This study explored the possibility of utilizing iron oxide nanoparticles as a drug delivery vehicle for minimally invasive, MRI-monitored magnetic targeting of brain tumors. In vitro determined hydrodynamic diameter of ~100nm, saturation magnetization of 94 emu/g Fe and T 2 relaxivity of 43 s −1 mM −1 of the nanoparticles suggested their applicability for this purpose. In vivo effect of magnetic targeting on the extent and selectivity of nanoparticle accumulation in tumors of rats harboring orthotopic 9L-gliosarcomas was quantified with MRI. Animals were intravenously injected with nanoparticles (12 mg Fe/kg) under a magnetic field density of 0 T (control) or 0.4 T (experimental) applied for 30 minutes. MR images were acquired prior to administration of nanoparticles and immediately after magnetic targeting at 1 hour intervals for 4 hours. Image analysis revealed that magnetic targeting induced a 5-fold increase in the total glioma exposure to magnetic nanoparticles over non-targeted tumors (p=0.005) and a 3.6-fold enhancement in the target selectivity index of nanoparticle accumulation in glioma over the normal brain (p=0.025). In conclusion, accumulation of iron oxide nanoparticles in gliosarcomas can be significantly enhanced by magnetic targeting and successfully quantified by MR imaging. Hence, these nanoparticles appear to be a promising vehicle for glioma-targeted drug delivery.

The treatment of bacterial infection is one of the most challenging tasks in the biomedical field. Antibiotics were developed over 70 years and are regarded as the most efficient type of drug to treat bacterial infection. However, there is a concern that the overuse of antibiotics can lead to a growing number of multidrug-resistant bacteria. The development of antibiotic delivery systems to improve the biodistribution and bioavailability of antibiotics is a practical strategy for reducing the generation of antibiotic resistance and increasing the lifespan of newly developed antibiotics. Here we present an antibiotic delivery system (Van⊂SGNPs@RBC) based on core-shell supramolecular gelatin nanoparticles (SGNPs) for adaptive and "on-demand" antibiotic delivery. The core composed of cross-linked SGNPs allows for bacterial infection-microenvironment responsive release of antibiotics. The shell coated with uniform red blood cell membranes executes the function of disguise for reducing the clearance by the immune system during the antibiotic delivery, as well as absorbs the bacterial exotoxin to relieve symptoms caused by bacterial infection. This approach demonstrates an innovative and biomimetic antibiotic delivery system for the treatment of bacterial infection with a minimum dose of antibiotics.

Aside from their superparamagnetic properties exploited in clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it was recently discovered that magnetic, iron oxide nanoparticles could function as an artificial, inorganic peroxidase. In this paper, we studied the impact of coating on the peroxidase activity of these nanoparticles. Nanoparticles with six different coating structures were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, TGA, TEM, size, zeta potential, and SQUID; and evaluated for peroxidase activity. Catalysis was found to follow Michaelis-Menten kinetics and peroxidase activity varied with respect to electrostatic affinity between nanoparticles and substrates, evidenced by differences in determined kinetic parameters. Glucose detection was selected as a model system because glucose could be indirectly measured from the release of hydrogen peroxide after its oxidation. Nanoparticles with high peroxidase activity exhibited higher sensitivity toward glucose, showing a larger linear slope when compared with those of low activity. A significantly improved linear correlation and detection limit of measured glucose could be readily obtained by manipulating the nanoparticle coating. Our findings suggest that iron oxide nanoparticles can be tailor-made to possess improved peroxidase-like activity. Such enhancements could further widen nanoparticle scope in glucose detection and extend its peroxidase functionality to other biomedical applications.

the standard electrochemical potential of Na (2.71 V vs Na + /Na) is lower than that of Li (3.04 V vs Li + /Li), the successful academic and commercial experiences of LIBs can be referred by SIBs. Therefore, SIBs have been regarded as the most promising alternatives to LIBs. In the past few years, many novel materials have been developed and evaluated as electrode materials for SIBs. For instance, a number of transition metal oxides, transition metal sulfides and fluorides, polyanions, Prussian blue compounds, and organic polymers have been investigated as cathode materials for SIBs. [4][5][6] However, it seems that there are very limited options for SIB anodes. Only a few materials have shown satisfactory sodium storage performance, such as carbonaceous materials, metal alloys, metal oxides and sulfides, and Ti-based oxides (TiO 2 and sodium titanate). [7][8][9] Among them, carbonaceous materials, especially the hard carbons and heteroatom-doped carbons, are mostly investigated because of their low cost, abundant resource, and high electronic conductivity. [10][11][12][13][14] In addition, doping carbons with heteroatoms such as B, N, O, S, and P have been regarded as an effective method to improve the physicochemical properties of carbonaceous materials. [15,16] Among the heteroatom-doped carbons, N-doped carbons have become the most studied materials for improving the sodium storage performance over the past several years. It is also proved that doping with other heteroatoms can increase the sodium storage capacity by introducing defects, enhancing the conductivity, improving the porosity, or optimizing the interlayer of carbon. In recent years, several groups have reviewed the progress of carbonaceous materials for energy applications, such as LIBs, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and solar cells. For example, in 2013 Paraknowitsch and Thomas reviewed the development of carbon materials and their use in energy devices. [17] They suggested that S and P doping could induce the structural distortion and change the charge density of the carbons due to their different atom size and electronegativity from carbon, while B codoping could create synergistic effect on performance improvement. In 2015, Peng and co-workers presented the progress of carbonaceous electrode materials including fullerene, carbon nanotube, graphene, and mesoporous carbon for energy conversion and storage devices. [18] Particularly, N-doped multiwalled carbon nanotube have widely used in solar cells, while N-and B-doped graphene and N/P-codoped reduced graphene oxide have played important roles in LIBs. In 2016, Ji and co-workers focused Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) show promising application in large-scale energy storage as future alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. Carbonaceous materials are attractive anode candidates for SIBs due to low cost, abundance, and high safety. In general, doping heteroatoms such as N, B, O, S, and P in carbon-based materials gives rise to high electronic mobility, good sodium mobility, and enhanced capacity, showi...

A pyropheophorbide-α-based building block (Ppa-PLGVRG-Van) can be used to construct self-aggregated superstructures in vivo for highly specific and sensitive diagnosis of bacterial infection by noninvasive photoacoustic tomography. This in vivo supramolecular chemistry approach opens a new avenue for efficient, rapid, and early-stage disease diagnosis with high sensitivity and specificity.