In this article, pH-responsive near-infrared emitting conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) are prepared, characterized, and their stabilities are investigated under various conditions. These nanoparticles have capacity to be loaded with water insoluble, anticancer drug, camptothecin (CPT), with around 10% drug loading efficiency. The in vitro release studies demonstrate that the release of CPTs from CPNs is pHdependent such that significantly faster drug release at mildly acidic pH of 5.0 compared with physiological pH 7.4 is observed. Time and dose-dependent in vitro cytotoxicity tests of blank and CPT-loaded nanoparticles are performed by realtime cell electronic sensing (RT-CES) assay with hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Huh7). The results indicate that CPNs can be effectively utilized as vehicles for pH-triggered release of anticancer drugs.

Magnetic fields with different frequency and intensity parameters exhibit a wide range of effects on different biological models. Extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF MF) exposure is known to augment or even initiate neuronal differentiation in several in vitro and in vivo models. This effect holds potential for clinical translation into treatment of neurodegenerative conditions such as autism, Parkinson's disease and dementia by promoting neurogenesis, non-invasively. However, the lack of information on underlying mechanisms hinders further investigation into this phenomenon. Here, we examine involvement of glutamatergic Ca 2+ channel, N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the process of human neuronal differentiation under ELF MF exposure. We show that human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) differentiate more efficiently under ELF MF exposure in vitro, as demonstrated by the abundance of neuronal markers. Furthermore, they exhibit higher intracellular Ca 2+ levels as evidenced by c-fos expression and more elongated mature neurites. We were able to neutralize these effects by blocking NMDA receptors with memantine. As a result, we hypothesize that the effects of ELF MF exposure on neuronal differentiation originate from the effects on NMDA receptors, which sequentially triggers Ca 2+-dependent cascades that lead to differentiation. Our findings identify NMDA receptors as a new key player in this field that will aid further research in the pursuit of effect mechanisms of ELF MFs. Keywords Extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF MF) • Neuronal differentiation • N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor • Human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) Abbreviations ADAM10 A disintegrin and metalloproteinase AMPA Alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid CREB Cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein DAPI 4-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole-dihydrochloride EGFR Epidermal growth factor receptor ELF MF Extremely low frequency magnetic field hNPCs Human neural progenitor cells mT MilliTesla NMDA N-methyl-d-aspartate

No abstract

Multifunctional nanoparticles based on a green emitting, hydrophobic conjugated polymer, poly[(9,9-bis{propeny}fluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-(1,4-benzo-{2, 1,3}-thiodiazole)] (PPFBT), that acts both as a fluorescent reporter and a matrix to accommodate an anti-cancer compound, camptothecin (CPT), were prepared, characterized and their potential as a fluorescent probe for cell imaging and as a drug delivery vehicle were evaluated via in vitro cell assays. The cell viability of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (Huh7) was investigated in the absence and presence of CPT with sulforhodamine B (SRB) and real-time cell electronic sensing (RT-CES) cytotoxicity assays. © 2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry

This review provides a comprehensive compendium of commonly used biomaterials as well as the different fabrication techniques employed for the design of 3D neural tissue models.