Cellulose supported magnetic nanohybrids: Synthesis, physicomagnetic properties and biomedical applications-A review

Multifaceted role of nanocomposite hydrogels in diabetic wound healing: enhanced biomedical applications and detailed molecular mechanisms

The complex microenvironment of diabetic wounds, which is characterized by persistent hyperglycemia, excessive inflammatory responses, and hypoxic conditions, significantly impedes the efficacy of traditional hydrogels. Nanocomposite hydrogels, which combine the high-water content and biocompatibility of hydrogels with the unique functionalities of nanomaterials, offer a promising solution. These hydrogels exhibit enhanced antibacterial, antioxidant, and drug-release properties. Incorporating nanomaterials increases the mechanical strength and bioactivity of hydrogels, allowing for dynamic regulation of the wound microenvironment and promoting cell migration, proliferation, and angiogenesis, thereby accelerating wound healing. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in nanocomposite hydrogels for diabetic wound treatment and discusses their advantages and molecular mechanisms at various healing stages. The study aims to provide a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for future research and clinical applications. Furthermore, it highlights the challenges related to the mechanical durability, antimicrobial performance, resistance issues, and interactions with the cellular environments of these hydrogels. Future directions include optimizing smart drug delivery systems and personalized medical approaches to enhance the clinical applicability of nanocomposite hydrogels.

Advancements in wound management: integrating nanotechnology and smart materials for enhanced therapeutic interventions

Wound management spans various techniques and materials tailored to address acute and chronic non-healing wounds, with the primary objective of achieving successful wound closure. Chronic wounds pose additional challenges, often necessitating dressings to prepare the wound bed for subsequent surgical procedures like skin grafting. Ideal dressing materials should not only expedite wound healing but also mitigate protein, electrolyte, and fluid loss while minimizing pain and infection risk. Nanotechnology has emerged as a transformative tool in wound care, revolutionizing the landscape of biomedical dressings. Its application offers remarkable efficacy in accelerating wound healing and combating bacterial infections, representing a significant advancement in wound care practices. Integration of nanotechnology into dressings has resulted in enhanced properties, including improved mechanical strength and controlled drug release, facilitating tailored therapeutic interventions. This review article comprehensively explores recent breakthroughs in wound healing therapies, with a focus on innovative medical dressings such as nano-enzymes. Additionally, the utilization of smart materials, like hydrogels and electroactive polymers, in wound dressings offers dynamic functionalities to promote tissue regeneration. Emerging concepts such as bio-fabrication, microfluidic systems, bio-responsive scaffolds, and personalized therapeutics show promise in expediting wound healing and minimizing scarring. Through an in-depth exploration of these advancements, this review aims to catalyze a paradigm shift in wound care strategies, promoting a patient-centric approach to therapeutic interventions.

Nanocellulose-Based Materials for Water Pollutant Removal: A Review

Cellulose in the nano regime, defined as nanocellulose, has been intensively used for water treatment. Nanocellulose can be produced in various forms, including colloidal, water redispersible powders, films, membranes, papers, hydrogels/aerogels, and three-dimensional (3D) objects. They were reported for the removal of water contaminants, e.g., heavy metals, dyes, drugs, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, microbial cells, and other pollutants from water systems. This review summarized the recent technologies for water treatment using nanocellulose-based materials. A scientometric analysis of the topic was also included. Cellulose-based materials enable the removal of water contaminants, and salts offer advanced technologies for water desalination. They are widely used as substrates, adsorbents, and catalysts. They were applied for pollutant removal via several methods such as adsorption, filtration, disinfection, coagulation/flocculation, chemical precipitation, sedimentation, filtration (e.g., ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF)), electrofiltration (electrodialysis), ion-exchange, chelation, catalysis, and photocatalysis. Processing cellulose into commercial products enables the wide use of nanocellulose-based materials as adsorbents and catalysts.

Immobilization and Characterization of a Processive Endoglucanase EG5C-1 from Bacillus subtilis on Melamine-Glutaraldehyde Dendrimer-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles

Exploring an appropriate immobilization approach to enhance catalytic activity and reusability of cellulase is of great importance to reduce the price of enzymes and promote the industrialization of cellulose-derived biochemicals. In this study, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were functionalized with meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid to introduce carboxyl groups on the surface (DMNPs). Then, melamine-glutaraldehyde dendrimer-like polymers were grafted on DMNPs to increase protein binding sites for the immobilization of processive endoglucanase EG5C-1. Moreover, this dendrimer-like structure was beneficial to protect the conformation of EG5C-1 and facilitate the interaction between substrate and active center. The loading capacity of the functionalized copolymers (MG-DMNPs) for EG5C-1 was about 195 mg/g, where more than 90% of the activity was recovered. Immobilized EG5C-1 exhibited improved thermal stability and increased tolerability over a broad pH range compared with the free one. Additionally, MG-DMNP/EG5C-1 biocomposite maintained approximately 80% of its initial hydrolysis productivity after five cycles of usage using filter paper as the substrate. Our results provided a promising approach for the functionalization of MNPs, enabling the immobilization of cellulases with a high loading capacity and excellent activity recovery.

Cellulose-based adsorbents for solid phase extraction and recovery of pharmaceutical residues from water

Cellulose has attracted interest from researchers both in academic and industrial sectors due to its unique structural and physicochemical properties. The ease of surface modification of cellulose by the integration of nanomaterials, magnetic components, metal organic frameworks and polymers has made them a promising adsorbent for solid phase extraction of emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical residues. This review summarizes, compares, and contrasts different types of cellulose-based adsorbents along with their applications in adsorption, extraction and pre-concentration of pharmaceutical residues in water for subsequent analysis. In addition, a comparison in efficiency of cellulose-based adsorbents and other types of adsorbents that have been used for the extraction of pharmaceuticals in water is presented. From our observation, cellulose-based materials have principally been investigated for the adsorption of pharmaceuticals in water. However, this review aims to shift the focus of researchers to the application of these adsorbents in the effective pre-concentration of pharmaceutical pollutants from water at trace concentrations, for quantification. At the end of the review, the challenges and future perspectives regarding cellulose-based adsorbents are discussed, thus providing an in-depth overview of the current state of the art in cellulose hybrid adsorbents for extraction of pharmaceuticals from water. This is expected to inspire the development of solid phase exraction materials that are efficient, relatively cheap, and prepared in a sustainable way.

How Magnetic Composites are Effective Anticancer Therapeutics? A Comprehensive Review of the Literature

Chemotherapy is the most prominent route in cancer therapy for prolonging the lifespan of cancer patients. However, its non-target specificity and the resulting off-target cytotoxicities have been reported. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies using magnetic nanocomposites (MNCs) for magnetothermal chemotherapy may potentially improve the therapeutic outcome by increasing the target selectivity. In this review, magnetic hyperthermia therapy and magnetic targeting using drug-loaded MNCs are revisited, focusing on magnetism, the fabrication and structures of magnetic nanoparticles, surface modifications, biocompatible coating, shape, size, and other important physicochemical properties of MNCs, along with the parameters of the hyperthermia therapy and external magnetic field. Due to the limited drug-loading capacity and low biocompatibility, the use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as drug delivery system has lost traction. In contrast, MNCs show higher biocompatibility, multifunctional physicochemical properties, high drug encapsulation, and multi-stages of controlled release for localized synergistic chemo-thermotherapy. Further, combining various forms of magnetic cores and pH-sensitive coating agents can generate a more robust pH, magneto, and thermo-responsive drug delivery system. Thus, MNCs are ideal candidate as smart and remotely guided drug delivery system due to a) their magneto effects and guide-ability by the external magnetic fields, b) on-demand drug release performance, and c) thermo-chemosensitization under an applied alternating magnetic field where the tumor is selectively incinerated without harming surrounding non-tumor tissues. Given the important effects of synthesis methods, surface modifications, and coating of MNCs on their anticancer properties, we reviewed the most recent studies on magnetic hyperthermia, targeted drug delivery systems in cancer therapy, and magnetothermal chemotherapy to provide insights on the current development of MNC-based anticancer nanocarrier.

Nanofiber Scaffolds as Drug Delivery Systems Promoting Wound Healing

Nanofiber scaffolds have emerged as a revolutionary drug delivery platform for promoting wound healing, due to their unique properties, including high surface area, interconnected porosity, excellent breathability, and moisture absorption, as well as their spatial structure which mimics the extracellular matrix. However, the use of nanofibers to achieve controlled drug loading and release still presents many challenges, with ongoing research still exploring how to load drugs onto nanofiber scaffolds without loss of activity and how to control their release in a specific spatiotemporal manner. This comprehensive study systematically reviews the applications and recent advances related to drug-laden nanofiber scaffolds for skin-wound management. First, we introduce commonly used methods for nanofiber preparation, including electrostatic spinning, sol-gel, molecular self-assembly, thermally induced phase separation, and 3D-printing techniques. Next, we summarize the polymers used in the preparation of nanofibers and drug delivery methods utilizing nanofiber scaffolds. We then review the application of drug-loaded nanofiber scaffolds for wound healing, considering the different stages of wound healing in which the drug acts. Finally, we briefly describe stimulus-responsive drug delivery schemes for nanofiber scaffolds, as well as other exciting drug delivery systems.

One-pot synthesis of magnetic cellulose nanocrystal and its post-functionalization for doxycycline adsorption

The composite of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) is considered a potential adsorbent for water treatment and environmental remediation. In the current study, a one-pot hydrothermal procedure was utilized for magnetic cellulose nanocrystal (MCNC) development from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in the presence of ferric chloride, ferrous chloride, urea, and hydrochloric acid. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of CNC and Fe₃O₄, while transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis verified their respective sizes (< 400 nm and ≤ 20 nm) in the generated composite. To have an efficient adsorption activity for doxycycline hyclate (DOX), the produced MCNC was post-treated using chloroacetic acid (CAA), chlorosulfonic acid (CSA), or iodobenzene (IB). The introduction of carboxylate, sulfonate, and phenyl groups in the post-treatment was confirmed by FTIR and XPS analysis. Such post treatments decreased the crystallinity index and thermal stability of the samples but improved their DOX adsorption capacity. The adsorption analysis at different pHs revealed the increase in the adsorption capacity by reducing the basicity of the medium due to decreasing electrostatic repulsions and inducing strong attractions.

Cellulose-Based Materials for Water Remediation: Adsorption, Catalysis, and Antifouling

Cellulose-based materials have been advanced technologies that used in water remediation. They exhibit several advantages being the most abundant biopolymer in nature, high biocompatibility, and contain several functional groups. Cellulose can be prepared in several derivatives including nanomaterials such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical)-mediated oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCNF). The presence of functional groups such as carboxylic and hydroxyls groups can be modified or grafted with organic moieties offering extra functional groups customizing for specific applications. These functional groups ensure the capability of cellulose biopolymers to be modified with nanoparticles such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), graphene oxide (GO), silver (Ag) nanoparticles, and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. Thus, they can be applied for water remediation via removing water pollutants including heavy metal ions, organic dyes, drugs, and microbial species. Cellulose-based materials can be also used for removing microorganisms being active as membranes or antibacterial agents. They can proceed into various forms such as membranes, sheets, papers, foams, aerogels, and filters. This review summarized the applications of cellulose-based materials for water remediation via methods such as adsorption, catalysis, and antifouling. The high performance of cellulose-based materials as well as their simple processing methods ensure the high potential for water remediation.

Immobilization of papain: A review

Papain is a cysteine protease from papaya, with many applications due to its broad specificity. This paper reviews for first time the immobilization of papain on different supports (organic, inorganic or hybrid supports) presenting some of the features of the utilized immobilization strategies (e.g., epoxide, glutaraldehyde, genipin, glyoxyl for covalent immobilization). Special focus is placed on the preparation of magnetic biocatalysts, which will permit the simple recovery of the biocatalyst even if the medium is a suspension. Problems specific to the immobilization of proteases (e.g., steric problems when hydrolyzing large proteins) are also defined. The benefits of a proper immobilization (enzyme stabilization, widening of the operation window) are discussed, together with some artifacts that may suggest an enzyme stabilization that may be unrelated to enzyme rigidification.