Elasticity, an often-overseen parameter in the development of nanoscale drug delivery systems

• Agnes-Valencia Weiss and
• Marc Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1149–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.95

• . HeLa cells show an enhanced uptake by RGD functionalization but it is still reduced in comparison to all hard formulations. Particles with RGD-modified surfaces are superior in tumor accumulation for both soft and hard HNPs, with softer particles showing an overall higher retention in the tumor. This

Polymer nanoparticles from low-energy nanoemulsions for biomedical applications

• Santiago Grijalvo and
• Carlos Rodriguez-Abreu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 339–350, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.29

• were obtained upon solvent removal. High colloidal stability (longer than three months without sedimentation), high encapsulation efficiency (>99%), slow drug release (only 15% of the drug after five days), and low cytotoxicity against HeLa cells (cell viability > 80%) were observed. In vivo tests

• SH-SY5Y cells, and no hemolysis was observed. The presence of Tat on the surface of the nanoparticles enabled cell membrane penetration and uptake in HeLa Cells. The effect of electrolytes in the aqueous phase on Polysorbate 80-based PIC nanoemulsions and derived PLGA nanoparticles has been explored

• concentration in the precursor nanoemulsions is increased. Cell viabilities (HeLa cells) were higher than 70% when incubated with non-loaded and DXM-loaded PLGA nanoparticles. PLGA nanoparticles have been also produced from nonionic/cationic surfactant nanoemulsions, specifically in the system water

Structural, optical, and bioimaging characterization of carbon quantum dots solvothermally synthesized from o-phenylenediamine

• Zoran M. Marković,
• Milica D. Budimir,
• Martin Danko,
• Dušan D. Milivojević,
• Pavel Kubat,
• Danica Z. Zmejkoski,
• Vladimir B. Pavlović,
• Marija M. Mojsin,
• Milena J. Stevanović and
• Biljana M. Todorović Marković

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 165–174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.17

• oxygen species production, and showed low dark cytotoxicity. By investigating the cellular uptake, it was established that these dots penetrated the HeLa cells and could be used as probes for bioimaging. Keywords: antibacterial; bioimaging; carbon quantum dots; precursor; reactive oxygen species

• test internalization of CQDs, Hela cells were treated for 48 h with a concentration of 200 µg/mL CQDs. As shown in Figure 6b, fluorescence imaging demonstrated that CQDs penetrated Hela cells well (compared to Hela cells treated with vehicle control, shown in Figure 6a) and were mainly in the cytoplasm

• assay by measuring the absorbance at 540 nm on Tecan Infinite 200 Pro multiplate reader (Tecan Group, Männedorf, Switzerland). The cytotoxicity results were presented as a percentage of the control (untreated cells), which was arbitrary set to 100%. Fluorescence microscopy Hela cells were grown in low

Recent advances in green carbon dots (2015–2022): synthesis, metal ion sensing, and biological applications

• Aisha Kanwal,
• Naheed Bibi,
• Sajjad Hyder,
• Arif Muhammad,
• Hao Ren,
• Jiangtao Liu and
• Zhongli Lei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1068–1107, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.93

• Fe3+/Fe2+ in water, H2O2 can be split into hydroxyl radicals, and the ensuing radical is an incredibly potent oxidizing species. The treatment time lasted from 10 to 60 min, with 40 min yielding the highest CD luminescence. The resulting CDs (2–10 nm) have excellent penetration into HeLa cells

Detection and imaging of Hg(II) in vivo using glutathione-functionalized gold nanoparticles

• Gufeng Li,
• Shaoqing Li,
• Rui Wang,
• Min Yang,
• Lizhu Zhang,
• Yanli Zhang,
• Wenrong Yang and
• Hongbin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 549–559, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.46

• incubated in HeLa cells. We expect that this new system based on the molecular regulation of functionalized GNPs can have potential applications in pollution monitoring, biosensing, and cellular imaging. Results and Discussion Synthesis and spectral signature of GNPs-GSH-Rh6G2 As shown in Figure 1a, 13 nm

• was performed after different cell incubation times (0–2.5 h). As shown in Figure 6a and Figure 6d, when cultured HeLa cells were incubated with GSH-Rh6G2 and GNPs-GSH-Rh6G2 without Hg2+, there are no obvious intracellular fluorescence signals. After Hg2+ was added (10 µM) for 1.5 h, fluorescence in

• and GNPs-GSH-Rh6G2 at different concentrations (0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.05 µmol) on HeLa cells was evaluated through CKK-8 assays. Figure 6g shows that the viability of HeLa cells increases with increasing concentration after 24 h of incubation with free GSH-Rh6G2 and GNPs-GSH-Rh6G2. In addition

Photothermal ablation of murine melanomas by Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle clusters

• Xue Wang,
• Lili Xuan and
• Ying Pan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 255–264, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.20

• (DeTAB, 99%) and 1,2-hexadecanediol (97%) were purchased from TCI Chemical Industry Development Co., Ltd. (Shanghai). Chloroform (99%), ethylene glycol (96%), and ethanol (99.7%) were purchased from Beijing Chemical Works. Nitrogen gas was purchased from Juyang Gas (Changchun). Hela cells were purchased

Engineered titania nanomaterials in advanced clinical applications

• Padmavati Sahare,
• Paulina Govea Alvarez,
• Juan Manual Sanchez Yanez,
• Gabriel Luna-Bárcenas,
• Samik Chakraborty,
• Sujay Paul and
• Miriam Estevez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 201–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.15

• a significant photodynamic effect exhibited by PEGylated undoped-TiO2 with 75% killing of HeLa cells at a concentration of 5.5 μg/mL in response to UV or sunlight radiation [113]. TiO2 and ZnO2 are the most effective photosensitizers used in PDT. Yurt et al. conducted experiments in breast and

• NIR laser irradiation at a far lower power density and low intravenous dosage. Phototoxicity essays of G-TiO2−x on HeLa cells using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) showed 85% cell viability, confirming that G-TiO2−x itself is non-toxic even at higher concentrations

Theranostic potential of self-luminescent branched polyethyleneimine-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

• Rouhollah Khodadust,
• Ozlem Unal and
• Havva Yagci Acar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 82–95, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.6

• factor receptor (EGFR). Pro-apoptotic polyinosinic–polycytidylic acid sodium (PIC) was delivered to HeLa cells with SPION@bPEI and caused a dramatic reduction in the cell viability at otherwise non-toxic nanoparticle concentrations, proving that bPEI coating is still an effective component for the

• signal was demonstrated. Then, a pro-apoptotic oligonucleotide (polyinosinic–polycytidylic acid sodium salt) (PIC) was transfected into HeLa cells to demonstrate that luminescent bPEI coating is still an effective component for the delivery of an anionic cargo and it may deliver oligonucleotides in a

• ) in HBG at 25 °C. All measurements were performed in triplicate. Cell culture and cytotoxicity assay Dose-dependent antiproliferative effects of free bPEI, SPION@bPEI, and SPION@bPEI/PIC were tested on HeLa cells (cervical cancer cell line). The antiproliferative effect of SPION@bPEI-Erb and SPION

Alteration of nanomechanical properties of pancreatic cancer cells through anticancer drug treatment revealed by atomic force microscopy

• Xiaoteng Liang,
• Shuai Liu,
• Xiuchao Wang,
• Dan Xia and
• Qiang Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1372–1379, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.101

• the physical properties of HeLa cells treated by docetaxel are different from that of untreated ones [9]. Therefore, the study of drug–cell interaction regarding cellular mechanics could be an effective way for drug evaluation. Important information, including drug efficacy and safety can be obtained

Comprehensive review on ultrasound-responsive theranostic nanomaterials: mechanisms, structures and medical applications

• Sepand Tehrani Fateh,
• Lida Moradi,
• Elmira Kohan,
• Michael R. Hamblin and
• Amin Shiralizadeh Dezfuli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 808–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.64

The impact of molecular tumor profiling on the design strategies for targeting myeloid leukemia and EGFR/CD44-positive solid tumors

• Nikola Geskovski,
• Nadica Matevska-Geshkovska,
• Simona Dimchevska Sazdovska,
• Marija Glavas Dodov,
• Kristina Mladenovska and
• Katerina Goracinova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 375–401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.31

Imaging of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero E6 cells by helium ion microscopy

• Natalie Frese,
• Patrick Schmerer,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Matthias Schürmann,
• Matthias König,
• Michael Westphal,
• Friedemann Weber,
• Holger Sudhoff and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 172–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.13

• observed for human coronavirus229E and quantified in HeLa cells by Wang and co-workers [38]. However, the metal coating applied by Wang et al. is clearly visible at high resolution in the SEM images as a rough layer on the cell membrane that hides the true topography [25][39]. In contrast, the HIM images

Bio-imaging with the helium-ion microscope: A review

• Matthias Schmidt,
• James M. Byrne and
• Ilari J. Maasilta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1–23, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.1

• mitotic HeLa cells that HIM is ready for ultrastructure research in cell biology. Research on the ultrastructure of cells with the HIM was subsequently continued by Schürmann et al., who presented HIM micrographs of cell-membrane nanodomains in mammalian cells [16]. HIM entered the field of virology in

• excite IL in biological specimens [52]. In this Ph.D. thesis, Alexa Fluor 514-labelled HeLa cells were imaged with 2 MeV protons. Furthermore, optimisation protocols for the design of luminescent lanthanide-doped nanoparticles with a quantum yield of up to 0.673 were presented. In the aforementioned work

Photothermally active nanoparticles as a promising tool for eliminating bacteria and biofilms

• Mykola Borzenkov,
• Piersandro Pallavicini,
• Angelo Taglietti,
• Laura D’Alfonso,
• Maddalena Collini and
• Giuseppe Chirico

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1134–1146, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.98

• , the bacteria was selectively eliminated from the HeLa cells. In a later study, published in 2017, the photothermally active Prussian blue nanoparticles were grafted on a glass surface via a layer-by-layer approach [74]. The self-assembled monolayers demonstrated photothermally induced antibacterial

Applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in drug and therapeutic delivery, and biotechnological advancements

• Maria Suciu,
• Corina M. Ionescu,
• Alexandra Ciorita,
• Septimiu C. Tripon,
• Dragos Nica,
• Hani Al-Salami and
• Lucian Barbu-Tudoran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1092–1109, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.94

• HeLa cells up to 400 µg/mL, but the coating enhanced the effect of the hyperthermia water-bath treatment [45]. This effect of biocompatibility at 37 °C and cytotoxicity at 42 °C, even at micromolar concentrations, was noted already earlier by other groups [89][90]. Recently, in a study of SPION

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• compared to that of free doxorubicin, presumably due to slow release from the nanocarriers. Alternatively, a significant killing efficiency of HeLa cells was achieved using just 0.46 μg/mL of free doxorubicin in combination with 200 μg/mL of PML-MF and laser irradiation for 10 min, further showing the

• times in HeLa cells (Figure 6A). When incubated with HeLa cell lines up to 4 h, strong fluorescence was observed. Unlike Au-BSA NCs, even after 8 h, weak fluorescence was still observed. Biodistribution studies of Au-NAC-CS NCs in different organs of mice, including heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney

• labeling and imaging using AuNCs. A) HeLa cells were treated with (a, b) Au-MUDA NCs and (e, f) Au-MUDA-NLS NCs for 1.5 h. The left panel shows the one-color image. The right panel shows the two-color colocalization image of HeLa cells incubated with Au-MUDA-NLS NCs and counterstained with membrane dye WGA

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

Interactions at the cell membrane and pathways of internalization of nano-sized materials for nanomedicine

• Valentina Francia,
• Daphne Montizaan and
• Anna Salvati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 338–353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.25

• could be internalized by HeLa cells [125]. Moreover, the effects of nanoparticle size on the mechanism of uptake may be different in different cell types. For example, it has been shown that murine RAW 264.7 macrophages have a higher uptake efficiency for carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticles compared

• to human endothelial HCMEC or epithelial HeLa cells [131]. In another study using carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticles of different sizes in different cell types, actin was required for the internalization of nanoparticles of 200 nm, but not for those of 40 nm in 1321N1 astrocytes. Instead, in lung

• 3) were both taken up by HeLa cells by a combination of clathrin-mediated and caveolae-mediated endocytosis (based on cholesterol and tyrosine kinase dependence) [125]. On the other hand, in another study, the entry of cylindric, worm-like, and spherical silica particles in A549 and RAW264.7 cells

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• altered the FRET response, which was exploited for sensing of acidic pH (3–5.5) with a low step size (0.2–0.3) within synthetic vesicles that mimicked the intracellular environment. The in cellulo study in HeLa cells demonstrated the efficient cellular uptake of the DNA device without the need for a

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 101–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.10

• internalization of dodeca-arginine (R12) in HeLa cells, however, suggest a different uptake behavior. Hirose et al. [45] suggest the formation of “particle-like” structures during the interaction and uptake of poly-arginines. The “particles” form simultaneously and have a diameter of 1–3 µm. It is suggested that

• . Studies conveyed on the internalization of octa-arginine (R8) peptide in HeLa cells showed that the uptake was significantly suppressed by the macropinocytosis inhibitors EIPA and cytochalasin D. In accordance with these results, it was also observed that octa-arginine treatment caused significant

• macropinocytosis. LanCL1 is considered a cytosolic, peripheral membrane protein, which was found to stimulate R8 uptake in HeLa cells. The exact biological function of the protein is not yet clearly defined. Therefore, further studies are needed to address in detail the contribution of LanCL1 in the promotion of

Small protein sequences can induce cellular uptake of complex nanohybrids

• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Malak Safi,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Fadi Aldeek,
• Johannes Ostermann,
• Tatiana Domitrovic,
• Sebastian Gärtner,
• John E. Johnson,
• Horst Weller and
• Hedi Mattoussi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2477–2482, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.238

• on the ability of functional fusion proteins presenting a lytic gamma peptide, to promote interactions with HeLa cells and delivery of large hybrid nanostructures. Keywords: bioconjugation; cellular uptake; nanoparticle hybrids; polymer encapsulation; self-assembly; Introduction Developing hybrid

• unchanged, indicating colloidal stability. (C) Binding of the nanohybrids (presenting MBP-γ) onto an amylose column; the fluorescent and pinkish band reflect the presence of QDs and AuNPs. (D) A representative epifluorescence image of fixed HeLa cells after incubation with the nanohybrids at c(QD) = 100 nM

• and 14 His6-MBP-γ equiv/AuNP, scale bar = 50 µm. (E) Confocal microscopy images of HeLa cells incubated with nanohybrids for 1 h; c(QD) = 50 nM and 7 His6-MBP-γ equiv/AuNP. 60× magnification was used. Scale bar = 20 µm. (Top panels) data correspond to nanohybrids containing His6-MBP (no γ-peptide

Synthesis and potent cytotoxic activity of a novel diosgenin derivative and its phytosomes against lung cancer cells

• Liang Xu,
• Dekang Xu,
• Ziying Li,
• Yu Gao and
• Haijun Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1933–1942, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.189

• antiproliferative activity against HeLa cells, which is close to that of the clinical anticancer agent paclitaxel [14]. These successful examples demonstrated that the steroidal structure of Di is promising for the discovery of new anticancer drugs. Liposomes that usually consist of phospholipids and are stabilized

Nanoarchitectonics meets cell surface engineering: shape recognition of human cells by halloysite-doped silica cell imprints

• Elvira Rozhina,
• Ilnur Ishmukhametov,
• Svetlana Batasheva,
• Farida Akhatova and
• Rawil Fakhrullin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1818–1825, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.176

• detection of human cells. We used HeLa cells to template silica inorganic shells doped with halloysite clay nanotubes. The shells were destroyed by sonication resulting in the formation of polydisperse hybrid imprints that were used to recognise HeLa cells in liquid media supplemented with yeast. We believe

• silica shells deposited on viable human HeLa cells. Halloysite nanotubes were chosen as dopant because of their biocompatibilty and rather large lumen sizes suitable for loading various drugs and even enzymes [32]. In the future, the procedure developed here can be extended to other nanotubular particles

• applications [34]. After fabrication, the cells were bleached to produce hollow cell-shaped imprints. These imprints, in turn, were utilised to recognise HeLa cells in suspension. Importantly, the silica/halloysite imprints based on human cells were selective and did not interact with microbial cells of

Tungsten disulfide-based nanocomposites for photothermal therapy

• Tzuriel Levin,
• Hagit Sade,
• Rina Ben-Shabbat Binyamini,
• Maayan Pour,
• Iftach Nachman and
• Jean-Paul Lellouche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 811–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.81

• ) nanocomposite. The composite is magnetic and forms a stable dispersion in water. It was characterized to verify the CAN-mag attachment to the nanotubes, and tested for PTT. Preliminary in-vitro PTT tests show that the WS2-CAN-mag nanocomposite successfully eliminated two types of cancerous cells: HeLa cells

• -NT-CM composite as a photothermal therapy agent. Figure 5 shows optical microscope images taken from a cell viability test of HeLa cells incubated for 10 min with WS2-NTs (d–f), with WS2-NT-CM (g–i), and without any addition (a–c) for reference. Figure 6 shows the percentage of alive, dead, and

• with WS2-NT-CM. However, cell death is more accentuated after addition of the latter (Figure 5i). This is also expressed in higher percentages of dead HeLa cells. For MCF7 cells, the cell viability results are less conclusive compared to HeLa cell results (see Supporting Information File 1). While a

Polydopamine-coated Au nanorods for targeted fluorescent cell imaging and photothermal therapy

• Boris N. Khlebtsov,
• Andrey M. Burov,
• Timofey E. Pylaev and
• Nikolai G. Khlebtsov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 794–803, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.79

• -functionalized nanoparticles in folate-positive HeLa cells in contrast to the folate-negative HEK 293 cells using fluorescent microscopy. The replacement of folic acid with polyethylene glycol (PEG) leads to a decrease in nanoparticle uptake by both folate-positive and folate-negative cells. We performed NIR

• were functionalized with folates and rhodamine 123. Folate receptors are commonly overexpressed in cancer cells, e.g., in HeLa cells, enabling an easy targeting with folic acid [44]. Rhodamine 123 was used as a fluorescent dye to control the nanocomposite interaction with cells using fluorescent

• nonspecific uptake. To understand the safe dose of PEG-coated and folate-functionalized polydopamine-encapsulated AuNRs, we investigated their biocompatibility by a standard resazurin-based cytotoxic assay. Both folate-functionalized and PEG-coated nanocomposites incubated with HeLa cells during 24 and 48 h