Magneto-Plasmonic Nanocapsules for Multimodal-Imaging and Magnetically Guided Combination Cancer Therapy

Integrating multiple discrete functionalities into hollow-mesoporous architecture with distinctive electronic/magnetic property is of particular interest for building multifunctional drug carriers with complementary theranostic modalities. In this article, the “non-contact” incorporation of gold nanorod (GNR) into porous magnetic nanoshell is achieved via yolk–shell structure, which was intrinsically different from previous direct chemical or heterogeneous conjugation of the two components. The highly preserved plasmonic feature of GNRs enabled photothermal induced photoacoustic imaging and hyperthermia capabilities. The magnetic shell consisted of stacked primary iron oxide nanocrystals yields strong superparamagnetic response with excellent permeability for magnetically targeted drug delivery. Interestingly, the special coordination between doxorubicin and iron species enabled pH/local heating dual-responsive drug release with minor leakage at neutral pH. Under the guidance of magnetic resonance/photoacoustic dual-modal imaging and magnetically tumor targeting using the nanoagents, the photothermal-chemo synergistic therapy was conducted via near-infrared laser for highly efficient tumor eradication

Ultrafast Imaging of Surface Plasmons Propagating on a Gold Surface

We record time-resolved nonlinear photoemission electron microscopy (tr-PEEM) images of propagating surface plasmons (PSPs) launched from a lithographically patterned rectangular trench on a flat gold surface. Our tr-PEEM scheme involves a pair of identical, spatially separated, and interferometrically locked femtosecond laser pulses. Power-dependent PEEM images provide experimental evidence for a sequential coherent nonlinear photoemission process, in which one laser source launches a PSP through a linear interaction, and the second subsequently probes the PSP via two-photon photoemission. The recorded time-resolved movies of a PSP allow us to directly measure various properties of the surface-bound wave packet, including its carrier wavelength (783 nm) and group velocity (0.95c). In addition, tr-PEEM images reveal that the launched PSP may be detected at least 250 μm away from the coupling trench structure

The Origin of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering of 4,4′-Biphenyldicarboxylate on Silver Substrates

We combine surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and tools of computational chemistry with scanning electron, atomic force, and photoemission electron microscopy to investigate the origin of Raman scattering of 4,4′-biphenyldicarboxylic acid adsorbed as 4,4′-biphenyldicarboxylate on two different silver substrates. The first consists of a 100 nm deep cylindrical aperture embedded in an array of cylindrical nanoholes featuring an average diameter of 350 nm and a periodicity of 700 nm. The second is a nanojunction formed between a 100 nm silver nanoparticle and a flat silver surface. We find that the underlying background signal in the SERS spectra collected from the former strongly resemble the SERS spectra of the nanosphere-featuring substrate, engineered to operate at the quantum limit. Our analysis of a series of SERS spectra consecutively collected from one nanocylinder suggests that the optical response of a single molecule can be extracted, with its brightest Raman-active mode enhanced by a factor of 2.2 × 10⁶

In Situ Live Cell Sensing of Multiple Nucleotides Exploiting DNA/RNA Aptamers and Graphene Oxide Nanosheets

Nucleotides, for example, adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP) and guanosine-5′-triphosphate (GTP), are primary energy resources for numerous reactions in organisms including microtubule assembly, insulin secretion, ion channel regulation, and so on. In order to advance our understanding of the production and consumption of nucleoside triphosphates, a versatile sensing platform for simultaneous visualization of ATP, GTP, adenosine derivates, and guanosine derivates in living cells has been built up in the present work based on graphene oxide nanosheets (GO-nS) and DNA/RNA aptamers. Taking advantage of the robust fluorescence quenching ability, unique adsorption for single-strand DNA/RNA probes, and efficient intracellular transport capacity of GO-nS, selective and sensitive visualization of multiple nucleoside triphosphates in living cells is successfully realized with the designed aptamer/GO-nS sensing platform. Moreover, GO-nS displays good biocompatibility to living cells and high protecting ability for DNA/RNA probes from enzymatic cleavage. These results demonstrate that the aptamers/GO-nS-based sensing platform is capable of selective, simultaneous, and in situ detection of multiple nucleotides, which hold a great potential for analyzing other biomolecules in living cells

Click-Functionalized Compact Quantum Dots Protected by Multidentate-Imidazole Ligands: Conjugation-Ready Nanotags for Living-Virus Labeling and Imaging

We synthesized a new class of mutifunctional multidentate-imidazole polymer ligands by one-step reaction to produce conjugation-ready QDs with great stability and compact size. Furthermore, combined with strain-promoted click chemistry, we developed a general strategy for efficient labeling of living-viruses with QD probes

Additional file 2: of Multi-omics analysis reveals regulators of the response to nitrogen limitation in Yarrowia lipolytica

Metabolite, global peptide, phosphopeptide, global proteome, phosphoproteome, and phosphosite quantification. Tables contain dry-weight normalized metabolite relative quantities, mean-centered and log2 transformed global peptide quantities with and without methanol/chloroform utilization for extraction, mean-centered and log2 transformed phosphopeptide quantities with and without methanol/chloroform utilization for extraction, mean-centered and log2 transformed global protein quantities with and without methanol/chloroform utilization for extraction, mean-centered and log2 transformed phosphoproteins quantities with and without methanol/chloroform utilization for extraction, and global protein abundance normalized log2 fold change quantities for phosphopeptides. (XLSX 10435 kb

Indocyanine Green-holo-Transferrin Nanoassemblies for Tumor-Targeted Dual-Modal Imaging and Photothermal Therapy of Glioma

Active-targeted cancer imaging and therapy of glioma has attracted much attention in theranostic nanomedicine. As a promising tumor-targeting ligand, holo-transferrin (holo-Tf) has been applied for enhancing delivery of nanotheranostics. However, holo-Tf-based nanoassemblies for active targeting mediated multimodal imaging and therapeutics have not been previously reported. Here, we develop a one-step method for the preparation of holo-Tf-indocyanine green (holo-Tf-ICG) nanoassemblies for fluorescence (FL) and photoacoustic (PA) dual-modal imaging and photothermal therapy (PTT) of glioma. The nanoassemblies are formed by hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonds between holo-Tf and ICG, which exhibit excellent active tumor-targeting and high biocompability. The brain tumor with highly expressed Tf receptor can be clearly observed with holo-Tf-ICG nanoassemblies base on FL and PA dual-modal imaging in subcutaneous and orthotopic glioma models. Under the near-infrared laser irradiation, the holo-Tf-ICG nanoassemblies accumulated in tumor regions can efficiently convert laser energy into hyperthermia for tumor ablation. The novel theranostic nanoplatform holds great promise for precision diagnosis and treatment of glioma

Enzyme-Directed Assembly of Nanoparticles in Tumors Monitored by <i>in Vivo</i> Whole Animal Imaging and <i>ex Vivo</i> Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging

Matrix metalloproteinase enzymes, overexpressed in HT-1080 human fibrocarcinoma tumors, were used to guide the accumulation and retention of an enzyme-responsive nanoparticle in a xenograft mouse model. The nanoparticles were prepared as micelles from amphiphilic block copolymers bearing a simple hydrophobic block and a hydrophilic peptide brush. The polymers were end-labeled with Alexa Fluor 647 dyes leading to the formation of labeled micelles upon dialysis of the polymers from DMSO/DMF to aqueous buffer. This dye-labeling strategy allowed the presence of the retained material to be visualized via whole animal imaging <i>in vivo</i> and in <i>ex vivo</i> organ analysis following intratumoral injection into HT-1080 xenograft tumors. We propose that the material is retained by virtue of an enzyme-induced accumulation process whereby particles change morphology from 20 nm spherical micelles to micrometer-scale aggregates, kinetically trapping them within the tumor. This hypothesis is tested here via an unprecedented super-resolution fluorescence analysis of <i>ex vivo</i> tissue slices confirming a particle size increase occurs concomitantly with extended retention of responsive particles compared to unresponsive controls

Molecular Engineering of Conjugated Polymers for Biocompatible Organic Nanoparticles with Highly Efficient Photoacoustic and Photothermal Performance in Cancer Theranostics

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CP NPs) are emerging candidates of “all-in-one” theranostic nanoplatforms with dual photoacoustic imaging (PA) and photothermal therapy (PTT) functions. So far, very limited molecular design guidelines have been developed for achieving CPs with highly efficient PA and PTT performance. Herein, by designing CP1, CP2, and CP3 using different electron acceptors (A) and a planar electron donor (D), we demonstrate how the D–A strength affects their absorption, emission, extinction coefficient, and ultimately PA and PTT performance. The resultant CP NPs have strong PA signals with high photothermal conversion efficiencies and excellent biocompatibility <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. The CP3 NPs show a high PA signal to background ratio of 47 in U87 tumor-bearing mice, which is superior to other reported PA/PTT theranostic agents. A very small IC₅₀ value of 0.88 μg/mL (CP3 NPs) was obtained for U87 glioma cell ablation under laser irradiation (808 nm, 0.8 W/cm², 5 min). This study shows that CP NP based theranostic platforms are promising for future personalized nanomedicine

Smart Human Serum Albumin-Indocyanine Green Nanoparticles Generated by Programmed Assembly for Dual-Modal Imaging-Guided Cancer Synergistic Phototherapy

Phototherapy, including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), is a light-activated local treatment modality that is under intensive preclinical and clinical investigations for cancer. To enhance the treatment efficiency of phototherapy and reduce the light-associated side effects, it is highly desirable to improve drug accumulation and precision guided phototherapy for efficient conversion of the absorbed light energy to reactive oxygen species (ROS) and local hyperthermia. In the present study, a programmed assembly strategy was developed for the preparation of human serum albumin (HSA)-indocyanine green (ICG) nanoparticles (HSA-ICG NPs) by intermolecular disulfide conjugations. This study indicated that HSA-ICG NPs had a high accumulation with tumor-to-normal tissue ratio of 36.12 ± 5.12 at 24 h and a long-term retention with more than 7 days in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice, where the tumor and its margin, normal tissue were clearly identified <i>via</i> ICG-based <i>in vivo</i> near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence and photoacoustic dual-modal imaging and spectrum-resolved technology. Meanwhile, HSA-ICG NPs efficiently induced ROS and local hyperthermia simultaneously for synergetic PDT/PTT treatments under a single NIR laser irradiation. After an intravenous injection of HSA-ICG NPs followed by imaging-guided precision phototherapy (808 nm, 0.8 W/cm² for 5 min), the tumor was completely suppressed, no tumor recurrence and treatments-induced toxicity were observed. The results suggest that HSA-ICG NPs generated by programmed assembly as smart theranostic nanoplatforms are highly potential for imaging-guided cancer phototherapy with PDT/PTT synergistic effects