Sulfur-Doped NiFe Hydroxide Nanobowls with Wrinkling Patterns for Photothermal Cancer Therapy

Hierarchical multiscale wrinkling nanostructures have shown great promise for many biomedical applications, such as cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, synthesizing these materials with precise control remains challenging. Here, we report a sulfur doping strategy to synthesize sub-1 nm NiFe hydroxide ultrathin nanosheets (S-NiFe HUNs). The introduction of sulfur affects the reduction of the band gap and the adjustment of the electronic structure, thereby improving the light absorption ability of the S-NiFe HUNs. Additionally, S-NiFe HUNs show a multilayered nanobowl-like structure that enables multiple reflections of incident light inside the nanostructure, which improved the utilization of incident light and achieved high photothermal conversion. As a result, the as-prepared product with hydrophilic modification (dS-NiFe HUNs) demonstrated enhanced tumor-killing ability in vitro. In a mouse model of breast cancer, dS-NiFe HUNs combined with near-infrared light irradiation greatly inhibited tumor growth and prolonged the mice survival. Altogether, our study demonstrates the great potential of dS-NiFe HUNs for cancer photothermal therapy applications

Ultrasmall Gold Nanoparticles Behavior in Vivo Modulated by Surface Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Grafting

Ultrasmall nanoparticles provide us with essential alternatives for designing more efficient nanocarriers for drug delivery. However, the fast clearance of ultrasmall nanoparticles limits their application to some extent. One of the most frequently used compound to slow the clearance of nanocarriers and nanodrugs is PEG, which is also approved by FDA. Nonetheless, few reports explored the effect of the PEGylation of ultrasmall nanoparticles on their behavior in vivo. Herein, we investigated the impact of different PEG grafting level of 2 nm core sized gold nanoparticles on their biological behavior in tumor-bearing mice. The results indicate that partial (∼50%) surface PEGylation could prolong the blood circulation and increase the tumor accumulation of ultrasmall nanoparticles to a maximum extent, which guide us to build more profitable small-sized nanocarriers for drug delivery

Multifunctional Gadolinium-Doped Manganese Carbonate Nanoparticles for Targeted MR/Fluorescence Imaging of Tiny Brain Gliomas

Manganese (Mn)-based nanoparticles have been proved to be promising MR <i>T</i>₁ contrast agents for the diagnosis of brain tumors. However, most of them exhibit a low relaxation rate, resulting in an insufficient enhancement effect on tiny gliomas. Herein, we developed gadolinium (Gd)-doped MnCO₃ nanoparticles with a size of 11 nm via the thermal decomposition of Mn-oleate in the presence of Gd-oleate. Owing to the small size and Gd doping, these Gd-doped MnCO₃ NPs, when endowed with excellent aqueous dispersibility and colloidal stability, exhibited a high <i>r</i>₁ relaxivity of 6.81 mM^–1 s^–1. Moreover, the Gd/MnCO₃ NPs were used as a reliable platform to construct a glioma-targeted MR/fluorescence bimodal nanoprobe. The high relaxivity, the bimodal imaging capability, and the specificity nominate the multifunctional Gd doped MnCO₃ NPs as an effective nanoprobe for the diagnostic imaging of tiny brain gliomas with an improved efficacy

Visualization 1.mpg

3D rendering of a blood capillary

Virus-Inspired Self-Assembled Nanofibers with Aggregation-Induced Emission for Highly Efficient and Visible Gene Delivery

High-efficiency gene transfer and suitably low cytotoxicity are the main goals of gene transfection systems based on nonviral vectors. In addition, it is desirable to track the gene transfer process in order to observe and explain the mechanism. Herein, inspired by viral structures that are optimized for gene delivery, we designed a small-molecule gene vector (TR4) with aggregation-induced emission properties by capping a peptide containing four arginine residues with tetraphenylethene (TPE) and a lipophilic tail. This novel vector can self-assemble with plasmid DNA to form nanofibers in solution with low cytotoxicity, high stability, and high transfection efficiency. pDNA@TR4 complexes were able to transfect a variety of different cell lines, including stem cells. The self-assembly process induces bright fluorescence from TPE, which makes the nanofibers visible by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). This allows us for the tracking of the gene delivery process