In recent years, spherical nanoparticles has been studied extensively on biomedical applications including bioimaging and biosensing, diagnostics and theranostics, but the effect of the shape of nanoparticles has received little attention. In the present study, we designed three different shaped fluorescent mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), long rod nanoparticles (NLR), short rod nanoparticles (NSR), and spherical nanoparticles (NS) to systematically examine their behavior in vivo after oral administration. The results of the ex vivo optical imaging study in mice indicated that rod nanoparticles had a longer residence time in the gastrointestinal compared with spherical nanoparticles. The in vivo biodistribution showed that all the orally administered MSNs were mainly taken up by the liver, and kidney. NLR had a great capacity to overcoming rapid clearance by the RES and exhibited a longer circulation in the blood than NSR and NS. During renal excretion, the spherical nanoparticles were cleared faster than rod nanoparticles. In addition, it was also found that MSNs can be degraded in vivo and NSR were degraded faster than NLR and NS probably owing to their higher specific surface area. The pharmacokinetic results demonstrated that nifedipine(NI)-loaded NLR had a higher bioavailability than NI-loaded NSR and NS.

No abstract

Recent development of nano-technology provides highly efficient and versatile treatment methods to achieve better therapeutic efficacy and lower side effects of malignant cancer. The exploration of drug delivery systems (DDSs) based on nano-material shows great promise in translating nano-technology to clinical use to benefit patients. As an emerging inorganic nanomaterial, mesoporous carbon nanomaterials (MCNs) possess both the mesoporous structure and the carbonaceous composition, endowing them with superior nature compared with mesoporous silica nanomaterials and other carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotube, graphene and fullerene. In this review, we highlighted the cutting-edge progress of carbon nanomaterials as drug delivery systems (DDSs), including immediate/sustained drug delivery systems and controlled/targeted drug delivery systems. In addition, several representative biomedical applications of mesoporous carbon such as (1) photo-chemo synergistic therapy; (2) delivery of therapeutic biomolecule and (3) in vivo bioimaging are discussed and integrated. Finally, potential challenges and outlook for future development of mesoporous carbon in biomedical fields have been discussed in detail.

A simple multi-modality therapy with multi-drug co-loading and burst drug release for a high curative effect and anti-recurrence/metastasis was reported.

Because of the difference in substitution position, compounds 1,2bis[2-(9-anthracenyl)vinyl]benzene (1,2-BAVB), 1,3-bis[2-(9-anthracenyl)vinyl]benzene (1,3-BAVB), and 1,4-bis[2-(9-anthracenyl)vinyl]benzene (1,4-BAVB) display different crystal packing and optical property. 1,4-BAVB molecules pack into zigzag structure. The π-electrons are averagely distributed on the whole backbone though the molecule adopts a twisted structure. Compounds 1,2-BAVB and 1,3-BAVB have a column-like structure, and the π-electrons are mainly confined on the anthracene units. Obvious π•••π interactions exist in the aggregates of 1,3-BAVB and 1,4-BAVB. The crystal packing and electronic structure exert dramatic influence on the photophysical property. Compound 1,4-BAVB is hardly emissive. Compound 1,3-BAVB is highly emissive in solution but quenched in the solid state. However, compound 1,2-BAVB displays an aggregation-induced emission behavior and an excimer-related fluorescence in solution. The relationship between the aggregate packing, electronic structure, and photophysical property was studied.

No abstract

In this paper, hyaluronic acid (HA) functionalized uniform mesoporous carbon spheres (UMCS) were synthesized for targeted enzyme responsive drug delivery using a facile electrostatic attraction strategy. This HA modification ensured stable drug encapsulation in mesoporous carbon nanoparticles in an extracellular environment while increasing colloidal stability, biocompatibility, cell-targeting ability, and controlled cargo release. The cellular uptake experiments of fluorescently labeled mesoporous carbon nanoparticles, with or without HA functionalization, demonstrated that HA-UMCS are able to specifically target cancer cells overexpressing CD44 receptors. Moreover, the cargo loaded doxorubicin (DOX) and verapamil (VER) exhibited a dual pH and hyaluronidase-1 responsive release in the tumor microenvironment. In addition, VER/DOX/HA-UMCS exhibited a superior therapeutic effect on an in vivo HCT-116 tumor in BALB/c nude mice. In summary, it is expected that HA-UMCS will offer a new method for targeted co-delivery of drugs to tumors overexpressing CD44 receptors.

Hydrothermal synthesis of Gd 2 O 3 and iminodiacetic acid (H 2 IDA) yields a three-dimensional (3D) complex {[Gd 2 (IDA) 3 ]• 2H 2 O} n (1) including Gd 16 macrocycles. Magnetic investigation indicates the presence of weak antiferromagnetic interaction between Gd III ions and a large magnetocaloric effect with −ΔS m max = 40.6 J kg −1 K −1 .