Black Phosphorus Nanosheet Encapsulated by Zeolitic Imidazole Framework-8 for Tumor Multimodal Treatments.

Black phosphorus (BP) nanosheet is easily oxidized by oxygen and water under ambient environment, thus, reliable BP passivation techniques for biomedical applications is urgently needed. A simple and applicable passivation strategy for biomedical applications was established by encapsulating BP nanosheet into zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8). The resulted BP nanosheet in ZIF-8 (BP@ZIF-8) shows not only satisfied chemical stability in both water and phosphate buffered saline (PBS), but also excellent biocompatibility. Notably, BP nanosheet endows the prepared BP@ZIF-8 with prominent photothermal conversion efficiency (31.90%). Besides passivation BP, ZIF-8 provides the BP@ZIF-8 with high drug loading amount (1353.3 mg g-1). Moreover, the loaded drug can be controlled release by pH stimuli. Both in vitro and in vivo researches verified the resulted BP@ZIF-8 an ideal candidate for tumor multimodal treatments.

Baicalin inhibits PDGF-BB-induced hepatic stellate cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration and activation via the miR-3595/ACSL4 axis.

Hepatic fibrosis is a physiological response to liver injury that includes a range of cell types. The pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis currently focuses on hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation into muscle fiber cells and fibroblasts. Baicalin is a flavone glycoside. It is the glucuronide of baicalein, which is extracted from the dried roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. Previous work focused on the anti­viral, ­inflammatory and ­tumor properties of baicalin. However, the potential anti­fibrotic effects and mechanisms of baicalin are not known. The present study demonstrated that baicalin influenced the activation, proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration of platelet­derived growth factor­BB­induced activated HSC­T6 cells in a dose­dependent manner. To investigate the anti­fibrotic effect of baicalin, a one­color micro (mi)RNA array and reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses were used. Results demonstrated that baicalin increased the expression of the miRNA, miR­3595. In addition, the inhibition of miR­3595 substantially reversed the anti­fibrotic effect of baicalin. The present data also suggested that miR­3595 negatively regulates the long­chain­fatty­acid­CoA ligase 4 (ACSL4). Furthermore, ACSL4 acted in a baicalin­dependent manner to exhibit anti­fibrotic effects. Taken together, it was concluded that baicalin induces miR­3595 expression that modulates the expression levels of ACSL4. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonstrate that baicalin induces overexpression of human miR­3595, and subsequently decreases the expression of ACSL4, resulting in an anti-fibrotic effect.

A triple-dimensional sensing chip for discrimination of eight antioxidants based on quantum dots and graphene.

A triple-dimensional sensing chip is developed based on simultaneous utilization of fluorescence (FL), electrochemical (ECL) and mass-sensitivity (MS) properties of a novel nanocomposites. The sensing nanomaterial is composed of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) and graphene through a one-pot room-temperature reverse microemulsion polymerization. Here, full integration of QDs and graphene on one chip provides triple-dimensional sensing signals. It enables quick and accurate discrimination of eight analytes in a "lab-on-a-nanomaterial" approach and notably improves the overall sensor performance. Unknown samples randomly taken from the training set at concentrations of 0.7 µM are successfully classified by principal component analysis (PCA) with accuracies of 92.5%, compared with the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. We further apply it to discriminate eight antioxidants from real oil samples, and explore the mechanism.

Fingerprint analysis of Ginkgo biloba leaves and related health foods by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry.

A fingerprint analysis method was developed for Ginkgo biloba leaves and was successfully used for quality evaluation of related health foods by HPLC with electrospray ionization MS. Fifteen samples of G. biloba leaves, which were collected from 15 different locations in China, were analyzed and identified in this study. By both peak analysis and similarity analysis of the fingerprint chromatograms, variation of constituents was easily observed in the leaves from different sources. By comparison with batches of authentic leaves, the authenticity, and quality consistency of related health foods in different matrixes were effectively estimated. It is important to mention that studying a wide range of authentic leaves from various habitats made the quality evaluation of commercial products more convincing and reasonable. The fingerprint-based strategy of the developed method should provide improved QC of G. biloba leaves and products.