Abstract Development of multifunctional theranostic nanoplatforms for targeted cancer imaging and therapy still remains a great challenge. Herein, we report the use of multifunctional ...dendrimer-entrapped gold nanoparticles (Au DENPs) covalently linked with α-tocopheryl succinate (α-TOS) as a platform for targeted cancer computed tomography (CT) imaging and therapy. In this study, amine-terminated poly(amidoamine) dendrimers of generation 5 (G5.NH2 ) conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FI), polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified α-TOS, and PEGylated folic acid (FA) were used as templates to synthesize Au DENPs, followed by acetylation of the remaining dendrimer terminal amines. The formed multifunctional Au DENPs were characterized via different techniques. We show that the Au DENPs conjugated with approximately 9.8 α-TOS molecules per dendrimer and with an Au core size of 3.3 nm are water-dispersible, and stable under different pH and temperature conditions and in different aqueous media. The FA modification onto the Au DENPs enables efficient targeting of the particles to cancer cells overexpressing FA receptors (FAR), and effective targeted CT imaging of the cancer cells in vitro and the xenografted tumor model in vivo . Likewise, the covalent conjugation of α-TOS does not compromise its therapeutic activity, instead significantly improves its water solubility. Importantly, thanks to the role of FA-directed targeting, the formed multifunctional Au DENPs are able to exert the specific therapeutic efficacy of α-TOS to the FAR-overexpressing cancer cells in vitro and the xenografted tumor model in vivo . The developed multifunctional Au DENPs may hold a great promise to be used as a unique theranostic nanoplatform for targeted CT imaging and therapy of different types of cancer.
Butyrate is one of the most important intermediates during anaerobic digestion of protein wastewater, and its oxidization is considered as a rate-limiting step during methane production. However, ...information on syntrophic butyrate-oxidizing bacteria (SBOB) is limited due to the difficulty in isolation of pure cultures. In this study, two anaerobic chemostats fed with butyrate as the sole carbon source were operated at different dilution rates (0.01/day and 0.05/day). Butyrate- and acetate-oxidizing bacteria in both chemostats were investigated, combining DNA-Stable Isotope Probing (DNA-SIP) and 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that, in addition to known SBOB, Syntrophomonas, other species of unclassified Syntrophomonadaceae were putative butyrate-oxidizing bacteria. Species of Mesotoga, Aminivibrio, Acetivibrio, Desulfovibrio, Petrimonas, Sedimentibacter, unclassified Anaerolineae, unclassified Synergistaceae, unclassified Spirochaetaceae, and unclassified bacteria may contribute to acetate oxidation from butyrate metabolism. Among them, the ability of butyrate oxidation was unclear for species of Sedimentibacter, unclassified Synergistaceae, unclassified Spirochaetaceae, and unclassified bacteria. These results suggested that more unknown species participated in the degradation of butyrate. However, the corresponding function and pathway for butyrate or acetate oxidization of these labeled species need to be further investigated.
The ideal theranostic nanoplatform for tumors is a single nanoparticle that has a single semiconductor or metal component and contains all multimodel imaging and therapy abilities. The design and ...preparation of such a nanoparticle remains a serious challenge. Here, with FeS2 as a model of a semiconductor, the tuning of vacancy concentrations for obtaining “all‐in‐one” type FeS2 nanoparticles is reported. FeS2 nanoparticles with size of ≈30 nm have decreased photoabsorption intensity from the visible to near‐infrared (NIR) region, due to a low S vacancy concentration. By tuning their shape/size and then enhancing the S vacancy concentration, the photoabsorption intensity of FeS2 nanoparticles with size of ≈350 nm (FeS2‐350) goes up with the increase of the wavelength from 550 to 950 nm, conferring the high NIR photothermal effect for thermal imaging. Furthermore, this nanoparticle has excellent magnetic properties for T2‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Subsequently, FeS2‐350 phosphate buffer saline (PBS) dispersion is injected into the tumor‐bearing mice. Under the irradiation of 915‐nm laser, the tumor can be ablated and the metastasis lesions in liver suffer significant inhibition. Therefore, FeS2‐350 has great potential to be used as novel “all‐in‐one” multifunctional theranostic nanoagents for MRI and NIR dual‐modal imaging guided NIR‐photothermal ablation therapy (PAT) of tumors.
“All‐in‐one” multifunctional FeS2 nanoparticles with size of ≈350 nm (FeS2‐350) are prepared and their photoabsorption intensity goes up with the increase of the wavelength from 550 to 950 nm. They can be used as a novel theranostics nanoagent for simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and near‐infrared dual‐modal imaging and for photothermal therapy of tumors.
Phototrophy and chemotrophy are two dominant modes of microbial metabolism. To date, non-phototrophic microorganisms have been excluded from the solar light-centered phototrophic metabolism. Here we ...report a pathway that demonstrates a role of light in non-phototrophic microbial activity. In lab simulations, visible light-excited photoelectrons from metal oxide, metal sulfide, and iron oxide stimulated the growth of chemoautotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria. The measured bacterial growth was dependent on light wavelength and intensity, and the growth pattern matched the light absorption spectra of the minerals. The photon-to-biomass conversion efficiency was in the range of 0.13-1.90‰. Similar observations were obtained in a natural soil sample containing both bacteria and semiconducting minerals. Results from this study provide evidence for a newly identified, but possibly long-existing pathway, in which the metabolisms and growth of non-phototrophic bacteria can be stimulated by solar light through photocatalysis of semiconducting minerals.
In anaerobic digestion, propionate is a key intermediate whose degradation is thermodynamically challenging and accumulation is detrimental to the process. Many wastewater streams contain antibiotics ...due to its globally increasing use, and these compounds can inhibit methane production. However, the effect of antibiotics on propionate degradation in anaerobic digestion remains unclear. In this study, the influence of two antibiotics (chlortetracycline CTC and enrofloxacin EFX) on biogas production and mesophilic propionate-degrading microbial community was investigated. CTC strongly repressed propionate oxidation, acetate utilization, and methane production, while EFX only inhibited propionate oxidation and methane production to a lesser extent. Microbial community analyses showed that syntrophic propionate-oxidizing bacteria (SPOB)
Syntrophobacter
had strong tolerance to both CTC and EFX. CTC inhibition mainly acted on the activity of acetate-oxidizing bacteria (
Mesotoga
,
Geovibrio
,
Tepidanaerobacter
, unclassified Bacteroidetes, and unclassified Clostridia) and acetoclastic methanogen, while EFX inhibition applied to the SPOB
Smithella
and acetoclastic methanogen. Network analysis further indicated that more complicated correlation among bacterial genera occurred in CTC treatments. These results suggested that CTC and EFX inhibited propionate degradation via different mechanisms, which was the result of joint action by antibiotics and microbial interactions.
The advancement of biocompatible nanoplatforms with dual functionalities of diagnosis and therapeutics has been strongly demanded in biomedicine in recent years. In this work, we report the synthesis ...and characterization of polydopamine (pD)-coated gold nanostars (Au NSs) for computed tomography (CT) imaging and enhanced photothermal therapy (PTT) of tumors. Au NSs were firstly formed via a seed-mediated growth method and then stabilized with thiolated polyethyleneimine (PEI-SH), followed by deposition of pD on their surface. The formed pD-coated Au NSs (Au-PEI@pD NSs) were well characterized. We show that the Au-PEI@pD NSs are able to convert the absorbed near-infrared laser light into heat, and have strong X-ray attenuation properties. Due to the co-existence of Au NSs and pD, the light to heat conversion efficiency of the NSs can be significantly enhanced. These very interesting properties allow them to be used as a powerful theranostic nanoplatform for efficient CT imaging and enhanced phtotothermal therapy of cancer cells in vitro and the xenografted tumor model in vivo. Due to their easy functionalization nature enabled by the coated pD shell, the developed pD-coated Au NSs may be used as a versatile nanoplatform for targeted CT imaging and PTT of different types of cancers.
Multiple biostimulation treatments were applied to enhance the removal of heavy crude oil pollutants in the saline soil of Yellow River Delta.Changes of the soil bacterial community were monitored ...using the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism （T-RFLP） and clone library analyses.The 140-day microcosm experiments showed that low C：N：P ratio,high availability of surfactant and addition of bulking agent significantly enhanced the performance,leading to the highest total petroleum hydrocarbon removal.Meanwhile,the bacterial community was remarkably changed by the multiple biostimulation treatments,with the Deltaproteobacteria,Firmicutes,Actinobacteria,Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes being inhibited and the Alphaand Beta-proteobacteria and some unknown Gammaproteobacteria bacteria being enriched.In addition,different hydrocarbon-degraders came to power in the following turn.At the first stage,the Alcanivorax-related Gammaproteobacteria bacteria dominated in the biostimulated soil and contributed mainly to the biodegradation of easily degradable portion of the heavy crude oil.Then the bacteria belonging to Alphaproteobacteria,followed by bacteria belonging to Candidate division OD1,became the dominant oil-degraders to degrade the remaining recalcitrant constituents of the heavy crude oil.
Sweet potato shochu is a traditional Japanese spirit produced mainly in the South Kyushu area in Japan. The amount of stillage reaches approximately 8 x 105 tons per year. Wastewater mainly ...containing stillage from the production of sweet potato-shochu was treated thermophilically in a fullscale treatment plant using fixed-bed reactors （8 reactors ×283 m3）. Following the addition of Ni2＋ and Co2＋, the reactors have been stably operated for six years at a high chemical oxygen demand （COD） loading rate of 14 kg/（m3.day）. Analysis of coenzyme content and microbial communities indicated that similar microbial communities were present in the liquid phase and on the fiber carders installed in reactors. Bacteria in the phyla Firmieutes as well as Bacteroidetes were dominant bacteria, and Methanosarcina thermophila as well as Methanothermobacter crinale were dominant methanogens in the reactors. This study reveals that stillage from sweet potato-shochu production can be treated effectively in a full-scale fixed-bed reactor under thermophilic conditions with the help of Ni2~ and Co2＋. The high diversity of bacterial community and the coexistence of both aceticlastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens contributed to the excellent fermentation performance.
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