One-dimensional and two-dimensional nanomaterials for the detection of multiple biomolecules

AIEgen-Peptide Bioprobes for the Imaging of Organelles

Organelles are important subsystems of cells. The damage and inactivation of organelles are closely related to the occurrence of diseases. Organelles’ functional activity can be observed by fluorescence molecular tools. Nowadays, a series of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) bioprobes with organelles-targeting ability have emerged, showing great potential in visualizing the interactions between probes and different organelles. Among them, AIE luminogen (AIEgen)-based peptide bioprobes have attracted more and more attention from researchers due to their good biocompatibility and photostability and abundant diversity. In this review, we summarize the progress of AIEgen-peptide bioprobes in targeting organelles, including the cell membrane, nucleus, mitochondria, lysosomes and endoplasmic reticulum, in recent years. The structural characteristics and biological applications of these bioprobes are discussed, and the development prospect of this field is forecasted. It is hoped that this review will provide guidance for the development of AIEgen-peptide bioprobes at the organelles level and provide a reference for related biomedical research.

Nutrient molecule corona: An update for nanomaterial-food component interactions

The adsorption of biological molecules to nanomaterials (NMs) will significantly impact NMs' behavior in complex microenvironments. Previously we proposed the need to consider the interactions between food components and NMs for the evaluation of oral toxicity of NMs. This review updated this concept as nutrient molecule corona, that the adsorption of nutrient molecules alters the uptake of nutrient molecules and/or NMs, as well as the signaling pathways to induce a combined toxicity due to the biologically active nature of nutrient molecules. Even with the presence of protein corona, nutrient molecules may still bind to NMs to change the identities of NMs in vivo. Furthermore, this review proposed the binding of excessive nutrient molecules to NMs to induce a combined toxicity under pathological conditions such as metabolic diseases. The structures of nutrient molecules and physicochemical properties of NMs determine nutrient molecule corona formation, and these aspects should be considered to limit the unwanted effects brought by nutrient molecule corona. In conclusion, similar to other biological molecule corona, the formation of nutrient molecule corona due to the presence of food components or excessive nutrient molecules in pathophysiological microenvironments will alter the behaviors of NMs.

Two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks: from synthesis to bioapplications

As a typical class of crystalline porous materials, metal-organic framework possesses unique features including versatile functionality, structural and compositional tunability. After being reduced to two-dimension, ultrathin metal-organic framework layers possess more external excellent properties favoring various technological applications. In this review article, the unique structural properties of the ultrathin metal-organic framework nanosheets benefiting from the planar topography were highlighted, involving light transmittance, and electrical conductivity. Moreover, the design strategy and versatile fabrication methodology were summarized covering discussions on their applicability and accessibility, especially for porphyritic metal-organic framework nanosheet. The current achievements in the bioapplications of two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks were presented comprising biocatalysis, biosensor, and theranostic, with an emphasis on reactive oxygen species-based nanomedicine for oncology treatment. Furthermore, current challenges confronting the utilization of two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks and future opportunities in emerging research frontiers were presented.

Effects of one-dimensional nanomaterial polyaniline nanorods on earthworm biomarkers and soil enzymes

Polyaniline nanorods (PANRs) are typical one-dimensional nanomaterials (1D NMs), which are widely used in medicine, batteries and water treatment, etc. Applications of PANRs will eventually enter the soil environment, but their ecotoxicity has been barely reported. Therefore, we measured earthworm biomass, earthworm biomarkers and soil enzymes to investigate the ecotoxicity of PANRs. The result of positive and increasing growth inhibition rates (GIR) showed that PANRs inhibited earthworm growth. As for earthworm biomarkers, PANRs caused a decrease in protein content, indicating that PANRs stress would increase earthworm energy consumption. Except for the 7th day, the activities of SOD, CAT and POD consistently increased, suggesting that PANRs activated the earthworm antioxidant system. The continually augment of MDA content indicated that PANRs stress would cause earthworm lipid damage. Na⁺-K⁺-ATPase increased with an excellent dose-time relationship. Differently, cellulase and AChE activities promoted at low concentrations and inhibited at high concentrations. The positive and dose-dependent IBRv2 indicated that the higher the concentrations of PANRs, the greater the ecotoxicity to earthworms. PANRs inhibited the soil enzyme activities such as sucrase, neutral phosphatase, protease and urease, while induced catalase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Earthworm addition reduced catalase activity by 10.74-29.99%, but improved other soil enzymes activities, demonstrating that earthworms played a positive role in regulating soil enzyme activity. GMean and T-SQI consistently increased due to earthworm activity, meaning a higher soil microbial functional diversity. Generally, this study provided data support for future PANRs toxicity studies, but their toxicity mechanisms still need to be further studied.

Digital Counting of Biomolecules Using Engineered Functional DNA Superstructures

There is currently a great need for developing a simple and effective biosensing platform for the detection of single biomolecules (e.g., DNAs, RNAs, or proteins) in the biological, medical, and environmental fields. Here, we show a versatile and sensitive fluorescence counting strategy for quantifying proteins and microRNAs by employing functional DNA superstructures (denoted as 3D DNA). A 3D DNA biolabel was first engineered to become highly fluorescent and carry recognition elements for the target of interest. The presence of a target cross-links the resultant of the 3D DNA biolabel and a surface-bound capturing antibody or DNA oligonucleotide, thus forming a sandwich complex that can be easily resolved using traditional fluorescence microscopy. The broad utility of this platform is illustrated by engineering two different 3D DNA biolabels that enable the quantification of β-lactamase (one secreted bacterial hydrolase) and miR-21 (one overexpressed microRNA in cancer cells) with detection limits of 100 aM and 1 fM, respectively. We envision that the approach described herein will find useful applications in chemical biology, medical diagnostics, and biosensing.

Self-Guiding Polymeric Prodrug Micelles with Two Aggregation-Induced Emission Photosensitizers for Enhanced Chemo-Photodynamic Therapy

Nowadays, aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) with reactive oxygen species (ROS) generating ability have been used as photosensitizers for imaging guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). To achieve enhanced antitumor outcomes, combining AIEgens-based PDT with chemotherapy is an efficient strategy. However, the therapeutic efficiency is hampered by the limited cellular uptake efficiency and the appropriate light irradiation occasion. In this paper, a self-guiding polymeric micelle (TB@PMPT) composed of two AIE photosensitizers and a reduction-sensitive paclitaxel prodrug (PTX-SS-N₃) was established for enhanced chemo-photodynamic therapy by a dual-stage light irradiation strategy. When the micelles were accumulated in tumor tissues, the first light irradiation (L₁, 6 min) was utilized to facilitate cellular uptake by "photochemical internalization" (PCI). Then, the intracellular glutathione (GSH) would induce the PTX release, micelles disassembly and the aggregation state change of AIEgens. The fluorescence signal change of two AIEgens-based ratiometric fluorescent probe could not only precisely guide the second light irradiation (L₂, 18 min) for sufficient ROS production, but also monitor the nonfluorescent drug PTX release in turn. Both in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrated that the dual-stage light irradiation strategy employed for TB@PMPT micelles exhibited a superior therapeutic effect over only 24 min continuous light irradiation.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes decrease neuronal NO synthase in 3D brain organoids

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) might induce the dysfunction of neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) and impair the function of brains. But to the best of our knowledge, this conclusion was made by using laboratory animals or conventional nerve cell cultures; however, these models might not reflect the complex conditions of human brains. Recently, the development of 3D brain organoids (also known as organotypic cultures) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides a platform to investigate the behaviors of human brains in vitro. In this study, we investigated the toxicity of MWCNTs to 3D brain organoids which expressed the cortical layer markers. It was shown that MWCNTs induced cytotoxicity to 3D brain organoids but not in dose-dependent manner. Exposure to high level of MWCNTs (64 μg/mL) reduced the levels of intracellular NO but increased superoxide. As the mechanism, 64 μg/mL MWCNTs significantly reduced the protein level of nNOS. The nNOS regulators nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) proteins were significantly induced by MWCNTs, whereas Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) proteins were reduced particularly after exposure to low level of MWCNTs (16 μg/mL). The results from fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography (MOST) confirmed the decrease of nNOS proteins, not only at the out-layers that directly contacted MWCNTs, but also at the inner-layers. Combined, our results suggested that MWCNTs could decrease nNOS activity by inducing oxidative stress and modulating NF-κB-KLF4 pathway. This study also showed the potential of 3D brain organoids in mechanism-based toxicology studies.

Cooperative Metal Ion-Mediated Adsorption of Spherical Nucleic Acids with a Large Hysteresis

Spherical nucleic acids (SNA) refer to nanoparticles attached with a high density of oligonuleotides. Linear and spherical nucleic acids have many differences such as hybridization affinity, melting transition, and cellular uptake. In this work, these two types of DNA of the same sequence were compared for adsorption on polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles and graphene oxide (GO). We focused on the effect of metal ions including Na⁺, Ca²⁺, and Zn²⁺ since metal ions are indispensible for DNA adsorption on PDA and GO. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of various sizes were used to prepare the SNAs. For both PDA and GO, a normal binding curve of one metal ion was obtained for adsorbing the linear DNA, while the spherical DNAs larger than 5 nm showed a sigmoidal binding curve requiring multiple metal ions. Urea and EDTA were used to probe DNA adsorption affinity, where the spherical DNA showed stronger adsorption in general. In the presence of 300 mM Na⁺, 4 M urea or 4 mM EDTA failed to desorb the 13 nm spherical DNA. The spherical DNA showed a very large hysteresis of metal-dependent adsorption. This study demonstrates another unique property of SNA compared to linear DNA, revealing interesting orientation and packing of DNA on AuNPs, which has deepened our understanding of DNA interface chemistry.

Employing an Intercalated Redox Reporter in Electrochemical Aptamer-Based Biosensors to Enable Calibration-Free Molecular Measurements in Undiluted Serum

Electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) biosensors suffer from sensor-to-sensor signal variations due to the variation of the total number and the heterogeneity of probes immobilized on the electrode surface, with the former attracting more attention. As such, a calibration process to correct for such variations is required for this type of sensor, causing inconvenience and inaccessibility in harsh sensing environments such as blood samples, which has dramatically limited the widespread clinical use of biosensors. In response, here, we have adopted E-AB sensors to achieve calibration-free measurements of small biological/drug molecules. Specifically, we employ one probe-attached redox reporter and a second intercalated redox reporter to generate two signals, achieving good sensor-to-sensor reproducibility and thus obviating the need for calibration. We first demonstrated the capability of E-AB sensors for the accurate measurement of kanamycin, tobramycin, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer, achieving concentration ranges of approximately 4.7 × 10³-, 2.0 × 10³-, and 12.7-fold, respectively. Then, we applied this calibration-free approach to the measurement of these three target molecules directly in undiluted serum, achieving a concentration precision of a few micromolars.