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To meet high-throughput screening of the residues of sulfonamides (SAs) with high sensitivity toward sulfamethazine (SM2) in milk samples, a new highly sensitive lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) based on amorphous carbon nanoparticles (ACNs) was developed. First, a group-specific monoclonal antibody 10H7 (mAb 10H7) that could recognize 25 SAs with high sensitivity toward SM2 (IC 50 value of 0.18 ng/mL) was prepared based on H1 as an immune hapten and H4 as a heterologous coating hapten. Then, mAb 10H7 was conjugated to ACNs as an immune probe for LFA development. Under the optimized conditions, the LFA could detect 25 SAs with the cut-off value toward SM2 of 2 ng/mL, which could meet the requirement for detection of SAs. In addition, the LFA developed was also used for screening SAs' residues in real milk samples, with results being consistent with HPLC-MS/MS. Thus, this LFA can be used as a high-throughput screening tool for detection of SAs., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

Most chemotherapeutic drugs commonly suffer from low aqueous solubility that can potentially limit drugs absorption. Drug nanomerization is an advanced approach to overcoming their poor water-solubility. In this study, class I hydrophobin recombinant HGFI (rHGFI)-based curcumin (Cur) nanoparticles (rHGFI-Cur) were prepared by freeze-drying method. The rHGFI-Cur nanocomposites were characterized by contact angle, transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The results showed that rHGFI could lead to the wettability conversion and stability improved of Cur in water. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared suggested that rHGFI could non-covalently bind to Cur to render them hydrophilic through hydrophobic forces. Additionally, drug release and cytotoxicity assays illustrated that rHGFI-Cur nanoparticles could facilitate Cur release and exhibited higher cytotoxicity than free Cur for human esophageal cancer cells TE-1. Thus, it suggested that rHGFI has a great potential application for hydrophobic drug delivery without toxicity.[Formula: see text].

In recent years, favorable enhanced wound-healing properties and excellent biocompatibility of keratin derived from human hair have attracted considerable attention. Recombinant keratin proteins can be produced by recombinant DNA technology and have higher purity than extracted keratin. However, the wound-healing properties of recombinant keratin proteins remain unclear. Herein, two recombinant trichocyte keratins including human type I hair keratin 37 and human type II hair keratin 81 were expressed using a bacterial expression system, and recombinant keratin nanoparticles (RKNPs) were prepared via an ultrasonic dispersion method. The molecular weight, purity, and physicochemical properties of the recombinant keratin proteins and nanoparticles were assessed using gel electrophoresis, circular dichroism, mass spectrometry, and scanning electron microscope analyses. The RKNPs significantly enhanced cell proliferation and migration in vitro, and the treatment of dermal wounds in vivo with RKNPs resulted in improved wound healing associated with improved epithelialization, vascularization, and collagen deposition and remodeling. In addition, the in vivo biocompatibility test revealed no systemic toxicity. Overall, this work demonstrates that RKNPs are a promising candidate for enhanced wound healing, and this study opens up new prospects for the development of keratin biomaterials.

Background: Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems have been widely used for oral and systemic dosage forms delivery depending on the mucoadhesive interaction, and keratin has been applied for biomedical applications and drug delivery. However, few reports have focused on the keratin-based mucoadhesive drug delivery system and their mechanisms of mucoadhesion. Thus, the mucoadhesion controlled kerateine (reduced keratin, KTN)/keratose (oxidized keratin, KOS) composite nanoparticles were prepared via adjusting the proportion of KTN and KOS to achieve controlled gastric mucoadhesion and drug release based on their different mucoadhesive abilities and pH-sensitive properties. Furthermore, the mechanisms of mucoadhesion for KTN and KOS were also investigated in the present study., Results: The composite keratin nanoparticles (KNPs) with different mass ratio of KTN to KOS, including 100/0 (KNP-1), 75/25 (KNP-2), 50/50 (KNP-3), and 25/75 (KNP-4), displayed different drug release rates and gastric mucoadhesion capacities, and then altered the drug pharmacokinetic performances. The stronger mucoadhesive ability of nanoparticle could supply longer gastric retention time, indicating that KTN displayed a stronger mucoadhesion than that of KOS. Furthermore, the mechanisms of mucoadhesion for KTN and KOS at different pH conditions were also investigated. The binding between KTN and porcine gastric mucin (PGM) is dominated by electrostatic attractions and hydrogen bondings at pH 4.5, and disulfide bonds also plays a key role in the interaction at pH 7.4. While, the main mechanisms of KOS and PGM interactions are hydrogen bondings and hydrophobic interactions in pH 7.4 condition and were hydrogen bondings at pH 4.5., Conclusions: The resulting knowledge offer an efficient strategy to control the gastric mucoadhesion and drug release of nano drug delivery systems, and the elaboration of mucoadhesive mechanism of keratins will enable the rational design of nanocarriers for specific mucoadhesive drug delivery.

Although amorphous calcium phosphate has been a mature research object in the medicine field, its application in drug carriers remains restricted due to its easy agglomeration and poor dispersion stability. Accordingly, the ACP was modified with hyaluronic acid (HA) and hexametaphosphate ((NaPO3)6), the amorphous structure can be kept for more than 3 months based on HA stabilizers, the dispersion can be maintained for about one month owing to the (NaPO3)6. In vitro, the Cur-HA-ACP-(NaPO3)6 nanoparticles showed high drug loading, good pH response performance and favorable antitumor ability. Overall, Cur loaded HA-ACP nanoparticles exhibited a great potential for anticancer chemotherapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most chemotherapeutic drugs commonly suffer from low aqueous solubility that can potentially limit drugs absorption. Drug nanomerization is an advanced approach to overcoming their poor water-solubility. In this study, class I hydrophobin recombinant HGFI (rHGFI)-based curcumin (Cur) nanoparticles (rHGFI-Cur) were prepared by freeze-drying method. The rHGFI-Cur nanocomposites were characterized by contact angle, transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The results showed that rHGFI could lead to the wettability conversion and stability improved of Cur in water. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared suggested that rHGFI could non-covalently bind to Cur to render them hydrophilic through hydrophobic forces. Additionally, drug release and cytotoxicity assays illustrated that rHGFI-Cur nanoparticles could facilitate Cur release and exhibited higher cytotoxicity than free Cur for human esophageal cancer cells TE-1. Thus, it suggested that rHGFI has a great potential application for hydrophobic drug delivery without toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of high drug loading and sustained release nanoparticles by simple and economical methods is significant for the treatment of diseases. Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) is an ideal drug delivery system because of its excellent pH responsiveness, biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this work, ACC nanoparticles were successfully precipitated in ethanol–calcium solutions using ammonium carbonate as the internal source of CO2, which exhibited a relatively narrow size distribution in range of 10–200 nm. The microscopic morphology, amorphous characters, porous structure and thermal behavior of resultants were investigated by electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. In vitro drug release assay showed that ACC nanoparticles had high loading capacity of curcumin (Cur) and favorable drug release properties. Furthermore, ACC-Cur showed excellent abilities to scavenge free radicals, protect Cur stability and damage A549 cells, providing a broadened space for the applications of this material in the fields of biomedical or food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the study, amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) nanoparticles were prepared by the coprecipitation method to optimize release profile of curcumin (Cur) and avoid burst releases, which were used to overcome the weakness of Cur, such as poor chemical stability and bioavailability. To find the best preparation condition, the influence of reaction concentration, temperature, time and pH on crystal phase of the samples was investigated by XRD and FTIR. The results showed that amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) was obtained, when pH value and the concentration of PO 4 3− were 8 and 0.024 mM, prepared at 30 °C for 10 min. In vitro drug release assay, ACP nanoparticles showed high loading capacity of Cur and favorable pH-responsive drug release properties. Furthermore, the Cur-load ACP nanoparticles showed an excellent ability to scavenge free radical and damage A549 cells, resulting in a high antioxidant properties and low cell viability. Therefore, the as-prepared nanoparticles have promising applications in the food and biomedical fields. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • We obtained ACP nanoparticles by the co-precipitation method to encapsulate Cur. • We as-prepared ACP nanoparticles have a high specific surface area. • The stability of encapsulation Cur loaded was significantly improved. • The Cur-load ACP nanoparticles showed an excellent ability to scavenge free radical and damage A549 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of amphiphilic N-(2-hydroxy)propyl-3-trimethylammonium-chitosan-cholic acid (HPTA-CHI-CA) polymers were synthesized by grafting cholic acid (CA) and glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride onto chitosan. The self-assembly behavior of HPTA-CHI-CA was studied by fluorescence technique. The polymers were able to self-assemble into NPs in phosphate buffered saline with a critical aggregation concentration (CAC) in the range of 66–26 mg/L and the CAC decreased with the increasing of the degree of substitution (DS) of CA. The size of cationic HPTA-CHI-CA NPs ranges from 170 to 220 nm (PDI < 0.2). It was found that doxorubicin (DOX) could be encapsulated into HPTA-CHI-CA NPs based on self-assembly. The drug loading content and efficiency varies depending on the DS of CA and feeding ratio of DOX to polymer. In vitro release studies suggested that DOX released slowly from HPTA-CHI-CA NPs without any burst initial release. Besides, the confocal microscopic measurements indicated that DOX-HPTA-CHI-CA NPs could easily be uptaken by breast cancer (MCF-7) cells and release DOX in cytoplasm. Anti-tumor efficacy results showed that DOX-HPTA-CHI-CA NPs have a significant activity of inhibition MCF-7 cells growth. These results suggest cationic HPTA-CHI-CA may have great potential for anticancer drug delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodegradable chitosan (CS) films can meet the demand for sustainable development. However, the performance of pure CS membrane still exists a particular gap compared with the traditional film. Inorganic nanomaterials with the controllable release are added to improve its physical and chemical properties. Herein, a series of CS/phosphate-stabilized amorphous calcium carbonate (CS/ACCP) and CS/sodium alginate/ACCP (CS/Alginate/ACCP) composite films were prepared by the flow method. The effects of ACCP and Alginate/ACCP nanoparticles on the physical and chemical properties of the composite membrane were investigated. The results showed that the composite nanoparticles could significantly improve CS film's compactness, hydrophobicity, and mechanical properties and enhance its ultraviolet (UV) blocking ability, water resistance, and water vapor blocking ability. When the number of nanoparticles was 8%, the mechanical properties of the CS composite membrane reached optimum value, and the comprehensive performance was better. In addition, the controlled-release properties of CS composite membranes were also studied, and the antioxidant, antibacterial, biocompatibility, and fresh-keeping effects of the composite membranes were explored. The results indicated that the CS composite membranes had not only excellent bacteriostatic (72%) properties (Escherichia coli) but also presented well fruit preservation (15 days) properties (sugar orange). In particular, the controlled release range of CS composite membrane at 12 h was between 30% and 90%, which provided a theoretical basis for its use as an edible membrane. Therefore, based on ACCP and Alginate/ACCP nanoparticles, CS composite membranes with more excellent application value in the biological field were prepared through further optimization design. • Apply the organic-inorganic nanoparticles with controlled release into the chitosan films to prepare composite films. • The effects of ACCP and Alginate/ACCP nanoparticles on CS membranes were investigated. • The composite nanoparticles could significantly improve a variety of CS film properties. • CS composite membrane presented excellent bacteriostatic properties and well fruit preservation properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Preparation of ZnO nanoparticles by in situ generated in carboxymethyl chitosan. • ZnO was incorporated into chitosan multilayer films to improve properties. • Water vapor resistance was improved by the addition of ZnO and sodium alginate. • Mechanical properties and antibacterial activity were improved. • The film with prepared ZnO (0.05 g/g sodium alginate) had a better preservation effect. Abstract To deal with serious environmental pollution resulting from plastic packaging materials, biodegradable films using chitosan (CS) are gaining considerable increase gradually. However, chitosan films lack important properties to meet the preserved demands. This study aimed to develop new bio-based films incorporated with carboxymethyl chitosan-ZnO (CMCS-ZnO) nanoparticles and sodium alginate (SA) to overcome the weakness of CS films. CMCS-ZnO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized in the matrix of CMCS through direct precipitation method, which showed an average diameter of 100 nm. Multilayer films with CS film as the outer layer and SA film as the inner layer were prepared by solution casting method. The addition of CMCS-ZnO nanoparticles led to enhanced tensile strength, and to better water vapor resistance. The as-prepared films exhibited distinctive antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli. The results suggested that the as-prepared film is expected to be a promising material for food packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-sized amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) have a great potential for drug transport and drug delivery because of their high drug loading capacity, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, ACC is the thermodynamically least stable phase of calcium carbonate, and such thermal metastability often transforms it into more stable vaterite or calcite phases, so the inhibition of the phase transformation of ACC is of great significance for its application in drug delivery systems. Herein, phosphate as a morphology controlling additive was introduced to stabilize the metastable ACC. The results showed that the composite nanoparticles (named here the ACCP) with narrow size distribution located at approximately 128 nm (measured by dynamic light scattering) were obtained, when Ca2+ concentration and C/P were 10 mM and 7/3 respectively, prepared at 30 °C for 10 min. The powdered X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that phosphate has an excellent ability to stabilize ACC, and even after storage for 60 days at room temperature, the structure of ACCP remains amorphous. The in vitro drug release tests showed that ACCP nanoparticles had a high curcumin (Cur) loading capacity and a sustained drug release property. Moreover, the 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) radical scavenging activity assay showed that ACCP-encapsulating strategy could effectively prevent the decomposition of Cur. In vitro cytotoxicity tests demonstrated that the resultants have excellent biocompatibility. Therefore, the as-prepared ACCP nanoparticles are promising for drug delivery applications. • The nano-sized ACCP particles were successful prepared using phosphate as a stabilizer. • Cur-loaded ACCP shows favorable Cur release properties. • The ACCP-Cur showed a promising of DPPH free radicals scavenging capacity. • Cytotoxicity tests showed that ACCP and ACCP-Cur have low and high cells toxicity, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]