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Although many studies have focused on oncology and therapeutics in cancer, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Due to the unclear molecular mechanism and complex in vivo microenvironment of tumors, it is challenging to reveal the nature of cancer and develop effective therapeutics. Therefore, the development of new methods to explore the role of heterogeneous TME in individual patients’ cancer drug response is urgently needed and critical for the effective therapeutic management of cancer. The organ-on-chip (OoC) platform, which integrates the technology of 3D cell culture, tissue engineering, and microfluidics, is emerging as a new method to simulate the critical structures of the in vivo tumor microenvironment and functional characteristics. It overcomes the failure of traditional 2D/3D cell culture models and preclinical animal models to completely replicate the complex TME of human tumors. As a brand-new technology, OoC is of great significance for the realization of personalized treatment and the development of new drugs. This review discusses the recent advances of OoC in cancer biology studies. It focuses on the design principles of OoC devices and associated applications in cancer modeling. The challenges for the future development of this field are also summarized in this review. This review displays the broad applications of OoC technique and has reference value for oncology development.

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The hot spot density is increased with the result that the Raman signals of molecules absorbed on the noble metallic nanostructures can be significantly enhanced. The noble metal Ag is an ideal candidate for electromagnetic enhancement in SERS because of its excellent SPR. However, the low stability of Ag is the largest challenge for electromagnetic enhancement, as it can be easily oxidized upon exposure to air, which reduces the detection limit of SERS. The noble metal Au exhibits a high stability and good biocompatibility although its SERS activity is inferior to that of Ag. [7] Thus, dual plasmonic structures combined with Ag and Au as SERS substrates are expected to improve the stability and sensitivity of SERS.Generally, dual plasmonic structures combined with Ag and Au are achieved by the galvanic replacement reaction of Ag with Au 3+ . The random distribution and inconsistent size of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the Ag surface hinder the control of the adjacent gap. As a result, their SERS sensitivity is not effectively improved. In particular, the AuNPs on the surface of Ag nanowires (AgNWs) obtained by the galvanic replacement reaction weaken the propagating surface plasmon resonance (PSPR) effect of AgNWs, which is unfavorable for a high SERS sensitivity. [8] When rigid dual plasmonic SERS substrates are applied on uneven and irregular detecting surfaces, the dual plasmonic structures are destroyed, leading to decreased SERS sensitivity and reproducibility. By contrast, dual plasmonic structures incorporated into flexible substrates have excellent mechanical properties, antidamage characteristic, portability, and tailorability, which enable the detection of target molecules on an uneven and irregular surface. [9] Therefore, the development of strategies for the fabrication of dual plasmonic structures and introduction of flexible substrates are important for the development of sensitive and reproducible SERS detection.In this study, we demonstrate a flexible dual plasmonic SERS (FDPS) substrate with high SERS sensitivity and reproducibility, which is composed of aligned AgNWs and AuNP arrays separated by a thin polyurethane (PU) layer. The FDPS substrate achieved a high SERS activity with a detection limitThe fabrication of flexible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for sensitive detection on uneven or irregular surfaces is challenging. In this study, a flexible dual plasmonic SERS (FDPS) substrate rationally constructed using Au nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays/aligned Ag nanowires (AgNWs) and elastic polyurethane (PU) is demonstrated. It exhibits high sensitivity (detection limit of 10 −8 m for melamine and 10 −10 m for malachite green) and excellent reproducibility. The well-designed structure of AuNP arrays/aligned AgNWs fabricated using block copolymer self-assembly and oil-water-air interfacial self-assembly successfully enhances the electromagnetic field through plasmonic coupling. In addition, the FDPS substrate retains a high SERS sensitivity after exposure to air at room temperat...

As one of the common complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) threatens human lives seriously. Emerging evidences have confirmed the protective effects of lidocaine on DPN. However, the possible role and underlying mechanisms of lidocaine in DPN have not been clarified. In this study, the potential role of lidocaine in DPN is explored, and the possible mechanisms are investigated. The rat DPN model is constructed through administration of streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg). All rats are randomly divided into four groups, including the control group, DPN group, lidocaine (3.78 mg/time) group, and lidocaine combined with the SP600125 (15 mg/kg) group. Mechanical threshold, thermal latency, and blood glucose of rats before and after treatment are detected, and Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) is assessed. Moreover, qRT-PCR and western blot assays are carried out to determine the expressions of the c-Jun signaling pathway. The experimental results demonstrate that lidocaine remarkably downregulates the mRNA and protein expressions of the c-Jun signaling pathway in serum and DRGs induced with DPN. Besides, lidocaine combined with SP600125 can obtain better effects than lidocaine alone. It is clearly evident that lidocaine has a certain therapeutic effect on DPN.

Zinc porphyrin-based porous polymers (PPs-Zn) with different pore sizes were prepared by controlling the reaction condition of click chemistry, and the protein adsorption in PPs-Zn and the catalytic activity of immobilized enzyme were investigated. PPs-Zn-1 with 18 nm and PPS-Zn-2 with 90 nm of pore size were characterized by FTIR, NMR and nitrogen absorption experiments. The amount of adsorbed protein in PPs-Zn-1 was more than that in PPs-Zn-2 for small size proteins, such as lysozyme, lipase and bovine serum albumin (BSA). And for large size proteins including myosin and human fibrinogen (HFg), the amount of adsorbed protein in PPs-Zn-1 was less than that in PPs-Zn-2. The result indicates that the protein adsorption is size-selective in PPs-Zn. Both the protein size and the pore size have a significant effect on the amount of adsorbed protein in the PPs-Zn. Lipase and lysozyme immobilized in PPs-Zn exhibited excellent reuse stability.

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