The Preparation of Golgi Apparatus-Targeted Polymer Dots Encapsulated with Carbon Nanodots of Bright Near-Infrared Fluorescence for Long-Term Bioimaging.

As a vital organelle in eukaryotic cells, the Golgi apparatus is responsible for processing and transporting proteins in cells. Precisely monitoring the status of the Golgi apparatus with targeted fluorescence imaging technology is of enormous importance but remains a dramatically challenging task. In this study, we demonstrate the construction of the first Golgi apparatus-targeted near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent nanoprobe, termed Golgi-Pdots. As a starting point of our investigation, hydrophobic carbon nanodots (CNDs) with bright NIR fluorescence at 674 nm (fluorescence quantum yield: 12.18%), a narrow emission band of 23 nm, and excellent stability were easily prepared from Magnolia Denudata flowers using an ultrasonic method. Incorporating the CNDs into a polymer matrix modified with Golgi-targeting molecules allowed for the production of the water-soluble Golgi-Pdots, which showed high colloidal stability and similar optical properties compared with pristine CNDs. Further studies revealed that the Golgi-Pdots showed good biocompatibility and Golgi apparatus-targeting capability. Based on these fascinating merits, utilizing Golgi-Pdots for the long-term tracking of the Golgi apparatus inside live cells was immensely successful.

Endoplasmic reticulum-targeted polymer dots encapsulated with ultrasonic synthesized near-infrared carbon nanodots and their application for in vivo monitoring of Cu2.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the largest organelle in eukaryotic cells and plays a variety of functions in living cells include protein folding, calcium homeostasis, and lipid biosynthesis. Normal function of ER is crucial for cell survival, while disequilibrium of ER can cause misfolding of proteins and ER stress, leading to many serious diseases. It has been documented that ER stress is closely related to the metabolism of Cu2+, as ER is the main intracellular accumulation space of Cu2+ and toxic reactive oxygen species can be generated by Cu2+ via Fenton and Haber-Weiss reactions. In this context, developing a powerful tool capable of selective and sensitive monitoring of Cu2+ in ER and investigating its role in physiological and pathological processes is of great importance. Herein, we report the first ER targeted near infrared (NIR) nanosensor, polymer dots encapsulated with NIR hydrophobic carbon nanodots, for detecting Cu2+ in biosystems. This nanosensor with stable fluorescence showed a fast response toward Cu2+ (120 s) and can be used for the quantification of Cu2+ in a linear range covering from 0.25 to 9.0 µM with a detection limit of 13 nM. In addition, the fluorescence variations of the nanosensor are remarkably specific to Cu2+ in comparison with the other metal ions and amino acids. Moreover, the developed nanosensor exhibited low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, and ER targeting ability. Because of these excellent spectroscopic features, the nanosensor was successfully utilized for visualizing Cu2+ fluctuations at the living cell, zebrafish and mouse levels, which further proved its potential application in biological systems.

Efficacy of Shaobei injection in the treatment of grade II-III hemorrhoids and the effect on fibulin protein expression: A study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Hemorrhoids are a common and seriously disruptive condition that seriously affects people's lives in terms of treatment. Injection therapy is an effective minimally invasive scheme for the treatment of grade II-III hemorrhoids, but its clinical application is limited by the adverse reactions caused by injection drugs. Some clinical studies have confirmed the efficacy and safety of Shaobei injection as a traditional Chinese medicine extract. However, there is no standard randomized controlled study to verify its efficacy and explore its potential mechanism. METHODS: This is a prospective, randomized, single blind, parallel controlled trial to study the efficacy of Shaobei injection in the treatment of grade II-III hemorrhoids and its effect on the expression of fibulin-3 and fibulin-5 in fibulin protein family. The patients will be randomly divided into a treatment group and control group. The treatment group will be treated with Shaobei injection, and the control group will be treated with rubber band ligation. The observation indexes include: visual analysis scale, postoperative hospital stay, total use of painkillers, fibulin-3 and fibulin-5, hemorrhoids recurrence, and adverse events. Finally, the data will be statistically analyzed by SPASS 18.0 software. DISCUSSION: This study will compare the efficacy of Shaobei injection with the rubber band ligation method in the treatment of grade II-III haemorrhoids and investigate its effect on the expression of fibulin-3 and fibulin-5 in the fibulin protein family. The results of this study will provide a basis for the clinical use of Paeoniflora injection as an alternative to traditional sclerosing agent in the treatment of grade II-III haemorrhoids.Trial registration: OSF Registration number:DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/MKVDB.

Using polyethylene glycol to promote Nannochloropsis oceanica growth with 15 vol% CO2.

CO2 capture with microalgae has been put forward in response to global concern on greenhouse gas emission. However, the short residence time and slow diffusion of CO2 in water limits the growth of microalgae. In order to improve CO2 transfer from gas phase to liquid phase and utilization by algal cells, polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG 200) was used as CO2 absorbent to promote growth of Nannochloropsis oceanica with the bubbling of 15 vol% CO2. Total inorganic carbon (TIC) absorbed in culture medium remained constant at 5.6 mM when 15 vol% CO2 was bubbled continuously. PEG 200 in the medium provided additional CO2 absorption from 0.6 to 4.8 mM when PEG 200 concentration increased from 0.5 to 4 mM. The specific growth rate of N. oceanica reached the maximum (1.41 d-1) with 1 mM PEG 200 in culture medium, which was 21.5% higher than the specific growth rate without PEG 200. About 79% of the increase in biomass was attributed to the increased TIC with more CO2 dissolution in culture medium because of PEG 200, and about 21% was attributed to PEG 200 itself utilized as an organic carbon source. In conclusion, PEG 200 as a CO2 absorbent can effectively capture flue-gas CO2 for algal growth.

Efficient Photocatalytic Bilirubin Removal over the Biocompatible Core/Shell P25/g-C3N4 Heterojunctions with Metal-free Exposed Surfaces under Moderate Green Light Irradiation.

Highly-monodispersed g-C3N4/TiO2 hybrids with a core/shell structure were synthesized from a simple room temperature impregnation method, in which g-C3N4 was coated through self-assembly on the commercially available Degussa P25 TiO2 nanoparticles. Structural and surface characterizations showed that the presence of g-C3N4 notably affected the light absorption characteristics of TiO2. The g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunctions with metal-free exposed surfaces were directly used as biocompatible photocatalysts for simulated jaundice phototherapy under low-power green-light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity and stability of g-C3N4/TiO2 were enhanced relative to pure P25 or g-C3N4, which could be ascribed to the effective Z-scheme separation of photo-induced charge carriers in g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunction. The photoactivity was maximized in the 4 wt.% g-C3N4-coated P25, as the bilirubin removal rate under green light irradiation was more than 5-fold higher than that under the clinically-used blue light without any photocatalyst. This study approves the future applications of the photocatalyst-assisted bilirubin removal in jaundice treatment under moderate green light which is more tolerable by humans.