Unveiling the Synergistic Role of Oxygen Functional Groups in the Graphene-Mediated Oxidation of Glutathione

Tumor microenvironment sensitization via dual-catalysis of carbon-based nanoenzyme for enhanced photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is limited in tumor therapy due to the mature antioxidant barrier of tumor microenvironment (TME) and phototoxicity/easy-degradation characteristics of photosensitizers. Therefore, we prepared Cu2+-doped hollow carbon nanoparticles (CHC) to protect the loaded photosensitizers and sensitize TME by glutathione-depletion and peroxidase (POD)-like activity for enhanced PDT. CHC significantly increased the maximum speed of POD-like reaction (Vm) of 8.4 times. By coating with hyaluronic acid (HA), the active sites on CHC were temporarily masked with low catalytic property, and restored in response to the overexpressed hyaluronidase in TME. Meanwhile, due to the excellent photothermal conversion efficiency (32.5 %) and hollow structure of CHC, the loaded photosensitizers were well protected from sunlight activation-induced unwanted phototoxicity and rapid degradation under the near-infrared light irradiation. In-vivo anti-tumor experiments demonstrated that the combination of photothermal-photodynamic effect achieved the best anti-tumor effect (tumor inhibition rate at 87.8 %) compared with any monotherapy. In addition, the combination of photothermal and photodynamic effect could efficiently suppress the cell migration, manifesting the reduced number of lung metastasized nodules by 74 %. This work provides an integrated platform for photosensitizers protection and TME sensitization for enhanced PDT.

Defining the Surface Oxygen Threshold That Switches the Interaction Mode of Graphene Oxide with Bacteria

As antimicrobials, graphene materials (GMs) may have advantages over traditional antibiotics due to their physical mechanisms of action which ensure less chance of development of microbial resistance. However, the fundamental question as to whether the antibacterial mechanism of GMs originates from parallel interaction or perpendicular interaction, or from a combination of these, remains poorly understood. Here, we show both experimentally and theoretically that GMs with high surface oxygen content (SOC) predominantly attach in parallel to the bacterial cell surface when in the suspension phase. The interaction mode shifts to perpendicular interaction when the SOC reaches a threshold of ∼0.3 (the atomic percent of O in the total atoms). Such distinct interaction modes are highly related to the rigidity of GMs. Graphene oxide (GO) with high SOC is very flexible and thus can wrap bacteria while reduced GO (rGO) with lower SOC has higher rigidity and tends to contact bacteria with their edges. Neither mode necessarily kills bacteria. Rather, bactericidal activity depends on the interaction of GMs with surrounding biomolecules. These findings suggest that variation of SOC of GMs is a key factor driving the interaction mode with bacteria, thus helping to understand the different possible physical mechanisms leading to their antibacterial activity.

Mesoporous carbon nanoenzyme as nano-booster for photothermal-enhanced photodynamic therapy compared with graphene oxide

The over-expressed GSH in tumor microenvironment significantly weakens the lethal reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by photodynamic therapy (PDT) and catalysis of nanoenzyme. Hence, it is necessary to excavate a versatile and effective vehicle with oxidative stress-enhancement and GSH-depletion capacity to break the redox homeostasis in tumor microenvironment. GO has been reported to possess GSH-depletion and peroxidase (POD)-like capacity. Based on this, PEGylated mesoporous carbon (MC-PEG) was prepared as ICG vehicle to compare with PEGylated graphene oxide (GO-PEG). Excitingly, MC-PEG was found to exhibit three times higher oxidative capacity by POD-like process than GO-PEG, and owned more effective and continuous GSH-depletion capacity to further amplify the oxidative stress. Meanwhile, MC-PEG exhibited better protective effect on the loaded ICG against unwanted light excitation than GO-PEG. Together with the higher photothermal conversion effect, under the NIR light irradiation, MC-PEG could markedly improve the temperature of tumor cells and produce more hydroxyl radical, continuously consume GSH and provide more better protection for ICG compared with GO-PEG, thus further boosting the combination of photothermal and photodynamic effects. The anti-tumor experiment in cell and in-vivo level both validated that ICG/MC-PEG showed better synergistic effect with lower IC₅₀ value and higher tumor suppression rate than ICG/GO-PEG.

In Situ Electrochemical Formation of Oxo-Functionalized Graphene on Glassy Carbon Electrode with Chemical Fouling Recovery and Antibiofouling Properties for Electrochemical Sensing of Reduced Glutathione

Electrochemical detection can be used to achieve intracellular or in vivo analysis of reduced glutathione (GSH) in tissues such as brain by using a microelectrode, which can help to better understand the complex biochemical processes of this molecule in the human body. The main challenges associated with electrochemical GSH detection are the chemical fouling of electrodes, caused by the oxidation product of GSSG, and biofouling due to the non-specific absorption of biological macromolecules. Oxo-functionalized graphene was generated in situ on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode using a green electrochemical method without using any other modifiers or materials in a mild water solution. The fabricated oxo-functionalized graphene interface was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electrochemistry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. The interface showed high electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of GSH, and a simple and efficient GSH sensor was developed. Interestingly, the electrode is reusable and could be recovered from the chemical fouling via electrochemical oxidation and reduction treatment. The electrode also exhibited good antibiofouling properties. The presented method could be a promising method used to treat carbon materials, especially carbon-based microelectrodes for electrochemical monitoring of intracellular glutathione or in vivo analysis.

Recent Advances in the Development of Lipid-, Metal-, Carbon-, and Polymer-Based Nanomaterials for Antibacterial Applications

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria are becoming a serious threat to public health worldwide. With an ever-reducing pipeline of last-resort drugs further complicating the current dire situation arising due to antibiotic resistance, there has never been a greater urgency to attempt to discover potential new antibiotics. The use of nanotechnology, encompassing a broad range of organic and inorganic nanomaterials, offers promising solutions. Organic nanomaterials, including lipid-, polymer-, and carbon-based nanomaterials, have inherent antibacterial activity or can act as nanocarriers in delivering antibacterial agents. Nanocarriers, owing to the protection and enhanced bioavailability of the encapsulated drugs, have the ability to enable an increased concentration of a drug to be delivered to an infected site and reduce the associated toxicity elsewhere. On the other hand, inorganic metal-based nanomaterials exhibit multivalent antibacterial mechanisms that combat MDR bacteria effectively and reduce the occurrence of bacterial resistance. These nanomaterials have great potential for the prevention and treatment of MDR bacterial infection. Recent advances in the field of nanotechnology are enabling researchers to utilize nanomaterial building blocks in intriguing ways to create multi-functional nanocomposite materials. These nanocomposite materials, formed by lipid-, polymer-, carbon-, and metal-based nanomaterial building blocks, have opened a new avenue for researchers due to the unprecedented physiochemical properties and enhanced antibacterial activities being observed when compared to their mono-constituent parts. This review covers the latest advances of nanotechnologies used in the design and development of nano- and nanocomposite materials to fight MDR bacteria with different purposes. Our aim is to discuss and summarize these recently established nanomaterials and the respective nanocomposites, their current application, and challenges for use in applications treating MDR bacteria. In addition, we discuss the prospects for antimicrobial nanomaterials and look forward to further develop these materials, emphasizing their potential for clinical translation.

Covalent Organic Frameworks-TpPa-1 as an Emerging Platform for Electrochemical Sensing

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a new type of metal-free porous architecture with a well-designed pore structure and high stability. Here an efficient electrochemical sensing platform was demonstrated based on COFs TpPa-1 constructed by 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (Tp) with p-phenylenediamine (Pa-1), which possesses abundant nitrogen and oxo-functionalities. COFs TpPa-1 exhibited good water dispersibility and strong adsorption affinities for Pd²⁺ and thus was used as loading support to modify Pd²⁺. The Pd²⁺-modified COFs TpPa-1 electrode (Pd²⁺/COFs) showed high electrocatalytic activity for both hydrazine oxidation reaction and nitrophenol reduction reaction. In addition, TpPa-1-derived nitrogen-doped carbon presented high activity for the electro-oxidation of reduced glutathione (GSH), and sensitive electrochemical detection of GSH was achieved. The presented COFs TpPa-1 can be utilized as a precursor as well as support for anchoring electro-active molecules and nanoparticles, which will be useful for electrochemical sensing and electrocatalysis.

Reaction between Graphene Oxide and Intracellular Glutathione Affects Cell Viability and Proliferation

Graphene oxide (GO) is currently developed for biomedical applications as a promising nanoplatform for drug delivery, phototherapy, and biosensing. As a consequence, its safety and cytotoxicity issues have attracted extensive attention. It has been demonstrated that GO causes an increase of intracellular oxidative stress, likely leading to its cytotoxicity and inhibition of cell proliferation. Being one of the main reductive intracellular substances, glutathione (GSH) is vital in the regulation of the oxidative stress level to maintain normal cellular functions. In this study, we found that GSH could be oxidized to GSSG by GO, leading to the formation of reduced GO (rGO). GSH depletion affects the intracellular reductive/oxidative balance, provoking the increase of the reactive oxygen species level, sequentially inhibiting cell viability and proliferation. Therefore, the reaction between GO and GSH provides a new perspective to explain the origin of GO cytotoxicity.