Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been considered as a promising and noninvasive strategy for clinical cancer treatment. Nonetheless, building a smart “off–on” theranostic PDT platform to spatiotemporally control the generation of reactive oxygen species in the PDT treatment still remains challenging. Here, we have rationally developed photoswitching upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with orthogonal emissive properties in response to two distinct near-infrared (NIR) emissions at 808 and 980 nm, i.e., red emission with 980 nm excitation and green emission with 808 nm excitation. Unlike traditional photoswitching UCNPs, these specially designed core–shell–shell structured UCNPs do not require complicated multilayer doping as their red and green upconversion luminescence both originate from the same activator Er3+ ions in the core structure. As a proof of concept, we have demonstrated the capability of these orthogonal emissive UCNPs for imaging-guided PDT in a real-time manner, where the red emission excited by 980 nm light is used to trigger PDT and the green emission with 808 nm excitation is to diagnose and monitor the therapeutic treatment. Our study suggests that such specially designed UCNPs with orthogonal emissions hold great promise for NIR light-targeted and imaging-guided therapy under precisely spatiotemporal control.

The pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves a key event which changes the morphology of amyloid-β 42 (Aβ)₄₂ peptide from its soluble monomeric form into the fibrillated aggregates in the brain. Aluminum ion, Al(III), is known to act as a pathological chaperone of the Aβ₄₂ in this process; curcumin, a natural phenolic compound, is considered capable of binding Al(III) and Aβ₄₂; nevertheless, little is known about the combined action of curcumin and Al(III) on the Aβ₄₂ fibrillation and neurotoxicity. Here, combinations of circular dichroism spectroscopy, thioflavin T fluorescence, atomic force microscopy, Bradford and MTT assays, it is demonstrated that although Al(III) can promote the Aβ₄₂ fibrillation dose-dependently, leading to the high neurotoxicity to PC12 cells, curcumin can inhibit the events. Besides, we found that curcumin is able not only to inhibit the formation of Al(III)-induced Aβ₄₂ fibrillation, but also to form the Al(III)-curcumin complexes which in turn can remold the preformed, mature, ordered Aβ₄₂ fibrils into the low toxic amorphous aggregates. These findings suggest that curcumin could block the binding of Al(III) with Aβ₄₂ and form the Al(III)-curcumin complexes, so as to inhibit the Al(III)-induced Aβ₄₂ fibrillation and neurotoxicity. The Al(III)-curcumin complexes are worth potentially developing as a therapy agent against the neurodegenerative disorders in the future.

In contrast to the consumption of long-chain triacylglycerols (LCT), consumption of medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols (MLCT) reduces the body fat and blood triacylglycerols (TAG) level in hypertriacylglycerolemic Chinese individuals. These responses may be affected by BMI because of obesity-induced insulin resistance. We aimed to compare the effects of consuming MLCT or LCT on reducing body fat and blood TAG level in hypertriacylglycerolemic Chinese subjects with different ranges of BMI. Employing a double-blind, randomized and controlled protocol, 101 hypertriacylglycerolemic subjects (including 67 men and 34 women) were randomly allocated to ingest 25-30 g/day MLCT or LCT oil as the only cooking oil for 8 consecutive weeks. Anthropometric measurements of body weight, BMI, body fat, WC, HC, blood biochemical variables, and subcutaneous fat area and visceral fat area in the abdomen were measured at week 0 and 8. As compared to subjects with BMI 24-28 kg/m(2) in the LCT group, corresponding subjects in the MLCT group showed significantly greater decrease in body weight, BMI, body fat, WC, ratio of WC to HC, total fat area and subcutaneous fat area in the abdomen, as well as blood TAG and LDL-C levels at week 8. Based upon our results, consumption of MLCT oil may reduce body weight, body fat, and blood TAG and LDL-C levels in overweight hypertriacylglycerolemic Chinese subjects but may not induce these changes in normal or obese hypertriacylglycerolemic subjects.

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