A simple and efficient approach for the electrochemical deposition of polypeptides as bio-based covering materials for surface design is described.

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The fabrication of electro and bioactive surfaces by electrochemical deposition of the thiophene-functionalized polyphenylalanine macromonomer (T-g -PPhe) is reported. The resulting conducting graft copolymer, polythiophene-graft -polyphenylalanine (PT-g -PPhe) formed on the indium tin oxide (ITO) glass surface, is characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and fl uorescence microscopy. Then, possible uses of PT-g -PPhe as matrices in the sensor design for both electrochemical biosensing and cell adhesion studies are investigated. In the fi rst part, PT-g -PPhe that is deposited on ITO is further functionalized with the arginylglycylaspartic acid peptide via 1-Ethyl-3-(3 dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide for the selective cell adhesion. Immunofl uorescence staining is performed to detect the difference between adherences of "integrin αvβ3" receptor positive (U87-MG) and negative (HaCaT) cell lines on to the biofunctional surface. In the second part, an electrochemical glucose sensor is constructed by immobilizing glucose oxidase on the surface of PT-g -PPhe, which is deposited on a glassy carbon electrode.

Most medicinal and pharmaceutical herbal extracts are poorly soluble in aqueous moieties and have reduced adsorption by living cells. Liposomal encapsulation of those so called phytosomes could be a solution to overcome this problem. Meanwhile, much research shows that metallic nanoparticles such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibit biological activity such as wound healing and antioxidant properties on living cells. Here, we constructed a novel liposomal formulation by encapsulating both Calendula officinalis extract and AuNPs. After the preparation of vesicles using the traditional thin film hydration method within extrusion, the resulting AuNP-phytosomes were characterized by dynamic light scattering size measurements, zeta potential and atomic force microscopy. These vesicles are less than 100 nm in size and have a high encapsulation efficiency for chlorogenic acid and quercetin as the model major molecules of Calendula extract. Furthermore, AuNP-phytosomes exhibited antioxidant and wound healing activity significantly according to the free forms of each encapsulated material and the plain liposome as well as the phytosome form. Moreover, the cellular interactions of the vesicles were monitored using the nano-vesicles prepared by Texas-Red labelled lipids under fluorescence microscopy.

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Herbal compounds so called phyto-constituents illustrate poor absorption by living cells.Phytosomes are advanced form of herbal compounds that show higher absorption rate and bioavailability which results better than conventional plant extracts. Niosomes which are made of non-ionic surfactants create better chemical and stability conditions besides lipid vesicles. This study covers the preparation, characterization and cell culture applications of phyto-niosomes of Marigold extract. Before the encapsulation process, extracts of selected plants were prepared and the extract that presents best bio-activity was chosen. The resulting phyto-niosomes were characterized and their biological activities including cytotoxicity, wound healing and antioxidant activity were investigated.