24 research outputs found
Development and biostability evaluation of hybrid nanoconstructs for cancer therapy based on zinc oxide nanocrystals
L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen
Towards a comprehension of Zinc oxide nanoparticles behavior in inorganic and biological fluids
Smart Shockwave Responsive Titania-Based Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatment
Nanomedicine is an emerging treatment approach for many cancers, characterized by having high sensitivity and selectivity for tumor cells and minimal toxic effects induced by the conventional chemotherapeutics. In these context, smart nanoparticles (NPs) are getting increasingly relevant in the development of new therapies. NPs with specific chemical composition and/or structure and being stimuli-responsive to magnetic, light or ultrasound waves are new promising tools.
In the present work, amorphous-titania propyl-amine functionalized (a-TiO2-NH2) NPs, coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA), are stimulated with high energy shock waves to induce cytotoxic effects in cancer cells. First, a new method to coat a-TiO2-NH2 NPs with BSA (a-TiO2-NH2/BSA) was proposed, allowing for a high dispersion and colloidal stability in a cell culture media. The a-TiO2-NH2/BSA NPs showed no cancer cell cytotoxicity. In a second step, the use of shock waves to stimulate a-TiO2-NH2/BSA NPs, was evaluated and optimized. A systematic study was performed in in vitro cell culture aiming to impair the cancer cell viability: NP concentrations, time steps and single versus multiple shock waves treatments were studied. The obtained results highlighted the relevance of NPs design and administration time point with respect to the shock wave treatment and allow to hypothesize mechanical damages to cells
BIOMIMETIC NON - IMMUNOGENIC NANOASSEMBLY FOR THE ANTITUMOR THERAPY
Nanoassembly ( 1 ) for inducing apoptosis in cancer cells
comprising : a core ( 2 ) comprising at least a nanoparticle of
a nano structured and semiconductor metal oxide , said nanoparticle being monocrystalline or polycrystalline ; a
shell ( 3 ) formed by a double phospholipid layer and proteins
derived from an extracellular biovesicole chosen between an
exosome , an ectosome , a connectosome , an oncosome and
an apoptotic body , and an oncosome , said core ( 2 ) being
enclosed inside said shell ( 3 ) ; and a plurality of targeting
molecules ( 4 , 4 ' , 4 " ) of said cancer cells , preferably mono
clonal antibodies ( 4 , 4 ' , 4 " ) , said molecules ( 4 , 4 , 4 " ) being
anchored to the external surface of said biovesicole
Sonophotocatalytic degradation mechanisms of Rhodamine B dye via radicals generation by micro- and nano-particles of ZnO
In this work, it is proposed an environmental friendly sonophotocatalytic approach to efficiently treat polluted waters from industrial dyes exploiting ZnO micro- and nano-materials. For the first time, we deeply investigated the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under ultrasound stimulation of different ZnO structures by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (EPR). Indeed, five zinc oxide (ZnO) micro- and nano-structures, i.e. Desert Roses (DRs), Multipods (MPs), Microwires (MWs), Nanoparticles (NPs) and Nanowires (NWs), were studied for the Rhodamine B (RhB) sonodegradation under ultrasonic irradiation. The DRs microparticles demonstrated the best sonocatalytic performance (100% degradation of RhB in 180 min) and the highest OH[rad] radicals generation under ultrasonic irradiation. Strikingly, the coupling of ultrasound and sun-light irradiation in a sonophotodegradation approach led to 100% degradation efficiency, i.e. color reduction, of RhB in just 10 min, revealing a great positive synergy between the photocatalytic and sonocatalytic mechanisms. The RhB sonophotocatalytic degradation was also evaluated at different initial dye concentrations and with the presence of anions in solution. It was demonstrated a good stability over repeated cycles of dye treatment, which probe the applicability of this technique with industrial effluents. In conclusion, sonophotocatalytic degradation synergizing sunlight and ultrasound in the presence of DRs microparticles shows a great potential and a starting point to investigate further the efficient treatment of organic dyes in wastewater
Nanoparticle-assisted ultrasound: a special focus on sonodynamic therapy against cancer
At present, ultrasound radiation is broadly employed in medicine for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes at various frequencies and intensities. In this review article, we focus on therapeutically-active nanoparticles (NPs) when stimulated by ultrasound. We first introduce the different ultrasound-based therapies with special attention to the techniques involved in oncological field, then we summarize the different NPs used, ranging from soft materials, like liposomes or micro/nano-bubbles, to metal and metal oxide NPs. We therefore focus on the sonodynamic therapy and on the possible working mechanisms under debate of NPs-assisted sonodynamic treatments. We support the idea that various, complex and synergistics physical-chemical processes take place during acoustic cavitation and NP activation. Different mechanisms are therefore responsible for the final cancer cell death and strongly depends on not only the type and structure of NPs or nanocarriers, but also on the way they interact with the ultrasonic pressure waves. We conclude with a brief overview of the clinical applications of the various ultrasound therapies and the related use of NPs-assisted ultrasound in clinics, showing that this very innovative and promising approach is however still at its infancy in the clinical cancer treatment
A Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanocrystals Finely Tuned for Biological Applications
Herein we report a novel, easy, fast and reliable microwave-assisted synthesis procedure
for the preparation of colloidal zinc oxide nanocrystals (ZnO NCs) optimized for biological
applications. ZnO NCs are also prepared by a conventional solvo-thermal approach and the
properties of the two families of NCs are compared and discussed. All of the NCs are fully
characterized in terms of morphological analysis, crystalline structure, chemical composition and
optical properties, both as pristine nanomaterials or after amino-propyl group functionalization.
Compared to the conventional approach, the novel microwave-derived ZnO NCs demonstrate
outstanding colloidal stability in ethanol and water with long shelf-life. Furthermore, together with
their more uniform size, shape and chemical surface properties, this long-term colloidal stability
also contributes to the highly reproducible data in terms of biocompatibility. Actually, a
significantly different biological behavior of the microwave-synthesized ZnO NCs is reported with
respect to NCs prepared by the conventional synthesis procedure. In particular, consistent
cytotoxicity and highly reproducible cell uptake toward KB cancer cells are measured with the use
of microwave-synthesized ZnO NCs, in contrast to the non-reproducible and scattered data
obtained with the conventionally-synthesized ones. Thus, we demonstrate how the synthetic route
and, as a consequence, the control over all the nanomaterial properties are prominent points to be
considered when dealing with the biological world for the achievement of reproducible and reliable
results, and how the use of commercially-available and under-characterized nanomaterials should
be discouraged in this view