Nanoarchitectonics of photothermal materials to enhance the sensitivity of lateral flow assays.

Lateral flow assays (LFAs) are currently the most widely used point-of-care testing technique with remarkable advantages such as simple operation, rapid analysis, portability, and low cost. Traditionally, gold nanoparticles are employed as tracer element in LFAs due to their strong localised surface plasmon resonance. However, this conventional LFA technique based on colorimetric analysis is neither useful to determine critical analytes with desired sensitivity, nor can it quantify the analytes. Various signal amplification strategies have been proposed to improve the sensitivity and the quantitative determination of analytes using LFAs. One of the promising strategies is to enhance the photothermal properties of nanomaterials to generate heat after light irradiation, followed by a temperature measurement to detect and quantify the analyte concentration. Recently, it has been observed that the nanoscale architecture of materials, including size, shape, and nanoscale composition, plays a significant role in enhancing the photothermal properties of nanomaterials. In this review, we discuss the nanoarchitectonics of nanomaterials regarding enhanced photothermal properties and their application in LFAs. Initially, we discuss various important photothermal materials and their classification along with their working principle. Then, we highlight important aspects of the nanoscale architecture (i.e., size, shape, and composition) to enable maximum light-to-heat conversion efficiency. Finally, we discuss some of the recent advances in photothermal LFAs and their application in detecting analytes.

Fluorescent carbon dots tailored iron oxide nano hybrid system forin vivooptical imaging of liver fibrosis.

Hybrid nanoparticles are innovative invention of last decade designed to overcome limitations of single-component nanoparticles by introducing multiple functionalities through combining two or more different nanoparticles. In this study, we are reporting development of magneto-fluorescent hybrid nanoparticles by combining iron oxide and carbon nanoparticles to enablein vivofluorescence imaging which also has all the required characteristic properties to use as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast agent. In order to achieve dual-functional imaging, alginate and pullulan coated super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (ASPION and PSPION) and Carbon dots (Cdts) were synthesised separately. ASPIONs and PSPIONs were further chemically conjugated with Cdts and developed dual-functional nanohybrid particles ASPION-Cdts and PSPION-Cdts. Subsequently, evaluation of the materials for its size, functionalisation efficiency, fluorescence and magnetic properties, biocompatibility and cellular uptake efficiency has been carried out. Fluorescence imaging of liver fibrosis was performedin vivoin rodent model of liver fibrosis using the two nanohybrids, which is further confirmed by high fluorescence signal from the harvested liver.

Nanotechnology in cardiac stem cell therapy: cell modulation, imaging and gene delivery.

The wide arena of applications opened by nanotechnology is multidimensional. It is already been proven that its prominence can continuously influence human life. The role of stem cells in curing degenerative diseases is another major area of research. Cardiovascular diseases are one of the major causes of death globally. Nanotechnology-assisted stem cell therapy could be used to tackle the challenges faced in the management of cardiovascular diseases. In spite of the positive indications and proven potential of stem cells to differentiate into cardiomyocytes for cardiac repair and regeneration during myocardial infarction, this therapeutic approach still remains in its infancy due to several factors such as non-specificity of injected cells, insignificant survival rate, and low cell retention. Attempts to improve stem cell therapy using nanoparticles have shown some interest among researchers. This review focuses on the major hurdles associated with cardiac stem cell therapy and the role of nanoparticles to overcome the major challenges in this field, including cell modulation, imaging, tracking and gene delivery.