Editorial: Functional surfaces and biomaterials

At the beginning of 2022, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology - Biomaterials Section has published a Research Topic on “Functional Surfaces and Biomaterials.” The aim of this Research Topic is to summarize the current state of research and development in the field of functional surfaces and biomaterials with a particular focus on biotechnological and medical applications. The guest editorial team would like to thank all colleagues from around the world who submitted their reviews and research articles for the Research Topic. By the end of August 2022, we have successfully collected 20 articles by 138 participating authors following the peer review process. We also tried to select manuscripts from different research areas to cover the most relevant Research Topic of interest, from drug delivery systems to bone tissue engineering to biosensors and general aspects in biomedicine. By the end of December, the 20 articles had been viewed for more than 21000 times with downloads more than 4,000 times, and 11 articles have reached more than 1,000 views

Investigation of Various Cross-Linking Methods for the Immobilization of Cytosine Arabinoside on Bacterial Magnetosomes

Bacterial magnetosomes (BMs) have emerged as potential drug delivery vehicles, possessing an iron oxide or iron sulfide core surrounded by a natural lipid membrane shell. In this study, we immobilized cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) effectively on BMs by using various methods such as direct absorption (ABMs), and others include different cross-linkers such as genipin (GP) and glutaraldehyde (G). A well-dispersed Ara-C coupled bacterial magnetosomes resulted in significantly higher negative charge than that of naked BMs (−11.5±0.3 mV) confirming the drug loading. Out of all methods, direct absorption process led to the highest encapsulation efficiency and drug loading of 88.2±4.3% and 46.9±1.2%, respectively. These designs have shown the long-term drug release behavior without an initial burst release. Our results indicate that BMs-based nanoconjugates will potentially find widespread applications in pharmaceutical field

Preparation, characterization and targeting of micronized 10-hydroxycamptothecin-loaded folate-conjugated human serum albumin nanoparticles to cancer cells

Qingyong Li, Chen Liu, Xiuhua Zhao, Yuangang Zu, Ying Wang, Baoyou Zhang, Dongmei Zhao, Qi Zhao, Lin Su, Yang Gao, Baihe SunKey Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of ChinaBackground: The purpose of this study was to develop a method for targeted delivery of 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT)-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) to cancer cells.Methods: We first used a supercritical antisolvent process to prepare micronized HCPT (nHCPT), and then folate-conjugated human serum albumin (HSA) nHCPT-loaded NPs (FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs) were prepared using a NP-coated method combined with a desolvation technique. The amount of folate conjugation was 16 µg · mg-1 HSA.Results: The particle size of the spherical nHCPT microparticles obtained was 118.5 ± 6.6 nm. The particle size and zeta potential of the FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs were 233.9 ± 1.2 nm and -25.23 ± 2.98 mV, respectively. The FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs exhibited a smooth surface and a distinct spherical shape, and the results of differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction indicated that the FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs presented in a nanostructured amorphous state. The FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs showed sustained-release characteristics for 120 hours in vitro, with a drug-loading content of 7.3% and an encapsulating efficiency of 79.1%.Conclusion: The FA-NPs were effective delivery systems for uptake by SGC7901 cells compared with folate-free NPs. These results suggest that a NP-coated method combined with a desolvation technique is effective for preparing NPs with drugs having poor solubility in water and most organic solvents, using albumin as the wall material. FA-HSA-NPs are a stable delivery system and have the potential for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs.Keywords: nanoparticle-coated, desolvation technique, 10-hydroxycamptothecin, human serum albumin, folate, targeted delivery&nbsp

A Workflow for Interpretation of Fracture Characteristics Based on Digital Outcrop Models: A Case Study on Ebian XianFeng Profile in Sichuan Basin

Collecting information about fracture attributes through outcrops measurement is crucial for analyzing the scale, distribution, orientation, and spatial arrangement of fractures. The emergence of digital outcrop models (DOMs) provides a new technology for quantitative interpretation of fractures. However, large-scale DOMs pose additional challenges to the practical application, particularly in the interpretation of geological elements (e.g. fractures). This research proposes a workflow for fracture characteristics interpretation based on DOMs. First, DOMs are generated using light detection and ranging scanning technology. Then, a 3D visualization platform is developed based on OpenSceneGraph. We use level-of-detail technology to reconstruct DOMs for multiscale fast visualization of large-scale models. Finally, in order to realize the quantitative interpretation of fractures, we propose the best-plane fitting and the feature information (orientation, length, spacing, etc.) extraction methods for two types of fractures (exposed fracture walls and fracture traces). The proposed methods are applied to extract attributes of fractures in Dengying Formation (second member), Ebian, Xianfeng, southwest Sichuan Basin, China. The results provide the basis for reservoir evaluation in this area

No genetic causal association between iron status and osteoporosis: A two-sample Mendelian randomization

ObjectiveTo explore the genetic causal association between osteoporosis (OP) and iron status through Mendelian randomization (MR).MethodsPublicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data were used for MR analysis with four iron status-related indicators (ferritin, iron, total iron binding capacity, and transferrin saturation) as exposures and three different types of OP (OP, OP with pathological fracture, and postmenopausal OP with pathological fracture) as outcomes. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used to analyze the genetic causal association between the four indicators of iron status and OP. The heterogeneity of MR results was determined using IVW and MR–Egger methods. The pleiotropy of MR results was determined using MR–Egger regression. A leave-one-SNP-out test was performed to determine whether the MR results were affected by a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). The weighted median method was conducted to further validate our results.ResultsBased on IVW, MR–Egger and weighted median models, we found no causal association between iron status (ferritin, iron, total iron binding capacity, or transferrin saturation) and OP (Pbeta > 0.05 in all models). IVW and MR–Egger analysis of OP with pathological fracture and iron status indicators showed no potential genetic causal association (Pbeta> 0.05 in the two analyses). The results of the weighted median were consistent with those of IVW (Pbeta> 0.05 in all analyses). There was no potential genetic causal association between iron status and postmenopausal OP with pathological fracture based on serum iron (Pbeta>0.05 in all models). No heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy was found in any of the analyses. None of the leave-one-out tests in the analyses found any SNP that could affect the results of MR.ConclusionOur results demonstrate that there is no genetic causal association between OP and iron status, but the effects of other factors were not excluded

Application of Ionic Liquids in the Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Proanthocyanidins from Larix gmelini Bark

Ionic liquid based, microwave-assisted extraction (ILMAE) was successfully applied to the extraction of proanthocyanidins from Larix gmelini bark. In this work, in order to evaluate the performance of ionic liquids in the microwave-assisted extraction process, a series of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids with different cations and anions were evaluated for extraction yield, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide was selected as the optimal solvent. In addition, the ILMAE procedure for the proanthocyanidins was optimized and compared with other conventional extraction techniques. Under the optimized conditions, satisfactory extraction yield of the proanthocyanidins was obtained. Relative to other methods, the proposed approach provided higher extraction yield and lower energy consumption. The Larix gmelini bark samples before and after extraction were analyzed by Thermal gravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the ILMAE method is a simple and efficient technique for sample preparation