Penetration and preferential binding of charged nanoparticles to mixed lipid monolayers: interplay of lipid packing and charge density

Soft Matter ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anurag Chaudhury ◽  
Koushik Debnath ◽  
Wei Bu ◽  
Nikhil R. Jana ◽  
Jaydeep Kumar Basu

Designing of nanoparticles (NPs) for biomedical applications or mitigating their cytotoxic effects require microscopic understanding of their interactions with cell membranes. Such insight is best obtained by studying model biomembranes...

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (26) ◽  
pp. 3616-3616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiwei Gao ◽  
Che-Ming J. Hu ◽  
Ronnie H. Fang ◽  
Brian T. Luk ◽  
Jing Su ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Cruz-Le&oacuten ◽  
Willem Vanderlinden ◽  
Peter Müller ◽  
Tobias Forster ◽  
Georgina Staudt ◽  
...  

DNA structure and properties sensitively depend on its environment, in particular on the ion atmosphere. One of the most fundamental properties of DNA is its helicity and here we investigate how it changes with concentration and identity of the surrounding ions. To resolve how metal cations influence the helical twist, we have combined magnetic tweezer experiments and extensive all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Two interconnected trends are observed for monovalent alkali and divalent alkaline earth cations. First, DNA twist increases with increasing ion concentration. Secondly, for a given salt concentration, DNA twist strongly depends on cation identity. Metal cations with high charge density (such as Li+ or Ca2+) are most efficient at inducing DNA twist and lead to overwinding. By contrast, metals with intermediate charge density (such as Na+ or Ba2+) reduce the twist and underwind the helix compared to higher density ions. Our molecular dynamics simulations reveal that preferential binding of the metals to the DNA backbone and the nucleobases has opposing effects on DNA twist and provide a microscopic explanation of the observed ion specificity. The comprehensive view gained from our combined approach provides a foundation to understand and predict metal-induced structural changes in nature or in DNA nanotechnology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 750-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingyu Chen ◽  
Jianshu Li

This review describes the functional biomedical polymers developed by the biomimetic/bioinspired strategies from various prototypes of cell membranes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qunye He ◽  
Yanfei Liu ◽  
Ke Li ◽  
Yuwei Wu ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
...  

Engineering cellular membrane with functional molecules provides an attractive strategy to manipulate cellular behaviors and functionalities. Currently, synthetic deoxyribonucleic nucleic acid (DNA) has been emerged as a promising molecular tool...


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 1459-1465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Hellmund ◽  
Katharina Achazi ◽  
Falko Neumann ◽  
Bala N. S. Thota ◽  
Nan Ma ◽  
...  

Excessive cationic charge density of polyplexes during cellular uptake is still a major hurdle for gene delivery. A systematic study on cytotoxic effects caused by effective charge density related to size showed moderate loaded hPG amines to be higher potential as low/high ones.


2013 ◽  
Vol 587 ◽  
pp. 303-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreea Carmen Bărbînţă ◽  
Kamel Earar ◽  
Carmen Iulia Crimu ◽  
Lucia Anişoara Drăgan ◽  
Corneliu Munteanu

Titanium alloys are widely used in medical applications, due to their good mechanical properties, high corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. The aim of this paper was to investigate the cytotoxicity of novel titanium alloys: Ti21Nb6Zr15Ta, Ti25Nb10Zr8Ta, Ti17Nb5Zr5Al, Ti7Nb7Zr2Al with fibroblast-like cells derived from human osteosarcoma cell line (HOS). The results were compared with that of conventional biomedical alloys, like Ti6Al7Nb and Ti6Al4V. In vitro citotoxicity of titanium alloys was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and MTT colorimetric assay. The results showed that the materials analyzed had no cytotoxic effects on HOS fibroblast-like cells, permitting their attachment and proliferation. Also the new titanium alloys present a higher cell viability than that of the conventional alloys. As a consequence, the TiNbZrTa and TiNbZrAl alloys can be considered as potential candidates for biomedical applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 5286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Andrzej Kruszewski ◽  
Joanna Kotyńska ◽  
Magdalena Kusaczuk ◽  
Miroslav Gál ◽  
Monika Naumowicz

p-Coumaric acid (p-CoA), a phenolic acid belonging to the hydroxycinnamic acids family, is a compound with tentative anticancer potential. Microelectrophoretic mobility measurements conducted at various pH values of electrolyte solution were applied to study p-CoA effects on electrical properties of human glioblastoma cell membranes. The obtained results demonstrated that after the p-CoA treatment, the surface charge density of cancer cells changed in alkaline pH solutions, while no noticeable changes were observed in cell membranes incubated with p-CoA compared to control at acidic pH solutions. A four-equilibrium model was used to describe the phenomena occurring on the cell membrane surface. The total surface concentrations of both acidic and basic functional groups and their association constants with solution ions were calculated and used to define theoretical curves of membrane surface charge density versus pH. The resulting theoretical curves and the experimental data were compared to verify the reliability and validity of the adopted model. The deviation of both kinds of data obtained at a higher pH may be caused by disregarding interactions between the functional groups of cancer cells. Processes occurring in the cell membranes after their incubation with p-CoA can lead to disorders of existing equilibria, which result in changes in values of the parameters describing these equilibria.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Miguel Anaya-Esparza ◽  
José Martín Ruvalcaba-Gómez ◽  
Claudia Ivette Maytorena-Verdugo ◽  
Napoleón González-Silva ◽  
Rafael Romero-Toledo ◽  
...  

In recent years, a strong interest has emerged in hybrid composites and their potential uses, especially in chitosan–titanium dioxide (CS–TiO2) composites, which have interesting technological properties and applications. This review describes the reported advantages and limitations of the functionalization of chitosan by adding TiO2 nanoparticles. Their effects on structural, textural, thermal, optical, mechanical, and vapor barrier properties and their biodegradability are also discussed. Evidence shows that the incorporation of TiO2 onto the CS matrix improves all the above properties in a dose-dependent manner. Nonetheless, the CS–TiO2 composite exhibits great potential applications including antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi; UV-barrier properties when it is used for packaging and textile purposes; environmental applications for removal of heavy metal ions and degradation of diverse water pollutants; biomedical applications as a wound-healing material, drug delivery system, or by the development of biosensors. Furthermore, no cytotoxic effects of CS–TiO2 have been reported on different cell lines, which supports their use for food and biomedical applications. Moreover, CS–TiO2 has also been used as an anti-corrosive material. However, the development of suitable protocols for CS–TiO2 composite preparation is mandatory for industrial-scale implementation.


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