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

• subcellular localization was monitored. An organelle-staining study indicated the localization of the tetrahedrons within the cytoplasm and demonstrated efficient cellular uptake of DNA tetrahedrons without the need for any transfection agents or procedures. One of the advantages of DNA tetrahedrons is that

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

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

• -dependent process is the major route for the internalization of CPPs. Nonetheless, novel studies on living cells show that the uptake of arginine-rich peptides could be a combination of both direct translocation and endocytosis. What supports this hypothesis is the mixture of punctate and diffuse staining

• observed using confocal microscopy [39][40]. It is assumed that the punctate staining indicates endocytic uptake, while the diffuse staining is correlated with direct translocation. The switch between different uptake mechanisms might be concentration-dependent. It has been shown that at low concentration

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

• -Target-lipo group. Cells exposed to FL-Control-lipo displayed a diffuse cell membrane-like staining with few green fluorescent puncta. Whereas, the target-lipo exposed cells displayed many more fluorescent puncta as well as a widespread increase in cellular fluorescence. Our observations here indicate

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

• immobilized on the surface. This enables the identification of the sites were unlabeled AFP bound by subsequent staining with fluorescently labeled streptavidin (Figure S3). After incubation a fluorescent microarray pattern becomes visible again (Figure S4). Conclusion In this study, we present the

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

• for the staining of cell membranes [4]. In two separate studies, Chan and co-workers described two interesting hybrid systems. In the first, a charge driven self-assembly of AuNPs and different-colour QDs into multicolour, non-blinking nanohybrids was introduced. These nanohybrids were then coupled to

• observed, as indicated by the significant fluorescence staining of the cells (see Figure 1D). Additional confocal images collected from two sets of cultures, one incubated with nanohybrids prepared with His6-MBP-γ and the other with His6-MBP (gamma-free MBP), and serving as control. Only the culture

• incubated with nanohybrids prepared with His6-MBP-γ yielded pronounced intracellular staining; the control cultures did not show any cellular uptake (see Figure 1D and Figures S3 and S4 in Supporting Information File 1). In addition, the distribution of the QD staining (shown in Figure 1E, top panels) is

Gold-coated plant virus as computed tomography imaging contrast agent

• Alaa A. A. Aljabali,
• Mazhar S. Al Zoubi,
• Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh,
• Ali Al-Radaideh,
• Mohammad A. Obeid,
• Abeer Al Sharabi,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Bayan AbuFares,
• Tasnim Al-Zanati,
• Murtaza M. Tambuwala,
• Naveed Akbar and
• David J. Evans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1983–1993, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.195

• fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde/PBS (pH 7.0) for 15 min at ambient temperature (25 °C). Cells were rinsed three times for 5 min with PBS (10 mL) and incubated in 0.2% Triton X-100 for further 10 min. After three five-minute rinses with PBS and preincubation with 2% BSA to block nonspecific staining, cells

Synthesis and potent cytotoxic activity of a novel diosgenin derivative and its phytosomes against lung cancer cells

• Liang Xu,
• Dekang Xu,
• Ziying Li,
• Yu Gao and
• Haijun Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1933–1942, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.189

• late apoptosis in human cervical HeLa cancer cells [26]. In order to explore the death mechanism of P2, A549 and PC9 cells were treated with P2 and Di for 48 h and the proportion of cells undergone apoptosis was counted through Annexin V-FITC/PI staining and followed by flow cytometry analysis. As

Engineered superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) for dual-modality imaging of intracranial glioblastoma via EGFRvIII targeting

• Xianping Liu,
• Chengjuan Du,
• Haichun Li,
• Ting Jiang,
• Zimiao Luo,
• Zhiqing Pang,
• Daoying Geng and
• Jun Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1860–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.181

• ), followed by negative staining with 2% phosphotungstic acid. The mean hydrodynamic diameter and zeta potential of the nanoprobes were measured with a Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS (Malvern, UK) instrument. The quantitative measurement of the Fe content in PNPs was conducted by inductively coupled plasma

• sections. After staining with DAPI, fluorescence images of the brain slices were obtained with a laser confocal microscope (ZEISS, 710, LSM, Germany). For electron microscopy samples, the tumor-bearing mice were sacrificed by heart perfusion with saline and 4% paraformaldehyde 24 hours after injection

• at 48 h after PNP injection at a Fe concentration of 20 mg/kg every 2 days for 4 weeks and subjected to H&E staining and microscopic examination (Leica, Germany). Statistical analysis Differences in the assessment between experimental groups was evaluated using an unpaired student’s t-test. A value

Toxicity and safety study of silver and gold nanoparticles functionalized with cysteine and glutathione

• Barbara Pem,
• Igor M. Pongrac,
• Lea Ulm,
• Ivan Pavičić,
• Valerije Vrček,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ljubojević,
• Adela Krivohlavek and
• Ivana Vinković Vrček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1802–1817, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.175

• apoptotic/dead cells were determined by flow cytometry analysis after staining with CAM and EthD dyes. The doses that caused low or no significant reduction in cell viability (Figure 4a) showed apoptotic processes in a dose-response manner for all tested species (Figure 4b). In accordance with the MTT data

• -aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) staining. Annexin V binds phosphatidylserine, which can only be found on the outer leaflet of cell membranes during apoptosis, while 7-AAD is a DNA-binding agent that cannot penetrate the membrane of living cells and can only stain dead or late apoptotic ones. The treatment involved 24 h

• joined, centrifuged at 800g for 5 min and washed with PBS containing 2% bovine serum albumin (1 mL per sample). The cells were then stained using Muse® Annexin V and a dead cell assay kit (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After staining, the cells were washed

Scavenging of reactive oxygen species by phenolic compound-modified maghemite nanoparticles

• Małgorzata Świętek,
• Yi-Chin Lu,
• Rafał Konefał,
• Liliana P. Ferreira,
• M. Margarida Cruz,
• Yunn-Hwa Ma and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1073–1088, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.108

• phenolic compound-modified nanoparticles (100 μg/mL), they were incubated with L-929 and LN-229 cells for 3 h, and 2 mM H2O2 was added for 30 min, followed by staining with CM-H2DCFDA for 1 h. Figure 6 shows the representative flow cytometry results of nanoparticle internalization and the intracellular ROS

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

• that does not stain with toluidine blue. In control (no virus) and vehicle (DMSO)-treated cells, the cell monolayer in the well was evenly stained (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3). In the presence of virus, there were substantial areas where cells had lysed (plaques) and there was no staining

Serum type and concentration both affect the protein-corona composition of PLGA nanoparticles

• Katrin Partikel,
• Robin Korte,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Hans-Ulrich Humpf and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1002–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.101

• remains stable over a wide range of FBS concentrations, while only the intensity of protein bands evolves until no further increase in staining intensity is visible. These findings reinforce the previously described assertion that the surface of PLGA NPs is more or less fully covered by proteins and a

• , the cells were covered with Vectashield® Mounting medium with DAPI (Vector Laboratories Inc., Burlingname, USA) for nuclear staining. All images were taken using a IX81 fluorescence microscope (Olympus, Hamburg, Germany) with filter systems including excitation at 360–370 nm, dichroic mirror at 400 nm

Effects of gold and PCL- or PLLA-coated silica nanoparticles on brain endothelial cells and the blood–brain barrier

• Aniela Bittner,
• Angélique D. Ducray,
• Hans Rudolf Widmer,
• Michael H. Stoffel and
• Meike Mevissen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 941–954, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.95

• Figure 4B. Neither Si- nor Au-NPs led to differences in activation or expression of NF-κB. Both forms could be detected for this protein (Figure 4C). Expression of tight-junction proteins in rBCEC4 cells Immunofluorescence staining and TEM were used to demonstrate the expression of important BBB

• -characteristics, namely tight junction (TJ) formation, in rBCEC4 cells. Both, the TJ-associated protein zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and the TJ protein occludin, resulted in positive staining (Figure 5A,B). TEM pictures corroborated the formation of TJs between single rBCEC4 cells in a cell monolayer (Figure 5C). A

• possible effect of NP exposure on TJ formation and established TJs was investigated using immunofluorescence staining for ZO-1 (Figure 5D–G). rBCEC4 cells were exposed to PLLA-NPs at a concentration of [24.9 µg/mL] at various time points during and after monolayer and barrier formation. No differences in

Tungsten disulfide-based nanocomposites for photothermal therapy

• Tzuriel Levin,
• Hagit Sade,
• Rina Ben-Shabbat Binyamini,
• Maayan Pour,
• Iftach Nachman and
• Jean-Paul Lellouche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 811–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.81

• of 157 µm × 157 µm in the middle of each frame was irradiated with a 700 nm laser (Chameleon Vision II) at 123 mW for 1 min. The same frames were then imaged again. A dye exclusion test of cell viability was performed, using Trypan Blue for staining. A mixture of 0.5 wt % trypan blue solution and PBS

Gold nanoparticles embedded in a polymer as a 3D-printable dichroic nanocomposite material

• Lars Kool,
• Anton Bunschoten,
• Aldrik H. Velders and
• Vittorio Saggiomo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 442–447, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.43

• , where craftsmen, unaware of the existence of surface plasmon resonance [3], used metallic nanoparticles for coloring mosaic tiles, pottery and glass [4][5]. Metallic nanoparticles were also used for staining glass during medieval times, examples of which can still be found in many churches and

Surface plasmon resonance enhancement of photoluminescence intensity and bioimaging application of gold nanorod@CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

• Siyi Hu,
• Yu Ren,
• Yue Wang,
• Jinhua Li,
• Junle Qu,
• Liwei Liu,
• Hanbin Ma and
• Yuguo Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 22–31, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.3

• staining appearing in Figure 8 was due to the accumulation of functionalized nanoparticles in the cells, and there was no sign of any damage to the cell, demonstrating passive uptake in MCF-7 breast cancer cells using CdSe/ZnS@FA and GNR@CdSe/ZnS@FA. However, because the PL intensity and cell morphology of

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

• mitotic division on the left side of both images (scale bar = 10 μm). White arrows point at HAp nanoobjects. c) CLSM image of CHO cells and visible aggregates and agglomerates of F202 (100 µg/mL) hydroxyapatite, and d) image presenting the control CHO cells without any HAp additions. No staining was used

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

• morphology of the incubated cells were analysed with calcein acetoxymethyl ester (calcein-AM, Calbiochem, Schwalbach, Germany) fluorescence staining. For this, the cells were incubated with 1 μM calcein-AM for 30 min at 37 °C under cell culture conditions and subsequently analysed by fluorescence microscopy

Size-selected Fe₃O₄–Au hybrid nanoparticles for improved magnetism-based theranostics

• Maria V. Efremova,
• Yulia A. Nalench,
• Eirini Myrovali,
• Anastasiia S. Garanina,
• Ivan S. Grebennikov,
• Polina K. Gifer,
• Maxim A. Abakumov,
• Marina Spasova,
• Makis Angelakeris,
• Alexander G. Savchenko,
• Michael Farle,
• Natalia L. Klyachko,
• Alexander G. Majouga and
• Ulf Wiedwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2684–2699, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.251

• positive staining of 4T1 cells is found only on the periphery of the cell monolayer. However, ROS activation is observed at this point of time – as indicated by an increased number of H2DCFDA-positive cells in the culture (Figure S5C, Supporting Information File 1). Exposure to AMF for 30 min is sufficient

Cytotoxicity of doxorubicin-conjugated poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide]-modified γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles towards human tumor cells

• Zdeněk Plichta,
• Yulia Kozak,
• Rostyslav Panchuk,
• Viktoria Sokolova,
• Matthias Epple,
• Lesya Kobylinska,
• Pavla Jendelová and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2533–2545, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.236

• under Evolution 300 Trino microscope (Delta Optical; Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland) after cell staining with 0.1% trypan blue. For long-term (72 h) cytotoxicity experiments, MTT assay was used. hMSC, HeLa, and MG-63 cells were plated (5 × 103) in 100 µL of medium per well in 96-well plates and allowed to

• fluorescence (617 nm) after excitation by green light (528 nm). All experiments were carried out in triplicate. Finally, DAPI staining was used for determination of chromatin hypercondensation in the B16 melanoma cells treated with the Dox and its complexes for 24 h. After the treatment with γ-Fe2O3@PHPMA

• (Dox+NP) towards human leukemia cells of K562, Jurkat, HL-60/wt and HL-60/vinc lines (seeded 106 per mL) and murine melanoma cells of B16F10/wt line (seeded 105 per mL); trypan blue staining. Data are relative to the untreated controls and represent the mean +/− SD of three independent experiments. * p

Enhanced antineoplastic/therapeutic efficacy using 5-fluorouracil-loaded calcium phosphate nanoparticles

• Shanid Mohiyuddin,
• Saba Naqvi and
• Gopinath Packirisamy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2499–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.233

• -15) cancer cells at 48.5 μg/mL treatment. The apoptotic induction of CaP@5-FU NPs was confirmed with acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining and by examining the morphological changes with Hoechst and rhodamine B staining in a time-dependent manner. The apparent membrane bleb formation was

• with dual staining of acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) in the cells. The differential staining of the combination AO/EB reveals the different apoptotic phases. AO, with a fluorescence excitation/emission of 431/520 nm, can permeate the cells and yields a bright green fluorescence upon

• excitation. Likewise, EB, having an excitation/emission of 524/605 nm, provides an orange fluorescence upon intercalculation with dsDNA and can permeate into membrane-compromised cells only. The degree of EB staining in the cells dictates the proportion of the cell membrane compromised. During the early

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

• footprints samples were imaged in each condition and representative data were selected. Histochemical staining Binding of the benzothiazole dye thioflavin-T (Sigma-Aldrich) to amyloid structures was detected by direct staining of the adhesive footprints collected on glass slides. Footprints were incubated

• ), moist (b) or under native (c) conditions. The data was obtained either with a ScanAsyst-Air probe (a, b) or a silicon nitride probe (SNL, Bruker) (c). Different coloured lines represent three independent trials. a) Histological staining of the adhesive material deposited by the tube feet of

The structural and chemical basis of temporary adhesion in the sea star Asterina gibbosa

• Birgit Lengerer,
• Marie Bonneel,
• Mathilde Lefevre,
• Elise Hennebert,
• Philippe Leclère,
• Emmanuel Gosselin,
• Peter Ladurner and
• Patrick Flammang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2071–2086, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.196

• homogenous granules. The footprints comprised a meshwork on top of a thin layer. This topography was consistently observed using various methods like scanning electron microscopy, 3D confocal interference microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and light microscopy with crystal violet staining. Additionally, we

• results, indicating the intensity of staining on the different tissues is given in Table 1. Details on the sugar moieties recognized by the lectins are listed in (Supporting Information File 1, Table S1). Out of the 24 tested lectins, 15 led to a labelling in the disc epidermis (Figure 6, Supporting

• Information File 1, Figure S2,S3). Concanavalin A (Con A) strongly reacted with most tissues of the tube feet, except the connective tissue (Figure 6A1). In the disc epidermis, the area of the gland cells was strongly labelled from the gland cell bodies to the secretory pores (Figure 6A2). This staining

Biomimetic and biodegradable cellulose acetate scaffolds loaded with dexamethasone for bone implants

• Aikaterini-Rafailia Tsiapla,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Veroniki Bakola,
• Foteini Pappa,
• Panagiota Gkertsiou,
• Eleni Pavlidou and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1986–1994, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.189

• . Cytotoxicity studies were performed by using MTT assay, methylene-blue staining and SEM fixation and showed very good cell adhesion and proliferation, indicating the cytocompatibility of these fibrous scaffolds. Drug-release kinetics was measured for the evaluation of a controllable and sustained release of

• staining: L929 mouse fibroblasts were used to examine the cytotoxicity levels due to their properties and biological characteristics (biological responses and reproducible growth rates). The samples were placed inside a well-plate and 1 mL of medium was added and the whole system was left in the incubator

• of PBS was added. Methylene blue is commonly used for the identification of cell viability as it stains the nuclei of living cells, making them more observable. The protocol for staining with methylene blue initially involves the addition of methanol to the samples, which were in the well-plates for

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

• patterns The cell viability of Saos-2 cells on the gelatin crosslinked with 20 mM genipin was easily estimated with live/dead double staining (Figure 4). The gelatin pillars, with diameters of 500 nm and heights of 500 nm, were used as gelatin patterns. The high ratio of green-stained cells on gelatin

• with a width or diameters of 500 nm. Immunofluorescence staining after 1 day of culturing Immunofluorescence images of Saos-2 cells on the gelatin patterns are shown in Figure 6. Vinculin (green), F-actin (red), and nuclei (blue) of the cells were stained after 1 day of culturing. The cells were

• . Immunofluorescence staining after 7 days of culturing Immunofluorescence images of Saos-2 cells on the gelatin patterns after 7 days of culturing are shown in Figure 9. The images of vinculin (green), F-actin (red), and nuclei (blue) were quite similar to the images obtained after 1 day of culturing (Figure 6