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

• well. After 30 min incubation, the wells were washed twice with 100 μL of PBS containing 0.02% Tween 20, and peroxidase activity was estimated by adding to each well 50 μL of a substrate mixture of 0.03% o-phenylenediamine and 0.02% hydrogen peroxide in 0.1 M sodium citrate buffer (pH 4.5). The enzyme

Electrochemically derived functionalized graphene for bulk production of hydrogen peroxide

• Munaiah Yeddala,
• Pallavi Thakur,
• Anugraha A and
• Tharangattu N. Narayanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 432–442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.34

• metal-based technologies [28][29]. For example, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been well studied for their catalytic activity, although conflicting reports exist due to the presence of unavoidable metallic impurities present [30][31][32][33]. With the emergence of graphene, heteroatom doping in sp2

• graphitic structures is found to be an engineering pathway for altering the inert catalytic activity of planar honeycomb lattices of graphene and its derivatives [34][35]. It has been found that certain heteroatoms doped into graphene can even outperform the benchmark catalysts such as platinum (Pt/C) in

• nature of the dopant and its position in the host lattice, it has been well reported that one can engineer the electrochemical activity of nanographitic systems and the catalytic reaction pathways [31][38][39][40]. Very recently, oxidized graphitic structures were identified for their efficacy towards

Nanoparticles based on the zwitterionic pillar[5]arene and Ag⁺: synthesis, self-assembly and cytotoxicity in the human lung cancer cell line A549

• Dmitriy N. Shurpik,
• Denis A. Sevastyanov,
• Pavel V. Zelenikhin,
• Pavel L. Padnya,
• Vladimir G. Evtugyn,
• Yuriy N. Osin and
• Ivan I. Stoikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 421–431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.33

• [2][3][4]. Silver is well known for its antimicrobial activity, and Ag+ ion is usually considered a biologically active substance [5][6][7][8]. However, it is known that the effect of Ag+ on the human body is toxic and can cause diseases such as argyria (irreversible staining of the skin in gray

• did not show statistically significant cytotoxic activity against A549 cells over the range of studied concentrations (3–160 μM) (Figure 5a). Characterization of changes in the viability of A549 cells under the action of the pillar[5]arenes was performed by the MTT test [47]. Since in the case of

• significant cytotoxic activity against A549 cells in the range of concentrations studied (3–160 μM). 3/Ag+ nanoparticles had lower cytotoxicity than Ag+ ions. Therefore, it was concluded that macrocycle 3 has the ability to reduce the toxicity of Ag+. The survival rate of A549 model cells was 76% for a

Synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic performance of 0D/2D CuO/tourmaline composite photocatalysts

• Changqiang Yu,
• Min Wen,
• Zhen Tong,
• Shuhua Li,
• Yanhong Yin,
• Xianbin Liu,
• Yesheng Li,
• Tongxiang Liang,
• Ziping Wu and
• Dionysios D. Dionysiou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 407–416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.31

• nontoxic products. In this work, a CuO/tourmaline composite with zero-dimensional/two-dimensional (0D/2D) CuO architecture was successfully obtained via a facile hydrothermal process, and its photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB). Surface element valence state and

• photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MB, which was ascribed to the increase in the quantity of the adsorption-photoreactive sites and the efficient utilization of the photoinduced charge carriers. This study provides a facile strategy for the construction of 0D/2D CuO structures and the design of

• tourmaline-based functional composite photocatalysts for the treatment of organic contaminants in water. Keywords: 0D/2D CuO; organic contaminants; photocatalytic activity; photoinduced charge separation; tourmaline; Introduction Developing a novel semiconductor with excellent photoreactive activity toward

DFT calculations of the structure and stability of copper clusters on MoS₂

• Cara-Lena Nies and
• Michael Nolan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 391–406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.30

• monolayer is presented by Rawal et al. [25] to study the effect of defects in MoS2 on the catalytic activity of the supported nanoparticles. They observe that the magnitude of binding energy and charge transfer follows the trend Cu > Ag > Au. On the pristine surface the binding energies of the nanoparticles

• nanoparticle to the MoS2 monolayer by approximately 1 electron for Cu and Ag and by 0.6 electrons for Au. Studying the adsorption and dissociation of O2 on the nanoparticle demonstrated that the MoS2 support improves the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles, compared to an unsupported nanoparticle, in

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

• -siAkt1 showed the highest activity, inhibiting around 50% of tumor size when compared with the control (Figure 5B,C). The efficiency of BMV-VLPs in delivering siRNA is similar to that observed when nanoparticles of multilamellar gold niosomes were used to deliver siRNA-Akt [56]. The mice showed 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

• PI3K/Akt signaling pathways [29], which could be reflected in the viability values. The absence of any inhibition in the cell viability by the blank polymer indicates its cyto-compatibility while the lack of activity in the case of free siRNA may be due to its inability to escape from the endosome. The

• that TFF1 when complexed with TFIZ1 exhibits tumor-suppressing activity while it transforms into a tumorigenic molecule when present in the uncomplexed state [37]. Among the genes that are down-regulated is PHF6 (PHD finger protein 6). This gene is differently expressed in different types of cancer. It

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

• endocytosis and caveolae-mediated endocytosis. Hence, perturbing the activity of actin affects multiple pathways at the same time [212]. Several techniques can be used for studying the endocytic mechanisms of nano-sized materials, each one with its advantages and drawbacks [22][133]. Among those, RNA

Facile biogenic fabrication of hydroxyapatite nanorods using cuttlefish bone and their bactericidal and biocompatibility study

• Satheeshkumar Balu,
• Manisha Vidyavathy Sundaradoss,
• Swetha Andra and
• Jaison Jeevanandam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 285–295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.21

• a concentration-mediated hemolytic effect. These biogenic CB-Hap NRs with improved physicochemical properties, blood compatibility and antibacterial efficacy could be highly beneficial for orthopedic applications in the future. Keywords: antibacterial activity; biocompatibility; bone implant

• phosphorus), which is equivalent to that of natural human bone (≈1.67) [48]. Blood compatibility analysis The hemolytic activity of the CB-Hap nanorods was investigated at various concentrations as shown in Figure 5 and the obtained results were calculated and compared with the American Society for Testing

• determining the hemolytic properties [50]. However, the CB-Hap NRs exhibited less than 2% hemolysis up to 75 µg/mL, which indicates that the material is nonhemolytic and nontoxic to blood cells. Additionally, 2% and 3.2% hemolytic activity was recorded when a higher concentration of CB-Hap NRs, such as 100

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

• influence the promoter activity (gene expression), the activity of messenger RNA (mRNA), gene conformation (stability) and the translational efficiency. Keeping in mind the importance of these modifications, SNPs can be proposed as biomarkers in the clinical diagnosis of diseases, personalized medicine and

• , nucleases, helicases, ligases), b) an extraordinary catalytic activity and c) biocompatibility. Table 3 summarizes the examples for the detection of DNA targets with single-point mutations using gold nanoparticles as signal transducers. We classified the assays by the used enzymatic reactions for signal

• linker DNA was digested, allowing for the progressive hybridization to Au@DNA and therefore aggregation. The activity of Exo III strictly depends on the type of 3′ terminus affecting the selectivity of the assay. More precisely, a fully complementary target led to recessed 3′ termini, while a mismatch

High-performance asymmetric supercapacitor made of NiMoO₄ nanorods@Co₃O₄ on a cellulose-based carbon aerogel

• Meixia Wang,
• Jing Zhang,
• Xibin Yi,
• Benxue Liu,
• Xinfu Zhao and
• Xiaochan Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 240–251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.18

• properties are regarded as very promising materials for pseudocapacitors [15][16]. Particularly, NiMoO4 has been widely applied in high-performance pseudocapacitors due to its enhanced electrochemical properties resulting from the high electrochemical activity of the Ni ion and the superb electrical

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

• chlorin-e6, an azobenzene group that can be cleaved at very low oxygen concentrations links the hydrophobic and the hydrophilic block. Upon irradiation and depletion of oxygen due to the PDT activity of chlorin-e6, the block copolymer nanovector disassembled and the anticancer drug, doxorubicin, was

Fabrication of Ag-modified hollow titania spheres via controlled silver diffusion in Ag–TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures

• Bartosz Bartosewicz,
• Malwina Liszewska,
• Bogusław Budner,
• Marta Michalska-Domańska,
• Krzysztof Kopczyński and
• Bartłomiej J. Jankiewicz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 141–146, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.12

• photocatalytic properties of TiO2 and the optical properties of plasmonic NPs [2]. This combination has been shown to extent the photocatalytic activity of TiO2, which is initially limited to UV light [8], to the visible or even to the NIR range of radiation [9]. Recent examples of the fabrication of plasmonic

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

• delivery and nonimmunogenicity of the nanorobot made it a promising candidate for drug delivery in cancer therapeutics. The group of Krishnan reported the construction of a DNA nanodevice to quantitatively determine the activity and location of chloride ion channels and transport under pH stimuli [57]. In

• generation of mercury-mediated base pairing T–Hg(II)–T band metallo-DNA duplex structures (Figure 7d) [86]. Lu and co-workers exploited the T–Hg(II)–T metal–base pairing to control the DNAzyme activity through allosteric interactions [87]. For the first time, we showed the mercury-mediated displacement of

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

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

• peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) and phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotides (PMOs) [3][12]. Concerning charged molecules such as siRNA or miRNA, the covalent conjugation leads to restricted biological activity, most likely due to the steric hindrance caused by the covalently-linked CPP, which is an

• disulfide bond, and there was no change in the structure or activity of the siRNA molecule. Another report for a successful disulfide link between the TAT peptide and siRNA comes from Chiu and co-workers [19]. The stable complex was able to achieve the localization of the siRNA in specific cytoplasmic

• ’ effect, which was first proposed for maganin. Maganin is an amphipathic peptide, composed of 23 residues, which exhibits a broad-spectrum of antimicrobial activity. This model is characterized by a ‘carpet’ formation followed by a perturbation resulting from the interaction of the negatively charged

Synthesis of amorphous and graphitized porous nitrogen-doped carbon spheres as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts

• Maximilian Wassner,
• Markus Eckardt,
• Andreas Reyer,
• Thomas Diemant,
• Michael S. Elsaesser,
• R. Jürgen Behm and
• Nicola Hüsing

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1–15, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.1

• Abstract Amorphous and graphitized nitrogen-doped (N-doped) carbon spheres are investigated as structurally well-defined model systems to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between synthesis, structure, and their activity in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). N-doped carbon spheres were

• configurations can be formed within the carbon lattice [8], among them the pyridinic and quarternary (also: graphitic) nitrogen bonding configurations were assumed as origin of the ORR activity of these N-doped carbon materials [16]. The exact nature of the active site is controversially discussed; some

• researchers ascribe the ORR activity to graphitic nitrogen sites [17][18][19][20][21], while others propose pyridinic nitrogen as more important [16][22][23][24][25][26]. Previous results of our groups indicate that the ORR activity of nitrided carbon is dominated by the carbon edge atoms of micropores in

The different ways to chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanoparticles: templated vs direct complexation. Influence of particle preparation on morphology, cell uptake and silencing efficiency

• Arianna Gennari,
• Julio M. Rios de la Rosa,
• Erwin Hohn,
• Maria Pelliccia,
• Enrique Lallana,
• Roberto Donno,
• Annalisa Tirella and
• Nicola Tirelli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2594–2608, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.250

• ; the former can address a nanoparticle to cell surface receptors such as CD44, the second allows both for entrapment of nucleic acids and for an endosomolytic activity that facilitates their liberation in the cytoplasm. Here, we have systematically compared nanoparticles prepared either A) through a

• ). Please note that any influence of phenol-red was ruled out by using medium as blank and subtracting its absorbance to all wells before calculating metabolic activity. Quantification of cell uptake. HCT-116 (20,000 cells/cm2) and RAW 264.7 (30,000 cells/cm2) were seeded in 12-well plates and left to

• transfection. Cells were incubated for 4 h with the nanoparticles, then medium was discarded and cells were washed with PBS, and further incubated with 0.25 mL of complete medium for 24 h. Finally, cells were washed with PBS and lysed with Glo-lysis buffer (10 min, 25 °C). The luciferase activity was measured

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

• Discussion Scaling up of the AuNP-siRNA synthesis The development of new drugs involves the study of their specific activity in cell cultures and animals, which requires the preparation, storage, and use of significant quantities of tested substances [22]. Significant quantities of the preparation can be

Advanced hybrid nanomaterials

• Andreas Taubert,
• Fabrice Leroux,
• Pierre Rabu and
• Verónica de Zea Bermudez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2563–2567, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.247

• nanoparticles [34]. The resulting gold–alendronate nanoplatform combines antitumor activity through drug delivery and photothermal therapy, as illustrated in vitro on the inhibition of prostate cancer cells. In the field of hybrid coordination networks, new lanthanide-based networks synthesized by a solvo

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

• growth. Secondly, the presence of serum proteases could rapidly reduce the integrity of the peptides, as demonstrated for other bombesin-related peptides that displayed mouse and human serum half-lives measured in the tens of hours [26]. The specificity of Tyr4-Bn and cystabn activity was confirmed in

Frontiers in pharmaceutical nanotechnology

• Matthias G. Wacker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2538–2540, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.244

• , although the use of nanomaterials has generally increased, the number of approved nanomedicines is still very limited when compared to the tremendous research activity in this area [1]. Because nothing is older than yesterday’s newspaper, this editorial will take a look into the crystal ball. Nanomedicine

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

• the whole assembly, yielding a platform suitable for investigating interactions with cells. Further details on the stability under additional conditions are provided in Supporting Information File 1. We first tested the biological activity of the His6-MBP-γ in the hybrids, as done in reference [30

pH-Controlled fluorescence switching in water-dispersed polymer brushes grafted to modified boron nitride nanotubes for cellular imaging

• Saban Kalay,
• Yurij Stetsyshyn,
• Volodymyr Donchak,
• Khrystyna Harhay,
• Ostap Lishchynskyi,
• Halyna Ohar,
• Yuriy Panchenko,
• Stanislav Voronov and
• Mustafa Çulha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2428–2439, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.233

• BNNTs clearly showed fluorescence not only in the nuclei but also in the cytosol. The reason for this is likely due to the more internalized material compared to the healthy cells as a result of higher metabolic activity of cancer cells. This study clearly shows that the cellular uptake of P(AA-co-FA

Air oxidation of sulfur mustard gas simulants using a pyrene-based metal–organic framework photocatalyst

• Ghada Ayoub,
• Mihails Arhangelskis,
• Xuan Zhang,
• Florencia Son,
• Timur Islamoglu,
• Tomislav Friščić and
• Omar K. Farha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2422–2427, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.232

• photosensitizer for generating singlet oxygen and subsequent oxidative degradation of chemical warfare agents (CWAs). The high activity of NU-400 permits photocatalytic conversion of the 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) mustard gas simulant into a benign sulfoxide derivative, in air, with less than 15 minutes

• mustard gas [20]. While oxidative detoxification of sulfur mustard gas has traditionally relied on bleaching powders, such reagents come with significant drawbacks, including corrosiveness and loss of activity over time [21][22]. Ideal candidates for the oxidation of mustard gas should be mild oxidants

• (Figure 2). Achieving complete oxidation of CEES without the O2 saturation represents a milestone for the potential deployment of MOFs as an active detoxification catalyst and, consequently, we focused on detailed exploration of the activity of NU-400 in air, without oxygen purging. Given that NU-400 is

The role of Ag⁺, Ca²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Al³⁺ adions in the SERS turn-on effect of anionic analytes

• Stefania D. Iancu,
• Andrei Stefancu,
• Vlad Moisoiu,
• Loredana F. Leopold and
• Nicolae Leopold

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2338–2345, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.224

• surface of the cit-AgNPs such as surface defects and kinks [36][37] and will increase the number of available positively charged adsorption sites for anionic analytes. As highlighted by Attard, the polarizability of the adion will influence greatly its surface activity [35]. This explains why cations with