With the increase of consumption of high-sugar foods, beverages, tobacco, and alcohol, the incidence rate of oral diseases has been increasing year by year. Statistics showed that the prevalence of oral diseases such as dental caries, dental pulpal disease, and periodontal disease has reached as high as 97% in 2015 in China. It is thus urgent to develop functional materials or products for the treatment of oral diseases. Electrospinning has been a widely used technology that is capable of utilizing polymer solution to generate micro/nano fibers under an appropriate high voltage condition. Owing to their excellent structures and biological performances, materials prepared by electrospinning technology have been used for a wide range of oral-related applications, such as tissue restoration, controlled drug release, anti-cancer, etc. In this regard, this article reviews the application and progress of electrospun nanofibers to various oral diseases in recent years. Firstly, engineering strategies of a variety of nanofiber structures together with their resultant functions will be introduced. Then, biological functions of electrospun nanofibers as well as their applications in the treatment of oral diseases are summarized and demonstrated. Finally, the development viewpoint of functional nanofibers is prospected, which is expected to lay the foundation and propose the direction for further clinical application.

No abstract

Hypoxia, induced by inadequate oxygen supply, is a key indication of various major illnesses, which necessitates the need to develop new nanoprobes capable of sensing hypoxia environments for the targeted system monitoring and drug delivery. Herein, we report a hypoxia-responsive, periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) nanocarrier for repairing hypoxia damage. β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) capped azobenzene functionalization on the PMO surface could be effectively cleaved by azoreductase under a hypoxia environment. Moreover, the nanosystem is equipped with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) pair (tetrastyrene derivative (TPE) covalently attached to the PMO framework as the donor and Rhodamine B (RhB) in the mesopores as the receptor) for intracellular visualization and tracking of drug release in real-time. The design of intelligent nanocarriers capable of simultaneous reporting and treating of hypoxia conditions highlights a great potential in the biomedical domain.

A multifunction 2MI-P@MSN nanoparticle was constructed for Zn2+ sensing and reperfusion injury treatment. This strategy highlights the potential for the detection, absorption and assembly of excess zinc ions simultaneously.

Biomaterials integrated with both topological cues and biological modifications are urgently needed in regenerative medicine. Here, aligned nanofibrous scaffolds decorated with nanoscale SiO2 protrusions and galectin-1 coating are reported. Prospects...