No abstract

We present a facile surfactant-free solvothermal method for the fabrication of nearly monodispersed Fe3O4 submicroparticles with tunable particle sizes ranging from 130 to 420 nm by varying the concentration of single iron source FeCl3·6H2O in initial solutions. The morphology and crystal structure of the as-prepared Fe3O4 submicroparticles have been well characterized by using SEM/TEM/HRTEM, XRD, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS methods. It is found that the Fe3O4 particles present single-crystal nature and strong ferromagnetic property with magnetization saturation values ranged in 54.3–88.7 emu·g–1. A complexation–aggregation–phase transformation formation mechanism was first proposed for the nearly monodispersed single-crystal Fe3O4 submicroparticles based upon the quasi-in situ monitoring of the morphology and structure evolution of the samples during the synthesis process. These size-tunable nearly monodispersed Fe3O4 submicroparticles are expected to have promising applications in wide research fields such as bioseparation, targeted drug delivery, and catalysis.

Tumor formation and growth depend on various biological metabolism processes that are distinctly different with normal tissues. Abnormal energy metabolism is one of the typical characteristics of tumors. It has been proven that most tumor cells highly rely on aerobic glycolysis to obtain energy rather than mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) even in the presence of oxygen, a phenomenon called “Warburg effect”. Thus, inhibition of aerobic glycolysis becomes an attractive strategy to specifically kill tumor cells, while normal cells remain unaffected. In recent years, a small molecule alkylating agent, 3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA), being an effective glycolytic inhibitor, has shown great potential as a promising antitumor drug. Not only it targets glycolysis process, but also inhibits mitochondrial OXPHOS in tumor cells. Excellent antitumor effects of 3-BrPA were observed in cultured cells and tumor-bearing animal models. In this review, we described the energy metabolic pathways of tumor cells, mechanism of action and cellular targets of 3-BrPA, antitumor effects, and the underlying mechanism of 3-BrPA alone or in combination with other antitumor drugs (e.g., cisplatin, doxorubicin, daunorubicin, 5-fluorouracil, etc.) in vitro and in vivo. In addition, few human case studies of 3-BrPA were also involved. Finally, the novel chemotherapeutic strategies of 3-BrPA, including wafer, liposomal nanoparticle, aerosol, and conjugate formulations, were also discussed for future clinical application.

Nearly monodispersed magnetic Fe(3)O(4)@DFUR-LDH submicro particles containing the anticancer agent DFUR were prepared via a coprecipitation-calcination-reconstruction strategy of LDH materials over the surface of Fe(3)O(4) particles, and present well-defined core-shell structure, strong magnetization and obvious magnetically controlled drug delivery and release properties.

Artificial aquaporins are synthetic molecules that mimic the structure and function of natural aquaporins (AQPs) in cell membranes. The development of artificial aquaporins would provide an alternative strategy for treatment of AQP-related diseases. In this report, an artificial aquaporin has been constructed from an amino-terminated tubular molecule, which operates in a unimolecular mechanism. The artificial channel can work in cell membranes with high water permeability and selectivity rivaling those of AQPs. Importantly, the channel can restore wound healing of the cells that contain function-lost AQPs.