicle that exhibits drastic and multimode shape oscillations in real time, which are controlled by polymer concentrations and driven by the Belousov—Zhabotinsky oscillatory reaction, including swelling/deswelling, twisting/detwisting, stretching/shrinking, fusion/fission, and multiple division. Some of them, especially the fission oscillation, have not been observed before. In addition, the oscillation magnitude with regard to diameter is much larger than that of previously reported self‐oscillating vesicles. Such a self‐oscillating vesicle transformer would extend the complexity and capacity of membrane deformations in synthetic systems, approaching those of natural cells.     

Nanoparticles from vesicle polymerization: Characterization and kinetic study

The polymerization of isodecyl acrylate (ISODAC) in vesicles made from an anionic surfactant—sodium di-2-ethylhexyl phosphate (SEHP)—and from water is studied by ¹H-NMR, transmission electron microscopy, and quasielastic light scattering. High polymerization rates and high conversion rates are achieved with both water-soluble initiator, K₂S₂O₈ (potassium persulfate), and oil-soluble initiator, AIBN (azoisobisbutyronitrile). ISODAC is probably located inside the vesicle bilayer(s) because of its high hydrophobicity. Particles stable at room temperature with a mean diameter of about 50 nm are obtained. Kinetic orders of ISODAC polymerization are determined and the characterization of the resulting particles during and after polymerization are studied. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

单开口膜泡形状转变的研究

基于双层耦合模型,先通过求解无黏附能情况下满足给定边界条件的欧拉-拉格朗日方程组,找到了约化面积差?a稍大于1的内凹开口形状解,并发现以往Umeda和Suezaki(2005 Phys.Rev.E 71 011913)给出的杯形解是对应?a1的另一支解,该支解在?a趋于1时开口是外凸的.进而在无黏附能和有黏附能的情况下对开口膜泡的两支解进行了深入研究,发现在?a=1附近这两支解之间有一个间隙,在该间隙内不存在开口解.随着黏附半径的增大,该间隙的位置较缓慢地向右移动.在?a=1附近,在无黏附能时的闭合形状只有球形一个解,而在有黏附能的情况下,闭合形状在1附近的一个区间内都有解.在无黏附及有黏附情况下的计算结果都表明这两支开口解及闭合形状属于不同的分支,它们之间不能连续演化.在间隙右侧的这一支解随着?a的增大可以通过自交形状连续地演化到开口哑铃形.在有黏附的情况下,在?a参数空间,同一支解会发生折叠,即出现同一?a值对应多个解(形状)的情况,这在以往双层耦合模型的计算中没有出现过.讨论了?a对无黏附和有黏附开口膜泡的形状和能量的影响.     

Shape transformation transitions in a model of fixed-connectivity surfaces supported by skeletons

A compartmentalized surface model of Nambu and Goto is studied on triangulated spherical surfaces by using the canonical Monte Carlo simulation technique. One-dimensional bending energy is defined on the skeletons and at the junctions, and the mechanical strength of the surface is supplied by the one-dimensional bending energy defined on the skeletons and junctions. The compartment size is characterized by the total number L^′ of bonds between the two-neighboring junctions and is assumed to have values in the range from L^′ = 2 to L^′ = 8 in the simulations, while that of the previously reported model is characterized by L^′ = 1, where all vertices of the triangulated surface are the junctions. Therefore, the model in this paper is considered to be an extension of the previous model in the sense that the previous model is obtained from the model in this paper in the limit of L^′↦1. The model in this paper is identical to the Nambu-Goto surface model without curvature energies in the limit of L^′↦∞ and hence is expected to be ill-defined at sufficiently large L^′. One remarkable result obtained in this paper is that the model has a well-defined smooth phase even at relatively large L^′ just as the previous model of L^′↦ 1. It is also remarkable that the fluctuations of surface in the smooth phase are crucially dependent on L^′; we can see no surface fluctuation when L^′≤ 2, while relatively large fluctuations are seen when L^′≥ 3.     

Vesicle formation in aqueous mixture of the cetyltrimetylammonium bromide and an anionic chitosan derivative

The present work aimed at research the physic-chemical properties of the interaction of N-decyl-O-chitosan sulfate (an amphiphilic chitosan derivative, C₁₀-OCHS) with cetyltrimetylammonium bromide (CTAB) by the steady-state fluorescent, static/dynamic surface tension, turbidity and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the complex of C₁₀-OCHS/CTAB had high surface activity and lower critical aggregation concentration. Besides, the C₁₀-OCHS/CTAB could self-assemble into various aggregates like irregular spherical aggregates, vesicles or polydisperse aggregates from lower to higher concentrations of CTAB with a mixed C₁₀-OCHS concentration of 200?mg/L.     

CO2-switchable vesicles-network structure transition and drug release property

A series of amphiphilic triblock polymers based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and two symmetrical poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) blocks was synthesized via the Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) method. Conductivity, pH, and viscosity tests demonstrated the CO₂-switchability jointly; Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (Cryo-TEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS) revealed the self-assembly morphology transformation from unilamellar vesicle to network structure when bubbling CO₂. These changes were all attributed to the protonation of tertiary amine groups in PDMAEMA blocks and the mechanism was proved by ^?H NMR. The vesicles have a relatively low release rate of drug; once stimulated by CO₂, the release rate will be accelerated. The polymeric vesicle has the possibility to find potential applications in drug delivery and release domains.     

Nanoreactors for Chemical Synthesis and Biomedical Applications

With the rapid development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, various types of functional nanoreactors have been designed for diverse applications. Here, the recent evolution of the rational design of nanoreactors for chemical synthesis and biomedical applications are briefly summarized and discussed. The presence of nanoreactors provides constrained space isolated from the surrounding environment. Scientists are committed to studying changes in chemical reactions when the reaction system is confined to the nanosized space. Nanoreactors accelerate the reaction rate and even change mechanism of some chemical reactions. Cells and organelles as natural nanoreactors are also discussed. The development of intracellular synthesis makes it possible to realize various applications in biomedicine. The challenges on the rational design of nanoreactors and perspectives are also discussed.     

Pearling instabilities in water-dispersed copolymer cylinders with charged brushes

We investigate the structural behavior of a poly(styrene)-block-poly(acrylic acid) diblock copolymer which forms hexagonally-packed PS cylinders (C-phase) in the melt state. The water dispersion of this structure provides hairy cylinders which comprise a PAA swollen cylindrical brush with a height h tunable via its degree of ionization and the ionic strength in the solution, and a water-free, PS cylindrical core of constant radius R_C. Such system constitutes an out-of-equilibrium frustrated model system: the selective swelling of the PAA brush results in a frustration of the interface curvature, which the ratio h/R_C allows to quantify. Upon heating at a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the PS core, the glassiness of the core is relieved and the mechanical constraints arising from the selective swelling of the structure can be relaxed: the cylinders undergo a cylinder-to-sphere transition upon annealing at high temperature, when above a frustration threshold h/R_C 1.8. Thanks to a careful mapping of the transition diagram, an undulating cylindrical morphology (UC) is identified between unchanged cylinders ( h/R_C 1.8) and spheres ( h/R_C 2.0), which appears to result from a Rayleigh-like pearling instability of the copolymer cylinders.