A Comprehensive Procedure to Evaluate the In Vivo Performance of Cancer Nanomedicines

In Planta Nanosensors: Understanding Biocorona Formation for Functional Design

Climate change and population growth are straining agricultural output. To counter these changes and meet the growing demand for food and energy, the monitoring and engineering of crops are becoming increasingly necessary. Nanoparticle-based sensors have emerged in recent years as new tools to advance agricultural practices. As these nanoparticle-based sensors enter and travel through the complex biofluids within plants, biomolecules including proteins, metabolites, lipids, and carbohydrates adsorb onto the nanoparticle surfaces, forming a coating known as the "bio-corona". Understanding these nanoparticle-biomolecule interactions that govern nanosensor function in plants will be essential to successfully develop and translate nanoparticle-based sensors into broader agricultural practice.

Biodegradable Polymeric Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery to Solid Tumors

Advances in nanotechnology have favored the development of novel colloidal formulations able to modulate the pharmacological and biopharmaceutical properties of drugs. The peculiar physico-chemical and technological properties of nanomaterial-based therapeutics have allowed for several successful applications in the treatment of cancer. The size, shape, charge and patterning of nanoscale therapeutic molecules are parameters that need to be investigated and modulated in order to promote and optimize cell and tissue interaction. In this review, the use of polymeric nanoparticles as drug delivery systems of anticancer compounds, their physico-chemical properties and their ability to be efficiently localized in specific tumor tissues have been described. The nanoencapsulation of antitumor active compounds in polymeric systems is a promising approach to improve the efficacy of various tumor treatments.

Understanding the Lipid and Protein Corona Formation on Different Sized Polymeric Nanoparticles

When in contact with biological fluids, nanoparticles dynamically absorb biomolecules like proteins and lipids onto their surface, forming a "corona". This biocorona is a dynamic and complex structure that determines how host cells respond to nanoparticles. Despite the common use of mouse models in pre-clinical and toxicological experiments, the impact of corona formed in mouse serum on the biophysical and biological properties of different size NP has not been thoroughly explored. Furthering the knowledge on the corona formed on NP exposed to mouse serum proteins can help in understanding what role it might have in in vivo studies at systemic, tissue, and cellular levels. To investigate biocorona formation, different sized polystyrene NP were exposed to mouse serum. Our data show a size- and time-dependent protein and lipid corona formation. Several proteins were identified and apolipoproteins were by far the most common group on the NPs surfaces. Moreover, we observed that cholesterol and triglycerides effectively bind to NP emphasizing that proteins are not the only biomolecules with high-affinity binding to nanomaterial surfaces. These results highlight that further knowledge on NP interactions with mouse serum is necessary regarding the common use of this model to predict the in vivo efficiency of NP.