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Cathodoluminescence (CL) and correlative light‐electron microscopy (CLEM) are two useful analytical tools in diverse research areas. Recently, fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) have emerged as promising imaging agents for both CL and CLEM owing to their exceptional photophysical and chemical properties. However, to realize their practical applications in the life sciences, surface modification and functionalization of the nanomaterials with bioactive molecules are critical and essential. Here we provide a comprehensive review on the methods of synthesizing biohybrid FNDs as well as recent advances of CL and CLEM imaging of cells with these carbon nanoparticles as dual‐contrast markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanodiamond (ND) has recently emerged as a potential nanomaterial for nanovaccine development. Here, a plant-based haemagglutinin protein (H5.c2) of A/H5N1 virus was conjugated with detonation NDs (DND) of 3.7 nm in diameter (ND4), and high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) oxidative NDs of ~40–70 nm (ND40) and ~100–250 nm (ND100) in diameter. Our results revealed that the surface charge, but not the size of NDs, is crucial to the protein conjugation, as well as the in vitro and in vivo behaviors of H5.c2:ND conjugates. Positively charged ND4 does not effectively form stable conjugates with H5.c2, and has no impact on the immunogenicity of the protein both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, the negatively oxidized NDs (ND40 and ND100) are excellent protein antigen carriers. When compared to free H5.c2, H5.c2:ND40, and H5.c2:ND100 conjugates are highly immunogenic with hemagglutination titers that are both 16 times higher than that of the free H5.c2 protein. Notably, H5.c2:ND40 and H5.c2:ND100 conjugates induce over 3-folds stronger production of both H5.c2-specific-IgG and neutralizing antibodies against A/H5N1 than free H5.c2 in mice. These findings support the innovative strategy of using negatively oxidized ND particles as novel antigen carriers for vaccine development, while also highlighting the importance of particle characterization before use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cationic polymers are often employed in conjugation with nanomaterials, and the resultant hybrids are useful for various bioapplications. Here, a single-step metal-free method for the synthesis of fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) conjugated with cationic polymer brushes is reported. Distinct from the common methods such as atom transfer radical polymerization and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer, our ring-opening-polymerization-based method is simple and less time consuming and hazardous. Infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, zeta potential, and dynamic light scattering confirmed the synthesis. The produced FND-polymer brushes showed markedly higher cell labeling and internalization efficiency without noticeable cytotoxicity. Our method is general and applicable to other nanoparticles as well for uses in diverse research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs), a nanomaterial with an increasing range of industrial and biomedical applications, have previously been shown to induce a pro-inflammatory response in cultured human airway epithelial cells (HAECs). We now show that surface modifications induced by air oxidation of DND (AO-DND), including an increase in oxygen content, formation of carboxylic groups associated with the appearance of high negative zeta potential and a decrease in unpaired electron content, are accompanied by a significant loss of bioactivity, as measured by levels of interleukin-8 mRNA in HAEC. These findings are relevant to the identification of chemical determinants and molecular mechanisms of the inhalational toxicity of carbonaceous nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]