Nanodiamonds for In Vivo Applications

Due to their unique optical properties, diamonds are the most valued gemstones. However, beyond the sparkle, diamonds have a number of unique properties. Their extreme hardness gives them outstanding performance as abrasives and cutting tools. Similar to many materials, their nanometer‐sized form has yet other unique properties. Nanodiamonds are very inert but still can be functionalized on the surface. Additionally, they can be made in very small sizes and a narrow size distribution. Nanodiamonds can also host very stable fluorescent defects. Since they are protected in the crystal lattice, they never bleach. These defects can also be utilized for nanoscale sensing since they change their optical properties, for example, based on temperature or magnetic fields in their surroundings. In this Review, in vivo applications are focused upon. To this end, how different diamond materials are made and how this affects their properties are discussed first. Next, in vivo biocompatibility studies are reviewed. Finally, the reader is introduced to in vivo applications of diamonds. These include drug delivery, aiding radiology, labeling, and use in cosmetics. The field is critically reviewed and a perspective on future developments is provided.     

Coating nanodiamonds with biocompatible shells for applications in biology and medicine

Use of nanodiamonds (NDs) as nontoxic nanoparticles for biological imaging, sensing, and drug delivery is expanding rapidly. The interest in NDs is triggered by their unique combination of optical properties. ND can accommodate nitrogen-vacancy color centers which provide stable fluorescence without photobleaching or photoblinking and their electronic structure is very sensitive to magnetic and electric fields. The limited options to control ND properties during synthesis or by direct surface functionalization leave room to be improved upon by employing surface coatings engineered precisely for a particular application. The major disadvantages of unmodified NDs are their limited colloidal stability and tendency to non-specifically adsorb biomolecules. This review aims to summarize recent advances in coating NDs (namely with silica and polymer shells), which addresses these disadvantages and enables the use of NDs in biological applications such as targeting of specific cells, drug delivery, and biological imaging.     

Group IV Nanoparticles: Synthesis,Properties, and Biological Applications

In this review, the emerging roles of group IV nanoparticles including silicon, diamond, silicon carbide, and germanium are summarized and discussed from the perspective of biologists, engineers, and medical practitioners. The synthesis, properties, and biological applications of these new nanomaterials have attracted great interest in the past few years. They have gradually evolved into promising biomaterials due to their innate biocompatibility; toxic ions are not released when they are used in vitro or in vivo, and their wide fluorescence spectral regions span the near‐infrared, visible, and near‐ultraviolet ranges. Additionally, they generally have good resistance against photobleaching and have lifetimes on the order of nanoseconds to microseconds, which are suitable for bioimaging. Some of the materials possess unique mechanical, chemical, or physical properties, such as ultrachemical and thermal stability, high hardness, high photostability, and no blinking. Recent data have revealed the superiority of these nanoparticles in biological imaging and drug delivery.     

Heterofunctional nanomaterials: fabrication, properties and applications in nanobiotechnology

Nanotechnology and nanoengineering includes a novel class of materials that are gaining significant recognition to pursuit technological/biological advances in diverse fields including, biology, medicine, electronics, engineering etc. due to their unique size- and shape-dependent intrinsic physicochemical, optoelectronic and biological properties. Characteristics such as high surface to volume ratios and quantum confinement results in materials that are qualitatively different from their bulk counterparts. These properties not only make them suitable for numerous applications in existing and emerging technologies, but also have outstanding role in many fields that provide inspiration for their fabrication. In Today's trend nanotechnology is spreading vigorously where researchers all over the world are focusing towards their synthesis and applications. Therefore, this review is helpful for the researchers in the field of nanobiotechnology/nanomedicine, providing a brief overview of nanotechnology, covering nanomaterial synthesis methods (with emphasis on environmentally benign greener approaches), their properties, and applications; such as drug delivery, bio-labeling, nanotoxicity etc. The influence of synthesis methods and surface coatings/stabilizing agents and their subsequent applications is discussed, and a broad outline on the biomedical applications into which they have been implemented is also presented.     

Applications of Nanomaterials in Cell Stem Therapies and the Onset of Nanomedicine

Stem cells hold enormous potential in the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, cirrhosis, spinal cord injury, and Alzheimer's disease, due to their unique ability to differentiate into various cell lines and tissues and integrate seamlessly into damaged or diseased tissue. The use of nanoparticles as bioactive molecules is still considered a nascent science, but their unique physical and chemical properties hold great hopes for drug delivery, cancer targeting, and bioimaging. There is active worldwide ongoing research to generate advanced therapeutic compounds for incurable diseases, combining the unique properties of nanomaterials and stem cells. The present review will cover emerging areas of nanotechnology applications in stem cell therapy, one of the next frontiers of medical science.     

Nanodiamonds as nanomaterial for biomedical field

Recent advances in nanotechnology have attracted significant attention to nanodiamonds (NDs) in both industrial and research areas thanks to their remarkable intrinsic properties: large specific area, poor cytotoxicity, chemical resistance, magnetic and optical properties, ease of large-scale production, and surface reactivity make them suitable for numerous applications, including electronics, optics, sensors, polishing materials, and more recently, biological purposes. Growing interest in diamond platforms for bioimaging and chemotherapy is observed. Given the outstanding features of these particles and their ease of tuning, current and future applications in medicine have the potential to display innovative imaging applications and to be used as tools for monitoring and tracking drug delivery in vivo.     

A biotechnological perspective on the application of iron oxide nanoparticles

In recent decades,magnetic iron nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted much attention due to properties such as superparamagnetism,high surface area,large surface-to-volume ratio,and easy separation under external magnetic fields.Therefore,magnetic iron oxides have potential for use in numerous applications,including magnetic resonance imaging contrast enhancement,tissue repair,immunoassay,detoxification of biological fluids,drug delivery,hyperthermia,and cell separation.This review provides an updated and integrated focus on the fabrication and characterization of suitable magnetic iron NPs for biotechnological applications.The possible perspective and some challenges in the further development of these NPs are also discussed.     

磷酸钙微球骨修复材料研究进展

磷酸钙微球具有良好的渗透性、高的比表面积、低致密度和较好的力学性能,在分离、催化、传感、组织工程和药物释放等方面均有应用。本文综述了近年来磷酸钙陶瓷微球在组织工程和药物释放等骨修复相关领域的研究进展, 介绍了实心、多孔、空心和花瓣状等四种不同结构磷酸钙陶瓷微球制备方法以及在骨修复领域中的应用, 并归纳总结了各类微球具有的优缺点和改进的方向, 为骨修复用磷酸钙微球的设计和制备提供较系统的参考。     

DNA Hydrogels and Microgels for Biosensing and Biomedical Applications

DNA hydrogels, which take advantage of the unique properties of functional DNA motifs, such as specific molecular recognition, programmable and high-precision assembly, multifunctionality, and excellent biocompatibility, have attracted increasing research interest in the past two decades in diverse fields, especially in biosensing and biomedical applications. The responsiveness of smart DNA hydrogels to external stimuli by changing their swelling volume, crosslinking density, and optical or mechanical properties has facilitated the development of DNA-hydrogel-based in vitro biosensing systems and actuators. Furthermore, reducing the sizes of DNA hydrogels to the micro- and nanoscale leads to better responsiveness and delivery capacity, thereby making them excellent candidates for rapid detection, in vivo real-time sensing, and drug release applications. Here, the recent progress in the development of smart DNA hydrogels and DNA microgels for biosensing and biomedical applications is summarized, and the current challenges as well as future prospects are also discussed.     

Design of pH-responsive gold nanoparticles in oncology

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) hold promising applications in many fields such as electronics, optics and catalysis. In the past decades, there has been a growing interest for their application in medicine, in particular in nano-oncology as contrast agents, drug delivery vehicles or for diagnosis. Once injected intravenously and thanks to their small size, the AuNPs can circulate in the whole body via the blood stream and reach easily the tumour. However, what makes them very attractive for cancer treatment is their ability to distinguish healthy cells from cancer cells. While the current anticancer agents lack specific targeting, AuNPs, with their targeting efficiency, will enable the use of lower amount of drugs with all the positive aspects for the health of the patient. Additionally, their optical properties give them the ability to be used in imaging as an incredibly powerful contrast agent. For these reasons, they are believed to be one of the tools that, in the future, will enable to considerably increase the efficiency of cancer treatments by simultaneously imaging the tumour and treat it. They constitute an ideal theranostic drug delivery platform, in other words a unique combination of diagnostics and therapy. Many researches focus on the engineering of the nanoparticle surface in order to increase their biocompatibility and enable their further conjugation with bioactive ligands such as drugs, targeting or imaging agents for the design of multifunctional platforms. pH responsiveness, the ability to change properties with a change of proton concentration, is a remarkable asset for drug delivery carrier. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that cancer cells show very particular pHs in their environment: extracellular as well as intracellular. This characteristic has been exploited to create a more specific and efficient way to treat cancer. The present review focuses on the design of pH responsive AuNPs and particularly on the advantages and the potential applications of such hybrid nanomaterials in oncology.     

Increasing anticancer drug internalization induced by new Au-MWCNTs nanocomposite

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are found to hold promise in wide range of applications due to their well-known unique properties. However, their applications in biomedicine are still limited by the relative cytotoxicity. In this study, we introduce the biocompatible gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) modified on MWCNTs, forming new stable nanocomposites: Au-MWCNTs. Further, we design a strategy to explore their drug delivery applications and anti-tumor effects by combining with daunorubicin (DNR), using human hepatocarcinoma cells (SMMC-7721 cells) as cancer cells model. Our results show better biocompatibility of Au-MWCNTs than that of MWCNTs. Moreover, compared with DNR treatment alone, when cells treated by Au-MWCNTs together with DNR, obviously increased DNR concentrations in SMMC-7721 cells and anticancer functions are found, which indicates that Au-MWCNTs could be well qualified for efficient delivery carrier importing anticancer agents like DNR into target cells. This strategy develops an avenue to lessen the toxic side-effect of delivery carrier and thus as the promising approach in relevant cancer therapy.     

Functional Microgels: Recent Advances in Their Biomedical Applications

Here, a spotlight is shown on aqueous microgel particles which exhibit a great potential for various biomedical applications such as drug delivery, cell imaging, and tissue engineering. Herein, different synthetic methods to develop microgels with desirable functionality and properties along with degradable strategies to ensure their renal clearance are briefly presented. A special focus is given on the ability of microgels to respond to various stimuli such as temperature, pH, redox potential, magnetic field, light, etc., which helps not only to adjust their physical and chemical properties, and degradability on demand, but also the release of encapsulated bioactive molecules and thus making them suitable for drug delivery. Furthermore, recent developments in using the functional microgels for cell imaging and tissue regeneration are reviewed. The results reviewed here encourage the development of a new class of microgels which are able to intelligently perform in a complex biological environment. Finally, various challenges and possibilities are discussed in order to achieve their successful clinical use in future.     

Lipid and Nucleic Acid Chemistries: Combining the Best of Both Worlds to Construct Advanced Biomaterials

Hybrid synthetic amphiphilic biomolecules are emerging as promising supramolecular materials for biomedical and technological applications. Herein, recent progress in the field of nucleic acid based lipids is highlighted with an emphasis on their molecular design, synthesis, supramolecular properties, physicochemical behaviors, and applications in the field of health science and technology. In the first section, the design and the study of nucleolipids are in focus and then the glyconucleolipid family is discussed. In the last section, recent contributions of responsive materials involving nucleolipids and their use as smart drug delivery systems are discussed. The supramolecular materials generated by nucleic acid based lipids open new challenges for biomedical applications, including the fields of medicinal chemistry, biosensors, biomaterials for tissue engineering, drug delivery, and the decontamination of nanoparticles.     

Polyarginine segments in block copolypeptides drive both vesicular assembly and intracellular delivery

Polymeric vesicles are a relatively new class of nanoscale self-assembled materials that show great promise as robust encapsulants. Compared with liposomes, use of polymeric building blocks for membrane formation allows increased stability, stimuli responsiveness and chemical diversity, which may prove advantageous for drug-delivery applications . A major drawback of most polymeric vesicles is the lack of biofunctionality, which restricts their ability to interact with cells and tissues. We have prepared vesicles composed of polyarginine and polyleucine segments that are stable in media, can entrap water soluble species, and can be processed to different sizes and prepared in large quantities. The remarkable feature of these materials is that the polyarginine segments both direct structure for vesicle formation and provide functionality for efficient intracellular delivery of the vesicles. This unique synergy between nanoscale self-assembly and inherent peptide functionality provides a new approach for design of multifunctional materials for drug delivery.     

铁氧化物纳米晶自组装空心微球的制备、表征及其应用

铁氧化物纳米材料和纳米结构空心微球分别代表了材料研究中组分和结构的研究热点. 而由铁氧化物纳米晶自组装形成的空心微球的研究则是二者相结合, 具有重要的科学意义和良好的应用前景. 虽然已发展了多种方法制备各种单质及化合物的空心微球, 但铁氧化物纳米晶自组装空心微球的制备方法报道较少. 本文简要介绍了近几年发展起来的多种铁氧化物纳米晶自组装空心微球的一些制备方法, 利用上述方法, 制备出了多种不同组成单元、不同尺寸、不同空心程度的铁氧化物纳米晶自组装空心微球, 对所制备的铁氧化物纳米晶自组装空心微球进行了表征, 并初步介绍了所制备的铁氧化物纳米晶自组装空心微球在药物缓释和环境领域中的应用.     

VA族单元素二维纳米材料在生物医用领域的研究进展

纳米材料在不同技术领域均有广泛应用,且在解决基础科学新发现上拥有巨大潜力。其中单元素构成的纳米材料因合成容易、制备简单而倍受关注,尤其VA族二维单元素纳米材料(包括黑磷、砷烯等)的物理、化学、电子和光学特性优异,在生物成像、药物递送和诊断治疗等生物医学领域应用前景广阔。本文总结了VA族二维单元素纳米材料的一般特性、合成和修饰方法,重点介绍了其面向各种生物医学应用的纳米平台的研究进展,最后,讨论了其在生物医学领域所面临的挑战并展望了未来的发展方向。     

石墨烯在太阳能电池中的应用

近年来, 石墨烯以其独特的结构和优异的材料性能而广泛应用于物理、化学及材料学等领域. 其中被寄予厚望的应用之一是高光电转换效率的新一代太阳能电池. 本文综述了石墨烯应用于太阳能电池领域的发展现状, 包括石墨烯应用于太阳能电池透光导电极、工作电极以及电池中电子受体材料等方面, 并指出了其今后的发展趋势.     

Immobilization of biomolecules on the surface of inorganic nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Various inorganic nanoparticles have been used for drug delivery, magnetic resonance and fluorescence imaging, and cell targeting owing to their unique properties, such as large surface area and efficient contrasting effect. In this review, we focus on the surface functionalization of inorganic nanoparticles via immobilization of biomolecules and the corresponding surface interactions with biocomponents. Applications of surface-modified inorganic nanoparticles in biomedical fields are also outlined.     

多孔碳纳米材料构建抗肿瘤药物靶向传递系统的研究进展

抗肿瘤药物靶向传递系统是提高传统化疗药物疗效, 并降低其毒副作用的重要手段。以多孔碳纳米材料为药物载体, 根据肿瘤组织微环境特点, 构建抗肿瘤药物靶向传递系统是实现靶向治疗方案的有效方式。本文围绕基于多孔碳纳米材料的抗肿瘤药物靶向传递系统的构建及应用进行综述, 描述了多孔碳纳米材料适宜载药的设计、合成及功能化修饰; 通过理论与实例相结合的方式, 介绍了提高多孔碳纳米材料载药量和实现联合给药的有效策略; 从内源和外源性敏感刺激的角度, 重点分析了多孔碳纳米材料基于肿瘤微环境构建的靶向传递系统的机制和应用; 阐述了多孔碳纳米材料作为抗肿瘤药物载体面临的生物相容性和生物降解性的问题, 并分析了可能的解决途径; 展望了多孔碳纳米材料在构建肿瘤药物靶向传递系统应用中的前景及发展方向, 为研发靶向、可控的抗肿瘤药物传递系统提供了理论依据和例证支持。     

Mesoporous Metal–Organic Frameworks: Synthetic Strategies and Emerging Applications

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted much attention over the past two decades due to their highly promising applications not only in the fields of gas storage, separation, catalysis, drug delivery, and sensors, but also in relatively new fields such as electric, magnetic, and optical materials resulting from their extremely high surface areas, open channels and large pore cavities compared with traditional porous materials like carbon and inorganic zeolites. Particularly, MOFs involving pores within the mesoscopic scale possess unique textural properties, leading to a series of research in the design and applications of mesoporous MOFs. Unlike previous Reviews, apart from focusing on recent advances in the synthetic routes, unique characteristics and applications of mesoporous MOFs, this Review also mentions the derivatives, composites, and hierarchical MOF‐based systems that contain mesoporosity, and technical boundaries and challenges brought by the drawbacks of mesoporosity. Moreover, this Review subsequently reveals promising perspectives of how recently discovered approaches to different morphologies of MOFs (not necessarily entirely mesoporous) and their corresponding performances can be extended to minimize the shortcomings of mesoporosity, thus providing a wider and brighter scope of future research into mesoporous MOFs, but not just limited to the finite progress in the target substances alone.