One way to image the molecular pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is by positron emission tomography using probes that target amyloid fibrils. However, these fibrils are not closely linked to the development of the disease. It is now thought that early stage biomarkers that instigate memory loss comprise of Aβ oligomers (AβOs). Here we report a sensitive molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast probe that is specific for AβOs. We attach oligomer-specific antibodies onto magnetic nanostructures and show the complex is stable and it binds to AβOs on cells and brain tissues to give a MRI signal. When intranasally administered to an AD mouse model, the probe readily reached hippocampal AβOs. In isolated samples of human brain tissue, we observed an MRI signal that distinguished AD from controls. Such nanostructures that target neurotoxic AβOs are potentially useful for evaluating the efficacy of new drugs and ultimately for early-stage AD diagnosis and disease management.
This work demonstrated a temperature-responsive reagent system that provides enrichment of HIV using antiviral lectin CVN for recognition, which is potentially amenable for use in point-of-care settings.
Polymeric electrospun nanofibers have extensive applications in filtration, sensing, drug delivery, and tissue engineering that often require the fibers to be patterned or integrated with a larger device. Here, we describe a highly versatile in situ strategy for three-dimensional electrospun fiber patterning using collectors with an insulative surface layer and conductive recessed patterns. We show that two-layer collectors with pattern dimensions down to 100-micrometers are easily fabricated using available laboratory equipment. We use finite element method simulation and experimental validation to demonstrate that the fiber patterning strategy is effective for a variety of pattern dimensions and fiber materials. Finally, the potential for this strategy to enable new applications of electrospun fibers is demonstrated by incorporating electrospun fibers into dissolving microneedles for the first time. These studies provide a framework for the adaptation of this fiber patterning strategy to many different applications of electrospun fibers. Electrospun fibers are a unique material with broad capabilities in filtration, sensing, drug delivery, and tissue engineering due to the versatility of materials that can be processed. Because of their interconnected pores, which create a tortuous path for particles, electrospun fibers have been developed for commercial use in air and liquid filtration 1-4. This filtration function combined with mechanical strength and breathability has also made electrospun fibers ideally suited to act as protective textiles for chemical or biological toxins 5. Electrospun polymers with fluorescent or colorimetric activity have also been used as sensors for various environmental hazards like mercury ions and health hazards like organic solvents 6-8. Electrospun fibers are useful in many different biological applications including tissue engineering and drug delivery because of the wide range of biocompatible materials that can be electrospun and the variety of strategies for incorporating physicochemically diverse agents 9-12. Additionally, the mechanical and chemical properties of electrospun polymeric fibers can be simultaneously engineered through polymer selection, fiber alignment, and biologic incorporation 13. These engineered electrospun fibers have been a useful tool for supporting cell viability in engineered tissues and for studying the effect of mechanical and chemical cues on cell phenotype 14-16. For these applications, electrospun fibers need to be patterned on various length scales for optimal function or for device integration. This is often achieved by electrospinning fibers in large sheets that are then mechanically cut into pieces with dimensions down to 5 mm and positioned within devices 17,18. Bulk mechanical patterning has been used to layer electrospun fibers between microfluidic channels for portable and lightweight dialysis systems 17. Fibers have also been cut and layered within the core of stimuli-responsive hydrogels for controlled drug delivery, but in this applic...
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