Flavin-Conjugated Nanobombs: Key Structural Requirements Governing Their Self-Assemblies’ Morphologies

Abstract

In contrast to artificial molecules, natural photosensitizers have the benefit of excellent toxicity profiles and of life-compatible activating energy ranges. Flavins are such photosensitizers that were selected by nature in a plethora of light-triggered biochemical reactions. Flavin-rich nanoparticles could thus emerge as promising tools in photodynamic therapies and in active-targeting drug delivery. Selfassembled flavin-conjugated phospholipids improve the pharmacokinetics of natural flavins and, in the case of controlled morphologies, reduce photobleaching phenomena. The current article presents a proof of concept for the design of riboflavin-rich nanoparticles of tunable morphology from multilamellar patches to vesicular self-assemblies. Coarse-grained simulations of the self-assembling process revealed the key interactions governing the obtained nanomaterials and successfully guided the synthesis of new flavin-conjugates of predictable self-assembly. The obtained flavin-based liposomes had a 65 nm hydrodynamic diameter, were stable, and showed potential photosensitizer activity.

Investigating the photosensitization activities of flavins irradiated by blue LEDs

“…The best derivative from this series will be conjugated on phospholipids and formulated into liposomes, in order to conduct to a more efficient generation of nanobombs than those we previously described in the literature. 19 These results will be disclosed in due time.…”

“…liposomes). 19 With this derivative in our library, we were interested in verifying if it would generate the same photo-degradation products as riboflavin. Degradation of riboflavin is described in the literature to be assisted by the C 2 –OH of the ribityl chain.…”

“…[14][15][16] Natural photosensitizers cannot be used in their native state in many applications, and require specic modulations in order to either conjugate them on a material or to modify their physico-chemical properties. [17][18][19] As these structural modications can impact their photosensitizing properties, it is oen necessary to reassess the photosensitizer's activity through a reliable evaluation method of the induced photosensitizing reactions.…”

Proteomic Analysis Reveals Distinct Protein Corona Compositions of Citrate- and Riboflavin-Coated SPIONs

“…Citric acid is one of the most commonly used anionic surface stabilizers for SPIONs . In addition, riboflavin (Rf) is also a promising ligand that has been increasingly used on several types of particles such as PLGA, dendrimer, or SPIONs due to its property of enhancing cellular uptake in several estrogen-related cancer cells. , It has been shown recently by our group that multicore SPIONs with both surface coatings have excellent properties as MRI contrast agents and MH agents . The SPIONs, having a clustered morphology, exhibit exceptionally high T 2 values, which can be considered as one of the highest T 2 responses among the SPIONs synthesized from co-precipitation methods.…”

Nanotherapeutics using all-natural materials. Effective treatment of wound biofilm infections using crosslinked nanoemulsions

“…19,20 We set out to generate an all-natural platform that delivers active antimicrobials derived from essential oils for treatment of wound biofilms, with the potential for increased safety and community acceptance. In this platform, riboflavin (vitamin B 2 ) is used to cross-link 21,22 gelatin that stabilizes nanodroplets of carvacrol, a key antimicrobial component of oregano oil. Our approach combines nature-derived ingredients to generate welldefined nanostructured-materials with size and stability required for potent antimicrobial and antibiofilm applications.…”