肠靶向海藻酸钙基微胶囊的制备及控释性能研究

利用毛细管共挤出技术结合静电吸附和仿生硅化的方法，制备了海藻酸钙-壳聚糖/精蛋白/二氧化硅(ACPSi)复合微胶囊。ACPSi复合微胶囊的平均粒径约3.18 mm，单分散性好，囊壁最外层的二氧化硅层可抑制其在肠液pH环境中的溶胀，增强囊的机械稳定性。将羟丙甲基纤维素邻苯二甲酸酯(HPMCP)肠溶微球作为释药“微阀门”，嵌入囊壁可以更好地控制微胶囊的释药行为。以吲哚美辛为模型药物，当药物浓度为22.5 mg/ml时，ACPSi载药微胶囊在pH 2.5模拟胃液中3 h时累计释药率仅为0.33%，而转移至pH 6.8模拟肠液中19 h时累计释药率为77.78%；囊壁嵌入HPMCP微球后，22 h时累计释药率可提高约4%。因此，该复合微胶囊具有良好的肠靶向作用和控释特性，作为口服肠靶向缓控释制剂具有良好的应用前景。     

Metal-polyphenol-network coated CaCO3 as pH-responsive nanocarriers to enable effective intratumoral penetration and reversal of multidrug resistance for augmented cancer treatments

Construction of multifunctional stimuli-responsive nanotherapeutics enabling improved intratumoral penetration of therapeutics and reversal of multiple-drug resistance (MDR) is potent to achieve effective cancer treatment. Herein, we report a general method to synthesize pH-dissociable calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) hollow nanoparticles with amorphous CaCO₃ as the template, gallic acid (GA) as the organic ligand, and ferrous ions as the metallic center via a one-pot coordination reaction. The obtained GA–Fe@CaCO₃ exhibits high loading efficiencies to both oxidized cisplatin prodrug and doxorubicin, yielding drug loaded GA–Fe@CaCO₃ nanotherapeutics featured in pH-responsive size shrinkage, drug release, and Fenton catalytic activity. Compared to nonresponsive GA–Fe@silica nanoparticles prepared with silica nanoparticles as the template, such GA–Fe@CaCO₃ confers significantly improved intratumoral penetration capacity. Moreover, both types of drug-loaded GA–Fe@CaCO₃ nanotherapeutics exhibit synergistic therapeutic efficacies to corresponding MDR cancer cells because of the GA–Fe mediated intracellular oxidative stress amplification that could reduce the efflux of engulfed drugs by impairing the mitochondrial-mediated production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). As a result, it is found that the doxorubicin loaded GA–Fe@CaCO₃ exhibits superior therapeutic effect towards doxorubicin-resistant 4T1 breast tumors via combined chemodynamic and chemo-therapies. This work highlights the preparation of pH-dissociable CaCO₃-based nanotherapeutics to enable effective tumor penetration for enhanced treatment of drug-resistant tumors.

     

Warping of a Stretched Bimetallic Sheet

Strength of Materials - The development of bimetallic materials is one of the modern lines of research. The differences in the properties of components can impart special mechanical characteristics...     

Molecular imaging of advanced atherosclerotic plaques with folate receptor-targeted 2D nanoprobes

Vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques are responsible for most cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Folate receptor (FR) positive activated macrophages were thought to be a prominent component in the development of vulnerable plaque. The objective of this study is to develop folate conjugated two-dimensional (2D) Pd@Au nanomaterials (Pd@Au-PEG-FA) for targeted multimodal imaging of the FRs in advanced atherosclerotic plaques. Pharmacokinetic and imaging studies (single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography (CT) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging) were performed to confirm the prolonged blood half-life and enrichment of radioactivity in atherosclerotic plaques. Strong signals were detected in vivo with SPECT, CT and PA imaging in heavy atherosclerotic plaques, which were significantly higher than those of the normal aortas after injection of Pd@Au-PEG-FA. Blocking studies with preinjection of excess FA could effectively reduce the targeting ability of Pd@Au-PEG-FA in atherosclerotic plaques, further demonstrating the specific binding of Pd@Au-PEG-FA for plaque lesions. Histopathological characterization revealed that the signal of probe was in accordance with the high-risk plaques. In summary, the Pd@Au-PEG-FA has favorable pharmacokinetic properties and provides a valuable approach for detecting high-risk plaques in the presence of FRs in atherosclerotic plaques.

     

Functional chemical modification of a porcine acellular dermal matrix with a modified naturally derived polysaccharide crosslinker

Antibacterial and physicochemical properties are generally considered important features of the porcine acellular dermal matrix (pADM). Oxidized 2-hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (OHTCC) was applied to crosslink with pADM at dosages of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16%. The properties of the crosslinked pADM (OHTCC-pADM) were evaluated. DSC and TG analysis suggested that crosslinking could promote the thermal stability, the highest T_d, and T_max of OHTCC-pADM (8%) was 80 °C and 325 °C, which has been improved by 15 °C and 13 °C, respectively. While FTIR and AFM tests indicated that the structure integrity of collagen could still be maintained. SEM tests demonstrated the sustained three-dimensional architecture of OHTCC-pADM with appropriate porosity. Moreover, OHTCC-pADM exhibited improved ability to resist collagenase degradation, the degradation rate of 4%-, 8%-OHTCC-pADM was <50%. The tensile strength of OHTCC-pADM proved to be superior compared to pADM. Furthermore, 8%-OHTCC-pADM exhibited nearly 90% antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the results of the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide study showed that the cytocompatibility of OHTCC-pADM decreased with the increasing the amount of OHTCC, but all relative proliferation rates were above 80%. In conclusion, our study revealed that OHTCC stabilized and functionalized pADM while preserving good cytocompatibility. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47633.     

Reaction environment self-modification on low-coordination Ni2+ octahedra atomic interface for superior electrocatalytic overall water splitting

Large scale synthesis of high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalyst based on cost-effective and earth-abundant transition metal for overall water splitting in the alkaline environment is indispensable for renewable energy conversion. In this regard, meticulous design of active sites and probing their catalytic mechanism on both cathode and anode with different reaction environment at molecular-scale are vitally necessary. Herein, a coordination environment inheriting strategy is presented for designing low-coordination Ni²⁺ octahedra (L-Ni-8) atomic interface at a high concentration (4.6 at.%). Advanced spectroscopic techniques and theoretical calculations reveal that the self-matching electron delocalization and localization state at L-Ni-8 atomic interface enable an ideal reaction environment at both cathode and anode. To improve the efficiency of using the self-modification reaction environment at L-Ni-8, all of the structural features, including high atom economy, mass transfer, and electron transfer, are integrated together from atomic-scale to macro-scale. At high current density of 500 mA/cm², the samples synthesized at gram-scale can deliver low hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotentials of 262 and 348 mV, respectively.

     

预时效对Al-5.2Mg-0.45Cu-2.0Zn合金室温稳定性的影响

本文详细研究了预时效对Al-5.2Mg-0.45Cu-2.0Zn合金时效析出行为的影响。预时效不仅提高了合金的室温稳定性,避免了合金烤漆软化,同时提高了合金的烤漆时效响应速度。合金经T4处理后,再峰时效处理后的组织包括粗大的T-Mg₃₂(AlZn)₄₉相以及针状的S-Al₂MgCu相。然而合金经T4P处理后,再峰时效处理的组织只含有细小而高密度的T-Mg₃₂(AlZn)₄₉相而不包括S-Al₂MgCu相。自然时效后不稳定的原子团簇在180℃时效后会回溶到基体中, 从而抑制了合金的时效析出强化。而预时效后生成的稳定的原子团簇会成为180℃时效的形核点,显著提高了合金的时效响应速度。     

Site occupancy and enhanced luminescence of broadband NIR gallogermanate phosphors by energy transfer

Super broadband near-infrared (NIR) La₃Ga₅GeO₁₄(LGGO): Cr³⁺ phosphor is in urgent needs for food testing. Unfortunately, it suffers from poor luminescence intensity in applications. Herein, the enhanced NIR luminescence performance can be realized in LGGO: Pr³⁺, Cr³⁺. The preferential crystallographic site of Cr³⁺ is validated on the basis of EPR spectrum, Rietveld refinement, and the first-principles DFT calculations. It is of great importance that the as-prepared phosphors can be excited by blue light (460 nm), which is beneficial to the application of blue-pumped LEDs. The critical distance of Pr³⁺ in LGGO host has been calculated by concentration-quenching method. For co-doped sample, it is observed that Cr³⁺ luminescence intensity enhancement by a factor of 3 can be achieved by doping Pr³⁺ owing to the energy transfer from Pr³⁺ to Cr³⁺. In addition, the introduction of Pr³⁺ can also improve the Cr³⁺ luminescence intensity at elevated temperature. Furthermore, using the optimized phosphor, a blue-based NIR phosphor-converted LEDs (NIR pc- LEDs) is fabricated, the forward voltage and the intensity of LED hardly change after thermal aging for 500 hours under high temperature/ high humidity condition, indicating its great reliability for NIR pc-LEDs. Therefore, LGGO:Pr³⁺, Cr³⁺ has great potential to serve as an attractive candidate in the application of blue light-excited NIR pc-LEDs in view of its capability for blue to enhanced broadband NIR conversion.