Antioxidant therapy is the novel frontier to prevent and treat an impressive series of severe human diseases, and the search for adequate antioxidant drugs is fervent. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) are redox-active owing to the coexistence of Ce(3+) and Ce(4+) oxidation states and to the fact that Ce(3+) defects, and the compensating oxygen vacancies, are more abundant at the surface. Nanoceria particles exert outstanding antioxidant effects in vivo acting as well-tolerated anti-age and anti-inflammatory agents, potentially being innovative therapeutic tools. However, the biological antioxidant mechanisms are still unclear. Here, the analysis on two leukocyte cell lines undergoing apoptosis via redox-dependent or independent mechanisms revealed that the intracellular antioxidant effect is the direct cause of the anti-apoptotic and prosurvival effects of nanoceria. Doping with increasing concentrations of Sm(3+), which progressively decreased Ce(3+) without affecting oxygen vacancies, blunted these effects, demonstrating that Ce(3+)/Ce(4+) redox reactions are responsible for the outstanding biological properties of nanoceria.

Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) are a promising autologous source of cells for cardiac\ud regenerative medicine. However, CPC culture in vitro requires the presence of microenvironmental\ud conditions (a complex array of bioactive substance concentration, mechanostructural\ud factors, and physicochemical factors) closely mimicking the natural cell surrounding in vivo,\ud including the capability to uphold reactive oxygen species (ROS) within physiological levels\ud in vitro. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) are redox-active and could represent a potent\ud tool to control the oxidative stress in isolated CPCs. Here, we report that 24 h exposure to 5, 10,\ud and 50 !g/mL of nanoceria did not a!ect cell growth and function in cardiac progenitor cells,\ud while being able to protect CPCs from H2O2-induced cytotoxicity for at least 7 days, indicating\ud that nanoceria in an e!ective antioxidant. Therefore, these "ndings con"rm the great\ud potential of nanoceria for controlling ROS-induced cell damage

Hybrid 2D polymeric–ceramic biosupports are fabricated by mixing a nanostructured CeO2 powder with 85:15 poly(D,L‐lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA)/dichloromethane solutions at specific concentrations, followed by solvent casting onto pre‐patterned molds. The mold patterning allows the orientation of ceramic nanoparticles into parallel lines within the composite scaffold. The ability of the produced films to host and address cell growth is evaluated after 1, 3, and 6 days of culturing with murine derived cardiac and mesenchymal stem cells (CSCs and MSCs), and compared with PLGA films without ceramics and loaded with nanostructured TiO2. Aligned cell growth is observed only for scaffolds that incorporate oriented ceramic nanoparticles, attributed to the nanoceramic ability to modulate the roughness pitch, thus improving cell sensitivity towards the host surface features. Better CSC and MSC proliferative activity is observed for CeO2 composites with respect to either TiO2‐added or unfilled PLGA films. This evidence may be related to the nanostructured CeO2 antioxidative properties.

Membrane-based synthesis, also called template synthesis, is a very general approach used to prepare arrays of nanomaterials with monodispersed geometrical features. The most commonly used porous templates are track-etched polycarbonate and porous anodic alumina membranes. Common to all these templates is the fact that the pores are perpendicular to the surface of the membrane. Here, a novel approach is presented, where the pores are synthesized parallel to the surface of the membrane. For the first time, the anodic oxidation of an aluminum thin film is performed laterally, i.e., parallel to the surface of the substrate, instead of perpendicular as usually done. For low anodic oxidation voltages (between 3 and 5 V) we obtain highly regular and ordered pore arrays, at least over a few hundred nanometers length, with a minimum pore size of approximately 3 to 4 nm. With such porous alumina structures, the controlled in-plane organization of arrays of template-grown nanowires and carbon nanotubes for reproducible device fabrication should be much easier.