COVID-19 diagnosis on the basis of nanobiosensors' prompt interactivity: A holistic review.

The fast spread and severe consequences of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have once again underscored the critical necessity of early detection of viral infections. Several serology-based techniques, including as point-of-care assays and high-throughput enzyme immunoassays that support the diagnosis of COVID-19 are utilized in the detection and identification of coronaviruses. A rapid, precise, simple, affordable, and adaptable diagnostic tool is required for controlling COVID-19 as well as for outbreak management, since the calculation and monitoring of viral loads are crucial for predicting the infection stage and recovery time. Nowadays, the most popular method for diagnosing COVID-19 is reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing, and chest computed tomography (CT) scans are also used to determine the disease's phases. This is all because of the fact that RT-PCR method caries with itself a number of downsides comprising of being immovable, expensive, and laborious. RT-PCR has not well proven to be capable of detection on the very early infection stages. Nanomaterial-based diagnostics, together with traditional clinical procedures, have a lot of promise against COVID-19. It is worthy of attention that nanotechnology has the mainstay capacity for purposes of developing even more modern stratagems fighting COVID-19 by means of focusing on state-of-the-art diagnostics. What we have centered on in this review, is bringing out even more efficient detection techniques whereby nanobiosensors are employed so that we might obstruct any further development and spreading of SARS-CoV-2.

Nanotechnology improves the detection of bacteria: Recent advances and future perspectives.

Nanotechnology has advanced significantly, particularly in biomedicine, showing promise for nanomaterial applications. Bacterial infections pose persistent public health challenges due to the lack of rapid pathogen detection methods, resulting in antibiotic overuse and bacterial resistance, threatening the human microbiome. Nanotechnology offers a solution through nanoparticle-based materials facilitating early bacterial detection and combating resistance. This study explores recent research on nanoparticle development for controlling microbial infections using various nanotechnology-driven detection methods. These approaches include Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Sensors, Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Sensors, Optoelectronic-based sensors, Bacteriophage-Based Sensors, and nanotechnology-based aptasensors. These technologies provide precise bacteria detection, enabling targeted treatment and infection prevention. Integrating nanoparticles into detection approaches holds promise for enhancing patient outcomes and mitigating harmful bacteria spread in healthcare settings.

Molecular Prospective on Malignant Transformation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: An Issue in Cell Therapy.

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) therapy, as a rapidly developing area of medicine, holds great promise for the treatment of a variety of medical conditions. MSCs are multipotent stem cells that can be isolated from various tissues and could self-renew and differentiate. They secrete cytokines and trophic factors that create a regenerative microenvironment and have immunomodulatory properties. Although clinical trials have been conducted with MSCs in various diseases, concerns regarding the possibility of malignant transformation of these cells have been raised. The studies showed a higher rate of hematological malignancy and carcinogenesis in experimental models after MSC transplantation. The mechanisms underlying malignant transformation of MSCs are complex and not fully understood, but they are believed to involve the presence of special signaling molecules and alterations in cell behavior regulation pathways. Possible pathways that lead to MSCs' oncogenic transformation occur through two mechanisms: spontaneous and stimulated malignant transformation, including cell fusion, fusion proteins, and the tumor microenvironment. MSC-based therapies have the potential to revolutionize medicine, and addressing the issue of malignancy is crucial to ensure their safety and efficacy. Therefore, the purpose of the present review is to summarize the potential mechanisms of the malignant transformation of MSCs. [Figure: see text].

Immune Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles in the Face of Pathogenic Infections.

Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are a collection of vesicles released from cells that play an important role in intercellular communication. Microbial infections are known as one of the major problems in the medical field. Considering the increasing resistance of strains to routine drug treatments, the need for new therapies seems to be more than ever. Recent studies have shown that the EVs released from immune cells during microbial infections had anti-microbial effects or were able to induce neighbouring cells to display anti-microbial effects. This mini-review aimed to explore the latest studies on immune cell-derived EVs in viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections. Review of the literature demonstrated that specific cargos in EVs were involved in the fight against pathogenic infections. Additionally, the transport of appropriate bioactive molecules including miRNAs, mRNAs, and proteins via EVs could mediate the anti-microbial process. Thus, it could be a proof-of-principle that therapeutic approaches based on EVs derived from immune cells could offer a promising path forward, which is still in early stages and needs further assessments.

Stem Cell-Derived Exosome as Potential Therapeutics for Microbial Diseases.

Exosomes, as the smallest extracellular vesicles that carry a cargo of nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins and mediate intercellular communication, have attracted much attention in diagnosis and treatment in the field of medicine. The contents of exosomes vary depending on the cell type and physiological conditions. Among exosomes derived from several cell types, stem cell-derived exosomes (stem cell-Exo) are increasingly being explored due to their immunomodulatory properties, regenerative capacity, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial functions. Administration of stem cell-Exo, as a cell-free therapy for various diseases, has gained great promise. Indeed, the advantages of exosomes secreted from stem cells outweigh those of their parent cells owing to their small size, high stability, less immunogenicity, no risk of tumorigenesis, and easier condition for storage. Recently, the use of stem cell-Exo has been proposed in the field of microbial diseases. Pathogens including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites can cause various diseases in humans with acute and chronic complications, sometimes resulting in mortality. On the other hand, treatments based on antibiotics and other chemical compounds have many side effects and the strains become resistant to drugs in some cases. Hence, this review aimed to highlight the effect of stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles including stem cell-Exo on microbial diseases. Although most published studies are preclinical, the avenue of clinical application of stem cell-Exo is under way to reach clinical applications. The challenges ahead of this cell-free treatment that might be applied as a therapeutic alternative to stem cells for translation from bench to bed were emphasized, as well.

Propagation of limbal stem cells on polycaprolactone and polycaprolactone/gelatin fibrous scaffolds and transplantation in animal model.

Introduction: This study was conducted to compare the effect of nanofibrous polycaprolactone (PCL) and PCL/gelatin (PCL/Gel) on limbal epithelial stem cell (LESC) and its efficiency for transplantation in animal model. Methods: PCL and PCL/Gel with a mass ratio of 70:30 and 50:50 was fabricated by electrospinning method. Human LESCs were cultured on PCL and PCL/Gel scaffolds and the effect of each scaffold on LESC proliferation, attachment and corneal epithelial regeneration in an animal model was evaluated, considering ease of use of scaffold and final transparency of the cornea. Results: Our data showed that PCL was more suitable than PCL/Gel for LESCs adherence, induction of epithelial morphology and proliferation. Histopathologic analysis of corneal sections from transplanted animals showed that epithelium was regenerated almost similar in PCL and PCL/Gel groups; however, vascularization and inflammation were significantly lower in the group receiving PCL. Conclusion: The represented data indicated the priority of PCL to PCL/Gel for the LESC attachment, proliferation and final outcome in an animal model of alkaline injury. This finding might be promising for cell therapy of corneal diseases.

Stabilization of chitosan based electrospun nanofibers through a simple and safe method.

A simple and safe method was used to stabilize nanofibrous structure of chitosan (CS) based mats obtained from acidic solution. The electrospun CS based nanofibrous mats were fabricated using CS/poly ethylene oxide in acetic acid aqueous solution. Exposure to water vapor at 40-70 °C for 30-120 min was implemented in order to stabilizing the CS mats. Scanning electron microscopy of the treated mats revealed preservation of nanofibrous structure after immersion in phosphate buffered saline (pH = 7.4). This result along with infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis confirmed removal of acetic acid residues and neutralization of CS mats after treatment with water vapor. Stabilization with water vapor also led to augmentation in tensile strength and elastic moduli of CS mats comparing to as-spun mats while the elongation was decreased. Furthermore, the crystallinity and thermal stability of mats were slightly increased after neutralization. In comparison with glutaraldehyde cross-linked mats, water vapor treated mats showed higher swelling ratio and enhanced cell compatibility.

Incorporation of nanofibrillated chitosan into electrospun PCL nanofibers makes scaffolds with enhanced mechanical and biological properties.

Fabricating polycaprolactone (PCL) composite can be a facile approach to improve wettability, mechanical properties and cellular compatibility of PCL-based scaffolds. In this study, nanofibrillated chitosan (NC) was utilized as dispersing phase in PCL matrix to acquire electrospun nanocomposite fibrous scaffolds. Various amounts of NC were added to PCL solutions and the solutions were electrospun under constant electrospinning parameters. Adding NC to PCL solutions was accompanied with notable changes in the solutions viscosity, conductivity and electrospinnability. Whiles the pure PCL solutions with concentration of 8 wt. % and 10 wt. % were not electrospinnable, adding 5-10 % NC made them electrospinnable. The mechanical properties, wettability and cellular compatibility of electrospun PCL/NC composites were improved as well. PCL/NC scaffolds showed remarkable enhancement in both tensile strength and Young's modulus compared to neat PCL scaffold. Contact angle measurements revealed improvement in wettability of scaffolds after adding NC. In addition, proliferation and adhesion of cells was enhanced when NC was incorporated to nanofibers. The results suggest PCL/NC as a proper scaffold for tissue engineering applications.

Evaluation of electrospinning parameters on the tensile strength and suture retention strength of polycaprolactone nanofibrous scaffolds through surface response methodology.

Scaffolds should provide sufficient biomechanical support during tissue regeneration for tissue engineering (TE) applications. Electrospun scaffolds are commonly applied in TE applications due to their tunable physical, chemical, and mechanical properties as well as their similarity to extracellular matrix. Although the mechanical properties of electrospun scaffolds are highly dependent on processing parameters, a limited number of studies have systematically investigated this subject. The present study has investigated the effects of the main electrospinning parameters on tensile and suture retention strength of polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds using response surface methodology. Scaffolds morphology and cell-scaffold interaction were also investigated in this study. According to the fitted model, polymer concentration and feed rate have the most significant positive effect on both the tensile and suture retention strength. Whereas applied voltage negatively affected both the tensile and suture retention strength. The effect of distance on tensile strength was not significant while its effect on suture retention was different depending on its values. Changes in biomechanical properties were associated with gross alterations in morphology of the fibers and cell-scaffold interaction. Scaffolds with lowest tensile strength presented a beaded morphology while scaffolds with higher tensile strength presented beadless morphology with worm-like fibers. The increase in tensile strength was correlated with the increase in average diameter of the fibers and pore size. The results of cell culture study showed that fibroblasts stretched and proliferated more on scaffolds with lower tensile strength. The generated model might be helpful when PCL scaffold with desirable tensile and suture retention strength are required. Furthermore, the results suggest that changes in morphology and subsequent cell-scaffold interaction should be considered when these biomechanical properties are optimized.