Fabrication of nano/microstructures for SERS substrates using an electrochemical method

• Jingran Zhang,
• Tianqi Jia,
• Xiaoping Li,
• Junjie Yang,
• Zhengkai Li,
• Guangfeng Shi,
• Xinming Zhang and
• Zuobin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1568–1576, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.139

• the electrochemical method can be used to fabricate nanopores as SERS substrates for the sensitive detection of proteins such as lysozyme. Conclusion Two- and three-dimensional arrayed micro/nanopores can be machined on Mg substrates by using a novel electrochemical method. The optimal treatment time

• can be used to detect low levels of proteins (10−6 mol·L−1). Due to its reliability, homogeneity, low cost and high sensitivity, the system described herein holds great promise for future protein detection and quantification applications. Schematic diagram of fabrication of the nanopores substrates

Electrokinetic characterization of synthetic protein nanoparticles

• Daniel F. Quevedo,
• Cody J. Lentz,
• Adriana Coll de Peña,
• Yazmin Hernandez,
• Nahal Habibi,
• Rikako Miki,
• Joerg Lahann and
• Blanca H. Lapizco-Encinas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1556–1567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.138

• immobilization to industrial processes [1][2]. The development of nanoparticles composed primarily of proteins has been an emerging sector in nanotechnology [3]. Proteins have multiple desirable characteristics that enable them to be used as the main component of nanoparticles. Proteins are biodegradable

• for producing subcompartments within particles. By localizing proteins at the nanoscale, PNPs could be used to control the release and delivery of therapeutics, theragnostics, and enzymatic cascades [10]. Although previously developed methods to produce PNPs, such as coacervation, self-assembly, and

• electrohydrodynamic (EHD) co-jetting techniques, previously established by the Lahann lab, to create single-compartment and anisotropic (i.e., multicompartmental) synthetic protein nanoparticles (SPNPs and ASPNPs, respectively), which can be easily made from a variety of proteins [13][14][15]. A recent publication

Antimicrobial metal-based nanoparticles: a review on their synthesis, types and antimicrobial action

• Matías Guerrero Correa,
• Fernanda B. Martínez,
• Cristian Patiño Vidal,
• Camilo Streitt,
• Juan Escrig and
• Carol Lopez de Dicastillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1450–1469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.129

• production and clearance of ROS in cells are balanced by those enzymatic systems. Nevertheless, when these reactive species are in excess, a set of redox reactions can lead to cell death by the alteration of different essential structures (such as cell membrane, DNA, proteins, and electron transport chain

• interact with the functional groups of proteins and nucleic acids, such as thiol (–SH), amino (–NH), and carboxyl (–COOH) groups, and therefore, might affect the enzymatic activities and several protein structures. Although the metal ions released are not the main source of damage caused by NPs, it is

• bacteria in the presence of MeO NPs have confirmed that oxidative damage and metal ion release are not exclusive antimicrobial mechanisms [155]. Critical cellular processes related to the proteins, including amino acid, carbohydrate, and nucleotide metabolisms, are significantly reduced, leading to cell

Transient coating of γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles with glutamate for its delivery to and removal from brain nerve terminals

• Konstantin Paliienko,
• Artem Pastukhov,
• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Olga Vasylchenko and
• Tatiana Borisova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1381–1393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.122

• concentration of 45 mg/mL. To analyze whether proteins or other chelating components of blood plasma affected the glutamate/ʟ-[14C]glutamate adsorption, albumin was applied at a concentration of 0.125 mg/mL (Figure 7b). It was revealed that albumin added before glutamate/ʟ-[14C]glutamate application had no

• structure of a maghemite nanoparticle coated with blood plasma protein biocorona Interaction of the nanoparticles and plasma proteins was also analyzed with computer modeling and simulations of spatial structures using the programs LeadIT 2.3.2, ArgusLab 4.0.1 and Material Science Suite 2015, and the online

• ]. It is well-known that upon entrance into biological systems nanoparticles interact with macromolecules of physiological fluids and tissues forming a biocorona at the surface. Macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, become associated with different types of nanoparticles. The

Influence of the magnetic nanoparticle coating on the magnetic relaxation time

• Mihaela Osaci and
• Matteo Cacciola

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1207–1216, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.105

• performed to reduce the sensitivity of nanoparticles to air, humidity and acidity. In addition, it allows for the functionalization and absorption of proteins and creation of hydrophilic molecules at the surface of the nanoparticles to prevent agglomeration, reducing capillary obstruction risk. Coating can

Gram-scale synthesis of splat-shaped Ag–TiO₂ nanocomposites for enhanced antimicrobial properties

• Mohammad Jaber,
• Asim Mushtaq,
• Kebiao Zhang,
• Jindan Wu,
• Dandan Luo,
• Zihan Yi,
• M. Zubair Iqbal and
• Xiangdong Kong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1119–1125, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.96

• the Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus. During the incubation with Ag–TiO2 nanocomposites, the silver ions were released from the NCs and gradually diffused out in the seeded agar. Then, the silver ions attached to the bacterial membrane, damaging the proteins and inactivating the bacteria metabolism

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

• pool (ferritin and transferrin) for normal metabolic activities [20]. In localized hyperthermia, SPIONs generate heat by constantly aligning to an alternating magnetic field. This heat is rapidly transferred to the surrounding cancerous tissue in which proteins denature and, consequently, cells become

• reactive oxygen species, ROS, which can potentiate direct damage to DNA and proteins, and induce lipid peroxidation) [24][56]. It was also shown that histidine–proline-rich glycoproteins with high molecular weight, e.g., kininogen and plasma prekallikrein, from blood serum attach strongly to the surface of

• negatively charged SPIONs [57], together with other weak binding proteins, i.e., mannose-binding lectin and their associated serine proteases, apolipoproteins, beta-2 glycoprotein, and clotting factors FXI and FXII. SPIONs with no surface charge have no proteins adsorbed onto them [58][59]. These

Wet-spinning of magneto-responsive helical chitosan microfibers

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johanna Michel,
• Naiana Suter,
• Matheus Grande de Aguiar and
• Michael Maas

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 991–999, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.83

• actuators; chitosan fibers; helical fibers; magnetic tissue engineering; mechanical properties; wet-spinning; Introduction Helical fibrous structures are ubiquitous in nature and are found at virtually every length scale. A few examples are the structural motifs in proteins and DNA at the molecular level

Key for crossing the BBB with nanoparticles: the rational design

• Sonia M. Lombardo,
• Marc Schneider,
• Akif E. Türeli and
• Nazende Günday Türeli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 866–883, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.72

• diffuse through the BBB by transmembrane diffusion [4]. Furthermore, the BBB endothelial cells have a low degree of pinocytic activity, which again restrains the transport of molecules to the brain [3][8][31]. Transport proteins: carrier-mediated transport and efflux proteins To assure the transport to

• the brain of specific molecules such as nutrients or amino acids, transport proteins are present on the luminal and basolateral side of the endothelial cells. For instance, GLUT-1, large neutral amino acid transporters (LAT), nucleoside transporters and also organic cation and anion transporters have

• ) transporters) also contribute to maintaining the brain homeostasis by excreting possible neurotoxic substances. Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) can also be substrates of these efflux proteins and therefore be excreted by them. Among the efflux proteins present in the BBB, the most extensively described

Identification of physicochemical properties that modulate nanoparticle aggregation in blood

• Ludovica Soddu,
• Duong N. Trinh,
• Eimear Dunne,
• Dermot Kenny,
• Giorgia Bernardini,
• Ida Kokalari,
• Arianna Marucco,
• Marco P. Monopoli and
• Ivana Fenoglio

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 550–567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.44

• aggregated proteins. The supernatant was then used for the incubation step while the pellet was discarded. Blood plasma was diluted in PBS in order to obtain solutions with increasing protein. CNPs and SNPs were then added to the solution and were incubated for 1 h at 37 °C under agitation (150 rpm). Sample

• -PAGE) instrument for 10 min before the protein bands were excised from the gel in order to allow the whole corona proteins to migrate into a single gel band. The proteins in the gel pieces were reduced with dithiothreitol, alkylated with iodoacetamide and digested with trypsin (Promega Corporation

• and protein N-terminal acetylation. A maximum of two missed trypsin cleavages were allowed in the database search. The false discovery rate for both peptides and proteins was set at 1%. After that, the ProteinGroup file from Maxquant was processed, filtered and analysed with Perseus software to

Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

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

• biochemical processes [14][15][16][17]. The large molecular mass of GFP might affect the folding process of tagged proteins, or a possible aggregation may lead to cytotoxicity. Beyond molecular and biomolecular luminescent materials, colloidal luminescent nanomaterials have gained attention in recent years

• importantly, the Au-BSA NCs are stable under ambient conditions and retain their PL even after drying (Figure 1G,H) allowing for long-term storage [64]. Several other proteins including lysozyme, human serum albumin (HSA) and insulin have been used to prepare inherently luminescent AuNCs [65][66][67][68][69

• as ionic polymers, proteins or peptides [74][75][76]. Recently, Dichiarante et al. reported NIR-luminescent AuNCs bearing superfluorinated (SF) ligands with strong emission at 1050 nm with a quantum yield of 12% [77]. An extensive account of the PL of NCs is beyond the scope of this review and has

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

• multilayer capsules as drug delivery vehicles [17]. They are capable of encapsulating all kinds of substances and/or molecules ranging from enzymes, nucleic acid, peptides, proteins, therapeutic drugs, biomolecules, fluorescent molecules and nanoparticles (NPs) in their hollow cavity [18]. This can be

• inorganic particles, NPs, proteins, biological cells, liposomes, DNA, dyes and drugs have served as suitable sacrificial templates [22]. After serving as a support to develop multilayer assembly, the core is dissolved by using suitable solvents. Organic cores such as melamine formaldehyde (MF) and

• easily carried out. Various types of cargo such as proteins, enzymes, dyes, biomolecules, drugs and fluorescent molecules have been successfully encapsulated in hollow PE capsules by different encapsulation methods [64]. One way of encapsulation is active encapsulation, i.e., using the encapsulation

Preparation and in vivo evaluation of glyco-gold nanoparticles carrying synthetic mycobacterial hexaarabinofuranoside

• Gennady L. Burygin,
• Polina I. Abronina,
• Nikita M. Podvalnyy,
• Sergey A. Staroverov,
• Leonid O. Kononov and
• Lev A. Dykman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 480–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.39

• serological identification of microorganisms and are also widely used as antigenic components of vaccines. The use of gold nanoparticles as carriers for glyco-epitopes is becoming an important alternative to the traditional conjugation with proteins and synthetic polymers. In this study, we aimed to prepare

• ][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] to the traditional conjugation with proteins, synthetic polymers and other carriers [15][17][38][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. Immunological properties of GNPs [25][56][57] and their use in vaccine development [58] have

• . tuberculosis cell wall. Previous studies revealed that LAM and especially its terminal oligosaccharide fragments, conjugated with proteins [7][10][19] or monophosphoryl lipid A [23], are attractive targets for the development of carbohydrate-based anti-TB vaccines [7][10][19][23][65][66]. In this study, we

Brome mosaic virus-like particles as siRNA nanocarriers for biomedical purposes

• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Pierrick G. J. Fournier,
• Danna L. Arellano,
• Ana G. Rodriguez-Hernandez,
• Rafael Vazquez-Duhalt and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 372–382, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.28

• ][19][20]. The capsids of these viruses result from the assembly of 180 identical proteins with T = 3 symmetry that forms the icosahedral shell with a diameter of 28 nm [21]. The N-terminal region of the capsid protein is highly basic and positively charged, which allows for the binding of the viral

• been reported using papaya mosaic virus [45]. Both capsids of CCMV and BMV were covered with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to decrease their surface charge and mask the domains of the capsid proteins that could be recognized by the macrophages (Figure 3C,D). PEG is widely used to reduce the immunogenicity

• of proteins. Also, PEG has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, and there are now several PEGylated drugs commercially available. The PEG–drug conjugates show several advantages that include prolonged residence in the body, reduced degradation by metabolic enzymes, and reduced or no

Poly(1-vinylimidazole) polyplexes as novel therapeutic gene carriers for lung cancer therapy

• Gayathri Kandasamy,
• Elena N. Danilovtseva,
• Vadim V. Annenkov and
• Uma Maheswari Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 354–369, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.26

• cationic imidazole groups in the polymer resulting an increase in the melting point of the polyplex. The stability of the polyplex in serum is a major factor influencing its therapeutic efficacy. The serum proteins could dissociate the siRNA–polymer complex reducing the delivery efficiency. Heparin is a

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

• cells in similar ways as other nano-sized objects, such as proteins, cholesterol particles, and virus particles. These natural nano-sized objects are usually recognized by specific cell receptors at the plasma membrane and they are internalized by cells using the cell endocytic machinery [4]. Similarly

• the cell membrane and the potential interaction with cell receptors (Figure 1). In order to control and affect these first events, nano-sized carriers can be modified with targeting moieties, such as peptides, proteins, or antibodies to specifically recognize receptors on the cell surface to achieve

• modifications reduce the amount of biomolecules bound on the surface of nanomedicines after administration (though it has been shown that PEGylated surfaces can still adsorb proteins [46][47]) and usually also lead to decreased uptake by cells. At the same time, the corona confers a new biological identity to

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• ], microRNA, RNA [32] and proteins [33] (Figure 1). For the discussion here, the detection of circulating cell-free DNA is relevant. While all types of cells (tumor and nonmalignant) release cfDNA into the extracellular system [34], the circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is released uniquely by tumor cells

• . Translocations or inversions within a gene that result in fusion genes and associated fusion proteins. Among these four gene alterations, the SNPs in ctDNA are known as the major contributors to the genetic variations, representing more than 80% of all known polymorphisms at a frequency of around 1 every 1000

• nanoparticles, in which interparticle forces [139], mutual orientation and interparticle distances are well controlled by chemical stimuli. Finally, we foresee that the detection of genetic mutations by plasmonic nanoparticles will be strongly enhanced by a complementary detection of disease-related proteins

Rational design of block copolymer self-assemblies in photodynamic therapy

• Maxime Demazeau,
• Laure Gibot,
• Anne-Françoise Mingotaud,
• Patricia Vicendo,
• Clément Roux and
• Barbara Lonetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 180–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.15

• , regarding the block copolymers used as nanovectors for the delivery of the photosensitizer. In particular, we describe the chemical nature and structure of the block copolymers showing a very large range of existing systems, spanning from natural polymers such as proteins or polysaccharides to synthetic

• proteins and adhesion to cells [108][109]. A hydrophobic cargo, well within the hydrophobic core is thus protected from hydrolysis and enzymatic degradation. Besides, PEO prevents the recognition from the mononuclear phagocyte system and preliminary clearance from the bloodstream is reduced. Although PEO

• interactions in the biological medium. The proteins, lipids, extracellular matrix components are all ingredients that can transform or dissociate the vector, leading to the release of the PS. Increasing the stability of the vector can therefore be important, but some commercialized systems such as Abraxane

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

• , DNA origami is anticipated to have possible applications in the fields of biosciences, the design of protein scaffolds, and plasmonics [51][52][53]. Shih and co-workers utilized DNA origami nanotechnology for the structural determination of plasma membrane proteins [54]. They reported the construction

• of detergent-resistant 0.8 µm-long liquid crystalline DNA nanotubes organized from a 7.3 kb scaffold strand and >170 short oligonucleotide-long staple strands. The liquid crystalline matrices of six helix DNA origami bundles induced a weak alignment of proteins within the plasma membrane. The

• solubilization and weak alignment of proteins within plasma membrane are crucial to measure the residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), and the RDCs are crucial to obtain NMR structural information on membrane-bound proteins. As reported, DNA origami-based liquid crystalline media can overcome detergent-related

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

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

• Ivana Ruseska Andreas Zimmer Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria 10.3762/bjnano.11.10 Abstract In today’s modern era of medicine, macromolecular compounds such as proteins, peptides and nucleic acids

• a major breakthrough for the transport of macromolecules. They have been shown to successfully deliver proteins, peptides, siRNAs and pDNA in different cell types. In general, CPPs are basic peptides with a positive charge at physiological pH. They are able to translocate membranes and gain entry to

• “canonical” rules defining what a drug molecule should be like, has been accelerated these days. One part of this new group are proteins, peptides and nucleic acids, all developed with one thing in mind – bypassing the limitations of conventional therapeutics [3]. The novelty of these macromolecular

A review of demodulation techniques for multifrequency atomic force microscopy

• David M. Harcombe,
• Michael G. Ruppert and
• Andrew J. Fleming

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 76–91, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.8

• theoretical foundations for determining secondary sample properties such as Young’s modulus [13][22]. Applications include the imaging of secondary properties of proteins [23] and polymers [24]. Intermodulation AFM actively drives the cantilever slightly below and above resonance with a two-tone drive

Fully amino acid-based hydrogel as potential scaffold for cell culturing and drug delivery

• Dávid Juriga,
• Evelin Sipos,
• Orsolya Hegedűs,
• Gábor Varga,
• Miklós Zrínyi,
• Krisztina S. Nagy and
• Angéla Jedlovszky-Hajdú

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2579–2593, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.249

• , Nagyvarad square 4, Budapest, Hungary 10.3762/bjnano.10.249 Abstract Polymer hydrogels are ideal scaffolds for both tissue engineering and drug delivery. A great advantage of poly(amino acid)-based hydrogels is their high similarity to natural proteins. However, their expensive and complicated synthesis

Long-term stability and scale-up of noncovalently bound gold nanoparticle-siRNA suspensions

• Anna V. Epanchintseva,
• Julia E. Poletaeva,
• Dmitrii V. Pyshnyi,
• Elena I. Ryabchikova and
• Inna A. Pyshnaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2568–2578, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.248

• final nanostructures with a biomolecular shell seems quite complex because of the high lability of many proteins, polymers, and lipids. The synthesis and storage of significant quantities of core materials for multi-level nanoconstructions could be an approach to solving this problem. Therefore, we

Bombesin receptor-targeted liposomes for enhanced delivery to lung cancer cells

• Mohammad J. Akbar,
• Pâmela C. Lukasewicz Ferreira,
• Melania Giorgetti,
• Leanne Stokes and
• Christopher J. Morris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2553–2562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.246

• , leading to accumulation of nanocarriers in the tumour. A diversity of targeting ligands has been explored, including antibodies, proteins, peptides and aptamers. Targeted nanoparticles such as HER2-targeted MM-302 [14], transferrin receptor-targeted CALAA-01 [15], and prostate-specific membrane antigen

• polydisperse proteins of different sizes [27]. Indeed, the surface properties of various nanoparticles have been shown to change dramatically in the presence of plasma or serum [28] with the establishment of an adsorbed protein corona around the nanoparticle. It is now widely accepted that the particle protein

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• our setup. Negative control samples (no AFP present) yielded no fluorescence signal (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2a). Furthermore, unspecific binding of non-target proteins is assumed to be low as revealed by a control experiment with fluorescently labeled streptavidin as model protein

• reagents are the simplest and most frequently used reagents for labeling proteins like antibodies. Within a pH range of 7–9, succinimidyl-ester reacts efficiently with the primary amino groups (–NH2) in the side chain of the lysine (K) residues of proteins to form stable amide bonds. This reaction results