An active-targeting and smart pH-sensitive nanoparticle drug delivery system with high drug loading was developed by conjugating doxorubicin (DOX) to xyloglucan (XG) through acid-cleavable hydrazone bonds, and then encapsulating DOX by the self-assembly of xyloglucan–doxorubicin conjugates (XG–DOX) to ensure a sufficient amount of drug delivered in the tumor region. The galactose moiety of XG, as an ideal targeting moiety, could be recognized and internalized by asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R), which is especially ample in hepatocytes. And then the abundant DOX of xyloglucan–doxorubicin nanoparticle drug delivery systems (DOX nano-DDSs) could be highly accumulated and released in drug resistant tumor cells to exert maximum therapeutic effects. Compared with free DOX, the novel DOX nano-DDSs apparently showed longer circulation time, larger intracellular uptake, more drug release, higher cytotoxicity against drug resistant HepG2 (HepG2/DOX) cells and greater effects for inhibiting the growth of the tumor volume and decreasing systemic toxicity. Even though there was no significant enhancement in intracellular uptake and cytotoxicity between the DOX nano-DDSs and XG–DOX, the loading content of DOX of DOX nano-DDSs reached 23%, which is higher than that of XG–DOX conjugates. Moreover, the DOX nano-DDSs obviously presented better anti-tumor effects in in vivo assays. In conclusion, these novel DOX nano-DDSs exhibited remarkable anti-tumor effects and few side effects, which is significantly promising for the clinical therapy of cancer.

The simultaneous introduction of green polysaccharides and low-cost inorganic clay into superabsorbent (SAP) polymeric networks has witnessed growing interest for developing eco-friendly and low-cost SAPs since the last decade. In this study, a high performance nano-hybrid SAP composite (HEC-g-PAA/diatomite) was prepared through the graft polymerization of acrylic acid into hydroxyethyl cellulose backbone chains under aqueous conditions in the presence of diatomite clay as an inorganic nano-filler, N,Nʹ-methylenebisacrylamide as the cross-linker and ammonium persulfate as the initiator. FTIR, XRD, and SEM investigations confirmed the successful synthesis of this HEC-g-PAA/diatomite nano-hybrid SAP composite with high porosity on the surface. The composite prepared under optimized conditions presented a significantly enhanced thermal stability according to the TGA and DSC analysis and remarkably improved water-retention properties at various temperatures compared with the clay-free counterpart. Our SAP showed the eminent maximum swelling ratio of 1174.85 g g−1 in distilled H2O and 99.55 g g−1 in 0.9 wt% NaCl salt solutions. In addition, factors influencing various amounts of water absorbency of the prepared SAP were extensively determined and discussed. Therefore, this SAP, with a high content of biodegradable and low-cost material, could be a good candidate for hygienic products, waste-water treatment, agriculture, and horticulture uses.

A major challenge of combinatorial therapy is the unification of the pharmacokinetics and cellular uptake of various drug molecules with precise control of the dosage thereby maximizing the combined effects. To realize ratiometric delivery and synchronized release of different drugs from a single carrier, a novel approach was designed in this study to load dual drugs onto the macromolecular carrier with different molar ratio by covalently preconjugating dual drugs through peptide linkers to form drug conjugates. In contrast to loading individual types of drugs separately, these drug conjugates enable the loading of dual drugs onto the same carrier in a precisely controllable manner to reverse multidrug resistance (MDR) of human hepatoma (HepG2) cells. As a proof of concept, the synthesis and characterization of xyloglucan–mitomycin C/doxorubicin (XG–MMC/DOX) conjugates were demonstrated. This approach enabled MMC and DOX to be conjugated to the same polymeric carrier with precise control of drug dosage. The cytotoxicity and combinatorial effects were significantly improved compared to the cocktail mixtures of XG–MMC and XG–DOX as well as the individual conjugate of the mixture. Moreover, the results also showed that there was an optimum ratio of dual drugs showing the best cytotoxicity effect and greatest synergy among other tested polymeric conjugate formulations.

Recently, there has been growing interest in the use of natural available materials to prepare superabsorbents due to their low-cost and environmental friendliness. In this study, a biodegradable organic–inorganic superabsorbent was prepared through graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) onto xyloglucan (XG) polysaccharide chains, in the presence of diatomite as an inorganic material, N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as a cross-linker and ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator, in an aqueous solution (XG-g-PAA/diatomite). The synthesized hydrogel nanocomposite was characterized with FTIR, SEM, TGA and XRD. In this contribution, the properties such as swelling and water retention behavior of the XG-g-PAA/diatomite were investigated. Moreover, the influence of each starting material content on the water absorbency property of the XG-g-PAA/diatomite composite was systematically studied. The results showed that the composite water absorbency capacity was 1057.06 ± 69.53 g g−1 in deionized water and 65.67 ± 5.43 g g−1 in a 0.9 wt% NaCl saline solution under the optimized conditions. The excellent properties of the prepared SAP composite suggested that it could find a diverse range of applications such as in hygienic products, agriculture and waste-water treatment. Furthermore, being biodegradable and low-cost could be added advantages for the XG-g-PAA/diatomite superabsorbent composite.

Slow release fertilizers (SRFs) are of vital importance to improve agricultural efficiency. However, their use is still limited due to their relatively high costs. Additionally, most of coating materials used to produce SRFs are nonbiodegradable and toxic to the soil. In this context, we utilized various biopolymers such as tamarind, xanthan, and guar gums together with diatomite to coat urea fertilizer granules. In this study, tamarind–urea-diatomite (TUD), guar–urea-diatomite (GUD), and xanthan–urea-diatomite (XUD) SRF granules were prepared in the presence of epichlorohydrin as crosslinker. The nutrients slow release behavior and the water retention capacity of these SRFs in soil were determined. The water absorbency of the product was 89% TUD, 93% GUD, and 142% XUD of its own weight when it was allowed to swell in tap water at room temperature for 2 h. Poly(methacrylic acid) was applied as the outermost layer of XUD to improve the nitrogen slow release efficiency of XUD SRFs. The results showed that the product had an excellent nutrients slow release property of 79.5% and good water retention capacity of 62.9% after 28 days. This suggested that XUDM could effectively improve the utilization of fertilizer. Furthermore, being biodegradable and low cost could be beneficial in agricultural and horticultural applications.

Two organoselenium compounds: xylitol selenious ester (xylitol-Se) and sucrose selenious ester (sucrose-Se) were synthesized, and their molecular structures were characterized in this study. In MTT assay, xylitol-Se and sucrose-Se showed cytostatic effects on human hepatocellular carcinoma cells SMMC-7221 in a dose-dependent manner, whereas they had no negative influences on the proliferation of human normal hepatic cells HL-7702 in the concentration range from 0.15 to 1.2 ppm Se. Morphological observation, agarose gel electrophoresis, and caspase-3 assay indicated that xylitol-Se and sucrose-Se induced mitochondrial apoptosis to SMMC-7221 cells, which is supported by the depletion of mitochondrial membrane potential and suppression of caspase-3 activity, indicating their ability of inducing apoptosis to cancer cells and great potentials as anticancer drugs.

This study aims at developing new organoselenium compounds with good anticancer ability and low biotoxicity. Sucrose selenious ester (sucrose-Se) was synthesized by the reaction between sucrose and selenium oxychloride. MTT assay showed that sucrose-Se effectively inhibited the proliferation of cervical cancer cell line HeLa in a dose-dependent manner without cytostatic influence on human normal liver cell line HL-7702. Morphological observation and agarose gel electrophoresis demonstrated that sucrose-Se induced apoptosis to HeLa cells. In addition, sucrose-Se was able to inhibit proliferation of bladder carcinoma cell line 5637, human malignant melanoma cell line A375, and gastric carcinoma cell line MGC-803. Median lethal dose of sucrose-Se and sodium selenite was 290.0 and 13.1 ppm, respectively, in the acute toxicity test on mice. In conclusion, sucrose-Se has potential in cancer chemoprevention due its apoptosis induction capacity and low biotoxicity.

DNA ladder fragments, regarded as a biochemical hallmark of apoptosis, have been separated quickly and successfully by capillary electrophoresis. Inter-nucleosomal DNA fragmentations induced by xylitol selenite were determined for the first time, while hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) was served as the sieving matrix in dynamic sieving capillary electrophoresis. The calibration curve (r2 = 0.991) was established and multiples of two different nucleosomes (140 and 180 bp) were formed in the presence of xylitol selenite. Selenium compounds inhibited carcinogenesis in animal models, SMMC-7221 cells and several other cells by increasing apoptosis. The described method was useful in elucidating the anticancer activities of xylitol selenite and other selenium compounds, which was more effective to detect small fragments than slab gel electrophoresis.

This study introduces an easy method of preparing xyloglucan hydrogel from xyloglucan, which is purified from tamarind seed gum. Xyloglucan hydrogel was prepared in 2 wt% solution by treating with β-galactosidase. Physical and chemical properties (molecular mass, size and viscosity) of xyloglucan hydrogel and xyloglucan solution were tested for a comparison. Experiments of drug release in vitro and in vivo were operated to investigate the potentialities of xyloglucan hydrogel as the biomedical sustained-release carriers for drug delivery system.