In situ N-acetylcysteine release from polyvinyl alcohol film for moisture-activated food packaging

Pedalium murex plant-based bioplasticizer reinforced polylactic acid films: A promising approach for biodegradable fruit packaging applications

The most likely materials for use in packaging are plastics. A lot of synthetic polymers are harming the environment. A plasticizer is required for all polymers to improve their characteristics and workability. The plasticizers come in liquid form and are also derived from fossil fuels, which are harmful to the environment. Producing functional and affordable biopolymer for packaging applications is a difficult task nowadays. The preparation of biofilm for packaging using biopolymer and bioplasticizer is the main aim of this work. The biopolymer poly L-lactic acid (PLA) is used, and the bio plasticizer is extracted from Pedalium murex plant. Chemical and mechanical methods are used to extract the plasticizer. Plasticization of polylactic acid biopolymer was done using the extracted plasticizer at additions of 1 %, 2 %, 3 %, 4 %, and 5 %. FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, and surface roughness values are used to characterise the prepared biofilms. Scanning electron spectroscopy pictures are utilised to evaluate the morphological orientation of the biofilms. Strawberries packed with biofilms are used to evaluate the barrier properties of biofilms using UV spectroscopy analysis. Thermal degradation behaviour is investigated using thermo gravimetric analysis. We examined the mechanical characteristics, such as tensile strength, elongation modulus, and elongation break percentage. The plasticizing effect of the plasticizer raises the elongation break percentage while decreasing the tensile strength and modulus. For 2 % plasticizer addition the elongation break increases and the tensile not much affected. To demonstrate biodegradability and microbial resistance, the soil degradation behaviour and antimicrobial activities were examined.

Carboxylated graphene quantum dots-mediated photothermal therapy enhances drug-membrane permeability, ROS production, and the immune system recruitment on 3D glioblastoma models

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are biocompatible nanoparticles employed in biomedical field, thanks to their size and photophysical properties. GQDs have shown the capability to cross biological barriers, including the blood–brain barrier, which makes them promising agents for brain diseases therapy. It has been shown that surface-functionalized GQDs enhance membrane fluidity and intracellular uptake, exerting a synergistic effect with antitumor drugs at subtherapeutic doses. Here, we tested GQDs effects in combination with chemotherapeutic agents doxorubicin and temozolomide, on a complex 3D spheroid model of glioblastoma. We observed that the capability of GQDs to absorb and convert near-infrared light into heat is a key factor in membrane permeability enhancement on 3D model. This non-invasive therapeutic strategy named photothermal therapy (PTT), combined to chemotherapy at subtherapeutic doses, significantly increased the effect of antitumor drugs by reducing tumor growth and viability. Furthermore, the increase in membrane permeability due to GQDs-mediated PTT enhanced the release of reactive oxygen species with strong migration of the immune system towards irradiated cancer spheroids. Our data indicate that the increase in membrane permeability can enhance the efficacy of antitumor drugs at subtherapeutic doses against glioblastoma, reducing side effects, and directing immune response, ultimately improving quality of life for patients.

INSIDIA 2.0 High-Throughput Analysis of 3D Cancer Models: Multiparametric Quantification of Graphene Quantum Dots Photothermal Therapy for Glioblastoma and Pancreatic Cancer

Cancer spheroids are in vitro 3D models that became crucial in nanomaterials science thanks to the possibility of performing high throughput screening of nanoparticles and combined nanoparticle-drug therapies on in vitro models. However, most of the current spheroid analysis methods involve manual steps. This is a time-consuming process and is extremely liable to the variability of individual operators. For this reason, rapid, user-friendly, ready-to-use, high-throughput image analysis software is necessary. In this work, we report the INSIDIA 2.0 macro, which offers researchers high-throughput and high content quantitative analysis of in vitro 3D cancer cell spheroids and allows advanced parametrization of the expanding and invading cancer cellular mass. INSIDIA has been implemented to provide in-depth morphologic analysis and has been used for the analysis of the effect of graphene quantum dots photothermal therapy on glioblastoma (U87) and pancreatic cancer (PANC-1) spheroids. Thanks to INSIDIA 2.0 analysis, two types of effects have been observed: In U87 spheroids, death is accompanied by a decrease in area of the entire spheroid, with a decrease in entropy due to the generation of a high uniform density spheroid core. On the other hand, PANC-1 spheroids' death caused by nanoparticle photothermal disruption is accompanied with an overall increase in area and entropy due to the progressive loss of integrity and increase in variability of spheroid texture. We have summarized these effects in a quantitative parameter of spheroid disruption demonstrating that INSIDIA 2.0 multiparametric analysis can be used to quantify cell death in a non-invasive, fast, and high-throughput fashion.