N-Octyl-O-sulfate chitosan stabilises single wall carbon nanotubes in aqueous media and bestows biocompatibility

Drug Polymeric Carrier of Aceclofenac Based on Amphiphilic Chitosan Micelles

Amphiphilic micelles based on chitosan (CS) were applied as drug carriers of aceclofenac (ACF) as a potential method to induce its bioavailability and therapeutic efficiency. N-octyl-N,O-succinyl CS (OSCS), an amphiphilic CS derivative, was successfully synthesized and loaded physically by ACF at different pH values and using different dosages of ACF, forming ACF-loaded polymeric micelles (PMs). The obtained PMs and ACF-loaded PMs were characterized by different analytical techniques, including AFM, TEM, DLS, UV-vis spectrophotometry, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The pH 5 sample with a 30% ACF/polymer ratio showed the highest ACF loading capacity (LC) and entrapment efficiency (EE). In vitro release behaviors of pure ACF and ACF-loaded PMs at each release point indicated that the release profile of pH-responsive PMs loaded with ACF demonstrated quicker release rates (94% after 480 min) compared to the release behavior noticed for free ACF (59.56% after 480 min). Furthermore, the release rates exhibit a notable rise when the pH is increased from 1.2 to 4.7. In the carrageenan-induced inflammation model of paw edema in rats, it has been demonstrated that the injection of ACF-loaded PMs (at a dose of 10 mg/kg) resulted in a strengthened inflammatory activity compared to the injection of free ACF at equivalent dosages as well as at time intervals. However, the use of ACF-loaded PMs for a duration of 6 h displayed a notable reduction of paw edema, with an inhibition percentage of 85.09%, in contrast to the 74.9% inhibition percentage observed for the free ACF medication.

Discussions on the Properties of Emulsion Prepared by Using an Amphoteric Chitosan as an Emulsifier

A typical emulsion contains oil and water phases, and these two phases can be combined by an emulsifier with both lipophilic and hydrophilic groups to form a mixture. If the component of water is more than oil, the mixture is termed as o/w emulsion. The water is called the continuous phase and the oil is called the dispersed phase. Oppositely, if the component of oil is more than water, the mixture is termed as w/o emulsion. The oil is called the continuous phase and the water is called the dispersed phase. Chitosan, which is biocompatible and non-toxic, was modified as an amphoteric emulsifier to replace sodium acrylates copolymer in the preparation of emulsions. Both sodium acrylates copolymer and the modified chitosan were used as emulsifiers, respectively, and the properties of moisturizing, transmittance, the number of bacteria, and emulsion stability were measured. The experimental results showed that the amount of amphoteric chitosan is less than that of sodium acrylate copolymer by 20% under a similar degree of emulsification. The measurement of spatial moisture showed the difference in equilibrium humidity was in the range of 2.05 to 2.20 gH2O/kg dry air, indicating that the moisture retention of the modified chitosan is better. In addition, the calculation of bacterial growth confirmed that the number of bacteria in the amphoteric chitosan emulsion and the sodium acrylate copolymer emulsion were 80 and 560, respectively. The emulsion stability was tested by the separation of oil and water phases in the diluted emulsion and by centrifugal accelerated sedimentation. The results showed that, for both emulsifiers, no separation of the oil and water phases occurred within one hour, and the stability of the modified chitosan emulsion was better. Therefore, the modified chitosan successfully substitutes sodium acrylates copolymer as an emulsifier in the preparation of emulsion.

Generation and Characterization of a Library of Novel Biologically Active Functional Surfactants (Surfmers) Using Combined High-Throughput Methods

We report the first successful combination of three distinct high-throughput techniques to deliver the accelerated design, synthesis, and property screening of a library of novel, bio-instructive, polymeric, comb-graft surfactants. These three-dimensional, surface-active materials were successfully used to control the surface properties of particles by forming a unimolecular deep layer on the surface of the particles via microfluidic processing. This strategy deliberately utilizes the surfactant to both create the stable particles and deliver a desired cell-instructive behavior. Therefore, these specifically designed, highly functional surfactants are critical to promoting a desired cell response. This library contained surfactants constructed from 20 molecularly distinct (meth)acrylic monomers, which had been pre-identified by HT screening to exhibit specific, varied, and desirable bacterial biofilm inhibitory responses. The surfactant's self-assembly properties in water were assessed by developing a novel, fully automated, HT method to determine the critical aggregation concentration. These values were used as the input data to a computational-based evaluation of the key molecular descriptors that dictated aggregation behavior. Thus, this combination of HT techniques facilitated the rapid design, generation, and evaluation of further novel, highly functional, cell-instructive surfaces by application of designed surfactants possessing complex molecular architectures.

Evaluation of Antibacterial and Cytotoxicity Properties of Silver Nanowires and Their Composites with Carbon Nanotubes for Biomedical Applications

In this work, we prepared silver nanowires (AgNWs) via the polyol method in the presence or absence of single wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and tested their physicochemical, antibacterial and cytotoxic properties. Results showed that the introduction of CNTs lead to the formation of AgNWs at lower temperature, but the final product characteristics of AgNWs and AgNWs-CNT were not significantly different. AgNWs exhibited antibacterial properties against all the studied bacterial species via the formation of oxygen reactive species (ROS) and membrane damage. Furthermore, AgNWs exhibited a dose-dependent and time-dependent toxicity at concentrations ≥ 10 µg/mL. Fibroblasts appeared to be more resistant than human colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) and osteoblasts to the toxicity of AgNWs. The cytotoxicity of AgNWs was found to be related to the formation of ROS, but not to membrane damage. Overall, these results suggest that AgNWs are potential antibacterial agents against E. coli, S. aureus, MRSA and S. saprophyticus, but their dosage needs to be adjusted according to the route of administration.

N-octyl chitosan derivatives as amphiphilic carrier agents for herbicide formulations

This study investigates the potential of N-octyl chitosan derivatives, namely N-octyl-O-sulfate chitosan (NOOSC), N-octyl-N-succinyl chitosan (NONSC) and N-octyl-O-glycol chitosan (NOOGC) as amphiphilic carrier agents for atrazine in water-insoluble herbicide formulations. The N-octyl chitosan derivatives were characterised using several analytical instruments such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer, CHNS-O Elemental Analyser (CHNS-O), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Thermogravimetric Analyser (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and Fluorescence Spectrometer. The encapsulation of atrazine by N-octyl chitosan derivatives was studied using a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The FTIR spectra of N-octyl chitosan derivatives confirmed the presence of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups on chitosan backbone. TEM images revealed that N-octyl chitosan derivatives have formed self-aggregates with a spherical shape. The CMC values for N-octyl chitosan derivatives were between 0.06 and 0.09 mg/mL. The encapsulation efficiency (EE) values for amphiphilic chitosan were greater than 90%. The release profiles showed different release behaviour of pure herbicide in solution as compared to atrazine-loaded N-octyl chitosan derivatives. Results suggest that the chitosan derivatives offer promising characteristics that enable them to act as effective carrier agents for atrazine. In conclusion, the application of N-octyl chitosan derivatives could reduce the use of organic solvents in herbicide formulations by 37.5%.

Quantum dot-polymer conjugates for stable luminescent displays

The broad absorption of light in the UV-Vis-NIR region and the size-based tunable photoluminescence color of semiconductor quantum dots make these tiny crystals one of the most attractive antennae in solar cells and phosphors in electrooptical devices. One of the primary requirements for such real-world applications of quantum dots is their stable and uniform distribution in optically transparent matrices. In this work, we prepare transparent thin films of polymer-quantum dot conjugates, where CdSe/ZnS quantum dots are uniformly distributed at high densities in a chitosan-polystyrene copolymer (CS-g-PS) matrix. Here, quantum dots in an aqueous solution are conjugated to the copolymer by a phase transfer reaction. With the stable conjugation of quantum dots to the copolymer, we prevent undesired phase separation between the two and aggregation of quantum dots. Furthermore, the conjugate allows us to prepare transparent thin films in which quantum dots are uniformly distributed at high densities. The CS-g-PS copolymer helps us in not only preserving the photoluminescence properties of quantum dots in the film but also rendering excellent photostability to quantum dots at the ensemble and single particle levels, making the conjugate a promising material for photoluminescence-based devices.

pH-controlled doxorubicin anticancer loading and release from carbon nanotube noncovalently modified by chitosan: MD simulations

In the present study, we describe here the pH condition activating doxorubicin (DOX) anticancer drugs loading and release over single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) non-covalently wrapped with chitosan (CS). The possibility of drug displacement on DOX/CS/SWNT nanocarrier was investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. The drug loading and release were monitored via displacement analysis and binding energy calculations. The simulated results clearly showed that the drugs well interacted with the CS/SWNT at physiological pH (pH 7.4), where CS was in the deprotonated form. Contrastingly, in weakly acidic environments (pH 5.0-6.5) which is a pH characteristics of certain cancer environments, the protonated CS became loosen wrapped around the SWNT and triggered drugs release as a result of charge-charge repulsion between CS and drug molecules. The obtained data fulfil the understanding at atomic level of drug loading and release controlled by pH-sensitive polymer, which might be useful for further cancer therapy researches.

Carbon nanotubes play an important role in the spatial arrangement of calcium deposits in hydrogels for bone regeneration

Age related bone diseases such as osteoporosis are considered among the main causes of reduced bone mechanical stability and bone fractures. In order to restore both biological and mechanical function of diseased/fractured bones, novel bioactive scaffolds that mimic the bone structure are constantly under development in tissue engineering applications. Among the possible candidates, chitosan-based thermosensitive hydrogel scaffolds represent ideal systems due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, enhanced antibacterial properties, promotion of osteoblast formation and ease of injection, which makes them suitable for less invasive surgical procedures. As a main drawback, these chitosan systems present poor mechanical performance that could not support load-bearing applications. In order to produce more mechanically-competent biomaterials, the combined addition of hydroxyapatite and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is proposed in this study. Specifically, the aim of this work is to develop thermosensitive chitosan hydrogels containing stabilised single-walled and multi-walled CNTs, where their effect on the mechanical/physiochemical properties, calcium deposition patterns and ability to provide a platform for the controlled release of protein drugs was investigated. It was found that the addition of CNTs had a significant effect on the sol-gel transition time and significantly increased the resistance to compression for the hydrogels. Moreover, in vitro calcification studies revealed that CNTs played a major role in the spatial arrangements of newly formed calcium deposits in the composite materials studied, suggesting that they may have a role in the way the repair of fragile and/or fractured bones occurs in vivo.

EGF-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes for targeting delivery of etoposide

To enhance the therapeutic potential of etoposide (ETO), we devised a targeted drug delivery system (TDDS) of epidermal growth factor-chitosan-carboxyl single-walled carbon nanotubes-ETO (EGF/CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO) using modified SWNTs (m-SWNTs) as the carrier, EGF-functionalized SWNTs (f-SWNTs) as the targeted moiety and ETO as the drug. After SWNT-COOHs were conjugated with CHI (CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO), they displayed high solubility and stable dispersion in aqueous solution. The drug loading capacity was approximately 25-27%. The m-SWNTs and f-SWNTs had only slight cytotoxicity. ETO was released from EGF/CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO at low pH and taken up by tumour cells via adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent endocytosis. The cell death induced by EGF/CHI/SWNT-COOHs/ETO was as much as 2.7 times that due to ETO alone. In summary, these results demonstrated that our TDDS had a greater anticancer effect than free ETO in vitro.

Stabilisation of SWNTs by alkyl-sulfate chitosan derivatives of different molecular weight: towards the preparation of hybrids with anticoagulant properties

We have previously demonstrated that chitosan derivative N-octyl-O-sulfate chitosan (NOSC), which presents important pharmacological properties, can suspend single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) up to 20 times more effectively than other chitosan derivatives in an aqueous environment. In an attempt to further investigate the impact of different molecular weights of chitosan to the solubilization and anticoagulant properties of these hybrids an array of NOSC derivatives varying their molecular weight (low, medium and high respectively) was synthesised and characterised by means of FT-IR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Microwave and nitric acid purified SWNTs, characterised by FT-IR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy, were colloidally stabilised by these polymers and their anticoagulant activity was assessed. The results revealed that the low molecular weight NOSC coated SWNTs exhibit the highest activity when 0.5 mg mL(-1) NOSC solutions are used, activity which is similar to that of the free polymer. Preliminary studies by exposure of these hybrids to Brine Shrimp (Artemia) cysts revealed no effect on the viability of sub-adult Artemia. Our findings suggest the possibility of tailoring these nanomaterials to bear the required properties for application as biocompatible building blocks for nanodevices including biosensors and biomaterials.