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In this paper, a novel fluorescent probe, TPA-PAT, with continuous recognition based on triphenylamine was designed, synthesized, and characterized by NMR, IR, and fluorescence spectrophotometry techniques.

Biodegradable natural polymers are receiving increasing attention as potential candidates for wound dressing. In the present study, composite microspheres (mCSB) based on calcium alginate (CA), silk fibroin peptide (SP), and Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP) were prepared by the reverse emulsion method. The excellent swelling properties of microspheres enable them to rapidly promote thrombosis. Microspheres can increase the platelet aggregation index to 1.5 and the aggregation rate of red blood cells to as high as 80 %. Furthermore, tannic acid (TA)-loaded microspheres demonstrate a slow-release effect on TA; this allows the microspheres to exhibit good long-lasting antibacterial properties. Due to the synergistic effects of SP and TA, the cell senescence was delayed, with a 126.69 % survival rate of fibroblasts after 3 days of incubation. In addition, TA led to a rapid reduction in inflammation levels, with a wound closure rate of92.80 % within 7 days. The multifunctional TA-loaded mCSB has great application potential for rapid wound healing and the treatment of wound hemostasis.

Nanorobots hold great promise for integrated drug delivery systems that are responsive to molecular triggers. Herein, we successfully developed an automatic smart bionanorobot that has transport capability and recognizes and removes zinc ions from poisoned cells based on nanoscale polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane molecules. This intelligent bionanorobot can easily move inside and outside the cell and find zinc ions owing to its highly selective recognition to zinc ions and high cell permeability, especially the well-combined high penetration and strong binding energy. More importantly, it was also found that this intelligent bionanorobot can restore round HeLa cells to a normal fusiform cell morphology following high-concentration zinc treatment and does not interfere with cell proliferation and division. It was also shown by

Meniscus injury is a common disease in clinic. If it was not treated in time, it leads to osteoarthritis which brings unbearable pain and heavy economic burden to the patients. At present, meniscectomy and meniscus suture are widely used in the treatment for meniscus injury. Nevertheless, It is not ideal for poor self-healing ability of meniscus. The recruitment of endogenous stem cells is an attractive option for wounded meniscus healing. Fully reduced high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) can accelerate the regeneration of multiple tissues by endogenous stem cell activation, migration and differentiation. Kartogenin (KGN) has shown to induce the chondrogenesis of the stem cells. However, no study has explored such effects of HMGB1 and KGN in wounded meniscus healing. Therefore, in order to improve the regeneration of meniscus, we intend to use a novel bioactive microsphere which was developed by combining fully reduced high mobility group box 1 (frHMGB1) and kartogenin (KGN) with alginate gel which slowly release high concentrations of HMGB1 and KGN to activate rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) and promote cell proliferation. The results showed that this HMGB1–KGN microsphere released and kept high concentrations of HMGB1 and KGN in the wound area for more than 2 weeks. In vitro experimental results showed that the HMGB1–KGN microsphere can promote cell proliferation via recruiting rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) and activating the BMSCs from G0 to GAlert stage as evidenced by cell migration testing and 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation assay. In vivo results indicated that this HMGB-KGN microsphere can recruit GFP-labeled BMSCs from tail vein to wounded meniscus and induce these GFP-labeled BMSCs to differentiate into chondrocytes. Our results demonstrated that the HMGB1–KGN-containing bioactive microsphere induced cell migration in vitro and recruited the cells to wound area to promote wounded rat meniscus healing in vivo.

Flexible polyaniline/carbon fibres (PANI/CFs) nanocomposites with comb-shaped polyaniline (PANI) nanorods were fabricated by using a one-step pulse current approach. The morphology, chemica...

A convenient and efficient method to eliminate the aggregation effect of organic photoelectric sensing materials and to improve biological compatibility and cell permeability as well was developed by hanging organic fluorophores on a polymer chain, for example, fluorescein fluorophores had been controllably hung on polyacrylamide main chains with a 1:2 stoichiometric ratio by a simple copolymerization strategy. The results showed that introduction of water-soluble bioactive polyacrylamide main chains into fluorescein fluorophores via covalent bonds could effectively improve their optical stability by deteriorating π-π stack and charge-transfer interactions among different fluorophores. More importantly, the resultant materials possessed low toxicity and excellent cell permeability ten times larger than their precursor fluorescein fluorophore, which made it express an especially turn-on fluorescent response to ultratrace Hg2+ both in aqueous and living cells by forming stable 5-member-ring complexes with Hg2+ with a correlation coefficient of 0.997 and a low detection limit of 4.0 × 10-10 mol·L-1. This work provides promising insight into constructing some practical sensing materials for environmentally-friendly biological analyses.

A multiple turn-on fluorophore (FHCS), combining fluorescein, hydrazone, cyanuric chloride and salicylaldehyde chromone into a molecule, was identified and developed based on density functional theoretical calculation. It was expected that FHCS could express exclusive fluorescent signals and improved Stokes shifts when chelating Al3+ or Zn2+. After it was synthesized and characterized in detail, it was noted that FHCS could turn-on fluorescently discriminate trace Al3+ and Zn2+ under the optimized conditions, i.e., from no-fluorescence to strong blue fluorescence for Al3+ and to green fluorescence for Zn2+ with low detection limits of 5.37 × 10−8 M and 7.90 × 10−8 M respectively. Owing to its low toxicity, FHCS was successfully applied for quantitative determination of Al3+ and Zn2+ in natural aqueous samples and toxicity evaluation of Al3+ and Zn2+ in living cells and bio-tissues with excellent linear relationships. The action mechanisms for FHCS with Al3+ and Zn2+ were confirmed to form stable 5-member-co-6-member condensed rings between Al3+/Zn2+ and N/O atoms in FHCS by both theoretic and experimental methods, which resulted in turn-on fluorescence with different dipolar moments and improved Stokes shifts.

Background: Meniscal injury is very common, and injured meniscal tissue has a limited healing ability because of poor vascularity. Platelets contain both pro- and anti-angiogenic factors, which can be released by platelet selective activation. Hypothesis: Platelets release a high level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) when they are activated by protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), whereas the platelets release endostatin when they are activated by protease-activated receptor 4 (PAR4). The PAR1-treated platelets enhance the proliferation of meniscal cells in vitro and promote in vivo healing of wounded meniscal tissue. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Method: Platelets were isolated from human blood and activated with different reagents. The released growth factors from the activated platelets were determined by immunostaining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The effects of the platelets with different treatments on meniscal cells were tested by an in vitro model of cell culture and an in vivo model of wounded meniscal healing. Results: The results indicated that platelets contained both pro- and antiangiogenic factors including VEGF and endostatin. In unactivated platelets, VEGF and endostatin were contained inside of the platelets. Both VEGF and endostatin were released from the platelets when they were activated by thrombin. However, only VEGF was released from the platelets when they were activated by PAR1, and only endostatin was released from the platelets when they were activated by PAR4. The rat meniscal cells grew much faster in the medium that contained PAR1-activated platelets than in the medium that contained either PAR4-activated platelets or unactivated platelets. The wounds treated with PAR1-activated platelets healed faster than those treated with either PAR4-activated platelets or unactivated platelets. Many blood vessel–like structures were found in the wounded menisci treated with PAR1-activated platelets. Conclusion: The PAR1-activated platelets released high levels of VEGF, which increased the proliferation of rat meniscal cells in vitro, enhanced the vascularization of menisci in vivo, and promoted healing of wounded menisci. Clinical Relevance: Our results suggested that selective activated platelets can be used clinically to enhance healing of wounded meniscal tissue.

Conducting polymers and transition metal oxides are good electrodes for supercapacitors owing to their high charge storage characteristics. Different techniques have been utilized in fabricating novel nanocomposites of polyaniline (PANI) and manganese dioxide (MnO2) for capacitance enhancement. Herein, we report a facile approach towards the control of core/shell architecture of MnO2 nanorods and PANI, respectively, via in-situ hydrothermal polymerization method. Structure and morphology of the PANI wrapped MnO2 nanorods (MnO2@PANI) were properly characterized and their capacitance enhancement was explored carefully. The experimental results revealed that the specific capacitance of MnO2@PANI40 (40% MnO2 relative to aniline monomer) nanocomposite is 665 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1, higher than that of pristine MnO2 (273 F g-1) and pristine PANI (434 F g-1). Moreover, 82% of the original capacitance of the nanocomposite is retained after 1500 consecutive CV cycles at a scan rate of 100 mVs−1, which is far higher than the stability of pristine PANI (48%). Excellent electrochemical performance of the MnO2@PANI40-based electrode is attributed to the synergistic effect of the core/shell networked hierarchical structure of the nanocomposite. The unique structure improves the ion transportation efficiency and reduces the ion diffusion path and the uniform coating of PANI offers protection against the dissolution of MnO2 in the acidic electrolyte. Furthermore, high electrical conductivity status of PANI (due to its half oxidation-half reduction status, justified by XPS test) plays an important role in the capacitance enhancement of the nanocomposite.

This work reports on a facile and efficient strategy for preparing a class of chromophores- including organic-inorganic functional hybrid materials. These hybrid materials are based on pyrene and octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OV-POSS), in which the positive vinyls in OV-POSS were heck coupling reacted with pyrenes. It was found that the incorporation of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) can significantly precluded aggregation of hybrid molecules due to the inhibition of π-π stacking between chromophore units, which were also further confirmed by theoretical simulation. Moreover, the fluorescence quantum efficient of H2 (Φsolid = 80%) is higher than H1 (Φsolid = 65%) and H3 (Φsolid = 68%), respectively. AFM and OM images showed the smooth surface structure of the hybrid film, which demonstrated that the incorporation of inorganic POSS could improve the film-forming property of organic chromophores. Simultaneously, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results also display inorganic POSS core leads to the good thermal stabilities (>250 °C) of the functional hybrids materials.

In the work, self-screening interference effect (SSIE) was proposed for sensing trace Cu2+ by simply thermodynamic control reactions, using dipyridine as self-screening interference group, rhodamine as mother chromophore and cyanuric chloride as connecting bridge. After its UV–vis and fluorescent spectral properties were optimized in detail, it was noted to find that the present sensing material (RACD) could selectively and reversibly react Cu2+ with obvious colorimetric or fluorescent spectral and color changes from colorless to pink or orange-red. Some other concomitant ions, even trivalent Fe3+ or Al3+, had no interferences on it. Under the optimized conditions, RACD could multiple-mode sense trace Cu2+ in aqueous with a detection limit as low as 11.0 nmol/L. Especially with low toxicity, RACD was successfully applied for quantitatively monitoring Cu2+ and evaluating its toxicity in living cells and bio-tissues. RACD-functionalized paper-strips were also prepared to visibly recognize Cu2+ more conveniently. The selective action mechanism for RACD to Cu2+ was to form some stable 5-membered and 5-membered condensed rings between Cu2+ and O or N atoms.

Organic materials are receiving more attention in the solar cell due to their better solution process, controllable synthesis, tunable chemical and physical properties. However, the focus problem of compatibility and aggregation is to be solved urgently in organic materials, which inevitably limits them widely application. To this end, an inorganic–organic hybrid materials with wide-band absorption is designed and prepared, that incorporates octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane with 6-bromoquanaldine to produce H1, then reacts with squaric acid to design H2, which efficiently avoids the fluorescence quenching due to the steric hindrance. The electrochemical results shows that the energy level of H2 is match well with the commercial dye N719. Hence it shows a better photovoltaic performance based on dye-sensitized solar cell, along with power conversion efficiency up to 7.73% when it is co-sensitized with N719. The hybrid system exhibits good performances in solar cell and long-term stability.

Traditional dressings, such as bandages, gauze, and cotton pads stick to new granulation tissue, thereby aggravating wound injury or causing secondary injury during replacement. Microspheres that are biodegradable and adaptable to various wound shapes are a good alternative to traditional dressings. In this work, a novel microsphere was prepared by reverse microemulsion method using sodium alginate and silk peptide (SP) as the aqueous phase. After cross-linking by Ca

Chemotherapy mostly functions as a carrier for direct drug delivery to the tumor, which may induce secondary damage to healthy tissue cells around the tumor. To avoid this side effect, using multifunctional drugs with high cell permeability during chemotherapy is crucial to achieve significant antitumor efficacy. In this study, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-based multifunctional organic-inorganic hybrid molecules with potential for recognition, imaging, and treatment were designed and successfully synthesized through a facile and efficient one-pot reaction process. The structure and properties of the synthesized multifunctional molecules were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, cytotoxicity assay, surface tension testing, cell compatibility testing, hematoxylin and eosin staining, as well as in vivo and in vitro studies. The results demonstrated that these multifunctional molecules can be effectively used for delivering precisely-targeted imaging and therapeutic agents and exhibited considerable cell permeability. The excellent synergy between high permeability and precise targeting results in multifunctional molecules with superior diagnostic performance.

Bioceramic morphology plays a crucial role in bone repair and regeneration. It is extensively utilized in bone scaffold synthesis due to its better biological system activity and biocompatibility. Here, ultra-long tricalcium phosphate (UTCP) was synthesized with the assistance of the ultrasonication method. The UTCP was modified as a scaffold by the reinforcement of a methacrylate chitosan (MAC) polymer. The functionality of UTCP, UTCP/MAC, and methotrexate (MTX)-loaded composites was characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The crystalline natures are investigated by x-ray diffraction, and the results show the UTCP crystalline phase is not altered after the reinforcement of the MAC polymer and loading of MTX drugs. The morphological analyses were observed through electron microscopic analysis, and polymer-coated rod structures were observed. The UTCP/MAC composite mechanical stress was increased from 1813 Pa of UTCP to 4272 Pa. MTX loading and release at 79.0% within 3 h and 76.15% at 20 h, respectively, were achieved. The UTCP/MAC and UTCP/MAC/MTX’s osteoblast-like (MG-63) cell viability was investigated, and the MTX-loaded UTCP/MAC composite exhibits good viability behavior up to 96.0% in 14 d. The results confirm the higher compatibility of the composite and profitable cell growth. It may be suitable for bone implantation preparation, and it helps in faster regeneration of bone tissue after in vivo and clinical evaluation.

The metal ion fluorescence probes based on chemical reactions triggered by specific metal ions is characterized by high selectivity. However, they are also subject to inherent limitations, such as easy aggregation under water solution, poor optical stability, and long response time. In order to solve these problems, a simple and effective method was studied. The specific design is as follows. Fluorescence probe RACD is assembled onto a single layer graphene oxide (GO) via π-π interaction and hydrogen bonding to prepare RACD functionlized graphene oxide RACD/GO. The experimental results show that the resulting RACD/GO possesses very well monodispersion, hydrophilicity and photostability, particularly reduce the aggregation degree of RACD owing to π-π effect. Simultaneously, it was found that due to the strong synergy between GO and RACD, the response time, selectivity, anti-interference ability, detection sensitivity, detection limit and bioimaging ability of RACD/GO were significantly improved compared with RACD. The resulting RACD/GO not only possesses very well photostability, multiple repeated cycles, but also have been triumphantly put into the monitoring Cu

Combining octavinyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OV-POSS) with amine-containing polyacrylamide (OV-POSS co-poly(acrylamide)) gives a new fluorescent polymeric chemo-sensor with complete water solubility. It shows better selectivity for Fe3+ in water over a wide detection range (pH = 4–10). The incorporation of Fe3+ into OV-POSS co-poly(acrylamide) results in a significant fluorescence enhancement in water over other metal ions. The bound ratio of OV-POSS co-poly(acrylamide)–Fe3+ complex was determined to be 1 : 2 according to the Job's plot. The association constant (Ka) of Fe3+ binding with the chemosensor was 7.416 × 107, and the detection limit was 0.9 × 10−9 M. Moreover, it was found that the system possessed low cytotoxicity, good permeability, high stability, and compatibility. Hence, it can be successfully applied in bio-imaging with bright blue fluorescence. In addition, a visible color change to the naked eye from colorless to bright yellow could be directly observed when Fe3+ was added into the chemosensor OV-POSS co-poly(acrylamide) compared with other metal ions.

Two-photon fluorescent (TPF) Bombyx mori silk fibers were acquired for bioimaging by molecular recognition functionalization. In this context, 2,7-bis((E)-4-((E)-4-nitrostyryl)styryl)-9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene (NF) was adopted to functionalize silkworm silk fibers. NF exhibits a large two-photon absorption cross section, but has a low TPF quantum yield in the solid form due to the side-by-side (π–π) molecular stacking. In terms of the molecular recognition between the nitro groups of NF and the amide groups of silk fibroin, the silk fibers acquire the two-photon fluorescent emission with a significant enhancement of 350% in TPF quantum yield of NF molecules, compared with the solid state. For comparison, two other molecules, 2,7-bis((E)-4-methylstyryl)-9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene (MF1) and 2,7-bis((E)-4-((E)-4-methylstyryl)styryl)-9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene (MF2), were selected for similar experiments. These molecules show little effect due to the lack of molecular recognition. The TPF silk scaffolds were obtained, and high quality imaging of NF in cell culture was finally achieved, which has extremely relevant implications for biomedical applications.

A novel bio-active scaffold for enhancing wounded meniscus healing has been developed by combination of High mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) and kartogenin (KGN) with alginate gel. The properties of the bio-active scaffold were also investigated using an in vitro cell culture model and in vivo rat wounded meniscus healing model. This HMGB1-KGN-containing bioactive scaffold released HMGB1 and KGN into wound area and kept high concentrations of HMGB1 and KGN in the system for more than two weeks. This HMGB1-KGN-containing bioactive scaffold also activated rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) from G0 to GAlert stage and promoted cell proliferation as evidenced by 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation testing. Our results also demonstrated that the HMGB1-KGN-containing bioactive scaffold induced cell migration in vitro and recruited the cells to wound area to promote wounded rat meniscus healing in vivo.

A multidentate ligand chromophore, combining rhodamine, triazole, and pyridine units, was identified and developed for the first time. Using triazole and pyridine rings as coordinating functional recognition groups, it was expected to selectively recognize Sn2+ to form some stable 5-member or 6-member rings with nitrogen and oxygen atoms. Under the optimized conditions, the ligand chromophore could selectively react with trace Sn2+ in CH3CN/H2O (99/1, v/v), accompanying with obvious changes in fluorescent spectrum, ultraviolet-visible spectrum and visual color. For fluorescent analysis, a turn-on fluorescence at 587 nm was found and increased linearly in the range of 1.2–6.2 × 10−7 mol L−1 Sn2+ from colorless to orange. For ultraviolet-visible one, a new absorption peak at 560 nm emerged with a linear range of 2.0–11.0 × 10−7 mol L−1 Sn2+ from colorless to pink. The action mechanism between the ligand chromophore and Sn2+ was confirmed basing on ultraviolet-visible titration, 1H NMR titration, Job's plot, binding constants and theoretical calculation in detail.

Crystal engineering of CH3NH3PbI3–xClx perovskite films through modification by decoration with p-type semiconductor materials was proposed as an efficient method for obtaining good-quality crystalline films. A simple method is demonstrated to improve the quality of perovskite films by adding nickel oxide (NiOx) nanoparticles into the precursor solution. The addition of NiOx brings about high-quality crystals and convenient photo-generated charge transport with reduced defect density owing to efficient control of the preferred nucleation and crystal growth. The sufficient contact between CH3NH3PbI3–xClx–NiOx and the electron-transport layer can contribute to photo-generated carrier lifetime and transport through the optimized interface. Moreover, it is demonstrated that a strong chemical bonding interaction between MAPbI3–xClx and NiOx could protect perovskite materials from oxygen and humidity corrosion, showing remarkable stability holding ∼81% of the initial power conversion efficiency (PCE) after 50 d...

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite with large crystal size and high quality are desirable for making high-performance solar cell. However, the expectant film with good surface is normally limited by various factors, such as under-layer, film thickness. Here, an efficient dual effect method on the performance by means of under-layer abduction strategy is developed to improve perovskite crystallization by incorporating nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide into nickel oxide as hole transport layer, which significantly improves the electrical conductivity, and endows composite material with encouraging hydrophobic property. In addition, the modified under-layer enhances the space of crystal nucleation and facilitates crystal growth through grain boundary migration, thereby achieving large crystal size and reduced grain boundaries. Consequently, a best device with maximum power conversion efficiency of 18.84% is achieved due to a significant improvement in fill factor and short-circuit current density. Moreover, its flexible application shows an efficiency of 14.11%, retaining >90% after aging for 1200 h without encapsulation. This work provides a potential platform to fabricate low cost and efficient hole extraction materials for large scale and flexible perovskite solar cell.

Here, we report an ultrathin flexible photo-charging power pack that integrates a perovskite solar cell (PSC) and electro-chemical supercapacitor (ESC) on bi-polar TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNARs). Instead of two independent components, the integrated sandwich-type device allows the direct injection of the electrons generated by the PSCs into the ESCs through shared highly ordered bi-polar TNARs. Meanwhile, the holes separated from the perovskite layer divert into positive electrode of ESCs through an external circuit effectually. When the flexible photo-supercapacitor was illuminated with simulated solar light, the voltage of ESC was increased to 0.63 V within 30 s at the beginning of the charging period immediately. The optimized power pack exhibits a remarkable overall photoelectric conversion (4.9%) and storage efficiency up to 80%, with fast response and superior cycling capability. To meet applicable demands with a larger output voltage, these photo-supercapacitors are successfully woven into “bamboo slip” architecture, which can be folded, bended and allows tuning the open-circuit voltage (> 2.4 V) by charging the number of photo-supercapacitor strips.

A novel multifunctional sensing material, RSPT, incorporating rhodamine B hydrazide, a Schiff base, and a phenolic hydroxyl group into triazine, was identified and prepared. After the molecular structure was characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, mass spectra and element analysis, it was notably found that there were multichannel turn-on fluorescent responses to Zn2+ and Bi3+, i.e., a strong fluorescence emission at 481 nm in DMF–water (99/1, v/v) for Zn2+ with a color change from colorless to light yellow-green, while an increased fluorescence emission at 580 nm in CH3CN–water (99/1, v/v) for Bi3+ with a color change from colorless to red. Their different action mechanisms for the RSPT–Zn2+ and RSPT–Bi3+ complexes were investigated and confirmed by means of fluorescent titration, binding constant, Job's plot curve, 1H NMR titration, and theoretical simulation. RSPT would be a promising turn-on fluorescent chemo-dosimeter for multichannel detection of Zn2+ and Bi3+ with a detection limit of 3.0 nM for Zn2+ and 8.6 nM for Bi3+.

The dissolution evolution behavior and dissolution mechanism of cellulose in N -methylmorpholine- N -oxide (NMMO)/H 2 O solution, a typical aqueous solvent, were investigated. The dissolution evolution behaviors and hypothesis were characterized by polarizing microscope (POM) and Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). Results showed that the concentration of the solvent penetrating into the native cellulose increases gradually, special swelling dissolution of different cellulose fibers is caused by the inconsistency of the structure and or composition of the fibers. The dissolving process of cellulose with the structure of amorphous regions co-existing with crystalline regions is that the solvent penetrates in the amorphous regions and weak regions where the structure is loose, causing the crystalline regions of compact structure gradual dispersing from outer to inner by the chain disentanglement of these regions, and further developed the model for the dissolving evolution behaviors of polymer with the structure of amorphous co-existing with crystalline regions and the solvent penetrating model for the swelling dissolution of cellulose fiber.

Background: The meniscus is one of the most commonly injured parts of the body, and meniscal healing is difficult. Hypothesis: Kartogenin (KGN) induces tendon stem cells (TSCs) to differentiate into cartilage cells in vitro and form meniscus-like tissue in vivo. A damaged meniscus can be replaced with a KGN-treated autologous tendon graft. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: In the in vitro experiments, TSCs were isolated from rabbit patellar tendons and cultured with various concentrations of KGN, from 0 to 1000 µM. The effect of KGN on the chondrogenesis of TSCs in vitro was investigated by histochemical staining and quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The in vivo experiments were carried out on 6 New Zealand White rabbits by removing a meniscus from the rabbit knee and implanting an autologous tendon graft treated with KGN or saline. The meniscus formation in vivo was examined by histological analysis and immune staining. Results: The proliferation of TSCs was promoted by KGN in a concentration-dependent manner. Both histochemical staining and qRT-PCR showed that the chondrogenic differentiation of TSCs was increased with KGN concentration. After 3 months of implantation, the tendon graft treated with KGN formed a meniscus-like tissue with a white and glistening appearance, while the saline-treated tendon graft retained tendon-like tissue and appeared yellowish and unhealthy. Histochemical staining showed that after 3 months of implantation, the KGN-treated tendon graft had a structure similar to that of normal meniscus. Many cartilage-like cells and fibrocartilage-like tissues were found in the KGN-treated tendon graft. However, no cartilage-like cells were found in the saline-treated tendon graft after 3 months of implantation. Furthermore, the KGN-treated tendon graft was positively stained by both anti–collagen type I and type II antibodies, but the saline-treated tendon graft was not stained by collagen type II. Conclusion: The findings indicated that KGN can induce the differentiation of TSCs into cartilage-like cells in vitro and in vivo. The results suggest that KGN-treated tendon graft may be a good substitute for meniscal repair and regeneration. Clinical Relevance: This study revealed the direct effects of KGN on the chondrogenic differentiation of TSCs in vitro and in vivo. A KGN-treated autologous tendon graft induced formation of a meniscus-like tissue in vivo. This study provides a new cartilage regenerating technology for the treatment of damaged meniscus.

To develop a promising electrode candidate for high-performance supercapacitors, a novel 3D ternary composite, graphene-Fe3O4-polyaniline (rGO/Fe3O4/PANI), was designed and developed via in-situ hydrothermal polymerization methods. After its structure and performances were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), the electrochemical enhanced mechanisms for supercapacitor electrodes were explored carefully. By virtue of the excellent synergistic effect among Fe3O4, PANI and rGO, the electrochemical properties of rGO/Fe3O4/PANI-based electrode for supercapacitor were improved greatly. The specific capacitance increased from 299.1 Fg−1 for PANI, to 371.1 Fg−1 for rGO/PANI and further to 486.5 Fg−1 for rGO/Fe3O4/PANI. Importantly, even after 2000 cycles, the retention ratio could still keep 52.1% for rGO/Fe3O4/PANI comparing with 38.9% for PANI.

To improve the water-solubility of heavy-metal sensing materials, a modified fluorescein-based derivative, acryloyl fluorescein hydrazine (ACFH), was designed and developed by incorporating a non-hydrogen-bonding group into the conjugated molecule for weakening intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions. In neutral water environments, ACFH presented a fluorescence-enhancement performance at λmax=512nm in the presence of Hg2+, which could be visualized by naked-eyes. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range of Hg2+ detection was 1.0-100×10-9molL-1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9992 and a detection limit of 0.86×10-9molL-1. The recognition mechanism was confirmed to be a stable and irreversible 1:1 five-member ring complex between ACFH and Hg2+ with a coordination constant of 3.36×109. ACFH would possess a potential application in detecting Hg2+ for biological assay with low cytotoxicity.

A novel flower-like polyaniline/graphene hybrid (PANI-ATRGO) is prepared by a one-pot synthesis and used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. The structure, formation mechanism and electrochemical properties of such unique architecture are systematically investigated by combining Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscope, X-ray diffraction and electrochemical techniques. The results suggest that “V-type” amino groups of ATRGO and supermolecular assembly between PANI chains play the key role in the formation of flower-like nanostructures. Compare to pristine PANI (487 F g −1 at 1 A g −1 ), PANI-ATRGO electrode materials exhibit a remarkable improvement of the specific capacitance (1510 F g −1 at 1 A g −1 ) for supercapacitor in addition to excellent rate capacity and long-term cycling stability. Moreover, it is found that flower-like PANI-ATRGO hybrids exhibit better electrochemical properties than the corresponding nanorod-array hybrids in our previous study. This reveals the significance of controlling the hierarchical structure of hybrid materials in the development of high-performance supercapacitor.

A convenient and efficient method to eliminate the aggregation effect of organic photoelectric sensing materials and to improve biological compatibility and cell permeability as well was developed by hanging organic fluorophores on a polymer chain, for example, fluorescein fluorophores had been controllably hung on polyacrylamide main chains with a 1:2 stoichiometric ratio by a simple copolymerization strategy. The results showed that introduction of water-soluble bioactive polyacrylamide main chains into fluorescein fluorophores via covalent bonds could effectively improve their optical stability by deteriorating π-π stack and charge-transfer interactions among different fluorophores. More importantly, the resultant materials possessed low toxicity and excellent cell permeability ten times larger than their precursor fluorescein fluorophore, which made it express an especially turn-on fluorescent response to ultratrace Hg

An innovative strategy of adjusting the molecular polarity of organics is applied for multifunctional simultaneous ions detection. It involved the use of 4-bromo-2-hydroxyben Rhodamine B hydrazide (RHBr) as a colorimetric and fluorescent multifunctional chemosensor. Briefly, it was designed and prepared via integrating 4-bromo-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde with Rhodamine B hydrazide, and Rhodamine B as fluorophore group, CO, -CHN and -OH groups as reaction site, Br atom as electro n-withdrawing group. On the basis of theoretical calculation under Gaussian 09 software suit, RHBr could exclusively recognize Cu

A multiple turn-on fluorophore (FHCS), combining fluorescein, hydrazone, cyanuric chloride and salicylaldehyde chromone into a molecule, was identified and developed based on density functional theoretical calculation. It was expected that FHCS could express exclusive fluorescent signals and improved Stokes shifts when chelating Al