Hyaluronic acid, as a natural linear polysaccharide, has attracted researchers' attention from its initial detection and isolation from tissues in 1934 until the present day. Due to biocompatibility ...and a high biodegradation of hyaluronic acid, it finds wide application in bioengineering and biomedicine: from biorevitalizing skin cosmetics and endoprostheses of joint fluid to polymeric scaffolds and wound dressings. However, the main properties of aqueous polysaccharide solutions with different molecular weights are different. Moreover, the therapeutic effect of hyaluronic acid-based preparations directly depends on the molecular weight of the biopolymer. The present review collects the information about relations between the molecular weight of hyaluronic acid and its original properties. Particular emphasis is placed on the structural, physical and physico-chemical properties of hyaluronic acid in water solutions, as well as their degradability.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated and consumed in living organism for normal metabolism. Paradoxically, the overproduction and/or mismanagement of ROS have been involved in pathogenesis and ...progression of various human diseases. Here, we reported a two-dimensional (2D) vanadium carbide (V
C) MXene nanoenzyme (MXenzyme) that can mimic up to six naturally-occurring enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), thiol peroxidase (TPx) and haloperoxidase (HPO). Based on these enzyme-mimicking properties, the constructed 2D V
C MXenzyme not only possesses high biocompatibility but also exhibits robust in vitro cytoprotection against oxidative stress. Importantly, 2D V
C MXenzyme rebuilds the redox homeostasis without perturbing the endogenous antioxidant status and relieves ROS-induced damage with benign in vivo therapeutic effects, as demonstrated in both inflammation and neurodegeneration animal models. These findings open an avenue to enable the use of MXenzyme as a remedial nanoplatform to treat ROS-mediated inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.
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•Hydrogels have been widely applied in wound healing.•Mechanical properties and biocompatibility of hydrogels can be improved by appropriate cross-linking methods.•The use of novel ...materials for the preparation of hydrogels can expand its application.•Test methods for evaluating hydrogels wound dressings.
The hydrogel wound dressing is an ideal wound treatment because of its excellent biocompatibility, high moisture resistance and the ability to activate immune cells to speed wound healing. However, the biomedical applications of hydrogels are limited currently, due to their poor mechanical properties and insufficient adhesion. In order to expand the scope of its application, people have explored new methods of chemical and physical cross-linking, designed new composite hydrogels, and introduced effective energy dissipation mechanisms. In this review, we also discuss materials used to produce hydrogels, focused on TCM-based hydrogel materials with bioactive properties that promote healing. Moreover, methods for evaluating hydrogel wound dressings are discussed to guide the preparation of new hydrogels.
Exploiting the properties of two-dimensional crystals requires a mass production method able to produce heterostructures of arbitrary complexity on any substrate. Solution processing of graphene ...allows simple and low-cost techniques such as inkjet printing to be used for device fabrication. However, the available printable formulations are still far from ideal as they are either based on toxic solvents, have low concentration, or require time-consuming and expensive processing. In addition, none is suitable for thin-film heterostructure fabrication due to the re-mixing of different two-dimensional crystals leading to uncontrolled interfaces and poor device performance. Here, we show a general approach to achieve inkjet-printable, water-based, two-dimensional crystal formulations, which also provide optimal film formation for multi-stack fabrication. We show examples of all-inkjet-printed heterostructures, such as large-area arrays of photosensors on plastic and paper and programmable logic memory devices. Finally, in vitro dose-escalation cytotoxicity assays confirm the biocompatibility of the inks, extending their possible use to biomedical applications.
The development of highly effective anticancer drugs that cause minimal damage to the surrounding normal tissues is a challenging topic in cancer therapy. Herein, we demonstrate a dual‐targeted ...organic molecule that functions as a photothermal agent by actively targeting tumor tissue and mitochondria to selectively kill cancer cells. The synthesized photothermal agent exhibited high photothermal conversion efficiency, low cytotoxicity, and good biological compatibility. In vivo experiments showed an excellent tumor inhibitory effect of the dual‐targeted photothermal agent.
It takes two targets: A small‐molecule organic photothermal agent with two targeting ligands was designed to actively target tumor tissue and mitochondria and thus selectively kill cancer cells. The resulting antitumor agent (see structure) exhibited a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 37.8 %, low cytotoxicity, and good biocompatibility and showed excellent tumor inhibition in vivo.
Bacterial infections associated with the implantation of biomedical devices belong to one of the leading causes of their failure. Accordingly, novel methods of surface modifications are highly ...required to prevent bacterial adhesion and limit the use of antibiotics. Electrochemical grafting of organic moieties is a well-known method of surface modification at the nanoscale level, allowing for the modulation of surface wettability, roughness, and the ability to enhance/reduce cellular adhesion, among others. In this work, the presence of an organic coating formed through the electrografting of a mixture of diazonium salts is proposed to tailor interactions between the surface and a living matter. Through the application of diazonium compounds possessing different functional groups, it is possible to alter electrochemical and surface properties, as well as cell survivability and anti-adhesive activity towards bacteria. It is shown that the presence of organic layers results in 4.5-fold increase in the wettability of the surface and 1.5-fold increase in roughness, leading to the 84% decrease in bacterial adhesion without affecting surface's biocompatibility. In this way, mixed organic monolayers formed through the electroreduction of a mixture of diazonium salts can serve as antibacterial coatings suitable for implantable biomedical devices.
Secondary metabolites are usually the bioactive components of medicinal plants. The difference in the secondary metabolisms of closely related plant species and their hybrids has rarely been ...addressed. In this study, we conducted a holistic secondary metabolomics analysis of three medicinal Glycyrrhiza species (G. uralensis, G. glabra, and G. inflata), which are used as the popular herbal medicine licorice. The Glycyrrhiza species (genotype) for 95 batches of samples were identified by DNA barcodes of the internal transcribed spacer and trnV-ndhC regions, and the chemotypes were revealed by LC/UV- or LC/MS/MS-based quantitative analysis of 151 bioactive secondary metabolites, including 17 flavonoid glycosides, 24 saponins, and 110 free phenolic compounds. These compounds represented key products in the biosynthetic pathways of licorice. For the 76 homozygous samples, the three Glycyrrhiza species showed significant biosynthetic preferences, especially in coumarins, chalcones, isoflavanes, and flavonols. In total, 27 species-specific chemical markers were discovered. The 19 hybrid samples indicated that hybridization could remarkably alter the chemical composition and that the male parent contributed more to the offspring than the female parent did. This is hitherto the largest-scale targeted secondary metabolomics study of medicinal plants and the first report on uniparental inheritance in plant secondary metabolism. The results are valuable for biosynthesis, inheritance, and quality control studies of licorice and other medicinal plants.
Photosensitizers (PSs) with multiple characteristics, including efficient singlet oxygen (
1
O
2
) generation, cancer cell-selective accumulation and subsequent mitochondrial localization as well as ...near-infrared (NIR) excitation and bright NIR emission, are promising candidates for imaging-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT) but rarely concerned. Herein, a simple rational strategy, namely modulation of donor-acceptor (D-A) strength, for molecular engineering of mitochondria-targeting aggregation-induced emission (AIE) PSs with desirable characteristics including highly improved
1
O
2
generation efficiency, NIR emission (736 nm), high specificity to mitochondria, good biocompatibility, high brightness and superior photostability is demonstrated. Impressively, upon light irradiation, the optimal NIR AIE PS (DCQu) can generate
1
O
2
with efficiency much higher than those of commercially available PSs. The excellent two-photon absorption properties of DCQu allow two-photon fluorescence imaging of mitochondria and subsequent two-photon excited PDT. DCQu can selectively differentiate cancer cells from normal cells without the aid of extra targeting ligands. Upon ultralow-power light irradiation at 4.2 mW cm
−2
,
in situ
mitochondrial photodynamic activation to specifically damage cancer cells and efficient
in vivo
melanoma ablation are demonstrated, suggesting superior potency of the AIE PS in imaging-guided PDT with minimal side effects, which is promising for future precision medicine.
Mitochondria-targeted photosensitizers with highly efficient singlet oxygen generation, bright near-infrared AIE and good two-photon absorption are obtained through ingenious molecular engineering for cancer cell-selective photodynamic therapy.
Fermented soybean products are consumed in many Asian countries and are one of the potential sources of bioactive peptides. Soybean is fermented using bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and lactic acid ...bacteria) and fungi (Mucor spp., Aspergillus spp. and Rhizopus spp.), resulting in different types of fermented products.
This review article is focused on production of bioactive peptides in fermented soybean products and their role in prevention and treatment of several metabolic diseases. Studies on novel bioactive peptides having specific health benefits can lead to their application in the development of functional foods and pharmaceuticals with the aim replace synthetic drugs that have several side effects.
Peptides in fermented soybean products are either released by the hydrolysis of soybean proteins during fermentation or produced by the microorganisms associated with fermentation. During soybean fermentation specific bioactive peptides are produced as a result of hydrolysis of soybean proteins (Glycinin and β-conglycinin). Individual microbial strains contribute in the formation of specific bioactive peptides with respective health benefits depending on the sequence and composition of amino acids. Such bioactive peptides may act like regulatory compounds and exhibit bioactive properties such as anti-hypertensive, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anticancer activities. Studies in future, on application of specific strains for soybean fermentation can lead in to the formation of novel bioactive peptides with potential health benefits.
•Fermented soybean products are potential source of bioactive peptides.•Peptides are produced either by soybean protein hydrolysis or produced by microbes.•Individual microbes contribute to formation of specific bioactive peptides.•Peptides exhibit several health benefits depending on their amino acid sequence.
Biodegradable metals have attracted considerable attentions in recent years. Besides the early launched biodegradable Mg and Fe metals, Zn, an essential element with osteogenic potential of human ...body, is regarded and studied as a new kind of potential biodegradable metal quite recently. Unfortunately, pure Zn is soft, brittle and has low mechanical strength in the practice, which needs further improvement in order to meet the clinical requirements. On the other hand, the widely used industrial Zn-based alloys usually contain biotoxic elements (for instance, ZA series contain toxic Al elements up to 40 wt.%), which subsequently bring up biosafety concerns. In the present work, novel Zn-1X binary alloys, with the addition of nutrition elements Mg, Ca and Sr were designed (cast, rolled and extruded Zn-1Mg, Zn-1Ca and Zn-1Sr). Their microstructure and mechanical property, degradation and in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility were studied systematically. The results demonstrated that the Zn-1X (Mg, Ca and Sr) alloys have profoundly modified the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of pure Zn. Zn-1X (Mg, Ca and Sr) alloys showed great potential for use in a new generation of biodegradable implants, opening up a new avenue in the area of biodegradable metals.
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