The era of antibiotic resistance is a cause of increasing concern as bacteria continue to develop adaptive countermeasures against current antibiotics at an alarming rate. In recent years, studies have reported nanoparticles as a promising alternative to antibacterial reagents because of their exhibited antibacterial activity in several biomedical applications, including drug and gene delivery, tissue engineering, and imaging. Moreover, nanomaterial research has led to reports of a possible relationship between the morphological characteristics of a nanomaterial and the magnitude of its delivered toxicity. However, conventional synthesis of nanoparticles requires harsh chemicals and costly energy consumption. Additionally, the exact relationship between toxicity and morphology of nanomaterials has not been well established. Here, we review the recent advancements in synthesis techniques for silver, gold, copper, titanium, zinc oxide, and magnesium oxide nanomaterials and composites, with a focus on the toxicity exhibited by nanomaterials of multidimensions. This article highlights the benefits of selecting each material or metal-based composite for certain applications while also addressing possible setbacks and the toxic effects of the nanomaterials on the environment.

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Mechanobiology relates cellular processes to mechanical signals, such as determining the effect of variations in matrix stiffness with cell tractions. Cell traction recorded via traction force microscopy (TFM) commonly takes place on materials such as polyacrylamideand polyethylene glycol-based gels. Such experiments remain limited in physiological relevance because cells natively migrate within complex tissue microenvironments that are spatially heterogeneous and hierarchical. Yet, TFM requires determination of the matrix constitutive law (stress-strain relationship), which is not always readily available. In addition, the currently achievable displacement resolution limits the accuracy of TFM for relatively small cells. To overcome these limitations, and increase the physiological relevance of in vitro experimental design, we present a new approach and a set of associated biomechanical signatures that are based purely on measurements of the matrix's displacements without requiring any knowledge of its constitutive laws. We show that our mean deformation metrics (MDM) approach can provide significant biophysical information without the need to explicitly determine cell tractions. In the process of demonstrating the use of our MDM approach, we succeeded in expanding the capability of our displacement measurement technique such that it can now measure the 3D deformations around relatively small cells (∼10 micrometers), such as neutrophils. Furthermore, we also report previously unseen deformation patterns generated by motile neutrophils in 3D collagen gels.traction force microscopy | confocal microscopy | large deformations | neutrophil M echanical cues within the cellular microenvironment regulate numerous fundamental functions including cell adhesion, deformation, and generation of traction (1-6). Analysis of cellular force generation, and its role in regulating homeostasis across a variety of cellular phenotypes and experimental platforms, has received much attention over the last three decades (7-13). Experimental quantification of cellular forces has produced several cell traction measurement techniques, ranging from surface wrinkle detection and flexure of micropillars to traction force microscopy (TFM) (12,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). In TFM, measured cell-induced displacements are converted into tractions using various mathematical frameworks (14,15,17,18,21,22). Both twoand 3D TFM techniques have steadily increased in sophistication and now feature high-spatial displacement resolution and advanced computational formalisms to connect this displacement information to complex material constitutive laws (17,23,24).To successfully perform TFM, it is critical to know the stressstrain constitutive behavior of the matrix surrounding the cell. Although many TFM substrates feature relatively simple artificial gel constructs, such as polyacrylamide and polyethylene glycol, these constructs are impenetrable by cells and obviate measures obtained while cells are in a 3D setting (as would be the case within a bodily ...

The objective of the present in vitro study was to investigate cardiomyocyte functions, specifically their adhesion and proliferation, on injectable scaffolds containing RNT (rosette nanotubes) and CNF (carbon nanofibers) in a pHEMA (poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)) hydrogel to determine their potential for myocardial tissue engineering applications. RNTs are novel biocompatible nanomaterials assembled from synthetic analogs of DNA bases guanine and cytosine that self-assemble within minutes when placed in aqueous solutions at body temperatures. These materials could potentially improve cardiomyocyte functions and solidification time of pHEMA and CNF composites. Because heart tissue is conductive, CNFs were added to pHEMA to increase the composite's conductivity. Our results showed that cardiomyocyte density increased after 4 h, 1 day, and 3 days with greater amounts of CNFs and greater amounts of RNTs in pHEMA (up to 10 mg mL(-1) CNFs and 0.05 mg mL(-1) RNTs). Factors that may have increased cardiomyocyte functions include greater wettability, conductivity, and an increase in surface nanoroughness with greater amounts of CNFs and RNTs. In effect, contact angles measured on the surface of the composites decreased while the conductivity and surface roughness increased as CNFs and RNTs content increased. Lastly, the ultimate tensile modulus decreased for composites with greater amounts of CNFs. In summary, the properties of these injectable composites make them promising candidates for myocardial tissue engineering applications and should be further studied.