Lipid nanostructures for antioxidant delivery: a comparative preformulation study

• Elisabetta Esposito,
• Maddalena Sguizzato,
• Markus Drechsler,
• Paolo Mariani,
• Federica Carducci,
• Claudio Nastruzzi,
• Giuseppe Valacchi and
• Rita Cortesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1789–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.174

• retinoic acid, have been shown to improve skin condition and even counteract the effects of exogenous stress factors such as smoking on skin aging. This work describes the design and development of lipid nanoparticles containing antioxidant agents (α-tocopherol or retinoic acid) to protect human skin

• nanostructured lipid carriers compositions. Human skin explants were treated with α-tocopherol-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers and then exposed to cigarette smoke, and the protein levels of the stress-induced enzyme heme oxygenase were analyzed in skin homogenates. Interestingly, it was found that

• lipid carriers (NLCs); retinoic acid; skin pollution; solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs); Introduction Air pollution increasingly affects industrialized urban areas in a negative manner with dramatic consequences for the environment and human health. This problem also affects rural areas, worsening the

Nanoporous smartPearls for dermal application – Identification of optimal silica types and a scalable production process as prerequisites for marketed products

• David Hespeler,
• Sanaa El Nomeiri,
• Jonas Kaltenbach and
• Rainer H. Müller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1666–1678, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.162

• solution, because the application of simple suspensions to the skin normally does not provide a sufficient dermal bioavailability. Classic delivery systems such as liposomes [3] or solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) [4][5] do not work because the active agents do not dissolve in the lipidic phase of these

• systems. A simple but very effective approach is to increase the saturation solubility of these active agents. This leads to an increased concentration gradient between the formulation and skin, Cs–Cskin, and thus to an increased diffusional flux into the skin. Moreover, using complexes with polymers or

• scale by bead milling or high-pressure homogenization. Skin penetration studies showed that the smartPearls were actually superior to the nanocrystals [8][24][25]. However, the market introduction in final cosmetic products was blocked due to the lack of an industrial supplier of active agent-loaded

Subsurface imaging of flexible circuits via contact resonance atomic force microscopy

• Wenting Wang,
• Chengfu Ma,
• Yuhang Chen,
• Lei Zheng,
• Huarong Liu and
• Jiaru Chu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1636–1647, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.159

• [1][2][3][4], heaters [5][6][7][8] and temperature sensors [9][10][11][12]. Successful applications can be found in smart contact lenses, transparent electronic devices and deformable electronic skin, for instance. In general, a flexible circuit consists of a highly flexible thin polymer film as the

Enhanced inhibition of influenza virus infection by peptide–noble-metal nanoparticle conjugates

• Zaid K. Alghrair,
• David G. Fernig and
• Bahram Ebrahimi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1038–1047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.104

• sulfoxide (DMSO). Although a useful solvent, its use in therapies is problematic due to DMSO causing potential adverse reactions in some individuals such as a sensation of burning, vesiculation, dryness of skin and local allergic reactions [34][35][36]. PEGylation of peptides has been successfully used to

Wearable, stable, highly sensitive hydrogel–graphene strain sensors

• Jian Lv,
• Chuncai Kong,
• Chao Yang,
• Lu Yin,
• Itthipon Jeerapan,
• Fangzhao Pu,
• Xiaojing Zhang,
• Sen Yang and
• Zhimao Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 475–480, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.47

• the field of bioelectronics, artificial intelligence, and soft robotics [1][2]. Among these sensors, strain sensors can translate an external applied tensile force into electrical signal, hence attracting numerous research efforts for health monitoring, biomechanics studies and artificial skin for

• human skin has impeded further integration as a wearable sensing component [7]. Hydrogels, with mechanical properties like biological tissues and consisting of three-dimensional polymer networks that can retain a large amount of water, can serve as ideal vehicles for wearable devices [8][9]. Several

• hydrogel-based strain sensors demonstrating high flexibility, self-healing properties and skin-attachable wearability, have been fabricated in the reported literature [2][10][11]. However, their inability to retain water over a long period largely prevents the hydrogel-based strain sensors from being

Electromagnetic analysis of the lasing thresholds of hybrid plasmon modes of a silver tube nanolaser with active core and active shell

• Denys M. Natarov,
• Trevor M. Benson and
• Alexander I. Nosich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 294–304, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.28

• wavelength. It is a well-established fact that on thin metal nanotubes, the thickness of which is comparable to the skin-depth thickness in the optical range (about 10 to 20 nm), the modes of the outer and inner boundaries hybridize [15]. This means that they form pairs, , in which the H-field of one mode is

• tube is thinner than the skin-depth (h < 20 nm), then for any fixed tube thickness the “difference” HLSP modes demonstrate lower threshold gains for the larger azimuth indices m. This is because their fields are more strongly confined near the outer surface of the silver tube. The thresholds of the

• “sum” modes, behave similarly. However, if the tube becomes thicker than the skin-depth, this rule no longer holds. Note also that, under the variation of tube thickness h, the thresholds of the modes display a broad maximum, the position of which depends on m. This can be explained by the combined

A comparison of tarsal morphology and traction force in the two burying beetles Nicrophorus nepalensis and Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera, Silphidae)

• Liesa Schnee,
• Benjamin Sampalla,
• Josef K. Müller and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 47–61, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.5

• . Instead, they are specialized in the burying of carrion and thus need to be able to cling firmly onto the skin and fur of their (mammal) carrion while tunnelling under its body. In our study, the attachment performance of animals having all tarsi attached to the ground has been quantified by means of

• , cf. Figure 2). Because of their broadened tips, the type-a hairs are assumed to function mainly as adhesive hairs, whereby they might support attachment to the fur and skin of their carrion. The back of all adhesive hairs are covered by nodule-like structures (Figure 2: SEM image of aIV), as

Bidirectional biomimetic flow sensing with antiparallel and curved artificial hair sensors

• Claudio Abels,
• Antonio Qualtieri,
• Toni Lober,
• Alessandro Mariotti,
• Lily D. Chambers,
• Massimo De Vittorio,
• William M. Megill and
• Francesco Rizzi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 32–46, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.4

• superficial neuromasts, which encode the pressure gradient over the body’s surface [10] and velocity of the flow [11], respectively. Whereas superficial neuromasts are located at the outside of the skin being in direct contact to the water, canal neuromasts form a part of an internal canal system located

• beneath the skin in which water streams in by entering external openings. Although canal and superficial neuromasts vary in their anatomical structure, both neuromast types are similar in their functional principle: water flows into the canal or around the skin and bends a jellylike cupula protruded into

• the flow upon and within the cupula were calculated and cupula deflection was described as a function of its height above the skin [11]. Artificial hair sensors As comprehensively described in several literature reviews [19][20][21][22][23][24], different flow sensing approaches and design

Characterization and influence of hydroxyapatite nanopowders on living cells

• Przemyslaw Oberbek,
• Tomasz Bolek,
• Adrian Chlanda,
• Seishiro Hirano,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Julia Rogowska-Tylman,
• Ganna Nechyporenko,
• Viktor Zinchenko,
• Wojciech Swieszkowski and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3079–3094, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.286

• , interactions between nanoparticles (NPs) and the biological environment are not yet fully understood. Structures such as human skin or lungs are in constant contact with the environment and are thus exposed to nanoobjects. Lack of knowledge about nanoparticle effects on cell viability is a significant barrier

Biomimetic surface structures in steel fabricated with femtosecond laser pulses: influence of laser rescanning on morphology and wettability

• Camilo Florian Baron,
• Alexandros Mimidis,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Evangelos Skoulas,
• Emmanuel Stratakis,
• Javier Solis and
• Jan Siegel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2802–2812, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.262

• structures show similarities to the skin of certain reptiles and integument of insects. Different irradiation parameters are investigated to produce the desired structures, including laser repetition rate and laser fluence, paying special attention to the influence of the number of times the same area is

• surface morphology. We present experimental results of complex self-organized structures produced in commercial steel that resemble the morphology of the skin of certain reptiles and insects, which are of great interest due to their exceptional fluid transport and friction reduction properties. Surface

• size of the structures decreases somewhat upon increasing number of scans, although still well above the initial size of the cones for a single scan. Within a biomimetic context, similar structures can be found on the skin of the Texas horned lizard, as shown in Figure 2E [30]. Their function is also

Comparative biological effects of spherical noble metal nanoparticles (Rh, Pd, Ag, Pt, Au) with 4–8 nm diameter

• Alexander Rostek,
• Marina Breisch,
• Kevin Pappert,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Marc Heggen,
• Manfred Köller,
• Christina Sengstock and
• Matthias Epple

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2763–2774, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.258

• biological effects of rhodium nanoparticles except that these nanoparticles can penetrate into human skin [32]. Silver nanoparticles are applied in various fields including healthcare and biomedicine due to their antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral effect [33][34][35][36][37]. This is based on the

Characterization of the microscopic tribological properties of sandfish (Scincus scincus) scales by atomic force microscopy

• Weibin Wu,
• Christian Lutz,
• Simon Mersch,
• Richard Thelen,
• Christian Greiner,
• Guillaume Gomard and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2618–2627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.243

• sandfish due to their ability to swim in loose, aeolian sand. Some studies report that this fascinating property of sandfish is accompanied by unique tribological properties of their skin such as ultra-low adhesion, friction and wear. The majority of these reports, however, is based on experiments

• their skin [2][3][6][7][8][9]. This contradicts everyday experience because a tiny grain of sand easily scratches practically any technical surface even hard ones such as glass or steel. The widely applied sandblasting, for example, is based on this effect. The sandfish, however, moults its skin only

• every two to three months [6], and we are not aware of any report of observable wear on sandfish skin caused by its swimming in loose sand. Rechenberg [3][7][8] and Baumgartner et al. [6][9][12] conducted pioneering studies analysing friction and wear of sandfish skin applying a granular friction

Enhancement of X-ray emission from nanocolloidal gold suspensions under double-pulse excitation

• Wei-Hung Hsu,
• Frances Camille P. Masim,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Hsin-Hui Huang,
• Tetsu Yonezawa,
• Aleksandr A. Kuchmizhak,
• Saulius Juodkazis and
• Koji Hatanaka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2609–2617, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.242

• be calculated from the consideration that all absorbed energy density is converted to thermal energy of electrons. It can be calculated from the ablation threshold expression of a dielectric [37]: where ls = c/(κω) is the skin depth related to the imaginary part of the refractive index , c is the

• (skin) depth is defined by the imaginary part of permittivity and the ENZ conditions is ls = λ/(2πκ) ≈ 149 nm. A large volume in which the light intensity is enhanced by up to E2 ≈ 4-times is clearly distinguished. In contrast to the case without excitation (Figure 5a), the gold nanoparticles are coated

• radius equal to the skin depth ls shows that light is mostly reflected at the rim of this volume and is not reaching the interior of the volume (as expected). These FDTD simulations illustrate only qualitatively what the main pulse encounters in a solution film of colloidal gold nanoparticles and that a

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• allow for tribologically optimized surfaces [17]. Among the animals and biological structures that have been considered are butterfly wings [18], beetles and earthworms [19], scorpions [20] as well as (and most importantly) the skin of snakes and sand fish lizards [21][22][23][24]. It has been

• demonstrated, for example, that sandfish skin exhibits low friction and little wear [25][26]. The development of manufactured surface textures that are inspired by animals with scale-like surface morphology has resulted in fascinating insights. For texturing a titanium alloy, a lithography-based method was

• scale-like surface textures needs to be tested in the future. Such effects were reported for a variety of biological systems [55][56] and polymeric [21][22] as well as metallic [24] surface morphologies inspired by snake skin. Modelling efforts revealed that anisotropy is a function of the counter

Adhesive contact of rough brushes

• Qiang Li and
• Valentin L. Popov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2405–2412, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.225

• power-law-graded media In the previous sections, we considered the adhesive contact of brushes that were placed in contact with a homogeneous linear elastic medium. Many biological materials such as skin, bones or bamboo trees are, however, non-homogeneous. This may have a significant impact on the

Nanoscale characterization of the temporary adhesive of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

• Ana S. Viana and
• Romana Santos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2277–2286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.212

• such as Entobdella solae temporarily attach to fish skin using anterior pads located in the head [1]. Adhesion is brought about by interaction between two kinds of glandular secretions which are extruded together to form the adhesive [11]. The later consists of a network of highly insoluble

Preparation of micro/nanopatterned gelatins crosslinked with genipin for biocompatible dental implants

• Reika Makita,
• Tsukasa Akasaka,
• Seiichi Tamagawa,
• Yasuhiro Yoshida,
• Saori Miyata,
• Hirofumi Miyaji and
• Tsutomu Sugaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1735–1754, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.165

• days. Upon peeling off the cured polymer, a PDMS replica mold with a 0.5 mm thickness was obtained. Figure 11 shows the procedure for the fabrication of gelatin-containing micro/nanopatterns using genipin crosslinking. The gelatin powder was obtained from porcine skin (G1890, type A, gel strength: ≈300

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• damage to liver and kidney, lung carcinoma, nausea, skin dermatitis, nasal membrane inflammation, ulceration, irritation of the gastro-intestinal tract and renal damage, when consumed above the permissible limit. The US Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) has placed it on the priority list of toxic

Room-temperature single-photon emitters in titanium dioxide optical defects

• Kelvin Chung,
• Yu H. Leung,
• Chap H. To,
• Aleksandra B. Djurišić and
• Snjezana Tomljenovic-Hanic

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1085–1094, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.100

• emission. ZnO is the only metal oxide reported to host single-photon emitting defects at room temperature and was recently shown to exhibit stable fluorescence when uptaken into skin cells, making it a viable biomarker [11]. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a well-studied wide-bandgap semiconductor, its

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• objects are also a potential source of incidental nanoparticles in the environment. Incidental nanomaterials Photochemical reactions, volcanic eruptions, and forest fires are some of the natural processes that lead to the production of natural NPs as mentioned. In addition, skin and hair shedding of

• human, animal, and plant activities by blocking and scattering the sunlight. The volcanically erupted particles may possess heavy metals that are toxic to humans [69]. The short-term effects of particles from volcanic eruptions include nose, throat, eye and skin irritations and bronchial symptoms, while

• the long-term effects include diseases such as podocinids [70][71][72] and Kaposi’s sarcoma [73][74]. Podoconiosis is caused by the micro- or nanoparticle absorption from the soil through the feet’s skin, leading to localized fluid retention in the lower limbs [75]. Kaposi’s sarcoma is similar to

Bioinspired self-healing materials: lessons from nature

• Joseph C. Cremaldi and
• Bharat Bhushan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 907–935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.85

• change the way light reflects off of its skin. Skin contains chromatophores, or pigment-containing cells, which can change in two ways. First, the chromatophores can change chemically with season, diet, etc. to a new color. In a more direct second method, some animals control their skin coloration

• through muscle control. Figure 2B shows an example of a chameleon that, by stretching its skin, can change the spacing and conformation of guanine nanocrystal lattices embedded in its skin [15]. In a similar fashion, some animals can use muscle control to disperse or aggregate chromatophores in the dermal

• example of an innate immune system in a human, with external defenses such as hair, skin, and mucus and internal defenses such as mast cells, natural killer cells, and phagocytes [40]. The internal response in all animals has both humoral and cellular components [47]. Humoral components refer to those

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• [147][148]. Bio-inspired plasmonic nanostructures/architectures The pioneering works of several research groups have revealed that by mimicing biological systems, such as butterfly wings [149] and snake skin [150], systems can be designed that are cable of absorbing NIR light due to their distinctive

Green synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots from spices for in vitro imaging and tumour cell growth inhibition

• Nagamalai Vasimalai,
• Vânia Vilas-Boas,
• Juan Gallo,
• María de Fátima Cerqueira,
• Mario Menéndez-Miranda,
• José Manuel Costa-Fernández,
• Lorena Diéguez,
• Begoña Espiña and
• María Teresa Fernández-Argüelles

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 530–544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.51

• literature since it has shown to be capable to suppress carcinogenesis of the skin, colon, lung, tongue, and prostate [23][24][25]. Another spice that has shown promise in preventing and treating cancer is cinnamon [26]. Major constituents in cinnamon include cinnamaldehyde and eugenol [27]. The ability of

Nanoparticle delivery to metastatic breast cancer cells by nanoengineered mesenchymal stem cells

• Liga Saulite,
• Karlis Pleiko,
• Ineta Popena,
• Dominyka Dapkute,
• Ricardas Rotomskis and
• Una Riekstina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 321–332, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.32

• , thymus, skin, adipose tissue, umbilical cord and placenta [5]. MSCs express CD105 (SH2 or endoglin), CD73 (SH3 and SH4), CD106 (VCAM-1), CD44 (hyaluronic acid receptor), CD90 (Thy 1.1), CD29, CD146 and CD166 surface markers and can be induced to differentiate in vitro into diverse lineages of mesodermal

• nanoparticle delivery vehicles to specifically target metastatic breast cancer cells. Experimental Cell culture Primary human skin mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from frozen primary cell stock were used in accordance with authorised approval from the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine Ethics

Liquid-crystalline nanoarchitectures for tissue engineering

• Baeckkyoung Sung and
• Min-Ho Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 205–215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.22

• in the plywood structure of corneal collagen fibrils may affect the biomechanical behavior of the cornea, which is in close relation to the physical maintenance of intraocular pressure [68]. Skin, nerve, and muscle cells and subcellular structures Cell membranes are well-defined LC lamellae [69]. The

• composites and materials [84]. As shown in Table 1, the potential clinical applications of LC biomaterials include the regeneration of (1) acellular tissue such as bones, teeth (dentine and enamel), and cornea, (2) cell-ECM complexes such as spinal cords, tendons, and skin layers, and (3) cellular tissue

• , lamellar lipid membranes can be used as a synthetic model system of stratum corneum, the outermost layer of epidermis, for evaluating the transdermal permeation efficiency of drug molecules in vitro [110], which has an implication in skin disease study [111]. Moreover, topical formulations of LC