pH sensitive functionalized graphene oxide as a carrier for delivering gemcitabine: A computational approach

One-Pot Synthesis of Luminescent and Photothermal Carbon Boron-Nitride Quantum Dots Exhibiting Cell Damage Protective Effects

Zero-dimensional boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs) are arousing interest for their versatile optical, chemical, and biochemical properties. Introducing carbon contents in BNQDs nanostructures is a great challenge to modulate their physicochemical properties. Among the carbon moieties, phenolic groups have attracted attention for their biochemical properties and phenol-containing nanomaterials are showing great promise for biomedical applications. Herein, the first example of direct synthesis of water dispersible BNQDs exposing phenolic and carboxylic groups is presented. The carbon-BNQDs are prepared in a single-step by solvent-assisted reaction of urea with boronic reagents and are characterized by optical absorption, luminescence, Raman, Fourier transform infrared and NMR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and atomic force microscopy. The carbon-BNQDs exhibit nanodimension, stability, high photothermal conversion efficiency, pH-responsive luminescence and Z-potential. The potential of the carbon-BNQDs to provide photothermal materials in solid by embedding in agarose substrate is successfully investigated. The carbon-BNQDs exhibit biocompatibility on colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2) and protective effects from chemical and oxidative stress on Caco-2, osteosarcoma (MG-63), and microglial (HMC-3) cells. Amplicon mRNA-seq analyses for the expression of 56 genes involve in oxidative-stress and inflammation are performed to evaluate the molecular events responsible for the cell protective effects of the carbon-BNQDs.

Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles and Organoids: A Prospective Advanced Model for Pancreatic Cancer Research

Pancreatic cancer, notorious for its grim 10% five-year survival rate, poses significant clinical challenges, largely due to late-stage diagnosis and limited therapeutic options. This review delves into the generation of organoids, including those derived from resected tissues, biopsies, pluripotent stem cells, and adult stem cells, as well as the advancements in 3D printing. It explores the complexities of the tumor microenvironment, emphasizing culture media, the integration of non-neoplastic cells, and angiogenesis. Additionally, the review examines the multifaceted properties of graphene oxide (GO), such as its mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical, and optical attributes, and their implications in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. GO's unique properties facilitate its interaction with tumors, allowing targeted drug delivery and enhanced imaging for early detection and treatment. The integration of GO with 3D cultured organoid systems, particularly in pancreatic cancer research, is critically analyzed, highlighting current limitations and future potential. This innovative approach has the promise to transform personalized medicine, improve drug screening efficiency, and aid biomarker discovery in this aggressive disease. Through this review, we offer a balanced perspective on the advancements and future prospects in pancreatic cancer research, harnessing the potential of organoids and GO.

Multifunctional graphene oxide nanoparticles for drug delivery in cancer

Recent advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to develop sophisticated multifunctional nanoparticles or nanosystems for targeted diagnosis and treatment of several illnesses, including cancers. To effectively treat any solid tumor, the therapy should preferably target just the malignant cells/tissue with minor damage to normal cells/tissues. Graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles have gained considerable interest owing to their two-dimensional planar structure, chemical/mechanical stability, excellent photosensitivity, superb conductivity, high surface area, and good biocompatibility in cancer therapy. Many compounds have been functionalized on the surface of GO to increase their biological applications and minimize cytotoxicity. The review presents an overview of the physicochemical characteristics, strategies for various modifications, toxicity and biocompatibility of graphene and graphene oxide, current trends in developing GO-based nano constructs as a drug delivery cargo and other biological applications, including chemo-photothermal therapy, chemo-photodynamic therapy, bioimaging, and theragnosis in cancer. Further, the review discusses the challenges and opportunities of GO, GO-based nanomaterials for the said applications. Overall, the review focuses on the therapeutic potential of strategically developed GO nanomedicines and comprehensively discusses their opportunities and challenges in cancer therapy.

Polyacrylic Acid Nanoplatforms: Antimicrobial, Tissue Engineering, and Cancer Theranostic Applications

Polyacrylic acid (PAA) is a non-toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable polymer that gained lots of interest in recent years. PAA nano-derivatives can be obtained by chemical modification of carboxyl groups with superior chemical properties in comparison to unmodified PAA. For example, nano-particles produced from PAA derivatives can be used to deliver drugs due to their stability and biocompatibility. PAA and its nanoconjugates could also be regarded as stimuli-responsive platforms that make them ideal for drug delivery and antimicrobial applications. These properties make PAA a good candidate for conventional and novel drug carrier systems. Here, we started with synthesis approaches, structure characteristics, and other architectures of PAA nanoplatforms. Then, different conjugations of PAA/nanostructures and their potential in various fields of nanomedicine such as antimicrobial, anticancer, imaging, biosensor, and tissue engineering were discussed. Finally, biocompatibility and challenges of PAA nanoplatforms were highlighted. This review will provide fundamental knowledge and current information connected to the PAA nanoplatforms and their applications in biological fields for a broad audience of researchers, engineers, and newcomers. In this light, PAA nanoplatforms could have great potential for the research and development of new nano vaccines and nano drugs in the future.

Mechanistic Understanding From Molecular Dynamics Simulation in Pharmaceutical Research 1: Drug Delivery

In this review, we outline the growing role that molecular dynamics simulation is able to play as a design tool in drug delivery. We cover both the pharmaceutical and computational backgrounds, in a pedagogical fashion, as this review is designed to be equally accessible to pharmaceutical researchers interested in what this new computational tool is capable of and experts in molecular modeling who wish to pursue pharmaceutical applications as a context for their research. The field has become too broad for us to concisely describe all work that has been carried out; many comprehensive reviews on subtopics of this area are cited. We discuss the insight molecular dynamics modeling has provided in dissolution and solubility, however, the majority of the discussion is focused on nanomedicine: the development of nanoscale drug delivery vehicles. Here we focus on three areas where molecular dynamics modeling has had a particularly strong impact: (1) behavior in the bloodstream and protective polymer corona, (2) Drug loading and controlled release, and (3) Nanoparticle interaction with both model and biological membranes. We conclude with some thoughts on the role that molecular dynamics simulation can grow to play in the development of new drug delivery systems.

Molecular dynamics study of coil-to-globule transition in a thermo-responsive oligomer bound to various surfaces: hydrophilic surfaces stabilize the coil form

The structural and dynamical properties of 40-mer of thermo-responsive polymer PNIPAM covalently bound to different surfaces have been studied, at different temperatures, by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Evolution of the radius of gyration, Rg, of the polymer chain and radial distribution functions (RDFs) calculated for the carbon atoms of the PNIPAM backbone with water oxygens and for the hydrogen atom of the amide groups with water oxygens indicate that functionalized surfaces affect the coil-to-globule transition of PNIPAM, by means of electrostatic interactions, increasing the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer. Such interactions, mainly represented by a H-bond, hinder the transition in the globular form while hydrophobic groups on the surface, such as -OCH3, contribute to the globular collapse. A significant alteration in the arrangement of water molecules around the polymer is testified by: (i) the absence of the second peak in the RDF between the C atoms of the PNIPAM backbone and the O atoms of water at the same temperature at which the radius of gyration decreases; (ii) the height of both the first and the second peak of the RDF between the H atom of the amide groups and water O atoms decreases when the temperature increases above the LCST. Finally, the H-bond autocorrelation function indicates that: (i) hydrogen bonds between the bound-to-surface PNIPAM acceptor groups (O[double bond, length as m-dash]C[double bond splayed right]) and the H atoms of water molecules are less persistent than H-bonds formed between the free PNIPAM acceptor groups and water; (ii) H-bonds between the PNIPAM acceptor groups and hydroxyl groups on the quartz surface are longer lived than those formed on graphene oxide.

Surface tailoring of polyacrylate-grafted graphene oxide for controlled interactions at the biointerface

The actual surface termination and lateral size of a nanomaterial is crucial in its interaction with biomolecules at the aqueous interface. Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets have been demonstrated as promising nanoplatform for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. To this respect, 'smart' GO nanocarriers have been obtained by the surface functionalisation with polymers sensitive, e.g., to pH, as the polyacrylate (PAA) case. In this work, hybrid GO/PAA samples prepared respectively at low (GOPAA_thin) or high (GOPAA_thick) monomer grafting ratio, were scrutinised both theoretically, by molecular dynamic calculations, and experimentally by a multitechnique approach, including spectroscopic (UV-visible, fluorescence, Raman, Attenuated-total reflectance-Fourier transformed infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies), spectrometric (time-of-flight secondary ion and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometries) and microscopic (atomic force and confocal microscopies) methods. The actual surface termination, evaluated in terms of the relative ratio between polar and dispersive groups at the surface of the GO/polymer systems, was found to correlate with the average orientation of hydrophilic/hydrophobic domains of albumin, used as model protein. Moreover, the comparison among GO, GO-PAA_thin and GO-PAA_thick in the optical response at the interface with aqueous solutions, both at acid and at physiological pH, showed that the hybrid GO-polymer platform could be suitable not only to exploit a pH-triggered drug release but also for a modulation of the GO intrinsic emission properties. Energy transfer experiments on the GO/polymer oxide/fluorescein-labelled albumin/doxorubicin assembly showed significant differences for GO and GO-PAA samples, thus demonstrating the occurrence of different electronic processes at the hybrid nano-bio-interfaces. Confocal microscopy studies of cellular uptake in neuroblastoma cells confirmed the promising potentialities of the developed nanoplatform for applications at the biointerface.