Rational Design of Environmentally Compatible Nickel Hexacyanoferrate Mesocrystals as Catalysts

The interplay between citrate concentration and total supersaturation on the growth of nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) nanocrystals is investigated. Herein, control over the crystallization conditions enables the precise tuning of the nanocrystal (NC) dimensions toward their self-assembly into colloidal mesocrystals with unique features. The exploration of the early stages of crystallization reveals insights into the controlled in situ assembly of preformed NCs. Our work introduces new concepts related to the synthesis of NiHCF NCs and colloidal mesocrystals as efficient and applicable catalysts. This is successfully demonstrated for the degradation of the organic contaminant caffeine

Table_1_Pre-surgical Language Mapping in Epilepsy: Using fMRI in Chinese-Speaking Patients.DOCX

Accurate localization of language processing areas is critical in patients undergoing epilepsy surgery. In this study, we aimed to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which is a non-invasive mapping method, to establish a panel of tasks investigating patients’ language function. We developed six tasks, including a series of progressive comprehension tasks from words, sentence to text, a verb generation task that can detect subtle left-brain activation, an auditory comprehension task that explored the temporal language-related areas, and a visual object-naming task provided for poorly educated patients. We successfully located the language cortex in 40 patients, and subsequently determined hemispheric dominance for the Chinese language. Our results showed a concordance between fMRI tasks and electrical cortical stimulation. The consistency across tasks revealed by the laterality index, as well as the concordance between the surgical outcomes and the results of localization, suggested the validity of our fMRI tasks. Our fMRI tasks also corroborate and extend the finding that the left middle frontal area (BA 9) plays an important role in reading Chinese.</p

Measurement of intracellular calcium levels.

<p>(A) The traces show the carbachol- (10 mM) and KCl (100 mM)-induced Ca²⁺ response in MSCs, SMCs, MSCs treated with 1 mM NaB for 48 h, and NaB-pretreated (1 mM for 48 h) MSCs co-cultured with SMCs for 3 d. F/F0 denotes the relative change in Fluo-8 intensity, F0 is the baseline average and F is the absolute fluorescence value in an area of interest during treatment. Forty-five percent means that 45 of one hundred cells exhibited a response. (B) The amplitude of the Ca²⁺ peak in response to carbachol (10 mM) or KCl (100 mM) in MSCs, SMCs, MSCs treated with NaB, and NaB-pretreated MSCs co-cultured with SMCs. *<i>P</i><0.05 <i>vs.</i> MSCs, NaB+MSCs and co-cultured MSCs; **<i>P</i><0.01 <i>vs.</i> MSCs; ^▴<i>P</i><0.01 <i>vs.</i> all other gourps.</p

Effects of NaB on MSC proliferation and differentiation.

<p>(A) MSCs were harvested at 24, 48 and 72 h after the addtion of NaB and the proliferation of the treated MSCs was measured with a CCK-8 assay at the indicated time points. OD, optical density. *, <i>P</i><0.05, ***, <i>P</i><0.001 <i>vs</i>. the OD value of MSCs treated with 0 mmol/L NaB at each time points. (B) Relative expressions of the SMC specific genes (α-SMA, calponin and SM-MHC) in MSCs treated with the indicated concentration of NaB for 48 h. <i>β</i>-actin was used as the internal standard. *, <i>P</i><0.05, **, <i>P</i><0.01, ***, <i>P</i><0.001 relative to 0 mmol/L NaB treated MSCs.</p

Immunofluorescence analysis of MSC specific protein expression in NaB-treated MSCs.

<p>MSCs were treated with 1 mmol/L NaB for 48 h, stained with FITC-conjugated anti-α-SMA, calponin or SM-MHC antibodies, and observed under a fluorescence microscope. The untreated MSCs were used as negative control and the primary SMCs were used as positive control. The isotype antibody was used as a background control. DAPI was used to stain the nuclei. Scale bar = 25 µm.</p

Table_1_Toxic Effects of Copper Nanoparticles on Paramecium bursaria–Chlorella Symbiotic System.DOCX

Although many reports have demonstrated that nanoparticles can have a negative effect on aquatic organisms, the toxic effects on symbiotic organisms remain poorly understood. The present study conducts ultrastructure, enzyme activity, and transcriptomics to assess the toxic effects to the Paramecium bursaria–Chlorella symbiotic system from exposure to copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) for 24 h. We found that in both the host and symbiotic algae, CuNP exposure induced high reactive oxygen species level, which leads to oxidative damage and energy metabolism disorder. Moreover, transmission electron micrographs (TEMs) showed that the symbiotic algae in the cytoplasm of P. bursaria were enveloped in the digestive vacuole and digested, and the level of acid phosphatase activity increased significantly within 24 h, which indicated that the stability of the symbiotic system was affected after CuNP exposure. We speculated that the increased energy demand in the host and symbiotic algae resulted from oxidative stress, precipitating the decrease of the photosynthetic products provided to the host, the digestion of the symbiont, and the destruction of the stable symbiotic relationship. The study provides the first insight into the mechanisms of nanoparticles’ toxicity to the symbiotic relationship in the ecosystem, which may help to understand the environmental effects and toxicological mechanisms of nanoparticles.</p

Effects of NaB on HDAC1/2 expression and recruitment in MSCs.

<p>(A) Immunofluorescence analysis of HDAC1 and HDAC2 expression in MSCs treated with NaB (1 mM for 48 h). (B) Western blot assay to determine the expression of HDAC1 and HDAC2 in MSCs treated with 1 mM NaB for 48 h. (C) ChIP-qPCR assay to determine the recruitment of HDAC1 and HDAC2 to the α-SMA, calponin and SM-MHC promoters in MSCs treated with 1 mM NaB for 48 h. The ChIP assay was conducted with ChIP grade anti-HDAC1, HDAC2 and normal rat IgG antibodies, which were incubated with the sonicated supernatants of MSCs treated with 1 mM NaB. The isolated DNA fragments were analyzed by qPCR to determine the presence of the promoter regions of the α-SMA, calponin and SM-MHC genes. Values were given as fold changes normalized with normal rat IgG control. **, <i>P</i><0.01 compared to the untreated MSCs.</p

Histone acetylation modifications in co-cultured MSCs treated with NaB.

<p>MSCs were co-cultured with SMCs in a transwell chamber for 48 h. The MSCs were pretreated with 1.0 mM NaB before co-culturing. The MSCs in the co-culture system were harvested, and the genomic DNA was isolated and sonicated for a ChIP assay with antibodies against acetyl-histone H3K9, acetyl-histone H4 and normal rat IgG. The specific DNA fragments retrieved in the pull-down were further used for qPCR assays. The qPCR primers were designed to target the promoter of each gene. Values were given as folds of enrichment relative to the IgG control. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD of three biological replicates.*, <i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.01, ***<i>P</i><0.001 compared to the untreated MSCs. ^#, <i>P</i><0.05, ^##<i>P</i><0.01, ^###<i>P</i><0.001 compared to the co-cultured MSCs.</p

NaB induces SMC specific gene expression in MSCs co-cultured with SMCs.

<p>MSCs were co-cultured with SMCs in a transwell chamber with SMCs in the insert chamber and MSCs in the lower chamber. The MSCs were pretreated with 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mM NaB before co-culturing. The MSCs in the co-culture system were harvested, and the expression of the SMC specific genes α-SMA, calponin and SM-MHC was determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (A) and Western blot (B). *, <i>P</i><0.05, **, <i>P</i><0.01 <i>vs</i>. all other time points in the same NaB concentration group; ▴, <i>P</i><0.01 <i>vs</i>. all other time points in all NaB concentration groups. (C) The co-cultured MSCs were stimulated with 1 mmol/L NaB for 48 h, stained with FITC-conjugated anti-α-SMA, calponin or SM-MHC antibodies, and observed under a fluorescence microscope. DAPI was used to stain the cell nuclei. The isotype antibody was used as a background control. Scale bar = 25 µm.</p