Sonodynamic
therapy (SDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) are two
effective strategies for the treatment of atherosclerotic plaques.
However, the low yield of reactive oxygen species (ROS) of conventional
organic sonosensitizers and the low biosafety of hyperthermia limit
the therapeutic efficacy of SDT and PTT. Herein, we report copper
sulfide/titanium oxide heterostructure nanosheets modified with hyaluronic
acid (HA) and PEG (HA-HNSs) for low-intensity sonodynamic and mild-photothermal
synergistic therapy for early atherosclerotic plaques. CuS/TiO2 heterostructure nanosheets (HNSs) show high electron–hole
separation efficiency and superior sonodynamic performance, because
it has high surface energy crystal facets as well as a narrow band.
Moreover, HNSs exhibit intense absorbance in the NIR-II region, which
endows the nanosheets with excellent photothermal performance. With
a further modification of HA, HA-HNSs can selectively target intraplaque
proinflammatory macrophages through CD44-HA interaction. Because SDT
reduces the expression of heat shock protein 90 and PTT facilitates
the sonocatalytic process, the combination of SDT and PTT based on
HA-HNSs could synergistically induce proinflammatory macrophage apoptosis.
More importantly, the synergistic therapy prevents the progression
of early atherosclerotic plaque by removing lesional macrophages and
mitigating inflammation. Taken together, this work provides a macrophage-targeting
sonodynamic/photothermal synergistic therapy, which is an effective
translational clinical intervention for early atherosclerotic plaques.
Two arene Ru(II) complexes coordinated by 2-(3-methoxyphenyl)imidazole[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline, [(η(6)-RC6H5)Ru(m-MOPIP)Cl]Cl (R = H, ; R = CH3, 2), have been prepared under microwave irradiation; the crystal structure of 2 exhibits a typical "piano stool" conformation, with bond angles for N1-Ru1-Cl1 86.02 (14)° and N2-Ru1-Cl1 84.51 (14)°. The Ru-C distance for the Ru atom bound to the benzene ring is about 0.2178(8) nm, and the average Ru-N distance for Ru atom to the two chelating N atoms is about 0.2092(4) nm. The evaluation of in vitro anticancer activities revealed that these synthetic Ru(II) complexes selectively inhibited the growth of HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells, with low cytotoxicity toward LO2 human normal liver cells. The results demonstrated that the complexes exhibited great selectivity between human cancer and normal cells by comparing with the ligand m-MOPIP. Furthermore, complexes 1 and 2 could bind to c-myc G4 DNA in groove binding mode in promising affinity, and the insertion of the methyl groups in the arene ligand contributed to strengthen the binding affinity. This was also confirmed by molecular docking calculation and (1)H NMR analysis which showed that both 1 and 2 can bind in the loop constructed by A6-G9 and G21-A25 base pairs in c-myc G4 DNA to block the replication of c-myc oligomer. Taken together, these results suggest that arene Ru(II) complexes display application potential as small molecule inhibitors of c-myc G4 DNA.
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are an efficient state‐of‐the‐art kinetic energy‐harvesting technology based on the combination of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction to generate electrical energy from ambient mechanical energy. Bioelectricity is a quintessential characteristic of living organisms and has a crucial role in physiological and medical sciences. Living cells are capable of generating electrical signals and responding to electrical stimulation, which are known to be key properties that regulate cellular behaviors and cell–microenvironment interactions. TENGs, with the advantages of miniaturization and efficiency, are notably exploited in efforts to provide self‐powered electrical stimulation to cells for functional modulation or fate determination, leading to a new methodology in biology and medical science. In this review, the progress, challenges, and future prospects of cellular bioelectrical stimulation with TENGs are focused. The regulation of cellular activity involved in functional modulation and fate determination stimulated by TENGs is highlighted. Furthermore, the application of cell activity changes stimulated by TENGs is stressed in tissue regeneration, physiological function rehabilitation, and electroporation‐based drug delivery for disease therapy. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of using TENGs for electrical stimulation are presented for cell engineering in the biosciences and health care.
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