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

Fabrication of gold-coated PDMS surfaces with arrayed triangular micro/nanopyramids for use as SERS substrates

• Jingran Zhang,
• Yongda Yan,
• Peng Miao and
• Jianxiong Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2271–2282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.227

• nanoparticles on a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) template, and malachite green on fish skin [27] was successfully detected. A flexible and transparent substrate consisting of silver nanoparticles on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheets was fabricated for in situ detection of R6G and thiram residues with a

• concentration of 10−4 mol on the skin of an apple and a cherry tomato, respectively [28]. The major limitations of these methods are in the complexity of the fabrication processes for obtaining the templates. Additionally, more complex micro/nanostructures are difficult to achieve using the existing methods

• this method were compared to a commercial substrate (Q-SERS). This method was verified to be a high-resolution, highly reproducible, and low cost approach to the fabrication of high-performance SERS substrates that could be used as sensors to detect pesticide residues on the skin of fruit or fish

High-stress study of bioinspired multifunctional PEDOT:PSS/nanoclay nanocomposites using AFM, SEM and numerical simulation

• Alfredo J. Diaz,
• Hanaul Noh,
• Tobias Meier and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2069–2082, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.207

• produce a skin layer [11], which is a heterogeneous surface layer that forms during the evaporation of the dispersion. Given the size difference of the nanoclays used, this layer is expected to have a more appreciable effect in MTM than in LAP. With regards to stiffness, the MTM nanocomposite showed an

• unexpected behavior given its platelet size. One would expect the larger platelet size to lead to a higher stiffness, but instead MTM showed lower stiffness compared to LAP. These incongruences can be explained in terms of the skin layer formation, which in MTM is more heterogeneous and less organized than

• in LAP (hence also more loosely packed), as a result of the larger particle size. Recall also that the cantilever tip interacts with the outermost volume of the coating, which is the heterogeneous skin. The average quality factor shows a different behavior compared to the average frequency. For the

Bi-layer sandwich film for antibacterial catheters

• Gerhard Franz,
• Florian Schamberger,
• Hamideh Heidari Zare,
• Sara Felicitas Bröskamp and
• Dieter Jocham

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1982–2001, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.199

• applications were possible. Therefore, the inorganic alternative silver was proposed again, but now as silver coating [7][15]. This deposit dissolves with a lower time constant, thereby reducing the toxic potential combined with longer lifetime. However, the catheters were coated only on their external skin

• the polymer is larger by orders of magnitude than that of the coating. Therefore, a special design has to be applied to avoid cracks and exfoliation (Figure 5). Our designs are called “zebra stripe pattern” and “leopard skin”. In both cases, only fractions of the total area are coated. Here, we

Optical techniques for cervical neoplasia detection

• Tatiana Novikova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1844–1862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.186

• light that has been diffused deeply within tissue and keeps the contribution of the superficial layer at which epithelial cancer starts. The studies of spectra or images of OSC polarimetric measurements for the detection of colon cancerous polyps [94], skin cancer [95], and cervical precancerous lesions

Low uptake of silica nanoparticles in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial barriers

• Dong Ye,
• Mattia Bramini,
• Delyan R. Hristov,
• Sha Wan,
• Anna Salvati,
• Christoffer Åberg and
• Kenneth A. Dawson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1396–1406, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.141

• Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands 10.3762/bjnano.8.141 Abstract Cellular barriers, such as the skin, the lung epithelium or the intestinal epithelium, constitute one of the first obstacles facing nanomedicines or other nanoparticles entering organisms. It is thus important to assess the

• exposure routes, cellular barriers, such as the skin, the lung epithelium, the intestinal epithelium or the endothelium (including the blood-brain barrier), constitute one of the first sites of interactions of nanoparticles, whether intended as nanomedicines or not, with organisms. Thus in addressing the

Nano-engineered skin mesenchymal stem cells: potential vehicles for tumour-targeted quantum-dot delivery

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

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1218–1230, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.123

• quantum dots QD655 were studied in human skin MSCs. The effect of QD on MSCs was examined using a cell viability assay, Ki67 expression analysis, and tri-lineage differentiation assay. The optimal conditions for QD uptake in MSCs were determined using flow cytometry. The QD uptake route in MSCs was

• in skin MSCs was clathrin-mediated endocytosis. QDs were mainly localized in early endosomes after 6 h as well as in late endosomes and lysosomes after 24 h. QDs in concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 64 nM had no effect on cell viability and proliferation. The expression of MSC markers, CD73 and CD90

• drug carriers [3]. Recent studies have shown that nano-engineered mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could be used as tumour-targeted therapeutic carriers, reflecting their tumour-homing capabilities [4][5][6]. MSCs are present in many tissues of the human body, including bone marrow, adipose tissues, skin

Needs and challenges for assessing the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)

• Michelle Romero-Franco,
• Hilary A. Godwin,
• Muhammad Bilal and
• Yoram Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 989–1014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.101

• inhalation of some ENMs may cause additional adverse outcomes, such as damage to the respiratory tract, inflammation, and activation of signaling pathways. For additional routes of exposure, such as dermal absorption, existing evidence suggests that certain ENMs may penetrate the skin (e.g., cobalt

• nanoparticles in human volunteers and quantum dots ‘QDs’ in rat skin) and cause irritation (e.g., nano ZnO in zebrafish models) [10]. Oral exposure to ENMs can result in subsequent absorption in the GI tract and organ damage (e.g., nano Cu in mice via oral gavage damaged liver, spleen and kidneys, and nano ZnO

Near-field surface plasmon field enhancement induced by rippled surfaces

• Mario D’Acunto,
• Francesco Fuso,
• Ruggero Micheletto,
• Makoto Naruse,
• Francesco Tantussi and
• Maria Allegrini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 956–967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.97

• empirical parameters [43][44]. The resolution (N = 2048) is such that the minimum size is nearly 1 nm and the groove–groove distance (an equivalent of periodicity for more regular surfaces) is of approximately 100–200 nm (the autocorrelation length a in Equation 9) and height of 10–30 nm. The Au skin depth