The nanomorphology of cell surfaces of adhered osteoblasts

• Christian Voelkner,
• Mirco Wendt,
• Regina Lange,
• Max Ulbrich,
• Martina Gruening,
• Susanne Staehlke,
• Barbara Nebe,
• Ingo Barke and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 242–256, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.20

• surfaces, such as titanium and polyallylamine [3][4][5], gelatin–nanogold [6], polyelectrolytes and arginylglycylaspartic acid peptides [7], or extracellular matrix proteins [5][8][9]. Especially on the nonphysiological surfaces of permanent implants, the settling of cells and the swift formation of large

• adhesion interface areas are desired. Regarding this, a variety of surface coatings was assessed. Relevant parameters may be the zeta potential and pre-adsorbed cell adhesion proteins from the serum of the medium [4][10]. Before osteoblasts start the adhesion and spreading programs, they settle on the

• proteins resulting in a higher Young's modulus. The fixed ruffles exhibit an extremely low ion current error (Figure 3b), lower than that of the surrounding membrane. PFA usually increases the Young's modulus of cell surfaces, for instance, from 3.5 to 18 kPa in fibroblasts [39]. Therefore, the lower ion

A review on the biological effects of nanomaterials on silkworm (Bombyx mori)

• Sandra Senyo Fometu,
• Guohua Wu,
• Lin Ma and
• Joan Shine Davids

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 190–202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.15

• , 212018, PR China 10.3762/bjnano.12.15 Abstract The production of high-quality silkworm silk is of importance in sericulture in addition to the production of biomass, silk proteins, and animal feed. The distinctive properties of nanomaterials have the potential to improve the development of various

• the silkworm fat body. The treatment with TiO2 NPs activated the insulin signaling pathway of the silkworm by enhancing the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat when compared to the control group. Ni et al. [120] reported that feeding silkworm larvae with 5 g/mL of TiO2 NPs led to the

• concentrations of Ag NPs [122]. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are involved in cell signaling and homeostasis [123], are considered a characteristic side-effect of oxygen metabolism. High levels of ROS in living organisms induce oxidative stress, which results in damage to the DNA, proteins, and lipids

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

• macromolecular structures such as spike glycoproteins or transmembrane proteins [21], SEM provides topographic images of infected cells and virus particles distributed on their surface, albeit only after the samples have been coated with a conductive layer. In contrast, the HIM delivers a topographic image of

Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• such as the full understanding of proteins [1][2] or in the development of solar cells [3]. Natural photonic crystals are exciting nanostructured systems in which the dielectric properties play a fundamental role [4]. Many of them are biological systems where the richness of colors, produced by

A review on the green and sustainable synthesis of silver nanoparticles and one-dimensional silver nanostructures

• Sina Kaabipour and
• Shohreh Hemmati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 102–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.9

• amides corresponding to cellular proteins and enzymes, are responsible for the synthesis and stabilization of AgNPs (Table 2). These components are present in both the biomass and the cell culture supernatant. It was previously demonstrated that the synthesis rate can be faster for some bacterial strains

Fusion of purple membranes triggered by immobilization on carbon nanomembranes

• René Riedel,
• Natalie Frese,
• Fang Yang,
• Martin Wortmann,
• Raphael Dalpke,
• Daniel Rhinow,
• Norbert Hampp and
• Armin Gölzhäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 93–101, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.8

• -standing, large-area PM monolayer remains challenging. Previous approaches for the oriented assembly of PM were based on solid supports [8][29][30] or interfaces between liquids [31][32]. Other approaches, by implementing transmembrane proteins such as BR in lipid bilayers, have so far been used only to

• the final linker is shown in Figure 2a. The functionalization was tested with the His-tagged fluorescent protein mTurqoise. Confirmation of successful functionalization was provided by fluorescence imaging as seen in Figure 2b. The images show that the complex bonds formed with His-labeled proteins

Effect of different silica coatings on the toxicity of upconversion nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Helena Oliveira and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 35–48, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.3

• oxidative stress and cause apoptosis. In addition, intracellular redox homeostasis and gene expression can be modulated [26]. Lanthanide ions are usually not reported as highly toxic. However, they can interact with proteins, enzymes, and other biomolecules [27][28] and might also cause oxidative damage or

• ionic strength of the cell culture medium (I = 168 mmol/L) reduces the electrostatic stabilization. Besides, the proteins in the DMEM cell culture medium supplemented with 10% FBS contribute to the measured hydrodynamic diameter values [51]. FBS consists mostly of bovine serum albumin. The Z-average

• aggregation of silica nanoparticles that occurred after redispersion in buffered solution and in physiological medium [54]. They reported that various proteins in a medium containing FBS were adsorbed onto the surface of bare SiO2 and amine-functionalized SiO2 nanoparticles, forming a protein corona with a

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

• al. [12], fruit flies by Boseman et al. [13], and pine leaves by Kim [14] marked the entrance of HIM into general biology. Soon afterwards, two more milestones were reached. Firstly, Rice et al. [15] successfully imaged 15 nm gold labels on cell-surface proteins in rat kidneys, which demonstrated

• applied as the first step during sample preparation to prevent or limit alterations to biological materials during sample drying. Chemical fixatives such as glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, or a combination of the two (Karnovsky’s solution) cross-link proteins and lipids to physically stabilise samples [60

• the development of mammalian tooth enamel [67][71]. Tooth enamel consists of hydroxyapatite crystals, which form needle-shaped nanocrystals of several micrometres length with a diameter below 100 nm. HIM revealed insight into the complex interactions between the enamel-forming cells, matrix proteins

Self-standing heterostructured NiC_x-NiFe-NC/biochar as a highly efficient cathode for lithium–oxygen batteries

• Shengyu Jing,
• Xu Gong,
• Shan Ji,
• Linhui Jia,
• Bruno G. Pollet,
• Sheng Yan and
• Huagen Liang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1809–1821, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.163

• porous cubic nanostructure exhibiting excellent catalytic properties [36][37]. Biomass materials can be used to prepare N-doped carbons since their proteins contain nitrogen atoms. This method is an economically viable way to produce N-doped carbons at a large scale [38][39]. Our group has synthesized a

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