Nanotitanium dioxide (TiO2) is an important industrial material that is widely used as an additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food colorants. Although the small size of the TiO2 nanoparticle is useful in various applications, the biosafety of this material needs to be evaluated. In this study, mouse fibroblast (L929) cells were used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of different concentrations (3-600 microg/mL) of homogeneous and weakly aggregated TiO2 nanoparticles in aqueous solution. The L929 cells became round and even shrank as the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles increased. Moreover, TiO2 nanoparticle-treated cells had condensed fragmented chromatin or were directly necrosed, as observed by acridine orange (AO) staining. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed that in cells cultured in a medium containing 300 microg/mL TiO2, the number of lysosomes increased, and some cytoplasmic organelles were damaged. In addition, there was a significant increase in oxidative stress at higher TiO2 nanoparticle concentrations (>60 microg/mL). As the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles increased in the culture medium, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) increased, while those of methyl tetrazolium cytotoxicity (MTT), glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) decreased. A possible mechanism for the cytotoxicity of TiO2 nanoparticles is also discussed.

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Oxime bonds dispersed in the backbones of the synthetic polymers, while young in the current spectrum of the biomedical application, are rapidly extending into their own niche. In the present work, oxime linkages were confirmed to be a robust tool for the design of pH-sensitive polymeric drug delivery systems. The triblock copolymer (PEG-OPCL-PEG) consisting of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic oxime-tethered polycaprolactone (OPCL) was successfully prepared by aminooxy terminals of OPCL ligating with aldehyde-terminated PEG (PEG-CHO). Owing to its amphiphilic architecture, PEG-OPCL-PEG self-assembled into the micelles in aqueous media, validated by the measurement of critical micelle concentration (CMC). The MTT assay showed that PEG-OPCL-PEG exhibited low cytotoxicity against NIH/3T3 normal cells. Doxorubicin (DOX) as a model drug was encapsulated into the PEG-OPCL-PEG micelles. Drug release study revealed that the DOX release from micelles was significantly accelerated at mildly acid pH of 5.0 compared to physiological pH of 7.4, suggesting the pH-responsive feature of the drug delivery systems with oxime linkages. Flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) measurements indicated that these DOX-loaded micelles were easily internalized by living cells. MTT assay against HeLa cancer cells showed DOX-loaded PEG-OPCL-PEG micelles had a high anticancer efficacy. All of these results demonstrate that these polymeric micelles self-assembled from oxime-tethered block copolymers are promising carriers for the pH-triggered intracellular delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs.

The surface properties of biomaterials play a vital role in cell morphology and behaviors such as cell adhesion, migration, proliferation and differentiation. Three different crystal phases of titania film (rutile, anatase and amorphous titania) with similar roughness were successfully synthesized by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The surface roughness of each film was about 8-10 nm. Primary rat osteoblasts were used to observe changes in morphology and to evaluate cell behavior at the film surface. The number of the osteoblasts on anatase film was significantly higher than rutile and amorphous films after 36 and 72 h incubation. More importantly, synthesis of alkaline phosphatase was significantly greater by osteoblasts cultured on anatase film than on rutile and amorphous films after 7 and 14 days. In addition, the cells grown on the anatase phase film had the largest spreading area; the actin filaments in cells with regular directions were well defined and fully spreaded. The results indicate that the anatase phase of titania with nanoscale topography yield the best biological effects for cell adhesion, spreading, proliferation and differentiation. There are strong therapeutic prospects for this biomaterial film for osteoblast proliferation, with possible applications for orthopedic and dental implant.

SummaryThe diffusible factor synthase XanB2, originally identified in Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc), is highly conserved across a wide range of bacterial species, but its substrate and catalytic mechanism have not yet been investigated. Here, we show that XanB2 is a unique bifunctional chorismatase that hydrolyses chorismate, the endproduct of the shikimate pathway, to produce 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (3-HBA) and 4-HBA. 3-HBA and 4-HBA are respectively associated with the yellow pigment xanthomonadin biosynthesis and antioxidant activity in Xcc. We further demonstrate that XanB2 is a structurally novel enzyme with three putative domains. It catalyses 3-HBA and 4-HBA biosynthesis via a unique mechanism with the C-terminal YjgF-like domain conferring activity for 3-HBA biosynthesis and the N-terminal FGFG motif-containing domain responsible for 4-HBA biosynthesis. Furthermore, we show that Xcc produces coenzyme Q8 (CoQ8) via a new biosynthetic pathway independent of the key chorismate-pyruvate lyase UbiC. XanB2 is the alternative source of 4-HBA for CoQ8 biosynthesis. The similar CoQ8 biosynthetic pathway, xanthomonadin biosynthetic gene cluster and XanB2 homologues are well conserved in the bacterial species within Xanthomonas, Xylella, Xylophilus, Pseudoxanthomonas, Rhodanobacter, Frateuria, Herminiimonas and Variovorax, suggesting that XanB2 may be a conserved metabolic link between the shikimate pathway, ubiquinone and xanthomonadin biosynthetic pathways in diverse bacteria.