Redox-responsive diphenylalanine aggregate mediated by cyclodextrin

An Overview of the Supramolecular Systems for Gene and Drug Delivery in Tissue Regeneration

Tissue regeneration is a prominent area of research, developing biomaterials aimed to be tunable, mechanistic scaffolds that mimic the physiological environment of the tissue. These biomaterials are projected to effectively possess similar chemical and biological properties, while at the same time are required to be safely and quickly degradable in the body once the desired restoration is achieved. Supramolecular systems composed of reversible, non-covalently connected, self-assembly units that respond to biological stimuli and signal cells have efficiently been developed as preferred biomaterials. Their biocompatibility and the ability to engineer the functionality have led to promising results in regenerative therapy. This review was intended to illuminate those who wish to envisage the niche translational research in regenerative therapy by summarizing the various explored types, chemistry, mechanisms, stimuli receptivity, and other advancements of supramolecular systems.

Cyclodextrin-mediated conjugation of macrophage and liposomes for treatment of atherosclerosis

Current pharmacological treatments of atherosclerosis often target either cholesterol management or inflammation management, to inhibit atherosclerotic progression, but cannot lead to direct plaque lysis and atherosclerotic regression, partly due to the poor accumulation of medicine in the atherosclerotic plaques. Due to enhanced macrophage recruitment during atheromatous plaque progression, a facilely macrophage-liposome conjugate was constructed for targeted anti-atherosclerosis therapy via synergistic plaque lysis and inflammation alleviation. Endogenous macrophage is utilized as drug-transporting cell, upon membrane-modification with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) derivative to form β-CD decorated macrophage (CD-MP). Adamantane (ADA) modified quercetin (QT)-loaded liposome (QT-NP), can be conjugated to CD-MP via host-guest interactions between β-CD and ADA to construct macrophage-liposome conjugate (MP-QT-NP). Thus, macrophage carries liposome "hand-in-hand" to significantly increase the accumulation of anchored QT-NP in the aorta plaque in response to the plaque inflammation. In addition to anti-inflammation effects of QT, MP-QT-NP efficiently regresses atherosclerotic plaques from both murine aorta and human carotid arteries via CD-MP mediated cholesterol efflux, due to the binding of cholesterol by excess membrane β-CD. Transcriptome analysis of atherosclerotic murine aorta and human carotid tissues reveal that MP-QT-NP may activate NRF2 pathway to inhibit plaque inflammation, and simultaneously upregulate liver X receptor to promote cholesterol efflux.

Diverse Self-assembly Structures of a Macrocycle Revealed with STM by Adjusting the Solution Concentration

The macrocyclic molecule [3]C₁₂ TT-TPA was synthesized by a Stille coupling reaction through alternately connecting 4,7-bisthienyl-2,1,3-thienothiazole and triphenylamine units. The concentration-dependent self-assembly structures of [3]C₁₂ TT-TPA were explored in liquid/solid interface by scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. After increasing the solution concentration, five different nanostructures were constructed and the molecular packing densities were gradually enhanced. Those structural transformations from loose structures to compact structures are thermodynamically favourable because those transformations are accompanied by the adsorption of more [3]C₁₂ TT-TPA molecules from liquid phase, which increases the interactions between molecules and the interactions between molecules and substrate considerably. This study of fundamental exploration is important to understand the basic formation mechanisms and the stability of two-dimensional functional materials.

Morphology transformation of pillararene-based supramolecular nanostructures

In this feature article, the construction methods and the factors that influence the morphological transformation of pillararene-based supramolecular nanostructures are reviewed.

Facile construction of shape-regulated β-cyclodextrin-based supramolecular self-assemblies for drug delivery

Although supramolecular prodrug self-assemblies have been proven as efficient nanocarriers for cancer therapy, tedious synthesis procedures have made their practical applications more difficult. In this paper, β-cyclodextrin-based supramolecular self-assemblies (SSAs) were directly constructed by utilizing β-cyclodextrin trimer (β-CD₃) as the host unit and unmodified curcumin as the guest unit. Due to the adjustment of host-guest inclusion and hydrophilic-hydrophobic interactions occurring in the SSAs, their morphology could be readily tuned by changing the ratio of the two components. Different self-assembly morphologies, such as spherical complex micelles, spindle-like complex micelles and multi-compartment vesicles, were obtained. Furthermore, basic cell experiments were performed to study the corresponding effects of the SSA shape on their biological properties. Compared to the other micelles, the spindle-like complex micelles exhibited enhanced cellular toxicity, uptake behaviors and apoptosis rates, and the spherical complex micelles exhibited poor performance. The performance of the multi-compartment vesicles was similar to that of the spindle-like complex micelles. The facile construction of these shape-regulated SSAs and their different cellular biological properties might be valuable in the controlled drug release field.