Preparation of magnetic amphiphilic resin microspheres via the one-step polymerization method and extraction of four glucocorticoids for HPLC-MS analysis.

Amphiphilic materials can be used for sample preparation of chromatography or mass spectrometry. Amphiphilic materials with magnetic properties in combination with magnetic suction devices allow for automated sample preparation. However, conventional synthesis methods are cumbersome and not suitable for the mass production of the material. In this study, a micro-suspension polymerization method was developed to synthesize magnetic amphiphilic resin microspheres (MARMs), providing new ideas for the preparation of amphiphilic microspheres. MARMs with particle sizes ranging from 3 to 6 µm were successfully prepared, with BET surface area up to 653.2 m2/g. A magnetic solid-phase extraction method based on MARM-5 was developed for the extraction of four glucocorticoids including Cortisone, Hydrocortisone, Cortodoxone, and Corticosterone. This method had a very short adsorption time of 0.5 min and a total extraction time of only 13 min. The limit of detection for the four glucocorticoids ranged from 0.22 to 0.82 ng/L. There was a good linear relationship between sample concentration and peak area in the range of 25∼500 ng/L. Relative recovery of 98 %∼108 % and internal standard normalized matrix effect factors of 95∼114 % were obtained, and the relative standard deviation was between 2.3 % and 6.3 %. The MARMs would be used as excellent solid extraction material for glucocorticoids.

A universal mass tag based on polystyrene nanoparticles for single-cell multiplexing with mass cytometry.

Mass cytometry (MC) is an emerging bioanalytical technique for high-dimensional biomarkers interrogation simultaneously on individual cells. However, the sensitivity and multiplexed analysis ability of MC was highly restricted by the current metal chelating polymer (MCP) mass tags. Herein, a new design strategy for MC mass tags by using a commercial available and low cost classical material, polystyrene nanoparticle (PS-NP) to carry metals was reported. Unlike inorganic materials, sub-micron-grade metal-loaded polystyrene can be easily detected by MC, thus it is not essential to pursue extremely small particle size in this mass tag design strategy. An altered cell staining buffer can significantly lower the nonspecific binding (NSB) of non-functionalized PS-NPs, revealing another method to lower NSB beside surface modification. The metal doped PS-NP_Abs mass tags showed high compatibility with MCP mass tags and 5-fold higher sensitivity. By using Hf doped PS-NP_Abs as mass tags, four new MC detection channels (177Hf, 178Hf, 179Hf and 180Hf) were developed. In general, this work provides a new strategy in designing MC mass tags and lowering NSB, opening up possibility of introducing more potential MC mass tag candidates.

The preparation of novel AIE fluorescent microspheres by dispersion polymerization.

An approach to prepare monodisperse polystyrene microspheres with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics has been developed which shows promising applications in fluorescence-encoding. The micron-sized, monodisperse polystyrene microspheres with AIE molecules were perfectly synthesized by two-stage dispersion polymerization. Fluorescent AIE monomer was synthesized by Suzuki reaction, confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). These AIE fluorogens (AIEgens) exhibited unique properties such as bright green emission in solid state and increased emission in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution with the increase of water content. The influence of the AIE molecules concentration to microspheres synthesis was well investigated. The reaction conditions were optimized to obtain the functional polystyrene microspheres with a size distribution around 3%. The novel microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal fluorescence microscope and flow cytometry. According to these results, two-stage dispersion polymerization was proved to be an efficient pathway for the preparation of AIE fluorescent and functionalized microspheres, which could be used in many biomedical industries.

Mitochondrial-Targeting Lonidamine-Doxorubicin Nanoparticles for Synergistic Chemotherapy to Conquer Drug Resistance.

Lonidamine (LND) can act on mitochondria and inhibit energy metabolism in cancer cells and therefore has been used together with chemotherapy drugs for synergistically enhanced therapeutic efficacy. However, its use is hindered by the poor solubility and slow diffusion in the cytoplasm. To address these problems, we designed and prepared aqueous dispersible nanoparticles (NPs) containing integrated components including triphenylphosphine (TPP) to target the mitochondria of cells and LND and doxorubicin (DOX) for synergistic cancer treatment and conquering drug resistance. This design allows the NPs to concentrate in the mitochondria of cells, solve the low solubility of LND, and contain very high load of LND and DOX in comparison with previously reported drug-delivery systems based on various carrier nanomaterials. Detailed mechanism studies reveal that TPP-LND-DOX NPs could induce significant reactive oxygen species production, mitochondrial membrane potential decrease, and mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, thereby leading to great cytotoxicity in cancer cells. In vivo anticancer activities indicate that TPP-LND-DOX NPs exhibit the highest efficacy in tumor inhibition among all tested groups and show high effectiveness in drug-resistant model. This work demonstrates the potential use of our TPP-LND-DOX NPs to jointly promote the mitochondria apoptosis pathway and contribute to conquer drug resistance in cancer therapy.

Dual-Targeted Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Guided Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy.

Hybrid nanostructures with combined functionalities can be rationally designed to achieve synergistic effects for efficient cancer treatment. Herein, a multifunctional nanoplatform is constructed, containing an inner core of an anticancer drug MTX surrounding by a nanometer-thin layer of gold as the shell with Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) evenly distributed in the gold layer, and the outermost hybrid LA-PEG-MTX molecules as surface coating agent (denoted as MFG-LPM NPs). This nanocomposite possesses very high drug loading capacity as the entire core is MTX and integrates magnetic- and active- targeting drug delivery, light-controlled drug release, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as photothermal and chemotherapy. With a strong near-infrared (NIR) absorbance at 808 nm, the nanocomposite enables temperature elevation and light-triggered MTX release. In vitro cytotoxicity studies indicate that the strategy of combining therapy leads to a synergistic effect with high cancer cell killing efficacy. In consistency with this, due to the high accumulation of MFG-LPM NPs at tumor site and their combinatorial chemo-photothermal effects, 100% in vivo tumor elimination can be achieved. Additionally, in vivo MRI of tumor-bearing mice demonstrates an impressive performance of MFG-LPM NPs as a T2 contrast agent. Therefore, such multifunctional nanocomposite has the potential to serve as an excellent theranostic agent that collectively integrates multiple functions for efficient MRI guided cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Shape regulated anticancer activities and systematic toxicities of drug nanocrystals in vivo.

In this paper, shape regulated anticancer activities as well as systematic toxicities of hydroxycamptothecin nanorods and nanoparticles (HCPT NRs and NPs) were systematically studied. In vitro and in vivo therapeutic efficacies were evaluated in cancer cells and tumor-bearing mice, indicating that NRs possessed superior antitumor efficacy over NPs at the equivalent dose, while systematic toxicity of the differently shaped nanodrugs assessed in healthy mice, including the maximum tolerated dose, blood analysis and histology examinations and so on, suggested that the NRs also caused higher toxicities than NPs, and also had a long-term toxicity. These results imply that the balance between anticancer efficiency and systematic toxicity of drug nanocrystals should be fully considered in practice, which will provide new concept in the future design of drug nanocrystals for cancer therapy. From the Clinical Editor: Advances in nanotechnology have enabled the design of novel nanosized drugs for the treatment of cancer. One of the interesting findings thus far is the different biological effects seen with different shaped nanoparticles. In this article, the authors investigated and compared the anticancer activities of hydroxycamptothecin nanorods and nanoparticles. The experimental data would provide a better understanding for future drug design.

Concentrations dominated membrane permeability variation by fullerol nanoparticles on a single living HeLa cell.

The effects in HeLa cell membrane permeability caused by the fullerenols C60(OH)n with different concentrations were studied by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). We demonstrate that C60(OH)n has very low cytotoxicity, although it can still have strong effects on the cell membrane permeability. In the presence of 1 × 10-3 mg mL-1 (1 ppm) C60(OH)n, the cell membrane permeability increases by 26% after 76 min, which is reversible. When C60(OH)n concentration is over 25 × 10-3 mg mL-1 (25 ppm), the change in membrane permeability (increased 19%) is irreversible.