Co-reporter:Qian Zhang, Ting Yin, Guo Gao, Joseph G. Shapter, Weien Lai, Peng Huang, Wen Qi, Jie Song, and Daxiang Cui
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces May 31, 2017 Volume 9(Issue 21) pp:17777-17777
Publication Date(Web):May 10, 2017
DOI:10.1021/acsami.7b04288
Core@shell magnetic nanoparticles (core@shell MNPs) are attracting widespread attention due to their enhancement properties for potential applications in hyperthermia treatment, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diagnostics, and so forth. Herein, we developed a facile thermal decomposition method for controllable synthesis of a superparamagnetic, monodispersed core@shell structure (Co@Mn = CoFe2O4@MnFe2O4) with uniform size distribution (σ < 5%, dc ≈ 15 nm). The CoFe2O4 core could enhance magnetic anisotropy, and the MnFe2O4 shell could improve the magnetization value. The Co@Mn MNPs were transferred into aqueous solution with an amphiphilic polymer (labeled 2% TAMRA) and functionalized with PEG2k and target molecules (folic acid, FA) to fabricate multifunctional PMATAMRA-Co@Mn-PEG2k-FA nanoprobes. The obtained PMATAMRA-Co@Mn-PEG2k-FA nanoprobes exhibit good biocompatibility, high T2 relaxation values, and long-term fluorescence stability (at least 6 months). Our results demonstrate that the synthesized PMATAMRA-Co@Mn-PEG2k-FA nanoprobes can effectively enhance the targeted MRI and fluorescent labeling in vitro and in vivo. The research outcomes will contribute to the rational design of new nanoprobes and provide a promising pathway to promote core@shell nanoprobes for further clinical contrast MRI and photodynamic therapy in the near future.Keywords: biodistribution; core@shell; fluorescent labeling; magnetic nanoprobes; MRI;
Co-reporter:Meng Yang;Yanlei Liu;Wenxiu Hou;Xiao Zhi;Chunlei Zhang;Xinquan Jiang;Fei Pan;Yuming Yang;Jian Ni;Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale (2009-Present) 2017 vol. 9(Issue 1) pp:334-340
Publication Date(Web):2016/12/22
DOI:10.1039/C6NR06851K
Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) possess an intrinsic tumor tropism ability. However, iPS cells are impeded in clinical applications of tumor therapy due to the formation of teratomas and their survival in normal organs such as the liver, lungs, spleen and kidneys. Mitomycin C (MMC) can overcome this limitation by suppressing iPS proliferation. Herein, we fabricated a safe delivery system of iPS cells treated with MMC loading with gold nanorods (AuNRs) for the targeted photothermal treatment of gastric cancer. Our results showed that the tumor cells were efficiently killed by the heat generated from the gold nanorods, and the iPS cells ultimately died due to the action of MMC seven days after the photothermal treatment. This suggested that pre-treated iPS cells with MMC can be used as a novel and safe approach for targeted tumor therapy. This paves the road for clinical translation in the future.
Co-reporter:Qian Zhang;Ting Yin;Rongrong Xu;Wenjun Gao;Hui Zhao;Joseph G. Shapter;Kan Wang;Yulan Shen;Peng Huang;Guo Gao;Yanfeng Wu;Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale (2009-Present) 2017 vol. 9(Issue 36) pp:13592-13599
Publication Date(Web):2017/09/21
DOI:10.1039/C7NR04914E
In this contribution, we designed four types of immuno-magnetic nanoparticles for separation of different T cells (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD14+ T cells), and we established a new large-scale immuno-magnetic cell sorting procedure to achieve an enrichment of particular T cells using our designed auto-IMACS device. This device could achieve recyclable large-scale cell sorting, for which the throughput of the system reached ∼4000 mL and the maximum cell capacity was 4 × 1010. The collected cells were analyzed by flow cytometry and visual cytology data, and the effective selection rates of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD14+ T cells were 79.3%, 74.1%, 57.1% and 67.9%, respectively. The sorted CD8+ T cells still retained good cytotoxic activity against specific cells. In addition, the sorted T cells can also be further incubated in vitro and proliferated, and even could be infused back into patients for immunotherapy in the near future.
Co-reporter:Weijian Qin, Kan Wang, Kun Xiao, Yafei Hou, Wenting Lu, Hao Xu, Yan Wo, Shaoqing Feng, Daxiang Cui
Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2017 Volume 90(Volume 90) pp:
Publication Date(Web):15 April 2017
DOI:10.1016/j.bios.2016.10.052
•A portable diagnostic platform based on embedded technology is proposed.•The platform detects fluorescent signals from quantum dots on lateral flow test strips.•The system can realize quantitative analysis with stability and repeatability.•It could be used for other conditions and various applications.In this study, we developed a power-free, accurate, and portable diagnostic platform called Handing based on embedded technology, which can rapidly detect fluorescent signals from quantum dots (QDs) on lateral flow test strips (LFTSs). The Handing system has three components: a hand-held test terminal, LFTS cartridge, and data server. The hand-held test terminal is the primary system component and it is integrated with tiny components using printed circuit board packaging for image acquisition, processing, and data handling by a specific program. A black smooth shell and three-dimensional printed test cartridge are used to facilitate the portability of the detection terminal, which provides a closed detection process as well as enhancing the anti-interference capacity. The functions of the data server comprise pre-editing, storage, range querying, and sharing with an international network. Multiple hand-held terminal devices can be linked simultaneously to the same data server. In this study, we detected the tumor marker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) using the QD-LFTS system, which allowed quantitative analysis in the range of 1–100 ng/mL with an ideal detection limit of 0.049 ng/mL. Thus, the system is suitable for detecting CEA in the clinically accepted range. We also detected 70 positive and 30 negative serum samples using the Handing system, which exhibited good specificity and sensitivity. Thus, Handing has the capacity for rapid quantitative detection with high stability and repeatability, so it could be used for in vitro diagnostics in the laboratory and in other conditions for various applications, e.g., food evaluation, disease screening, environmental monitoring, and drug testing.
Co-reporter:Caixia Yue, Yuming Yang, Chunlei Zhang, Gabriel Alfranca, Daxiang Cui
Journal of Controlled Release 2017 Volume 259(Volume 259) pp:
Publication Date(Web):10 August 2017
DOI:10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.03.061
Co-reporter:Kun Xiao, Kan Wang, Weijian Qin, Yafei Hou, Wenting Lu, Hao Xu, Yan Wo, Daxiang Cui
Talanta 2017 Volume 164() pp:463-469
Publication Date(Web):1 March 2017
DOI:10.1016/j.talanta.2016.12.003
•The good monodispersity and high colloidal stability quantum dot nanobeads were applied as label materials to the test strip.•Utilization of fluorescent test strip to simultaneously detect neuron specific enolase and carcinoembryonic antigen.•A novel optimal reader system “Handing” had been employed for highly sensitive multiplex assay of test strips.Detection of multiplex tumor markers was of great importance for cancer diagnosis. Immunochromatographic test strip (ICTS) was the most frequently-used point-of-care detection means. Herein, a convenient and fast method for simultaneous quantitative detection of neuron specific enolase (NSE) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was developed based on ICTS using quantum dot beads (QBs) as marking material. Good monodispersity, high colloidal stability and carboxyl-modified (COOH–) QBs were used. For this method, two test lines were applied to the NC membrane for simultaneous analysis of CEA and NSE respectively. The ideal limit of CEA and NSE detection was 0.0378 ng/mL and 0.0426 ng/mL with scarcely any cross-reactivity. Moreover, the fluorescent signal intensity of the nitrocellulose membrane could be easily read out in the cooperation of the “Handing” system without professional operators. The possible clinical utilization of this platform was demonstrated by detecting 100 clinic human serums. The result showed that the platform had sensitivity of 99% and 97% for CEA and NSE, while the specificity was 97% and 100% respectively. Our results indicated that the QBs based ICTS not only owning the ability of sensitive and specific simultaneous detection of CEA and NSE, but also showing the potential in developing this ICTS into a routine part of early lung cancer diagnosis.
Co-reporter:Wen Qi;Joseph G. Shapter;Qian Wu;Ting Yin;Guo Gao;Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2017 vol. 5(Issue 37) pp:19521-19540
Publication Date(Web):2017/09/26
DOI:10.1039/C7TA05283A
As the most commonly used potential energy conversion and storage devices, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been extensively investigated for a wide range of fields including information technology, electric and hybrid vehicles, aerospace, etc. Endowed with attractive properties such as high energy density, long cycle life, small size, low weight, few memory effects and low pollution, LIBs have been recognized as the most likely approach to be used to store electrical power in the future. This review will start with a brief introduction to charge–discharge principles and performance assessment indices. The advantages and disadvantages of several commonly studied anode materials including carbon, alloys, transition metal oxides and silicon along with lithium intercalation will be reviewed. The mechanism and synthesis methods, followed by strategies to enhance battery performance by virtue of interesting structural designs will be examined. Finally, a few issues needing further exploration will be discussed followed by a brief outline of the prospects and outlook for the LIB field.
Co-reporter:Caixia Yue;Yuming Yang;Jie Song;Gabriel Alfranca;Chunlei Zhang;Qian Zhang;Ting Yin;Fei Pan;Jesús M. de la Fuente;Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale (2009-Present) 2017 vol. 9(Issue 31) pp:11103-11118
Publication Date(Web):2017/08/10
DOI:10.1039/C7NR02193C
Lonidamine, an anticancer drug that acts on mitochondria, has poor water solubility. Mitochondria are the primary source of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are necessary for photodynamic therapy. Hence, a mitochondria-targeting drug delivery system loaded with Lonidamine and a ROS-produced photosensitizer could improve the bioavailability of Lonidamine and maximize photodynamic therapeutic efficiency. Here we report, for the first time, new IR-780 and Lonidamine encapsulated mitochondria-targeting thermosensitive liposomes (IL-TTSL). DSPE-PEG2000-NH2 was coupled with triphenylphosphine to form DSPE-PEG2K-TPP. The liposomes (IL-TTSL) were self-assembled from DPPC, DSPC, DSPE-PEG2K-TPP, cholesterol, IR-780 and Lonidamine. Coupled linker modified triphenylphosphine (TPP) is cationic and can selectively accumulate several hundred-fold within mitochondria. Once the liposomes are located inside mitochondria, 808 nm laser irradiation could trigger photosensitizer IR-780 to elevate the local temperature, which could be utilized in photothermal therapy and induce the release of Lonidamine from the thermosensitive liposomes. Meanwhile, IR-780 could release ROS for photodynamic therapy in mitochondria and increase photodynamic therapeutic efficiency. Our results showed that the surface modification of the liposomes with triphenylphosphine cations had good mitochondria-targeting ability. The liposomes exhibited good biocompatibility and all components of the empty liposomes were safe to be used in humans. Few reports were related to IR-780 being used in photodynamic therapy and we proved this function of IR-780. Overall, the stealth liposomes provide a promising new strategy to realize mitochondria-targeting thermosensitive chemo-, photodynamic and photothermal combination therapy with a single light source for lung cancer.
Co-reporter:Jishu Han, Jingjing Zhang, Meng Yang, Daxiang Cui and Jesus M. de la Fuente
Nanoscale 2016 vol. 8(Issue 1) pp:492-499
Publication Date(Web):03 Dec 2015
DOI:10.1039/C5NR06261F
Targeted imaging and tumor therapy using nanomaterials has stimulated research interest recently, but the high cytotoxicity and low cellular uptake of nanomaterials limit their bioapplication. In this paper, glucose (Glc) was chosen to functionalize Au nanoprisms (NPrs) for improving the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of Au@PEG-Glc NPrs into cancer cells. Glucose is a primary source of energy at the cellular level and at cellular membranes for cell recognition. A coating of glucose facilitates the accumulation of Au@PEG-Glc NPrs in a tumor region much more than Au@PEG NPrs. Due to the high accumulation and excellent photoabsorbing property of Au@PEG-Glc NPrs, enhanced optoacoustic imaging of a tumor in vivo was achieved, and visualization of the tumor further guided cancer treatment. Based on the optical–thermal conversion performance of Au@PEG-Glc NPrs, the tumor in vivo was effectively cured through photothermal therapy. The current work demonstrates the great potential of Au@PEG-Glc NPrs in optoacoustic imaging and photothermal cancer therapy in future.
Co-reporter:Jishu Han, Jingjing Zhang, Meng Yang, Daxiang Cui and Jesus M. de la Fuente
Nanoscale 2016 vol. 8(Issue 3) pp:1704-1704
Publication Date(Web):22 Dec 2015
DOI:10.1039/C5NR90234G
Correction for ‘Glucose-functionalized Au nanoprisms for optoacoustic imaging and near-infrared photothermal therapy’ by Jishu Han et al., Nanoscale, 2016, DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06261f.
Co-reporter:Wenxiu Hou, Fangfang Xia, Carla S. Alves, Xiaoqing Qian, Yuming Yang, and Daxiang Cui
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2016 Volume 8(Issue 2) pp:1447
Publication Date(Web):December 7, 2015
DOI:10.1021/acsami.5b10772
A unique matrix metalloproteinase 2-targeted photosensitizer delivery platform was developed in this study for tumor-targeting imaging and photodynamic therapy. The model photosensitizer therapeutic agent chlorin e6 (Ce6) was first covalently conjugated with matrix metalloproteinase 2-cleavable polypeptide and then modified with polyethylene glycol via a redox-responsive cleavable disulfide linker. The resultant matrix metalloproteinase 2-cleavable polypeptide modified PEGylated Ce6 (PEG-SS-Ce6-MMP2) nanoparticles, which formed via self-assembly, were observed to be monodisperse and significantly stable in aqueous solution. In addition, owing to their cellular redox-responsiveness at the cleavable disulfide linker, the PEG-SS-Ce6-MMP2 nanoparticles were able to release Ce6 rapidly. Despite displaying enhanced intracellular internalization, the synthesized PEG-SS-Ce6-MMP2 nanoparticles did not compromise their phototoxic effects toward A549 cancer cells when compared with free Ce6 and PEGylated Ce6 nanoparticles. In vivo experiments further revealed that, in contrast with the free Ce6 or with the PEGylated Ce6 nanoparticles, the PEG-SS-Ce6-MMP2 nanoparticles showed a remarkable increase in tumor-targeting ability and a significantly improved photodynamic therapeutic efficiency in A549 tumor-bearing mice. These results suggest that the PEG-SS-Ce6-MMP2 nanoparticles hold great potential for tumor-targeting imaging and photodynamic therapy.Keywords: chlorin e6; disulfide linker; matrix metalloproteinase-2; photodynamic therapy; tumor imaging
Co-reporter:Jingpu Zhang, Chao Li, Xiao Zhi, Gabriel Alfranca Ramón, Yanlei Liu, Chunlei Zhang, Fei Pan, and Daxiang Cui
Analytical Chemistry 2016 Volume 88(Issue 2) pp:1294
Publication Date(Web):December 17, 2015
DOI:10.1021/acs.analchem.5b03729
MicroRNA (miRNA) biomarkers display great potential for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The development of rapid and specific methods for miRNA detection has become a hotspot. Herein, hairpin DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (AgNCs/HpDNA) were prepared and integrated into strand-displacement amplification (SDA) as a novel beacon for miRNA detection. The light-up platform was established based on guanine (G)-rich fluorescence enhancement that essentially converted the excitation/emission pair of AgNCs/HpDNAs from a shorter wavelength to a longer wavelength, and then achieved fluorescent enhancement at longer wavelength. On the basis of the validation of the method, the single and duplex detection were conducted in two plasma biomarkers (miR-16-5p and miR-19b-3p) for the diagnosis of gastric cancer. The probe (AgNCs/RED 16(7s)C) utilized for miR-16-5p detection adopted a better conformation with high specificity to recognize single-base mismatches by producing dramatically opposite signals (increase or decrease at 580 nm ex/640 nm em) while the probe (AgNCs/GRE 19b(5s)C) for miR-19b-3p generated dual signals (increase at 490 nm ex/570 nm em and decrease at 430 nm ex/530 nm em) with bright fluorescence in one reaction during the amplification, but unexpectedly was partially digested. This is for the first time to allow the generation of enhanced fluorescent AgNCs and the target recognition integrated into a single process, which offers great opportunity for specific miRNA detection in an easy and rapid way.
Co-reporter:Rongjin Sun, Peiyu Qiu, Ting Yin, Guo Gao, Hualin Fu, Kan Wang, Chunlei Zhang, Daxiang Cui
Particuology 2016 Volume 24() pp:164-169
Publication Date(Web):February 2016
DOI:10.1016/j.partic.2015.02.005
•BaLuF5:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals (UCNPs) were synthesized by PST-assisted hydrothermal method.•Narrow size distribution and good dispersibility of UCNPs were attributed to the effect of PST.•Temperature, holding time and pH affected the formation of UCNPs.Highly-dispersed BaLuF5:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals were prepared by a facile potassium sodium tartrate-assisted hydrothermal method. The average particle size was approximately 20–25 nm. The formation mechanism is discussed. Potassium sodium tartrate led to form a complex with an approximately three-dimensional network structure, which insured largely concurrent nucleation. As a result, we acquired uniform nanoparticles. The hydrothermal temperature, holding time, and pH value were important factors affecting the formation of the BaLuF5:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals. We investigated their influence on the formation and realized the optimal reaction parameters. Remarkably, potassium sodium tartrate also contributed to the biocompatibility and potential biomedical applications of BaLuF5:Yb3+/Er3+ nanocrystals by decomposing into small organic groups attached to the nanoparticles.
Co-reporter:Chenchen Bao;João Conde;Fei Pan;Chao Li;Chunlei Zhang;Furong Tian
Nano Research 2016 Volume 9( Issue 4) pp:1043-1056
Publication Date(Web):2016 April
DOI:10.1007/s12274-016-0996-y
The development of high-resolution nanosized photoacoustic contrast agents is an exciting yet challenging technological advance. Herein, antibody (breast cancer-associated antigen 1 (Brcaa1) monoclonal antibody)- and peptide (RGD)-functionalized gold nanoprisms (AuNprs) were used as a combinatorial methodology for in situ photoacoustic imaging, angiography, and localized hyperthermia using orthotopic and subcutaneous murine gastric carcinoma models. RGD-conjugated PEGylated AuNprs are available for tumor angiography, and Brcaa1 monoclonal antibody-conjugated PEGylated AuNprs are used for targeting and for in situ imaging of gastric carcinoma in orthotopic tumor models. In situ photoacoustic imaging allowed for anatomical and functional imaging at the tumor site. In vivo tumor angiography imaging showed enhancement of the photoacoustic signal in a time-dependent manner. Furthermore, photoacoustic imaging demonstrated that tumor vessels were clearly damaged after localized hyperthermia. This is the first proof-of-concept using two AuNprs probes as highly sensitive contrasts and therapeutic agents for in situ tumor detection and inhibition. These smart antibody/peptide AuNprs can be used as an efficient nanotheranostic platform for in vivo tumor detection with high sensitivity, as well as for tumor targeting therapy, which, with a single-dose injection, results in tumor size reduction and increases mice survival after localized hyperthermia treatment.
Co-reporter:Shangli Cheng;Hua-Lin Fu
Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences 2016 Volume 8( Issue 1) pp:65-74
Publication Date(Web):2016 March
DOI:10.1007/s12539-015-0106-y
Protein structure networks (PSNs) were widely used in analyses of protein structure and function. In this work, we analyzed and compared the characters of PSNs by different methods. The degrees of the different types of the nodes were found to be associated with the amino acid characters, including SAS, secondary structure, hydropathy and the volume of amino acids. It showed that PSNs by the methods of CA10, SC10 and AT5 inherited more amino acid characters and had higher correlations with the original protein structures. And PSNs by these three methods would be powerful tools in understanding the characters of protein structures.
Co-reporter:Yunsheng Chen, Yixia Zhang, Fei Pan, Jie Liu, Kan Wang, Chunlei Zhang, Shangli Cheng, Lungen Lu, Wei Zhang, Zheng Zhang, Xiao Zhi, Qian Zhang, Gabriel Alfranca, Jesús M. de la Fuente, Di Chen, and Daxiang Cui
ACS Nano 2016 Volume 10(Issue 9) pp:8169
Publication Date(Web):July 13, 2016
DOI:10.1021/acsnano.6b01441
Fourteen volatile organic compound (VOC) biomarkers in the breath have been identified to distinguish early gastric cancer (EGC) and advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients from healthy persons by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry coupled with solid phase microextraction (SPME). Then, a breath analysis approach based on a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensor was developed to detect these biomarkers. Utilizing hydrazine vapor adsorbed in graphene oxide (GO) film, the clean SERS sensor is facilely prepared by in situ formation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) without any organic stabilizer. In the SERS sensor, RGO can selectively adsorb and enrich the identified biomarkers from breath as an SPME fiber, and AuNPs well dispersed on RGO endow the SERS sensor with an effective detection of adsorbed biomarkers. Fourteen Raman bands associated with the biomarkers are selected as the fingerprints of biomarker patterns to distinguish persons in different states. The approach has successfully analyzed and distinguished different simulated breath samples and 200 breath samples of clinical patients with a sensitivity of higher than 83% and a specificity of more than 92%. In conclusion, the VOC biomarkers and breath analysis approach in this study can not only diagnose gastric cancer but also distinguish EGC and AGC. This work has great potential for clinical translation in primary screening diagnosis and stage determination of stomach cancer in the near future.Keywords: advanced gastric cancer; breath analysis; early gastric cancer; reduced graphene oxide; surface-enhanced Raman scattering; volatile organic compounds
Co-reporter:Yanlei Liu, Meng Yang, Jingpu Zhang, Xiao Zhi, Chao Li, Chunlei Zhang, Fei Pan, Kan Wang, Yuming Yang, Jesus Martinez de la Fuentea, and Daxiang Cui
ACS Nano 2016 Volume 10(Issue 2) pp:2375
Publication Date(Web):January 13, 2016
DOI:10.1021/acsnano.5b07172
How to improve effective accumulation and intratumoral distribution of plasmonic gold nanoparticles has become a great challenge for photothermal therapy of tumors. Herein, we reported a nanoplatform with photothermal therapeutic effects by fabricating Au nanorods@SiO2@CXCR4 nanoparticles and loading the prepared nanoparticles into the human induced pluripotent stem cells(AuNRs-iPS). In virtue of the prominent optical properties of Au nanorods@SiO2@CXCR4 and remarkable tumor target migration ability of iPS cells, the Au nanorods delivery mediated by iPS cells via the nanoplatform AuNRs-iPS was found to have a prolonged retention time and spatially even distribution in MGC803 tumor-bearing nude mice observed by photoacoustic tomography and two-photon luminescence. On the basis of these improvements, the nanoplatform displayed a robust migration capacity to target the tumor site and to improve photothermal therapeutic efficacy on inhibiting the growth of tumors in xenograft mice under a low laser power density. The combination of gold nanorods with human iPS cells as a theranostic platform paves an alternative road for cancer theranostics and holds great promise for clinical translation in the near future.Keywords: Au nanorods; CXCR4; induced pluripotent stem cells; photothermal therapy;
Co-reporter:Chunchun Meng, Xiao Zhi, Chao Li, Chuanfeng Li, Zongyan Chen, Xusheng Qiu, Chan Ding, Lijun Ma, Hongmin Lu, Di Chen, Guangqing Liu, and Daxiang Cui
ACS Nano 2016 Volume 10(Issue 2) pp:2203
Publication Date(Web):January 14, 2016
DOI:10.1021/acsnano.5b06750
Current studies have revealed the immune effects of graphene oxide (GO) and have utilized them as vaccine carriers and adjuvants. However, GO easily induces strong oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction at the site of injection. It is very necessary to develop an alternative adjuvant based on graphene oxide derivatives for improving immune responses and decreasing side effects. Carnosine (Car) is an outstanding and safe antioxidant. Herein, the feasibility and efficiency of ultrasmall graphene oxide decorated with carnosine as an alternative immune adjuvant were explored. OVA@GO-Car was prepared by simply mixing ovalbumin (OVA, a model antigen) with ultrasmall GO covalently modified with carnosine (GO-Car). We investigated the immunological properties of the GO-Car adjuvant in model mice. Results show that OVA@GO-Car can promote robust and durable OVA-specific antibody response, increase lymphocyte proliferation efficiency, and enhance CD4+ T and CD8+ T cell activation. The presence of Car in GO also probably contributes to enhancing the antigen-specific adaptive immune response through modulating the expression of some cytokines, including IL-6, CXCL1, CCL2, and CSF3. In addition, the safety of GO-Car as an adjuvant was evaluated comprehensively. No symptoms such as allergic response, inflammatory redness swelling, raised surface temperatures, physiological anomalies of blood, and remarkable weight changes were observed. Besides, after modification with carnosine, histological damages caused by GO-Car in lung, muscle, kidney, and spleen became weaken significantly. This study sufficiently suggest that GO-Car as a safe adjuvant can effectively enhance humoral and innate immune responses against antigens in vivo.Keywords: adjuvant; carnosine; graphene oxide; immunoenhancement;
Co-reporter:Chunlei Zhang;Chao Li;Yanlei Liu;Jingpu Zhang;Chenchen Bao;Shujing Liang;Qing Wang;Yao Yang;Hualin Fu;Kan Wang;Daxiang Cui
Advanced Functional Materials 2015 Volume 25( Issue 8) pp:1314-1325
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1002/adfm.201403095
Gold nanoclusters (GNCs) attract increasing attention due to their potential applications in sensing, catalysis, optoelectronics, and biomedicine. Herein, the formation of highly fluorescent glutathione (GSH)-capped GNCs is achieved through the delicate control of the reduction kinetics and thermodynamic selection of the Au(I)–SG complexes. Furthermore, the GNCs-based nanoprobes are developed by the covalent coupling folic acid (FA) and PEG (polyethylene glycol) on the surface of GNCs directly, followed by trapping photosensitizer (chlorin e6, Ce6) within PEG networks and attaching to the GNCs surface. The fabricated nanoprobes (Ce6@GNCs-PEG2K-FA) possess a uniform particle size (hydrodynamic diameter ≈6.1 ± 1.2 nm), without affecting the yield of singlet oxygen of the trapped Ce6. In vitro studies show the enhanced cellular uptake and satisfactory photodynamic therapy (PDT) effectiveness toward MGC-803 cells when compared with free Ce6. The biodistribution and excretion pathway studies of the nanoprobes in MGC-803 tumor-bearing nude mice reveal their superior penetration and retention behavior in tumors, while the preserved features of renal clearance and stealthy to reticulo-endothelial system are mainly attributed to the small hydrodynamic diameters and the FA-capped PEGylated ligands. The enhanced PDT efficacy and the nontoxicity to mice provide an exciting new nano-platform with promising clinical translational potential.
Co-reporter:Peiyu Qiu, Rongjin Sun, Guo Gao, Ting Yin, Yulan Shen, Bin Chen, Kan Wang, Chunlei Zhang, Xiaoqing Qian and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2015 vol. 3(Issue 19) pp:3948-3958
Publication Date(Web):10 Mar 2015
DOI:10.1039/C5TB00290G
The phase transition of upconversion nanocrystals (UNs) from cubic to hexagonal structure is of fundamental importance in improving the luminescence intensity by about one or two orders of magnitudes, but the mechanism is still not well understood and efforts to completely transfer the phase from cubic to hexagonal structure remains a difficult and challenging task. Here, we describe a hydrothermal system in which an anion induces the phase transition process to give simultaneous control over the size, morphology, phase and emission properties. We first confirm that the crystal cell oriented-rotation driven by an anion in a hydrothermal system promoted the phase transition, and the energy zones figure of the phase transition from cubic to hexagonal structure has been figured out. We have successfully applied the structural mechanics finite element calculations to validate the reaction process. We have also demonstrated that porous UNs can be rationally tuned in size (down to fifteen nanometers), phase (cubic or hexagonal) and emission properties at precisely defined conditions, and were effective for in vitro and in vivo CT imaging.
Co-reporter:Lei Wang, Ting Guo, Qiang Lu, Xiaolong Yan, Daixing Zhong, Zhipei Zhang, Yunfeng Ni, Yong Han, Daxiang Cui, Xiaofei Li, and Lijun Huang
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2015 Volume 7(Issue 1) pp:359
Publication Date(Web):December 15, 2014
DOI:10.1021/am508122e
Somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene are common in patients with lung adenocarcinomas and are associated with sensitivity to the small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). For 10%–50% of the patients who experienced malignant pleural effusion (MPE), pathological diagnosis might rely exclusively on finding lung cancer cells in the MPE. Current methods based on polymerase chain reaction were utilized to test EGFR mutation status of MPE samples, but the accuracy of the test data was very low, resulting in many patients losing the chance of TKIs treatment. Herein, we synthesized the sea-urchin-like Au nanocluster (AuNC) with an average diameter of 92.4 nm, composed of 15-nm nanopricks. By introducing abundant sharp nanopricks, the enhancement factor of AuNC reached at 1.97 × 107. After capped with crystal violet (CV), polyethylene glycol, and EGFR mutation specific antibody, the AuNC-EGFR had excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity and EGFR mutation targeted recognition capability in lung cancer cells. Characteristic SERS signal at 1617 cm–1 of CV was linear correlation with the number of H1650 cells, demonstrating the minimum detection limit as 25 cells in a 1-mL suspension. The gold mass in single H1650 cells exposed to AuNC-E746_750 for 2 h ranged from 208.6 pg to 231.4 pg, which approximately corresponded to 56–62 AuNCs per cell. Furthermore, SERS was preclinically utilized to test EGFR mutation status in MPE samples from 35 patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Principal component analysis (PCA) and the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm were constructed for EGFR mutation diagnostic analysis, yielding an overall accuracy of 90.7%. SERS measurement based on sea-urchin-like AuNC was an efficient method for EGFR mutation detection in MPE, and it might show great potential in applications such as predicting gene typing of clinical lung cancer in the near future.Keywords: epidermal growth factor receptor; lung cancer; malignant pleural effusion; sea-urchin-like Au nanoclusters; surface-enhanced Raman scattering
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Qiang Zhang, Xin-Bing Cheng, Peiyu Qiu, Rongjin Sun, Ting Yin, and Daxiang Cui
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2015 Volume 7(Issue 1) pp:340
Publication Date(Web):December 9, 2014
DOI:10.1021/am506238q
In this work, we developed a facile hydrothermal method for synthesis of hybrid α-Fe2O3–carbon nanotubes (CNTs) architectures (α-Fe2O3–CNTs-1 and α-Fe2O3–CNTs-2). The CNTs are in situ attached to the α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres and form three-dimensional network robust architectures. The increase in the amount of CNTs in the network α-Fe2O3–CNTs architectures will significantly enhance the cycling and rate performance, as the flexible and robust CNTs could ensure the fast electron transport pathways, enhance the electronic conductivity, and improve the structural stability of the electrode. As for pure α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres, the capacity decreased significantly and retained at 377.4 mAh g–1 after 11 cycles, and the capacity has a slightly increasing trend at the following cycling. In contrast, the network α-Fe2O3–CNTs-2 electrode shows the most remarkable performance. At the 60th cycle, the capacity of network α-Fe2O3–CNTs-2 (764.5 mAh g–1) is 1.78 times than that of α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres (428.3 mAh g–1). The long-term cycling performance (1000 cycles) of samples at a high current density of 5 C showed that the capacity of α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres fade to ∼37.3 mAh g–1 at the 400th cycle and gradually increased to ∼116.7 mAh g–1 at the 1000th cycle. The capacity of network α-Fe2O3–CNTs-2 maintained at ∼220.2 mAh g–1 before the 400th cycle, arrived at ∼326.5 mAh g–1 in the 615th, cycle and retained this value until 1000th cycle. The network α-Fe2O3–CNTs-2 composite could significantly enhance the cycling and rate performance than pure α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres composite.Keywords: CNTs; composites; hydrothermal; LIBs; submicron spheres; α-Fe2O3
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Qiang Zhang, Xin-Bing Cheng, Rongjin Sun, Joseph G. Shapter, Ting Yin, Daxiang Cui
Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2015 Volume 649() pp:82-88
Publication Date(Web):15 November 2015
DOI:10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.06.130
•We report the synthesis of rare-earth ions doped CNTs-GO-Fe3O4 hybrid structures.•The hybrid structures can improve the cycling stability of lithium storage.•As for anode materials, the broad satellite peak can be completely eliminated.•When the rate return back to 0.1 C, the capacity can recover to 1023.9 mAhg−1.•After 500 cycles, the hybrid structures still exhibited excellent cycling stability.Rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the dominant power source for all sorts of electronic devices due to their low cost and high energy density. The cycling stability of LIBs is significantly compromised due to the broad satellite peak for many anode materials. Herein, we develop a facile hydrothermal process for preparing rare-earth (Er, Tm) ions doped three-dimensional (3D) transition metal oxides/carbon hybrid nanocomposites, namely CNTs-GO-Fe3O4, CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Er and CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Tm. The GO sheets and CNTs are interlinked by ultrafine Fe3O4 nanoparticles forming three-dimensional (3D) architectures. When evaluated as anode materials for LIBs, the CNTs-GO-Fe3O4 hybrid composites have a bigger broad satellite peak. As for the CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Er and CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Tm hybrid composites, the broad satellite peak can be completely eliminated. When the current density changes from 5 C back to 0.1 C, the capacity of CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Tm hybrid composites can recover to 1023.9 mAhg−1, indicating an acceptable rate capability. EIS tests show that the charge transfer resistance does not change significantly after 500 cycles, demonstrating that the cycling stability of CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Tm hybrid composites are superior to CNTs-GO-Fe3O4 and CNTs-GO-Fe3O4-Er hybrid structures.One-pot hydrothermal method for synthesis of rare-earth ions doped CNTs-GO-Fe3O4 hybrid structures as anode materials of LIBs have been reported.
Co-reporter:Chao Li, Shujing Liang, Chunlei Zhang, Yanlei Liu, Meng Yang, Jingpu Zhang, Xiao Zhi, Fei Pan, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2015 54() pp: 177-187
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.03.024
Co-reporter:Feng Chen, Peng Huang, Chao Qi, Bing-Qiang Lu, Xin-Yu Zhao, Chao Li, Jin Wu, Da-Xiang Cui and Ying-Jie Zhu
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2014 vol. 2(Issue 41) pp:7132-7140
Publication Date(Web):27 Aug 2014
DOI:10.1039/C4TB01193G
Biodegradable inorganic mesoporous materials hold promise for various biomedical applications such as drug/gene delivery, bioimaging, and photodynamic/photothermal and ultrasound therapy. Herein, multifunctional mesoporous microspheres of europium-doped amorphous calcium phosphate (Eu3+-doped ACP) have been prepared using a natural biomolecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the rapid microwave-assisted solvothermal method. This method has advantages such as surfactant-free, rapid and energy-saving. The ATP molecule plays key roles as a phosphate source and a structure mediator. Furthermore, the Eu3+-doped ACP mesoporous microspheres exhibit advantages such as high specific surface area (from 253 to 315 m2 g−1), high biocompatibility, pH-responsive drug release, and in vitro/in vivo fluorescence imaging properties. The mechanism of pH-responsive drug release can be explained by the degradation of ACP mesoporous microspheres at low pH. The docetaxel-loaded Eu3+-doped ACP mesoporous microspheres showed good anticancer performance in vitro. The as-prepared Eu3+-doped ACP mesoporous microspheres are promising for applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, bioimaging, etc.
Co-reporter:Chunlei Zhang, Kan Wang, Chao Li, Yanlei Liu, Hualin Fu, Fei Pan and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2014 vol. 2(Issue 40) pp:6931-6938
Publication Date(Web):08 Sep 2014
DOI:10.1039/C4TB01067A
We studied the cytotoxicity of Ag nanoclusters (Ag NCs) capped by the enantiomers L-glutathione (L-GSH) and D-glutathione (D-GSH) synthesized using the mild reduction agent tetrabutylammonium borohydride. The as-synthesized Ag NCs were characterized by HRTEM and UV-visible, photoluminescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The circular dichroism spectra of Ag NCs capped with L-GSH and D-GSH showed multiple bands that were identically mirror-imaged, demonstrating that both the metal core and the ligand contributed to the chirality of the GSH-capped NCs. The properties and potential applications of chiral Ag NCs in enantioselective catalysis and chiral recognition and sensing suggest that a comprehensive evaluation should be made of their potential toxicity. We found that Ag NCs capped with D-GSH (AgNCs@D-GSH) were more toxic to both human gastric cancer MGC-803 cells and human gastric mucous epithelial GES-1 cells than Ag NCs capped with L-GSH (AgNCs@L-GSH). Apoptosis also correlated well with the production of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial membrane depolarization and G2/M cell phase arrest in a dose- and chirality-dependent manner. The in vivo injection of AgNCs@L-GSH and AgNCs@D-GSH into mice bearing human gastric cancer xenografts led to a significant reduction in tumor size and increased apoptosis. This knowledge is important from the perspective of understanding the interactions between chiral nanoclusters and cells.
Co-reporter:Peiyu Qiu, Na Zhou, Yongnan Wang, Chunlei Zhang, Qing Wang, Rongjin Sun, Guo Gao and Daxiang Cui
CrystEngComm 2014 vol. 16(Issue 10) pp:1859-1863
Publication Date(Web):09 Dec 2013
DOI:10.1039/C3CE42076K
Herein we report a novel cationic surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method to synthesize highly dispersed LuF3 upconversion nanoparticles (80–100 nm) and Na1.5Y2.5F9 flower-like assemblies (450–550 nm). Controlling the initial shape of the building blocks, growth oriented by the cationic surfactant and Ostwald ripening are deemed as the possible formation processes in the hydrothermal system.
Co-reporter:Qing Wang;Chunlei Zhang;Guangxia Shen;Huiyang Liu
Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2014 Volume 12( Issue 1) pp:
Publication Date(Web):2014 December
DOI:10.1186/s12951-014-0058-0
Fluorescent carbon dots (Cdots) have attracted increasing attention due to their potential applications in sensing, catalysis, and biomedicine. Currently, intensive research has been concentrated on the synthesis and imaging-guided therapy of these benign photoluminescent materials. Meanwhile, Cdots have been explored as nonviral vector for nucleic acid or drug delivery by chemical modification on purpose.We have developed a microwave assisted one-step synthesis of Cdots with citric acid as carbon source and tryptophan (Trp) as both nitrogen source and passivation agent. The Cdots with uniform size show superior water solubility, excellent biocompatibility, and high quantum yield. Afterwards, the PEI (polyethylenimine)-adsorbed Cdots nanoparticles (Cdots@PEI) were applied to deliver Survivin siRNA into human gastric cancer cell line MGC-803. The results have confirmed the nanocarrier exhibited excellent biocompatibility and a significant increase in cellular delivery of siRNA, inducing efficient knockdown for Survivin protein to 6.1%. In addition, PEI@Cdots complexes mediated Survivin silencing, the arrested cell cycle progression in G1 phase as well as cell apoptosis was observed.The Cdots-based and PEI-adsorbed complexes both as imaging agents and siRNA nanocarriers have been developed for Survivin siRNA delivery. And the results indicate that Cdots-based nanocarriers could be utilized in a broad range of siRNA delivery systems for cancer therapy.
Co-reporter:Xiao Zhi, Min Deng, Hao Yang, Guo Gao, Kan Wang, Hualin Fu, Yixia Zhang, Di Chen, Daxiang Cui
Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2014 Volume 54() pp:372-377
Publication Date(Web):15 April 2014
DOI:10.1016/j.bios.2013.11.025
•We fabricated a high sensitivity and time-save HBV genotypes detecting system.•Our design decreases fabricating cost and complexity of microfluidic chip.•The low-cost and excellent detecting system is suitable for clinical detection.•Our method lays a foundation for future multiple targets synchronous detection.Genotyping of hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be used for clinical effective therapeutic drug-selection. A novel microfluidic biochip for HBV genotyping has been fabricated, for the first time, integrating loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), line probes assay (LiPA) and giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors. Coupling LAMP with LiPA in microfluidic chip shortened reaction time substantially, and combining LAMP with GMR sensor enabled limit of detection to attain 10 copies mL−1 target HBV DNA molecules in 1 h. Furthermore, the independent designed GMR sensors and microfluidic chip can decrease manufacturing cost and patient's test-cost, and facilitate GMR detector repeating use for signal detection. In addition, the detection system has a lower background signal owing to application of superparamagnetic nanoclusters. And it can be expected to use for multiple target molecules synchronous detection in microfluidic chip based on a characteristic of stationary reaction temperature of LAMP. In conclusion, the neoteric detecting system is well suitable for quick genotyping diagnosis of clinical HBV and other homothetic biomolecule detection in biological and medical fields.
Co-reporter:Da-Peng Yang, Xiansong Wang, Xiaojun Guo, Xiao Zhi, Kan Wang, Chao Li, Gaoshan Huang, Guangxia Shen, Yongfeng Mei, and Daxiang Cui
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2014 Volume 118(Issue 1) pp:725-731
Publication Date(Web):December 10, 2013
DOI:10.1021/jp409898d
The bandgap engineering of graphene is a challenging task for its potential application. Forming unique structures such as nanoribbons or nanomeshes is an effective way to open up a bandgap in graphene. In this work, a graphene nanomesh (GNM) was prepared through UV-mediated oxidation of a graphene oxide (GO) film at atmosphere. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to track the evolution of the surface morphology of GO during the irradiation. It was observed that a nanoporous network structure was progressively produced in the basal plane, which can be attributed to the fact that highly reactive oxygen species preferentially attack sp3 carbon-rich regions of the GO. In particular, the as-prepared GNM shows interesting semiconducting characteristics and photoluminescence (PL) phenomenon, which make it become a promising candidate for the use of electronics, optoelectronics, and biomedical engineering. Finally, the field-effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated using the as-prepared GNM as the active channel. The measured electrical characteristics indicate that the use of UV/O3 is an available choice to open the bandgap of graphene and tune its properties for optoelectronics or biomedical applications.
Co-reporter:Peiyu Qiu, Na Zhou, Hengyu Chen, Chunlei Zhang, Guo Gao and Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale 2013 vol. 5(Issue 23) pp:11512-11525
Publication Date(Web):16 Sep 2013
DOI:10.1039/C3NR03642A
Owing to their unique photo-physical properties, rare-earth ions-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have attracted extensive attention in recent years. UCNPs have many special merits, such as a long luminescence lifetime, narrow emission band widths, high quantum yields and low toxicity, which allows their potential applications in bio-medical field, biological luminescent labels and drug delivery carriers. Compared with traditional fluorescence labels exited by UV (ultraviolet), such as organic dyes and quantum dots, UCNPs can transfer near-infrared (NIR) light into visible light, which is commonly called upconversion luminescence (UCL). This paper reviews the recent advances of several typical synthesis methods of UCNPs in detail as well as the fabrication and optimization of the particle morphology, and the latest advances of UCNPs for multimode imaging, surface passivation and functionalization are also described.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Chunlei Zhang, Zhijun Zhou, Xin Zhang, Jiebing Ma, Chao Li, Weilin Jin and Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale 2013 vol. 5(Issue 1) pp:351-362
Publication Date(Web):02 Nov 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2NR32850J
Multi-functional rare-earth Yb3+ and Ln3+ (Ln = Er, Tm and Ho) ions doped one-dimensional (1-D) upconversion submicrocrystals (NaYF4 and NaGdF4) possessing upconversion luminescence, biocompatibility and magnetic properties have been synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. Rare-earth Yb3+ and Ln3+ ions doped NaYF4 microrods (∼1 μm in diameter, 3–5 μm in length) exhibit porous properties, and the average pore sizes are ∼28.2 nm. They show paramagnetism in the magnetic range of −60 to −2 kOe and 2 to 60 kOe at 300 K, and exhibit near superparamagnetic behaviour at the magnetic range of −2 to 2 kOe. Saturation magnetization was ∼12.1 emu g−1 at 2 K. The Yb3+ and Ln3+ ions doped NaGdF4 submicrocrystals (∼100 nm in diameter, 200–300 nm in length) show paramagnetism at 300 K, and exhibit superparamagnetic behaviour with a saturation magnetization of 129.2 emu g−1 at 2 K. The magnetic properties of Yb3+ and Ln3+ ions doped 1-D upconversion submicrocrystals indicate they can be used for drug targeting under a magnetic field. Their unique upconversion emission (green for Yb3+/Er3+ and blue for Yb3+/Tm3+) under 980 nm laser excitation indicate that they could be used for specific luminescent immunolabeling and imaging. MTT assays reveal that 1-D upconversion submicrocrystals have satisfactory bio-affinity, where the viability keeps in good state even at a concentration of 500 μg mL−1, which is much higher than the concentration usually used in cell labelling. Luminescent microscopy images show that the morphologies of the cytoskeleton and cell nucleus are well maintained after incubating different concentrations of 1-D upconversion submicrocrystals. After injecting upconversion submicrocrystals into the mice (tumor sites or back normal tissue), a clearly distinguished CT signal was observed, indicating the synthesized 1-D submicrocrystals are effective for CT imaging in vivo.
Co-reporter:Chunlei Zhang, Zhijun Zhou, Qirong Qian, Guo Gao, Chao Li, Lili Feng, Qing Wang and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2013 vol. 1(Issue 38) pp:5045-5053
Publication Date(Web):11 Jul 2013
DOI:10.1039/C3TB20784F
The development of efficient multifunctional nanoprobes for tumour imaging has become a great challenge. Herein, we report for the first time the synthesis of folic acid (FA)-conjugated glutathione (GSH)-capped gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) for dual mode fluorescence/X-ray computed tomography imaging of gastric cancer. Water-soluble GSH-capped Au NCs were synthesized by using tetrabutylammonium borohydride (TBAB) as the reducing agent, and was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The AuNCs@GSH showed excellent photoluminescence properties and negligible cytotoxicity at a concentration as high as 200 μg mL−1. Folic acid was covalently anchored to the AuNCs@GSH; the nanoprobe showed highly selective targeting of the gastric cancer MGC-803 cells revealed by laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining results showed that AuNCs@GSH displayed no toxicity to important organs. In conclusion, the FA-conjugated AuNCs@GSH nanoprobe can be used for gastric cancer fluorescence imaging and X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Therefore, the applications of AuNCs@GSH could be extended and bring more benefits to nanotechnology as an ideal biomedical platform.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Peiyu Qiu, Qirong Qian, Na Zhou, Kan Wang, Hua Song, Hualin Fu, Daxiang Cui
Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2013 Volume 574() pp:340-344
Publication Date(Web):15 October 2013
DOI:10.1016/j.jallcom.2013.05.050
•Highly dispersed hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been synthesized by a facile PEG-200-assisted hydrothermal method.•The formation mechanism was attributed to the Kirkendall effect.•PEG-200 was used to tolerate for the volume variation and severe particles aggregation during the charge–discharge cycling.•The capacity of hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles retained 599 mA h g−1 after 50 cycles at 85 mA h g−1.•Even when cycled at 800 mA h g−1, comparable capacity of 192 mA h g−1 can be achieved.Herein, we have developed a facile one-pot PEG-200-assited hydrothermal method for the controlled-synthesis of highly dispersed hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles (∼150 nm in diameter, ∼25 nm in wall-thickness). Magnetic domains of hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles are relatively regular with domain width of ∼150 nm. The capacity of hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles retained 599 mA h g−1 after 50 cycles at 85 mA h g−1. When returning to the initial rate of 100 mA h g−1, the hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles electrode returns a lower capacity (315 mA h g−1) than the original capacity (433 mA h g−1).
Co-reporter:Jun Chen, Tao zhang, Lili Feng, Meiqing Zhang, Xin Zhang, Haichung Su, Daxiang Cui
Materials Letters 2013 Volume 96() pp:224-227
Publication Date(Web):1 April 2013
DOI:10.1016/j.matlet.2012.11.067
Highly monodisperse and water-soluble Ribonuclease-A (RNase A) copped-Ag2S quantum dots (QDs) clusters were synthesized in aqueous phase via biomimetic route. The final products were characterized by UV–vis absorption, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Our results revealed that RNase A-Ag2S QDs clusters owned a good photoluminescence property. In addition, RNase A-Ag2S QDs exhibited a good biocompatibility by tetrazolium based colorimetric assay (MTT test). In this work, RNase A not only serves as a stabilizer agent in the formation of Ag2S QDs to avoid aggregation, but also is a biomolecule to modify the surface of Ag2S QDs to decrease toxicity. These prepared RNase A-Ag2S QDs clusters have great potential applications in molecular imaging in living cells and tissues.Highlights► RNase A-Ag2S QDs clusters were synthesized via biomimetic route. ► RNase A-Ag2S QDs clusters have good photoluminescence and biocompatibility. ► RNase A-Ag2S QDs clusters have great potential application in molecular imaging.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Qiang Zhang, Kan Wang, Hua Song, Peiyu Qiu, Daxiang Cui
Nano Energy 2013 Volume 2(Issue 5) pp:1010-1018
Publication Date(Web):September 2013
DOI:10.1016/j.nanoen.2013.03.023
•Axial compressive α-Fe2O3 microdisks were synthesized by a novel hydrothermal method.•The α-Fe2O3 microdisks can be compressed to 10–50 times than the original thickness.•This property endows they could alleviate the structural destruction of electrodes.•The α-Fe2O3 microdisks electrodes exhibit good cyclic stability and rate performance.In this paper, α-Fe2O3 microdisks (~1.1 μm in diameter, ~150 nm in thickness) have been synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method using a novel NaNO3–Na2SO4 crystal salts solution (CSS) containing CNTs fragments as template. Interestingly, the synthesized α-Fe2O3 microdisks exhibit a unique axial compressive property. The small-sized CNTs fragments in α-Fe2O3 microdisks could act as a robust framework for such assemblies and endow them the axial compressive property. Owing to the existence of CNTs fragments, the α-Fe2O3 microdisks are not easily destroyed. AFM results indicate that the α-Fe2O3 microdisks could be compressed to 10–50 times than the original thickness. Electrochemical studies show that the synthesized α-Fe2O3 microdisks exhibited good cyclic stability and rate performance. The α-Fe2O3 microdisks electrode delivers a reversible specific capacity of 632 mA h g31 even at a high rate of 800 mA g31. When returning to the initial rate of 100 mA g31, the α-Fe2O3 microdisks electrode returns to a higher capacity (968 mA h g31). The unique axial compressive property of α-Fe2O3 microdisks endows that they could alleviate the pulverization and structural destruction of electrodes during the lithium ion insertion and extraction process.Graphical abstractA facile hydrothermal method for the synthesis of axial compressive α-Fe2O3 microdisks has been demonstrated. The axial compressive property of α-Fe2O3 microdisks endows that they could alleviate the pulverization and structural destruction of electrodes during the lithium ion insertion and extraction process. The synthesized α-Fe2O3 microdisks exhibit good cyclic stability and rate performance when they were used as anode materials of lithium ion batteries.
Co-reporter:Chenyi Hu, Da-Peng Yang, Zhihua Wang, Peng Huang, Xiansong Wang, Di Chen, Daxiang Cui, Mo Yang, Nengqin Jia
Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2013 Volume 41() pp:656-662
Publication Date(Web):15 March 2013
DOI:10.1016/j.bios.2012.09.035
The use of a novel cytosensor, comprised of bio-mimetically synthesized Ag@BSA composite microspheres, for the detection of KB cells (a model system) is described. The Ag@BSA composite microspheres were immobilized on Au electrodes via Au-thiol bonds. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed that the Ag@BSA were well-dispersed microspheres with an average diameter of 500 nm, including the monolayer of BSA. The immobilization of Ag@BSA composite microspheres onto Au electrodes is thought to increase the electrode surface area and accelerate the electron transfer rate while providing a highly stable matrix for the convenient conjugation of target molecules (such as folic acid) and the prolonged incubation of cells. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies showed that the fabricated cytosensor was able to detect KB cells ranging from 6.0×101 to 1.2×108 cells mL−1 with a lower detection limit of 20 cells mL−1. Due to its facile synthesis, high stability and reproducibility and cytocompatibility, the novel cytosensor described here could find multifarious uses in applications, such as cancer diagnosis, drug screening and cell adhesion studies.Highlights►·Ag@BSA composite microspheres were synthesized at room temperature through a biomimetic way. ►·The composites possessed both conductivity and biocompatibility. ►·The composites were immobilized onto Au electrode and conjugated FA as a cytosensor for recognizing cancer cells. ►·The cytosensor showed excellent sensitivity and specificity.
Co-reporter:Xiao Zhi, Hongliang Fang, Chenchen Bao, Guangxia Shen, Jiali Zhang, Kan Wang, Shouwu Guo, Tao Wan, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2013 34(21) pp: 5254-5261
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.03.024
Co-reporter:Chenchen Bao;Lei Chen;Tao Wang;Chong Lei;Furong Tian;Daxiang Cui
Nano-Micro Letters 2013 Volume 5( Issue 3) pp:213-222
Publication Date(Web):2013 September
DOI:10.1007/BF03353752
RGD peptides has been used to detect cell surface integrin and direct clinical effective therapeutic drug selection. Herein we report that a quick one step detection of cell surface marker that was realized by a specially designed NiFe-based magnetic biosensing cell chip combined with functionalized magnetic nanoparticles. Magnetic nanoparticles with 20-30 nm in diameter were prepared by coprecipitation and modified with RGD-4C, and the resultant RGD-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles were used for targeting cancer cells cultured on the NiFe-based magnetic biosensing chip and distinguish the amount of cell surface receptor-integrin. Cell lines such as Calu3, Hela, A549, CaFbr, HEK293 and HUVEC exhibiting different integrin expression were chosen as test samples. Calu3, Hela, HEK293 and HUVEC cells were successfully identified. This approach has advantages in the qualitative screening test. Compared with traditional method, it is fast, sensitive, low cost, easy-operative, and needs very little human intervention. The novel method has great potential in applications such as fast clinical cell surface marker detection, and diagnosis of early cancer, and can be easily extended to other biomedical applications based on molecular recognition.
Co-reporter:Chao Li, Xiansong Wang, Feng Chen, Chunlei Zhang, Xiao Zhi, Kan Wang, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2013 34(15) pp: 3882-3890
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.02.001
Co-reporter:Peng Huang, Jing Lin, Shouju Wang, Zhijun Zhou, Zhiming Li, Zhe Wang, Chunlei Zhang, Xuyi Yue, Gang Niu, Min Yang, Daxiang Cui, Xiaoyuan Chen
Biomaterials 2013 34(19) pp: 4643-4654
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.02.063
Co-reporter:Xiansong Wang, Da-Peng Yang, Gaoshan Huang, Peng Huang, Guangxia Shen, Shouwu Guo, Yongfeng Mei and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2012 vol. 22(Issue 34) pp:17441-17444
Publication Date(Web):11 Jul 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2JM32810K
We demonstrate an efficient and controllable way to roll up graphene oxide sheets into micro/nanoscrolls, where the rolling process is highly enhanced by nanoparticle aggregation. Nanoparticles like Ag and Fe3O4 attached onto graphene oxide sheets can help the rolling process, which may be expected to expand into other inorganic nanoparticles.
Co-reporter:Xiansong Wang, Da-Peng Yang, Peng Huang, Min Li, Chao Li, Di Chen and Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale 2012 vol. 4(Issue 24) pp:7766-7772
Publication Date(Web):23 Oct 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2NR32405A
The hierarchically assembled Au microspheres/sea urchin-like structures have been synthesized in aqueous solution at room temperature with and without proteins (bovine serum albumin, BSA) as mediators. The average diameter of an individual Au microsphere is 300–600 nm, which is composed of some compact nanoparticles with an average diameter of about 15 nm. Meanwhile, the sea urchin-like Au architecture exhibits an average diameter of 600–800 nm, which is made up of some nanopricks with an average length of 100–200 nm. These products are characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). It is found that the BSA and ascorbic acid (AA) have great effects on the morphology of the resulting products. Two different growth mechanisms are proposed. The study on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activities is also carried out between Au microspheres and Au sea urchin-like architectures. It is found that Au urchin-like architectures possess much higher SERS activity than the Au microspheres. Our work may shed light on the design and synthesis of hierarchically self-assembled 3D micro/nano-architectures for SERS, catalysis and biosensors.
Co-reporter:Jun Chen, Yifei Kong, Jiajia Ji, Jing Ruan, Kan Wang, Feng Gao and Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale 2012 vol. 4(Issue 15) pp:4455-4458
Publication Date(Web):25 May 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2NR30621B
Herein, a novel structural transformation of Ag2S nanoparticles from hollow particles to solid spheres is reported. The features of these structures are identified through a set of characterizations based on which the formation mechanism is also investigated.
Co-reporter:Xiao Zhi, Qingsheng Liu, Xin Zhang, Yixia Zhang, Jie Feng and Daxiang Cui
Lab on a Chip 2012 vol. 12(Issue 4) pp:741-745
Publication Date(Web):06 Jan 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2LC20949G
Genotyping of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) can be used to direct clinically effective therapeutic drug-selection. Herein we report that a quick genotyping method for human HBV was established by a specially designed giant magnetoresistive (GMR) biochip combined with magnetic nanoclusters (MNCs), PCR and line probe assay. Magnetic nanoclusters of around 180 nm in diameter were prepared and modified with streptavidin, and resultant streptavidin-modified magnetic nanoclusters were used for capturing biotin-labeled hybrid products on the detection interface of the sensor. The gene fragments of HBV’s B and C gene types were obtained by PCR based on a template of B- and C-type plasmids. After gene fragments were hybridized with captured probes, streptavidin-modified magnetic nanoclusters could bind with biotin-conjugated gene fragments, and the resultant hydride products could be quickly detected and distinguished by the GMR sensor, with a detection sensitivity of 200 IU mL−1 target HBV DNA molecules. The novel method has great potential application in clinical HBV genotyping diagnosis, and can be easily extended to other biomedical applications based on molecular recognition.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Kan Wang, Peng Huang, Yixia Zhang, Xiao Zhi, Chenchen Bao and Daxiang Cui
CrystEngComm 2012 vol. 14(Issue 22) pp:7556-7559
Publication Date(Web):11 Jun 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2CE25395J
Dispersed superparamagnetic Fe3O4–Ag hybrid nanocrystals were successfully synthesized by a seed-assisted hydrothermal strategy. The diameter of the Fe3O4–Ag nanocrystals is 10–20 nm, and the magnetization saturation is over 40 emu g−1. This facilitates their potential applications in magnetic resonance imaging for medical diagnosis.
Co-reporter:Xiansong Wang, Peng Huang, Lili Feng, Meng He, Shouwu Guo, Guangxia Shen and Daxiang Cui
RSC Advances 2012 vol. 2(Issue 9) pp:3816-3822
Publication Date(Web):14 Feb 2012
DOI:10.1039/C2RA00008C
Silver nanoparticles, nanocubes and dendrites were controllably synthesized on graphene oxide (GO) sheets by use of GO as substrates and reducing agents combined with different concentrations of silver ions, sampling orders and different reaction times at room temperature. The prepared GO–silver hybrids were characterized by transmission and scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, zeta potential, and X-ray diffraction. Moreover, the GO–silver hybrids displayed a singular remarkable surface-enhanced Raman scattering effect. The intensity increase can be adjusted by changing the concentration of the silver ions in the reaction solution.
Co-reporter:Feng Chen, Peng Huang, Ying-Jie Zhu, Jin Wu, Da-Xiang Cui
Biomaterials 2012 33(27) pp: 6447-6455
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.05.059
Co-reporter:Jing Ruan, Hua Song, Qirong Qian, Chao Li, Kan Wang, Chenchen Bao, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2012 33(29) pp: 7093-7102
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.06.053
Co-reporter:Peng Huang;Omar Pandoli;Xiansong Wang;Zhe Wang;Zhiming Li
Nano Research 2012 Volume 5( Issue 9) pp:630-639
Publication Date(Web):2012 September
DOI:10.1007/s12274-012-0248-8
Co-reporter:Meng He;Dr. Peng Huang;Dr. Chunlei Zhang;Jiebing Ma; Rong He; Daxiang Cui
Chemistry - A European Journal 2012 Volume 18( Issue 19) pp:5954-5969
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1002/chem.201102419
Abstract
Herein, we introduce a facile, user- and environmentally friendly (n-octanol-induced) oleic acid (OA)/ionic liquid (IL) two-phase system for the phase- and size-controllable synthesis of water-soluble hexagonal rare earth (RE=La, Gd, and Y) fluoride nanocrystals with uniform morphologies (mainly spheres and elongated particles) and small sizes (<50 nm). The unique role of the IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BmimPF6) and n-octanol in modulating the phase structure and particle size are discussed in detail. More importantly, the mechanism of the (n-octanol-induced) OA/IL two-phase system, the formation of the RE fluoride nanocrystals, and the distinctive size- and morphology-controlling capacity of the system are presented. BmimPF6 is versatile in term of crystal-phase manipulation, size and shape maintenance, and providing water solubility in a one-step reaction. The luminescent properties of Er3+-, Ho3+-, and Tm3+-doped LaF3, NaGdF4, and NaYF4 nanocrystals were also studied. It is worth noting that the as-prepared products can be directly dispersed in water due to the hydrophilic property of Bmim+ (cationic part of the IL) as a capping agent. This advantageous feature has made the IL-capped products favorable in facile surface modifications, such as the classic Stober method. Finally, the cytotoxicity evaluation of NaYF4:Yb,Er nanocrystals before and after silica coating was conducted for further biological applications.
Co-reporter:Lifeng Qi, Lixia Wu, Shu Zheng, Yilong Wang, Hualin Fu, and Daxiang Cui
Biomacromolecules 2012 Volume 13(Issue 9) pp:
Publication Date(Web):August 22, 2012
DOI:10.1021/bm3006903
RNA interference is one of the most promising technologies for cancer therapeutics, while the development of a safe and effective small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery system is still challenging. Here, amphipol polymer and protamine peptide were employed to modify magnetic nanoparticles to form cell-penetrating magnetic nanoparticles (CPMNs). The unique CPMN could efficiently deliver the eGFP siRNA intracellularly and silence the eGFP expression in cancer cells, which was verified by fluorescent imaging of cancer cells. Compared with lipofectamine and polyethyleneimine (PEI), CPMNs showed superior silencing efficiency and biocompatibility with minimum siRNA concentration as 5 nm in serum-containing medium. CPMN was proved to be an efficient siRNA delivery system, which will have great potential in applications as a universal transmembrane carrier for intracellular gene delivery and simultaneous MRI imaging.
Co-reporter:Jiebing Ma, Peng Huang, Meng He, Liyuan Pan, Zhijun Zhou, Lili Feng, Guo Gao, and Daxiang Cui
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2012 Volume 116(Issue 48) pp:14062-14070
Publication Date(Web):November 7, 2012
DOI:10.1021/jp309059u
Development of multimodal contrast agents for in vivo simultaneous multimodality imaging is an emerging interdiscipline that is paving the avenue toward the goal of personalized medicine. Herein, folic acid-conjugated silica-modified LaF3:Yb,Tm upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs@SiO2-FA) with high La content in a single particle were strategically designed and prepared for simultaneously targeting dual-modality imaging of upconversion luminescence (UCL) and X-ray computed tomography (CT). LaF3 UCNPs were synthesized by a novel oleic acid (OA)/ionic liquid (IL) two-phase system. Afterward, a folic acid molecule was covalently anchored on the surface of UCNPs with a silane coupling agent. The UCNPs@SiO2-FA exhibits good stability, water dispersibility and solubility, low cytotoxicity, good biocompatibility, highly selective targeting, excellent X-ray attenuation, and UCL emission under excitation at 980 nm. In vivo UCL and CT images of mice show the UCNPs@SiO2-FA can be used in targeting dual-modality imaging. These results suggest that the as-prepared nanoprobe is a good candidate with excellent imaging and targeting ability for targeting dual-modality imaging of UCL and CT.
Co-reporter:Meng He;Peng Huang;Chunlei Zhang;Hengyao Hu;Chenchen Bao;Guo Gao;Rong He ;Daxiang Cui
Advanced Functional Materials 2011 Volume 21( Issue 23) pp:4470-4477
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1002/adfm.201101040
Abstract
A novel OA/ionic liquid two-phase system combining the merits of thermal decomposition method, the IL-based strategy, and the two-phase approach is introduced to synthesize high-quality lanthanide-doped NaGdF4 upconversion nanocrystals with different crystal-phases in OA-phase and IL-phase through a one-step controllable reaction. Oil-dispersible cubic-phase NaGdF4:Yb, Er (Ho, Tm) nanocrystals with ultra-small size (∼5 nm) and monodispersity are obtained in the OA phase of the two-phase system via an IL-based reaction. More importantly, water-soluble hexagonal-phase NaGdF4:Yb, Er nanocrystals are obtained in the same system simply by adopting an extremely facile method to complete the dual phase-transition (crystal-phase transition and OA-phase to IL-phase transition) simultaneously. The synthesized lanthanide-doped NaGdF4 upconversion nanocrystals are effective for dual-mode UCL imaging and CT imaging in vivo.
Co-reporter:Peng Huang, Da-Peng Yang, Chunlei Zhang, Jing Lin, Meng He, Le Bao and Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale 2011 vol. 3(Issue 9) pp:3623-3626
Publication Date(Web):15 Aug 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1NR10586H
Biocompatible Ag@BSA microspheres were successfully synthesized via one-pot reaction in aqueous phase at room temperature by using BSA as soft templates. The individual Ag microsphere is composed of nanoscale Ag assemblies and shows enhanced radiation effects on gastric cancer cells.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Haixia Wu, Yixia Zhang, Kan Wang, Peng Huang, Xueqing Zhang, Shouwu Guo and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2011 vol. 21(Issue 33) pp:12224-12227
Publication Date(Web):22 Jul 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1JM12535D
A facile hydrothermal route for one-step synthesis of Fe3O4@C nanotubes (50–100 nm in diameter, several micrometres in length) via rolling graphite oxide sheets has been developed. Functional oxygen groups (e.g., –COOH, –OH and –CO) on the surface of graphite oxide sheets act as the nucleation sites for Fe2+ precipitates. The synthesized Fe3O4@C nanotubes exhibit a strong affinity to adriamycin with a high adsorption capacity (101.3 μg mg−1).
Co-reporter:Meng He, Peng Huang, Chunlei Zhang, Feng Chen, Can Wang, Jiebing Ma, Rong He and Daxiang Cui
Chemical Communications 2011 vol. 47(Issue 33) pp:9510-9512
Publication Date(Web):19 Jul 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1CC12886H
Herein we report a general strategy to synthesize highly uniform and monodisperse rare earth fluoride nanocrystals through a novel OA/ionic liquid two-phase system, while water-soluble hexagonal NaREF4 nanocrystals are obtained by adding n-octanol.
Co-reporter:Omar Pandoli, Alessandro Massi, Alberto Cavazzini, Gian Piero Spada and Daxiang Cui
Analyst 2011 vol. 136(Issue 18) pp:3713-3719
Publication Date(Web):28 Jul 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1AN15288B
Herein we report the chemical reduction of silver ions incorporated into chiral supramolecular nanostructures by NaBH4 in buffered (basic) and unbuffered conditions. In situself-assembly of guanosine 5′-monophosphate (5′-GMP) templated by Ag(I) and generation of silver nanoparticles (NPs) were continuously monitored by CD and UV-Vis spectroscopy measurements. 5′-GMP has been identified as an efficient chiral organic ligand to complex silver ions into a hierarchical helical nanostructure and is a useful capping agent for stabilizing silver NPs with a size diameter lower than 20 nm. The observation of opposite signed bands in the CD spectra of Ag(I)/5′-GMP complexes at different pH has suggested the existence of opposite-handed supramolecular helical structures depending on pH. Both helical supramolecular structures induce chirality in the silver NPs during their growth of the same handedness as shown by the CD signals in the plasmon resonance band.
Co-reporter:Hengyao Hu, Hao Yang, Ding Li, Kan Wang, Jing Ruan, Xueqing Zhang, Jun Chen, Chenchen Bao, Jiajia Ji, Donglu Shi and Daxiang Cui
Analyst 2011 vol. 136(Issue 4) pp:679-683
Publication Date(Web):03 Nov 2010
DOI:10.1039/C0AN00517G
Magnetic nanoclusters (MNCs) were synthesized in a one-pot process, carboxylic MNCs and dual-functional protein were prepared and used to capture hepatitis B virus surface antibodies (anti-HBs) in simulated diseased oral mucosal transudate (OMT) samples. The specific substrate of dual-functional protein, dual-labeled double-chained DNA molecules, based on Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), was used to amplify the detection signal and the detection limit of 0.1 ng mL−1 of anti-HBs monoclonal antibodies was achieved. Combination MNCs with dual-functional protein enables the noninvasive detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antibodies in OMT samples, showing promise as a diagnostic tool for the OMT diagnosis of infectious diseases with sensitive, specific and facile capabilities.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Wenjun Gao, Xinqiu Guo, Hong Wang, Haixia Wu, Chunlei Zhang, Can Wang and Daxiang Cui
CrystEngComm 2011 vol. 13(Issue 20) pp:6045-6049
Publication Date(Web):26 Aug 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1CE05651D
A facile PEG-200 assisted solution route for the synthesis of single-crystalline α-Fe2O3 nanobelts (20–40 nm in width, hundreds of nanometres in length) at 85 °C for 30 min has been developed. Electrochemical studies indicate the synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanobelts exhibit excellent discharge and charge capacities of 1068 mAh g−1 and 701 mAh g−1, which allow them to be a potential candidate for capacitor application.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Peng Huang, Yixia Zhang, Kan Wang, Wei Qin and Daxiang Cui
CrystEngComm 2011 vol. 13(Issue 6) pp:1782-1785
Publication Date(Web):26 Nov 2010
DOI:10.1039/C0CE00584C
Herein, we report a facile solvothermal route for the gram scale synthesis of near monodisperse superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles and fluid. The efficacy in generating large scale Fe3O4 nanoparticles arises from the interfacial hydroxyl-aided Ostwald ripening process. Uniform Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been obtained in a high scale (∼1.19 g per one-pot).
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Haixia Wu, Wenjun Gao, Yixia Zhang, Peng Huang and Daxiang Cui
CrystEngComm 2011 vol. 13(Issue 23) pp:6950-6954
Publication Date(Web):12 Oct 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1CE05994G
Highly dispersed FeCO3–Fe3O4 nanoparticles with uniform diameters (∼30 nm) and flower-like assemblies (100–150 nm) were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method. The prepared FeCO3–Fe3O4 composites show good thermal stability, magnetic responsiveness and good adsorption behavior for methylene blue trihydrate in water treatment.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Haixia Wu, Yixia Zhang, Teng Luo, Lili Feng, Peng Huang, Meng He and Daxiang Cui
CrystEngComm 2011 vol. 13(Issue 15) pp:4810-4813
Publication Date(Web):02 Jun 2011
DOI:10.1039/C1CE05371J
A novel hydrothermal dephosphorylation route for the synthesis of ultrasmall nucleotide-coated superparamagnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (∼5 nm) has been demonstrated. The synthesized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles show excellent thermal stability, water dispersion and biocompatibility, allowing possible applications for in vivo X-ray contrast agents.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Peng Huang, Kan Wang, Rong He, Daxiang Cui
Powder Technology 2011 Volume 205(1–3) pp:270-275
Publication Date(Web):10 January 2011
DOI:10.1016/j.powtec.2010.09.032
A facile solution precipitation route (between Ca2+ and CO32−) for the gram-scale synthesis of uniform micro-CaCO3 from cubes, to spheres, to ellipses, to oblates, and to rods via control of the type and amount of oriented additives (dodecyl sodium sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, Ba2+ and Co2+) has been demonstrated. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In the presence of Ba2+, dispersed micro-CaCO3 spheres (average diameter is 2391.1 nm, the majority particles are distributed in the range of 1574.1 to 4068.2 nm) could be vastly obtained in a highly morphological yield (~ 100%). The formation process of these microstructures was clarified as the synergic effect of oriented arrangement and ripening mechanism with face-selective additives adsorption on the growing CaCO3 particles.A facile solution route has been successfully applied in the gram-scale synthesis of micro-CaCO3 with different shapes. The formation process was clarified as the synergic effect of oriented arrangement and ripening mechanism with face-selective additives adsorption on the growing CaCO3 particles (Scheme 1).
Co-reporter:Lei Chen, Chen-Chen Bao, Hao Yang, Ding Li, Chong Lei, Tao Wang, Heng-Yao Hu, Meng He, Yong Zhou, Da-Xiang Cui
Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2011 Volume 26(Issue 7) pp:3246-3253
Publication Date(Web):15 March 2011
DOI:10.1016/j.bios.2010.12.034
A targeted detection of gastric cancer cells is achieved by combining the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI)-based biosensing system and RGD-4C peptide coupled, chitosan covered superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (RGD-Fe3O4@chitosan). The micro-patterned GMI sensor for targeted detection is made of Co-based ribbon and fabricated by micro electromechanical system (MEMS) technology. Functionalized nanoparticles were designed by coating Fe3O4 with chitosan and conjugating with RGD-4C peptides. The targeted cells were trickled down into the detection area of the system. The detection of each sample is carried out in ten-fold manner and average value is taken as the final result. This system can identify the differences between targeted cells and non-targeted cells. It is of considerable interest due to its potential application in the biomedical field of various specific detections.
Co-reporter:Dr. Peng Huang;Le Bao;Dr. Dapeng Yang;Dr. Guo Gao;Dr. Jing Lin;Dr. Zhiming Li;Chunlei Zhang; Daxiang Cui
Chemistry – An Asian Journal 2011 Volume 6( Issue 5) pp:1156-1162
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1002/asia.201000818
Abstract
Bovine serum albumin (BSA)-conjugated MxSey (M=Ag, Cd, Pb, Cu) nanomaterials with different shapes and sizes were synthesized in water at room temperature by a protein-directed, solution-phase, green synthetic method. The method features very low energy consumption and nontoxic reagents with high yields of concentrated nanoparticles. The obtained bioconjugated nanoparticles have good dispersibility, bioactivity, and biocompatibility. In addition, various functional groups of protein on the surface of the nanocrystals are suitable for further biological interactions or couplings, which is very important for further biological applications.
Co-reporter:Peng Huang, Zhiming Li, Jing Lin, Dapeng Yang, Guo Gao, Cheng Xu, Le Bao, Chunlei Zhang, Kan Wang, Hua Song, Hengyao Hu, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2011 32(13) pp: 3447-3458
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.01.032
Co-reporter:Feng Chen, Peng Huang, Ying-Jie Zhu, Jin Wu, Chun-Lei Zhang, Da-Xiang Cui
Biomaterials 2011 32(34) pp: 9031-9039
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.08.032
Co-reporter:Peng Huang, Le Bao, Chunlei Zhang, Jing Lin, Teng Luo, Dapeng Yang, Meng He, Zhiming Li, Guo Gao, Bing Gao, Shen Fu, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2011 32(36) pp: 9796-9809
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.08.086
Co-reporter:Da-Peng Yang, Shouhui Chen, Peng Huang, Xiansong Wang, Weiqiao Jiang, Omar Pandoli and Daxiang Cui
Green Chemistry 2010 vol. 12(Issue 11) pp:2038-2042
Publication Date(Web):07 Oct 2010
DOI:10.1039/C0GC00431F
Template-driven strategy is widely explored for the synthesis of nano/micro materials. Of all the templates studied, naturally occurring biological systems such as proteins, viruses and bacteria have attracted more attention due to the prolific sources and complex structural diversities. Herein, we report a simple bacteria templated synthesis of silver microspheres over a bottom-up controlled route. These as-prepared silver microspheres not only have narrow size distribution but possess hollow and porous structures. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) experiments using 2-mercaptopyridine (2-Mpy) as probing molecules show that these hollow porous microspheres can act as excellent substrate for ultrasensitive detecting. The detection limit is as low as 10−15 M and the enhancement factor reaches to 1011. Compared with other conventional SERS substrates, the reproducible, high sensitive and cost-effective Ag microspheres could become an ideal substrate choice for practical SERS application.
Co-reporter:Peng Huang, Jing Lin, Zhiming Li, Hengyao Hu, Kan Wang, Guo Gao, Rong He and Daxiang Cui
Chemical Communications 2010 vol. 46(Issue 26) pp:4800-4802
Publication Date(Web):25 May 2010
DOI:10.1039/C0CC00307G
Herein we report a general synthesis strategy for metallic nanocrystals in a two-phase liquid–liquid system, which involves a quite fast nucleation stage overlapped with the growth stage within 10 min.
Co-reporter:Hengyao Hu, Hao Yang, Peng Huang, Daxiang Cui, Yanqing Peng, Jingchang Zhang, Fengyuan Lu, Jie Lian and Donglu Shi
Chemical Communications 2010 vol. 46(Issue 22) pp:3866-3868
Publication Date(Web):07 May 2010
DOI:10.1039/B927321B
A small amount of ionic liquid [bmim][BF4] was found to be an efficient aid for microwave heating of nonpolar dibenzyl ether in high temperature solution-phase synthesis of monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles. It was found to act as both microwave absorber and assistant stabilizer in the reactive process and was recovered and reused in successive reactions.
Co-reporter:Zhiming Li, Peng Huang, Xuejun Zhang, Jing Lin, Sen Yang, Bing Liu, Feng Gao, Peng Xi, Qiushi Ren and Daxiang Cui
Molecular Pharmaceutics 2010 Volume 7(Issue 1) pp:94-104
Publication Date(Web):November 5, 2009
DOI:10.1021/mp9001415
Successful development of safe and effective nanoprobes for tumor targeting and selective therapy is a challenging task. Although gold nanorods(GNRs) have the potential to perform such a role, the toxicity of surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromides (CTAB) on their surfaces limits their applications. Here, polyamidoamine dendrimer was applied to replace CTAB molecules on the surface of gold nanorods. When the resultant dendrimer-modified gold nanorods conjugated with arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptides, they showed highly selective targeting and destructive effects on the cancer cells and solid tumors under near-infrared laser irradiation. Also, we successfully observed the disappearance of tumors implanted in four sample mice from test group of ten. High-performance RGD-conjugated dendrimer-modified GNR nanoprobes exhibit great potential in applications such as tumor targeting, imaging, and selective photothermal therapy.Keywords: Gold nanorods; photothermal therapy; polyamidoamine dendrimer; RGD peptide;
Co-reporter:Zhiming Li, Peng Huang, Rong He, Jing Lin, Sen Yang, Xuejun Zhang, Qiushi Ren, Daxiang Cui
Materials Letters 2010 Volume 64(Issue 3) pp:375-378
Publication Date(Web):15 February 2010
DOI:10.1016/j.matlet.2009.11.022
Targeted quantum dots have shown potential as a platform for development of cancer imaging. Aptamers have recently been demonstrated as ideal candidates for molecular targeting applications. In the present work, polyamidoamine dendrimers were used to modify quantum dots and improve their solubility in water solution. Then, dendrimer-modified quantum dot nanocomposites conjugated with a DNA aptamer, GBI-10, can recognize the extracellular matrix protein tenascin-C on the surface of human glioblastoma cells. Aptamer-conjugated quantum dots can specifically target U251 human glioblastoma cells. High-performance aptamer-conjugated dendrimer-modified quantum dots maybe general nanoprobes, and have great potential in applications such as cancer targeting and molecular imaging.
Co-reporter:Peng Huang;Yifei Kong;Zhiming Li;Feng Gao;Daxiang Cui
Nanoscale Research Letters 2010 Volume 5( Issue 6) pp:
Publication Date(Web):2010 June
DOI:10.1007/s11671-010-9587-0
Herein we firstly reported a simple, environment-friendly, controllable synthetic method of CuSe nanosnakes at room temperature using copper salts and sodium selenosulfate as the reactants, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as foaming agent. As the amounts of selenide ions (Se2−) released from Na2SeSO3 in the solution increased, the cubic and snake-like CuSe nanostructures were formed gradually, the cubic nanostructures were captured by the CuSe nanosnakes, the CuSe nanosnakes grew wider and longer as the reaction time increased. Finally, the cubic CuSe nanostructures were completely replaced by BSA–CuSe nanosnakes. The prepared BSA–CuSe nanosnakes exhibited enhanced biocompatibility than the CuSe nanocrystals, which highly suggest that as-prepared BSA–CuSe nanosnakes have great potentials in applications such as biomedical engineering.
Co-reporter:Hao Yang;Ding Li;Rong He;Qin Guo;Kan Wang;Xueqing Zhang
Nanoscale Research Letters 2010 Volume 5( Issue 5) pp:
Publication Date(Web):2010 May
DOI:10.1007/s11671-010-9578-1
One-step lateral flow test is recommended as the first line screening of syphilis for primary healthcare settings in developing countries. However, it generally shows low sensitivity. We describe here the development of a novel fluorescent POC (Point Of Care) test method to be used for screening for syphilis. The method was designed to combine the rapidness of lateral flow test and sensitiveness of fluorescent method. 50 syphilis-positive specimens and 50 healthy specimens conformed by Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA) were tested with Quantum Dot-labeled and colloidal gold-labeled lateral flow test strips, respectively. The results showed that both sensitivity and specificity of the quantum dots–based method reached up to 100% (95% confidence interval [CI], 91–100%), while those of the colloidal gold-based method were 82% (95% CI, 68–91%) and 100% (95% CI, 91–100%), respectively. In addition, the naked-eye detection limit of quantum dot–based method could achieve 2 ng/ml of anti-TP47 polyclonal antibodies purified by affinity chromatography with TP47 antigen, which was tenfold higher than that of colloidal gold–based method. In conclusion, the quantum dots were found to be suitable for labels of lateral flow test strip. Its ease of use, sensitiveness and low cost make it well-suited for population-based on-the-site syphilis screening.
Co-reporter:Hua Song, Rong He, Kan Wang, Jing Ruan, Chenchen Bao, Na Li, Jiajia Ji, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials 2010 31(8) pp: 2302-2312
Publication Date(Web):
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.11.067
Co-reporter:Rong He, Da-xiang Cui, Feng Gao
Materials Letters 2009 Volume 63(Issue 20) pp:1662-1664
Publication Date(Web):15 August 2009
DOI:10.1016/j.matlet.2009.05.003
In this study, the fluorescence ethosomes (ES-QDs) composed of hydrophilic CdTe fluorescent clusters (quantum dots, QDs) were prepared. The prepared ES-QDs with even particle size were obtained by extruding the vesicles through polycarbonate membrane filters and were characterized by TEM SEM HPPS and photoluminescence spectra. Their in vitro experiments to penetrate into human skin scar were performed by using the Franz diffusion cell. Results showed that the prepared ES-QDs not only have the properties of ethosome to penetrate the skin scar tissues but also have the fluorescence labeling properties of the quantum dots. The prepared ES-QDs have potential clinical application in therapy of skin scar.
Co-reporter:Hao Yang;Qing Guo;Rong He;Ding Li;Xueqing Zhang
Nanoscale Research Letters 2009 Volume 4( Issue 12) pp:
Publication Date(Web):2009 December
DOI:10.1007/s11671-009-9422-7
Quantum dot is a special kind of nanomaterial composed of periodic groups of II–VI, III–V or IV–VI materials. Their high quantum yield, broad absorption with narrow photoluminescence spectra and high resistance to photobleaching, make them become a promising labeling substance in biological analysis. Here, we report a quick and parallel analytical method based on quantum dots for ToRCH-related antibodies including Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella virus, Cytomegalovirus and Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) and 2 (HSV2). Firstly, we fabricated the microarrays with the five kinds of ToRCH-related antigens and used CdTe quantum dots to label secondary antibody and then analyzed 100 specimens of randomly selected clinical sera from obstetric outpatients. The currently prevalent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits were considered as “golden standard” for comparison. The results show that the quantum dots labeling-based ToRCH microarrays have comparable sensitivity and specificity with ELISA. Besides, the microarrays hold distinct advantages over ELISA test format in detection time, cost, operation and signal stability. Validated by the clinical assay, our quantum dots-based ToRCH microarrays have great potential in the detection of ToRCH-related pathogens.
Co-reporter:Daxiang Cui, Bifeng Pan, Hong Zhang, Feng Gao, Rina Wu, Jingping Wang, Rong He and Toru Asahi
Analytical Chemistry 2008 Volume 80(Issue 21) pp:7996
Publication Date(Web):September 25, 2008
DOI:10.1021/ac800992m
A highly selective, ultrasensitive, fluorescence detection method for DNA and antigen based on self-assembly of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and CdSe quantum dots (QDs) via oligonucleotide hybridization is reported. Mercaptoalkyloligonucleotide molecules bind to the quantum dots, while amineoalkyloligonucleotides bind to CNTs with −COCl surface groups. QDs and CNTs further assemble into nanohybrids through DNA hybridization in the presence of target complementary oligonucleotides. The method is achieved with good repeatability with the detection limit of 0.2 pM DNA molecules and 0.01 nM antigen molecules. This novel detection system can also be used for multicomponent detection and antigen−antibody immunoreaction. The novel system has great potential in applications such as ultrasensitive pathogen DNA or antigen or antibody detection, molecular imaging, and photoelectrical biosensors.
Co-reporter:Hao Chen, Feng Gao, Rong He, Daxiang Cui
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2007 Volume 315(Issue 1) pp:158-163
Publication Date(Web):1 November 2007
DOI:10.1016/j.jcis.2007.06.052
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are synthesized by chemical reduction method and characterized by UV–vis spectra, transmission electron microscopy, and high performance particle sizer. We have found that AgNPs could enhance the chemiluminescence (CL) intensity of luminol–H2O2 system. In this reaction, luminol intermediate is generated under alkaline condition on the surface of AgNPs in luminol–H2O2 system and enhances CL intensity. To validate the reaction mechanism, AgNPs are bound with thioglycolic acid (Ag–HSCH2COOH) and then joined to BSA protein (Ag–BSA). We investigate the CL intensity in the presence of Ag–HSCH2COOH or Ag–BSA comparing with that in the presence of AgNPs and conclude the catalytic reaction take place on the surface of AgNPs.The figure shows chemiluminescence spectra of silver nanoparticles of different diameters. Silver nanoparticles could enhance the chemiluminescence intensity of luminol–H2O2 system.
Co-reporter:Bi-feng Pan 潘碧峰 崔大祥;Ping Xu 徐萍
Chinese Journal of Cancer Research 2007 Volume 19( Issue 1) pp:1-6
Publication Date(Web):2007 March
DOI:10.1007/s11670-007-0001-0
To investigate the efficiency of polyamidoamine dendrimer grafted carbon nanotube (dendrimer-CNT) mediated entrance of anti-survivin oligonucleotide into MCF-7 cells, and its effects on the growth of MCF-7 cells.Antisense survivin oligonucleotide was anchored onto polyamidoamine dendrimer grafted carbon nanotubes to form dendrimer-CNT-asODN complex and the complex was characterized by Zeta potential, AFM, TEM, and 1% agarose gel electrophoresis analysis. Dendrimer-CNT-asODN complexes were added into the medium and incubated with MCF-7 cells. MTT method was used to detect the effects of asODN and dendrimer-CNT-asODN on the growth of MCF-7 cells. TEM was used to observe the distribution of dendrimer-CNT-asODN complex within MCF-7 cells.Successful synthesis of dendrimer-CNT-asODN complexes was proved by TEM, AFM and agarose gel electrophoresis. TEM showed that the complexes were located in the cytoplasm, endosome, and lysosome within MCF-7 cells. When dendrimer-CNT-asODN (1.0 μmol/L) and asODN (1.0 μmol/L) were used for 120 h incubation, the inhibitory rates of MCF-7 cells were (28.22±3.5)% for dendrimer-CNT-asODN complex group, (9.23±0.56)% for only asODN group, and (3.44±0.25)% for dendrimer-CNT group. Dendrimer-CNT-asODN complex at 3.0 μmol/L inhibited MCF-7 cells by (30.30±10.62)%, and the inhibitory effects were in a time-and concentration-dependent manner.Dendrimer-CNT nanoparticles may serve as a gene delivery vector with high efficiency, which can bring foreign gene into cancer cells, inhibiting cancer cell proliferation and markedly enhancing the cancer therapy effects.
Co-reporter:Wenxiu Hou, Fangfang Xia, Gabriel Alfranca, Hao Yan, Xiao Zhi, Yanlei Liu, Chen Peng, Chunlei Zhang, Jesus Martinez de la Fuente, Daxiang Cui
Biomaterials (March 2017) Volume 120() pp:
Publication Date(Web):March 2017
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2016.12.027
It is essential to develop a simple synthetic strategy to improve the quality of multifunctional contrast agents for cancer diagnosis. Herein, we report a time-saving method for gadolinium (Gd3+) ions-mediated self-assembly of gold nanoclusters (GNCs) into monodisperse spherical nanoparticles (GNCNs) under mild conditions. The monodisperse, regular and colloidal stable GNCNs were formed via selectively inducing electrostatic interactions between negatively-charged carboxylic groups of gold nanoclusters and trivalent cations of gadolinium in aqueous solution. In this way, the Gd3+ ions were chelated into GNCNs without the use of molecular gadolinium chelates. With the co-existence of GNCs and Gd3+ ions, the formed GNCNs exhibit significant luminescence intensity enhancement for near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, high X-ray attenuation for computed tomography (CT) imaging and reasonable r1 relaxivity for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The excellent biocompatibility of the GNCNs was proved both in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, the GNCNs also possess unique NIRF/CT/MR imaging ability in A549 tumor-bearing mice. In a nutshell, the simple and safe GNCNs hold great potential for tumor multi-modality clinical diagnosis.
Co-reporter:Daxiang Cui, Yao Yang, Jinjin Zhang, Meng Yang, Chao Li, Fei Pan, Weilin Jin
Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine (February 2016) Volume 12(Issue 2) pp:456
Publication Date(Web):February 2016
DOI:10.1016/j.nano.2015.12.027
Co-reporter:Daxiang Cui, Yao Yang, Jinjin Zhang, Meng Yang, Chao Li, Fei Pan, Weilin Jin
Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine (February 2016) Volume 12(Issue 2) pp:456
Publication Date(Web):February 2016
DOI:10.1016/j.nano.2015.12.027
Co-reporter:Chunlei Zhang, Zhijun Zhou, Qirong Qian, Guo Gao, Chao Li, Lili Feng, Qing Wang and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2013 - vol. 1(Issue 38) pp:NaN5053-5053
Publication Date(Web):2013/07/11
DOI:10.1039/C3TB20784F
The development of efficient multifunctional nanoprobes for tumour imaging has become a great challenge. Herein, we report for the first time the synthesis of folic acid (FA)-conjugated glutathione (GSH)-capped gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) for dual mode fluorescence/X-ray computed tomography imaging of gastric cancer. Water-soluble GSH-capped Au NCs were synthesized by using tetrabutylammonium borohydride (TBAB) as the reducing agent, and was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The AuNCs@GSH showed excellent photoluminescence properties and negligible cytotoxicity at a concentration as high as 200 μg mL−1. Folic acid was covalently anchored to the AuNCs@GSH; the nanoprobe showed highly selective targeting of the gastric cancer MGC-803 cells revealed by laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining results showed that AuNCs@GSH displayed no toxicity to important organs. In conclusion, the FA-conjugated AuNCs@GSH nanoprobe can be used for gastric cancer fluorescence imaging and X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Therefore, the applications of AuNCs@GSH could be extended and bring more benefits to nanotechnology as an ideal biomedical platform.
Co-reporter:Feng Chen, Peng Huang, Chao Qi, Bing-Qiang Lu, Xin-Yu Zhao, Chao Li, Jin Wu, Da-Xiang Cui and Ying-Jie Zhu
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2014 - vol. 2(Issue 41) pp:NaN7140-7140
Publication Date(Web):2014/08/27
DOI:10.1039/C4TB01193G
Biodegradable inorganic mesoporous materials hold promise for various biomedical applications such as drug/gene delivery, bioimaging, and photodynamic/photothermal and ultrasound therapy. Herein, multifunctional mesoporous microspheres of europium-doped amorphous calcium phosphate (Eu3+-doped ACP) have been prepared using a natural biomolecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the rapid microwave-assisted solvothermal method. This method has advantages such as surfactant-free, rapid and energy-saving. The ATP molecule plays key roles as a phosphate source and a structure mediator. Furthermore, the Eu3+-doped ACP mesoporous microspheres exhibit advantages such as high specific surface area (from 253 to 315 m2 g−1), high biocompatibility, pH-responsive drug release, and in vitro/in vivo fluorescence imaging properties. The mechanism of pH-responsive drug release can be explained by the degradation of ACP mesoporous microspheres at low pH. The docetaxel-loaded Eu3+-doped ACP mesoporous microspheres showed good anticancer performance in vitro. The as-prepared Eu3+-doped ACP mesoporous microspheres are promising for applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, bioimaging, etc.
Co-reporter:Chunlei Zhang, Kan Wang, Chao Li, Yanlei Liu, Hualin Fu, Fei Pan and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2014 - vol. 2(Issue 40) pp:NaN6938-6938
Publication Date(Web):2014/09/08
DOI:10.1039/C4TB01067A
We studied the cytotoxicity of Ag nanoclusters (Ag NCs) capped by the enantiomers L-glutathione (L-GSH) and D-glutathione (D-GSH) synthesized using the mild reduction agent tetrabutylammonium borohydride. The as-synthesized Ag NCs were characterized by HRTEM and UV-visible, photoluminescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The circular dichroism spectra of Ag NCs capped with L-GSH and D-GSH showed multiple bands that were identically mirror-imaged, demonstrating that both the metal core and the ligand contributed to the chirality of the GSH-capped NCs. The properties and potential applications of chiral Ag NCs in enantioselective catalysis and chiral recognition and sensing suggest that a comprehensive evaluation should be made of their potential toxicity. We found that Ag NCs capped with D-GSH (AgNCs@D-GSH) were more toxic to both human gastric cancer MGC-803 cells and human gastric mucous epithelial GES-1 cells than Ag NCs capped with L-GSH (AgNCs@L-GSH). Apoptosis also correlated well with the production of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial membrane depolarization and G2/M cell phase arrest in a dose- and chirality-dependent manner. The in vivo injection of AgNCs@L-GSH and AgNCs@D-GSH into mice bearing human gastric cancer xenografts led to a significant reduction in tumor size and increased apoptosis. This knowledge is important from the perspective of understanding the interactions between chiral nanoclusters and cells.
Co-reporter:Peiyu Qiu, Rongjin Sun, Guo Gao, Ting Yin, Yulan Shen, Bin Chen, Kan Wang, Chunlei Zhang, Xiaoqing Qian and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2015 - vol. 3(Issue 19) pp:NaN3958-3958
Publication Date(Web):2015/03/10
DOI:10.1039/C5TB00290G
The phase transition of upconversion nanocrystals (UNs) from cubic to hexagonal structure is of fundamental importance in improving the luminescence intensity by about one or two orders of magnitudes, but the mechanism is still not well understood and efforts to completely transfer the phase from cubic to hexagonal structure remains a difficult and challenging task. Here, we describe a hydrothermal system in which an anion induces the phase transition process to give simultaneous control over the size, morphology, phase and emission properties. We first confirm that the crystal cell oriented-rotation driven by an anion in a hydrothermal system promoted the phase transition, and the energy zones figure of the phase transition from cubic to hexagonal structure has been figured out. We have successfully applied the structural mechanics finite element calculations to validate the reaction process. We have also demonstrated that porous UNs can be rationally tuned in size (down to fifteen nanometers), phase (cubic or hexagonal) and emission properties at precisely defined conditions, and were effective for in vitro and in vivo CT imaging.
Co-reporter:Peng Huang, Jing Lin, Zhiming Li, Hengyao Hu, Kan Wang, Guo Gao, Rong He and Daxiang Cui
Chemical Communications 2010 - vol. 46(Issue 26) pp:NaN4802-4802
Publication Date(Web):2010/05/25
DOI:10.1039/C0CC00307G
Herein we report a general synthesis strategy for metallic nanocrystals in a two-phase liquid–liquid system, which involves a quite fast nucleation stage overlapped with the growth stage within 10 min.
Co-reporter:Meng He, Peng Huang, Chunlei Zhang, Feng Chen, Can Wang, Jiebing Ma, Rong He and Daxiang Cui
Chemical Communications 2011 - vol. 47(Issue 33) pp:NaN9512-9512
Publication Date(Web):2011/07/19
DOI:10.1039/C1CC12886H
Herein we report a general strategy to synthesize highly uniform and monodisperse rare earth fluoride nanocrystals through a novel OA/ionic liquid two-phase system, while water-soluble hexagonal NaREF4 nanocrystals are obtained by adding n-octanol.
Co-reporter:Hengyao Hu, Hao Yang, Peng Huang, Daxiang Cui, Yanqing Peng, Jingchang Zhang, Fengyuan Lu, Jie Lian and Donglu Shi
Chemical Communications 2010 - vol. 46(Issue 22) pp:NaN3868-3868
Publication Date(Web):2010/05/07
DOI:10.1039/B927321B
A small amount of ionic liquid [bmim][BF4] was found to be an efficient aid for microwave heating of nonpolar dibenzyl ether in high temperature solution-phase synthesis of monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles. It was found to act as both microwave absorber and assistant stabilizer in the reactive process and was recovered and reused in successive reactions.
Co-reporter:Xiansong Wang, Da-Peng Yang, Gaoshan Huang, Peng Huang, Guangxia Shen, Shouwu Guo, Yongfeng Mei and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2012 - vol. 22(Issue 34) pp:NaN17444-17444
Publication Date(Web):2012/07/11
DOI:10.1039/C2JM32810K
We demonstrate an efficient and controllable way to roll up graphene oxide sheets into micro/nanoscrolls, where the rolling process is highly enhanced by nanoparticle aggregation. Nanoparticles like Ag and Fe3O4 attached onto graphene oxide sheets can help the rolling process, which may be expected to expand into other inorganic nanoparticles.
Co-reporter:Guo Gao, Haixia Wu, Yixia Zhang, Kan Wang, Peng Huang, Xueqing Zhang, Shouwu Guo and Daxiang Cui
Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2011 - vol. 21(Issue 33) pp:NaN12227-12227
Publication Date(Web):2011/07/22
DOI:10.1039/C1JM12535D
A facile hydrothermal route for one-step synthesis of Fe3O4@C nanotubes (50–100 nm in diameter, several micrometres in length) via rolling graphite oxide sheets has been developed. Functional oxygen groups (e.g., –COOH, –OH and –CO) on the surface of graphite oxide sheets act as the nucleation sites for Fe2+ precipitates. The synthesized Fe3O4@C nanotubes exhibit a strong affinity to adriamycin with a high adsorption capacity (101.3 μg mg−1).
