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Hydrophobic ultrasmall nanoparticles synthesized in nonpolar solvents exhibit great potential in biomedical applications. However, a major challenge when applying these nanomaterials in biomedical research is the lack of a versatile strategy to render them water dispersible while preserving the hydrodynamic diameter (HD) to be less than 8 nm for efficient renal clearance. To address this problem,...
A simple, versatile, and inexpensive strategy is developed by H. Zhang, Z. Wang, and co‐workers for transferring small hydrophobic nanoparticles into an aqueous phase using raw tryptone as a phase‐transfer agent. On page 3676, using tryptone‐NaGdF4 nanodots as typical examples, the nanodots are found to have excellent colloidal stability, outstanding MRI‐enhancing performance, efficient renal clearance,...
A one‐step method to produce ≈12 nm hydrodynamic diameter water‐soluble CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs), as well as CdS/ZnS, ZnSe/ZnMnS/ZnS, AgInS2/ZnS, and CuInS2/ZnS QDs, by ligand exchange with a near‐monolayer of organosilane caps is reported. The method cross‐links the surface‐bound silane ligands such that the samples are stable on the order of months under ambient conditions. Furthermore, the samples...
Studies on the self‐assembly of nanoparticles have been a hot topic in nanotechnology for decades and still remain relevant for the present and future due to their tunable collective properties as well as their remarkable applications to a wide range of fields. The novel properties of nanoparticle assemblies arise from their internal interactions and assemblies with the desired architecture key to...
Recently discovered tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) are capable of creating intercellular communication pathways through which transport of proteins and other cytoplasmic components occurs. Intercellular transport is related to many diseases and nanotubes are potentially useful as drug‐delivery channels for cancer therapy. Here, we apply fluorescent nanodiamond (FND) as a photostable tracker, as well as...
Nanoparticles (NPs) coated with a monolayer of ligands can be recognized by different components of the immune system, opening new doors for the modulation ofimmunological responses. By the use of different physical or chemical properties at the NP surface (such as charge, functional groups, and ligand density), NPs can be designed to have distinct cellular uptake, cytokine secretion, and immunogenicity,...
Supramolecular chemistry provides a tool for the formation of highly ordered structures by means of noncovalent interactions. Soft supramolecular nanoparticles are self‐assembled nanoassemblies based on small building blocks and stabilized by basic noncovalent interactions, selective host–guest interactions, or a combination of different interaction types. This review provides an overview of the existing...
The paradigm of using nanoparticle‐based formulations for drug delivery relies on their enhanced passive accumulation in the tumor interstitium. Nanoparticles with active targeting capabilities attempt to further enhance specific delivery of drugs to the tumors via interaction with overexpressed cellular receptors. Consequently, it is widely accepted that drug delivery using actively targeted nanoparticles...
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) holds promise as a new class of therapeutics for HCC, as it can achieve sequence‐specific gene knockdown with low cytotoxicity. However, the main challenge in the clinical application of siRNA lies in the lack of effective delivery approaches that need to be highly specific and thus incur low or...
This article describes a novel supramolecular assembly‐mediated strategy for the organization of Au nanoparticles (NPs) with different shapes (e.g., spheres, rods, and cubes) into large‐area, free‐standing 2D and 3D superlattices. This robust approach involves two major steps: (i) the organization of polymer‐tethered NPs within the assemblies of supramolecular comblike block copolymers (CBCPs), and...
This study explores the use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) for assessing nanotoxicology, specifically, the effect of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of different core sizes (1.5, 4, and 14 nm) on the viability, pluripotency, neuronal differentiation, and DNA methylation of hESCs. The hESCs exposed to 1.5 nm thiolate‐capped AuNPs exhibit loss of cohesiveness and detachment suggesting ongoing cell...
A chip‐based approach for electrochemical characterization and detection of microsomes and exosomes based on direct electro‐oxidation of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) that specifically recognize surface markers of these vesicles is reported. It is found that exosomes and microsomes derived from prostate cancer cells can be identified by their surface proteins EpCAM and PSMA, suggesting the potential...
Polypyrrole composite nanoparticles with controlled shape are synthesized, which exhibit a morphology‐dependent photothermal effect: the raspberry‐like composite nanoparticles have a much better photothermal effect than the spherical ones, and the immune responses to the nanocomposites are also dependent on their morphology. The outstanding performance of the nanocomposites promises their potential...
Lanthanide‐doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are an emerging class of luminescent materials that emit UV or visible light under near infra‐red (NIR) excitations, thereby possessing a large anti‐Stokes shift property. Due to their sharp excitation and emission bands, excellent photo‐ and chemical stability, low autofluorescence, and high tissue penetration depth of the NIR light used for excitation,...
FLIMaging nanoparticle degradation: semiconductor and metal nanoparticle degradation has been observed in live cells over 3 d via the change of the characteristic luminescence lifetime using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). Thus, FLIM is a simple yet robust tool to examine the intracellular stability of photoluminescent nanoparticles in live cells, tissues, and organisms.
The ultimate goal in the area of drug‐delivery systems is the development of a nanoparticle that can penetrate the endothelial cell monolayer for the targeting of tissue parenchyma. In the present study, we identify a transcytosis‐targeting peptide (TTP) that permits polyethyleneglycol (PEG)‐modified liposomes (PEG‐LPs) to penetrate through monolayers of brain‐derived endothelial cells. These endothelial...
Coupling of plasmon resonances in metallic gap antennas is of interest for a wide range of applications due to the highly localized strong electric fields supported by these structures, and their high sensitivity to alterations of their structure, geometry, and environment. Morphological alterations of asymmetric nanoparticle dimer antennas with (sub)‐nanometer size gaps are assigned to changes of...
The colloidal stability of nanoparticles can be influenced by several parameters such as temperature, ionic strength, and the presence of proteins. On page 1723, M. Karg, W. J. Parak and co‐workers demonstrate core‐shell nanoparticles coated with a temperature sensitive polymer. The size of the nanoparticles decreases with increasing temperature. This gives rise to a loss of the colloidal stability...
The temperature‐dependence of the hydrodynamic diameter and colloidal stability of gold‐polymer core‐shell particles with temperature‐sensitive (poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)) and temperature‐insensitive shells (polyallylaminine hydrochloride/polystyrensulfonate, poly(isobutylene‐alt‐maleic anhydride)‐graft‐dodecyl) are investigated in various aqueous media. The data demonstrate that for all nanoparticle...
Optogenetics is an emerging powerful tool to investigate workings of the nervous system. However, the use of low tissue penetrating visible light limits its therapeutic potential. Employing deep penetrating near‐infrared (NIR) light for optogenetics would be beneficial but it cannot be used directly. This issue can be tackled with upconversion nanoparticles (UCNs) acting as nanotransducers emitting...
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