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Endogenous electric field is ubiquitous in a multitude of important living activities such as bone repair, cell signal transduction, and nerve regeneration, signifying that regulating the electric field in organisms is highly beneficial to maintain organism health. As an emerging and promising research direction, piezoelectric nanomedicine and materdicine precisely activated by ultrasound with synergetic advantages of deep tissue penetration, remote spatiotemporal selectivity, and mechanical-electrical energy interconversion, have been progressively utilized for disease treatment and tissue repair by participating in the modulation of endogenous electric field. This specific nanomedicine utilizing piezoelectric effect activated by ultrasound is typically regarded as "sonopiezoelectric nanomedicine". This comprehensive review summarizes and discusses the substantially employed sonopiezoelectric nanomaterials and nanotherapies to provide an insight into the internal mechanism of the corresponding biological behavior/effect of sonopiezoelectric biomaterials in versatile disease treatments. This review primarily focuses on the sonopiezoelectric biomaterials for biosensing, drug delivery, tumor therapy, tissue regeneration, antimicrobia, and further illuminates the underlying sonopiezoelectric mechanism. In addition, the challenges and developments/prospects of sonopiezoelectric nanomedicine are analyzed for promoting the further clinical translation. It is earnestly expected that this kind of nanomedicine/biomaterials-enabled sonopiezoelectric technology will provoke the comprehensive investigation and promote the clinical development of the next-generation multifunctional materdicine., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Reactive X species (RXS), encompassing elements such as O, N, C, S, Se, Cl, Br, I, and H, play vital roles in cell biology and physiological function, impacting cellular signal transduction, metabolic regulation, and disease processes. The redox unbalance of RXS is firmly implicated in an assortment of physiological and pathological disorders, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the intricate nature and multifactorial dependence of RXS pose challenges in comprehending and precisely modulating their biological behavior. Nanomaterials with distinct characteristics and biofunctions offer promising avenues for generating or scavenging RXS to maintain redox homeostasis and advance disease therapy. This minireview provides a tutorial summary of the relevant chemistry and specific mechanisms governing different RXS, focusing on cellular metabolic regulation, stress responses, and the role of nanomedicine in RXS generation and elimination. The challenges associated with chemically regulating RXS for diverse disease treatments are further discussed along with the future prospects, aiming to facilitate the clinical translation of RXS‐based nanomedicine and open new avenues for improved therapeutic interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal degeneration, characterized by the progressive loss of retinal neurons, is the leading cause of incurable visual impairment. Retinal progenitor cells (RPCs)‐based transplantation can facilitate sight restoration, but the clinical efficacy of this process is compromised by the imprecise neurogenic differentiation of RPCs and undermining function of transplanted cells surrounded by severely oxidative retinal lesions. Here, it is shown that ultrathin niobium carbide (Nb2C) MXene enables performance enhancement of RPCs for retinal regeneration. Nb2C MXene with moderate photothermal effect markedly improves retinal neuronal differentiation of RPCs by activating intracellular signaling, in addition to the highly effective RPC protection by scavenging free radicals concurrently, which has been solidly evidenced by the comprehensive biomedical assessments and theoretical calculations. A dramatically increased neuronal differentiation is observed upon subretinal transplantation of MXene‐assisted RPCs into the typical retinal degeneration 10 (rd10) mice, thereby contributing to the efficient restoration of retinal architecture and visual function. The dual‐intrinsic function of MXene synergistically aids RPC transplantation, which represents an intriguing paradigm in vision‐restoration research filed, and will broaden the multifunctionality horizon of nanomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) have been extensively applied in biomedicine. However, the potential of MXene-based nanomedicine in sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has been rarely explored. Here, under the guidance of theoretical calculation, Nb 2 C MXenes are engineered as a high-performance sonocatalyst/sonosensitizer through mild in-situ self-oxidation. The work function values of Nb 2 C MXenes with different oxidation degrees are calculated to determine the optimized conditions to construct efficient Schottky heterojunction in the self-oxidized Nb 2 C MXenes. Experimentally, the niobium oxide clusters are homogeneously self-generated in-situ in Nb 2 C MXenes to form efficient Schottky barriers after the mild hydrothermal oxidation. The results reveal that the Schottky heterojunction can accelerate the separation of sono-triggered electron-hole pairs and inhibit their recombination, which profoundly augments the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency of the in-situ self-oxidized Nb 2 C MXenes (denoted as Nb 2 C-Ox) under ultrasound (US) irradiation. The mild oxidation also allows the Nb 2 C-Ox to inherit the high photothermal performance of Nb 2 C MXenes in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window. Accordingly, the developed Nb 2 C MXene-originated sonocatalyst/sonosensitizer can achieve high therapeutic efficacy based on the sonodynamic effect and NIR-II photonic hyperthermia. Therefore, this work proposes a theoretical calculation-oriented strategy to design and fabricate new MXene-based sonocatalysts/sonosensitizers for biomedical applications. [Display omitted] • A DFT calculation-directed strategy was proposed to explore 2D MXene-based nanocatalyst for tumor therapy. • Self-generated Schottky barriers endowed the Nb 2 C-based sonocatalyst with high ROS generation capability. • Efficient synergistic NIR-II hyperthermia and sonocatalytic tumor therapy were achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation form the basis of ferroptosis, potentially circumventing the limitations of apoptosis in cancer treatment. Owing to the lack of potent ferroptosis inducers, the development of efficient ferroptosis-based therapeutic agents and protocols against cancers is highly challenging. Inspired by the topological effect of nanoparticles in modulating cellular function/status, a specific tetrapod ferroptosis-inducer iron-palladium (FePd) nanocrystal was rationally engineered for physically activated autophagy-augmented ferroptosis and enhanced cancer immunotherapy. Specifically, the tetrapod FePd nanocrystal featured strong peroxidase-/glutathione oxidase-mimicking bioactivities, which promoted cancer cell ferroptosis. The special spiky morphology and nanostructure of the FePd nanocrystal simultaneously induced autophagy, which augmented ferroptosis in cancer cells and triggered the release of inflammatory cytokines in macrophages for strengthening anti-PD-L1-antibody mediated immunotherapy, synergistically achieving the maximal antineoplastic effect in three tumor-bearing animal models. This unique physical activation strategy for efficient cancer treatment via precise morphological tuning represents a paradigm for nanomedicine design for efficient tumor treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]