bims-mricoa 2022-03-27 papers

bims-mricoa

Biomed News

on MRI contrast agents

Issue of 2022–03–27
nine papers selected by
Merve Yavuz, Bilkent University

Smart Magnetotactic Bacteria Enable the Inhibition of Neuroblastoma under an Alternating Magnetic Field.
Cubic Iron Core-Shell Nanoparticles Functionalized to Obtain High-Performance MRI Contrast Agents.
Magnetic Solid Nanoparticles and Their Counterparts: Recent Advances towards Cancer Theranostics.
Recent advances in engineering iron oxide nanoparticles for effective magnetic resonance imaging.
Smart Nanocomposite Assemblies for Multimodal Cancer Theranostics.
Methods to Characterize Granular Hydrogel Rheological Properties, Porosity, and Cell Invasion.
New Insights into the Magnetic Properties of CoFe2O4@SiO2@Au Magnetoplasmonic Nanoparticles.
Systematic studies into uniform synthetic protein nanoparticles.
Bacterial pore-forming toxins.

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Mar 21.

Smart Magnetotactic Bacteria Enable the Inhibition of Neuroblastoma under an Alternating Magnetic Field.

Changyou Chen, Pingping Wang, Haitao Chen, Xue Wang, Malka N Halgamuge, Chuanfang Chen, Tao Song.

  Magnetotactic bacteria are ubiquitous microorganisms in nature that synthesize intracellular magnetic nanoparticles called magnetosomes in a gene-controlled way and arrange them in chains. From in vitro to in vivo, we demonstrate that the intact body of Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 has potential as a natural magnetic hyperthermia material for cancer therapy. Compared to chains of magnetosomes and individual magnetosomes, the entire AMB-1 cell exhibits superior heating capability under an alternating magnetic field. When incubating with tumor cells, the intact AMB-1 cells disperse better than the other two types of magnetosomes, decreasing cellular viability under the control of an alternating magnetic field. Furthermore, in vivo experiments in nude mice with neuroblastoma found that intact AMB-1 cells had the best antitumor activity with magnetic hyperthermia therapy compared to other treatment groups. These findings suggest that the intact body of magnetotactic bacteria has enormous promise as a natural material for tumor magnetic hyperthermia. In biomedical applications, intact and living magnetotactic bacteria play an increasingly essential function as a targeting robot due to their magnetotaxis.

Keywords:  alternating magnetic field; cancer therapy; heating efficiency; magnetic hyperthermia; magnetotactic bacteria

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c24154
Materials (Basel). 2022 Mar 17. pii: 2228. [Epub ahead of print]15(6):

Cubic Iron Core-Shell Nanoparticles Functionalized to Obtain High-Performance MRI Contrast Agents.

Maria Volokhova, Anna Shugai, Masahiko Tsujimoto, Anna-Liisa Kubo, Sven Telliskivi, Mait Nigul, Peep Uudeküll, Heiki Vija, Olesja M Bondarenko, Jasper Adamson, Anne Kahru, Raivo Stern, Liis Seinberg.

  Nanoparticles with SiO2 coating were synthesized to have a cubic iron core. These were found to have saturation magnetization very close to the highest possible value of any iron-containing nanoparticles and the bulk iron saturation magnetization. The in vitro toxicology studies show that they are highly biocompatible and possess better MRI contrast agent potential than iron oxide NPs.

Keywords:  MRI contrast agents; ROS; magnetic properties; nanomaterials; synthesis; toxicity

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15062228
Pharmaceutics. 2022 Feb 25. pii: 506. [Epub ahead of print]14(3):

Magnetic Solid Nanoparticles and Their Counterparts: Recent Advances towards Cancer Theranostics.

Mónica Cerqueira, Efres Belmonte-Reche, Juan Gallo, Fátima Baltazar, Manuel Bañobre-López.

  Cancer is currently a leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates an increase of 60% in the global cancer incidence in the next two decades. The inefficiency of the currently available therapies has prompted an urgent effort to develop new strategies that enable early diagnosis and improve response to treatment. Nanomedicine formulations can improve the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of conventional therapies and result in optimized cancer treatments. In particular, theranostic formulations aim at addressing the high heterogeneity of tumors and metastases by integrating imaging properties that enable a non-invasive and quantitative assessment of tumor targeting efficiency, drug delivery, and eventually the monitoring of the response to treatment. However, in order to exploit their full potential, the promising results observed in preclinical stages need to achieve clinical translation. Despite the significant number of available functionalization strategies, targeting efficiency is currently one of the major limitations of advanced nanomedicines in the oncology area, highlighting the need for more efficient nanoformulation designs that provide them with selectivity for precise cancer types and tumoral tissue. Under this current need, this review provides an overview of the strategies currently applied in the cancer theranostics field using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), where both nanocarriers have recently entered the clinical trials stage. The integration of these formulations into magnetic solid lipid nanoparticles-with different composition and phenotypic activity-constitutes a new generation of theranostic nanomedicines with great potential for the selective, controlled, and safe delivery of chemotherapy.

Keywords:  MRI-contrast agents; cancer theranostics; magnetic nanoparticles; magnetic solid lipid nanoparticles; solid lipid nanoparticles

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14030506
Bioact Mater. 2022 Jun;12 214-245

Recent advances in engineering iron oxide nanoparticles for effective magnetic resonance imaging.

Zhenghuan Zhao, Muyao Li, Jie Zeng, Linlin Huo, Kun Liu, Ruixue Wei, Kaiyuan Ni, Jinhao Gao.

  Iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) with unique magnetic property and high biocompatibility have been widely used as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent (CA) for long time. However, a review which comprehensively summarizes the recent development of IONP as traditional T 2 CA and its new application for different modality of MRI, such as T 1 imaging, simultaneous T 2/T 1 or MRI/other imaging modality, and as environment responsive CA is rare. This review starts with an investigation of direction on the development of high-performance MRI CA in both T 2 and T 1 modal based on quantum mechanical outer sphere and Solomon-Bloembergen-Morgan (SBM) theory. Recent rational attempts to increase the MRI contrast of IONP by adjusting the key parameters, including magnetization, size, effective radius, inhomogeneity of surrounding generated magnetic field, crystal phase, coordination number of water, electronic relaxation time, and surface modification are summarized. Besides the strategies to improve r 2 or r 1 values, strategies to increase the in vivo contrast efficiency of IONP have been reviewed from three different aspects, those are introducing second imaging modality to increase the imaging accuracy, endowing IONP with environment response capacity to elevate the signal difference between lesion and normal tissue, and optimizing the interface structure to improve the accumulation amount of IONP in lesion. This detailed review provides a deep understanding of recent researches on the development of high-performance IONP based MRI CAs. It is hoped to trigger deep thinking for design of next generation MRI CAs for early and accurate diagnosis.

Keywords:  Dual-modal contrast imaging; Environment responsive imaging; Improved relaxation; Iron oxide nanoparticles; Strcture engineering

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioactmat.2021.10.014
Int J Pharm. 2022 Mar 22. pii: S0378-5173(22)00252-6. [Epub ahead of print] 121697

Smart Nanocomposite Assemblies for Multimodal Cancer Theranostics.

Manshi Patel, Arati Prabhu.

  Despite great strides in anticancer research, performance statistics of current treatment modalities remain dismal, highlighting the need for safe, efficacious strategies for tumour mitigation. Non-invasive fusion technology platforms combining photodynamic, photothermal and hyperthermia therapies have emerged as alternate strategies with potential to meet many of the unmet clinical demands in the domain of cancer. These therapies make use of metallic and magnetic nanoparticles with light absorbing properties, which are manipulated to generate either reactive cytotoxic oxygen species or heat for tumour ablation. Combination therapies integrating light, heat and magnetism-mediated nanoplatforms with the conventional approaches of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are emerging as precision medicine for targeted interventions against cancer. This article aims to compile recent developments of advanced nanocomposite assemblies that integrate multimodal therapeutics for cancer treatment. Amalgamation of various effective, non-invasive technological platforms such as photodynamic therapy (PDT), photothermal therapy (PTT), magnetic hyperthermia (MHT), and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) have tremendous potential in presenting safe and efficacious solutions to the formidable challenges in cancer therapeutics.

Keywords:  Cancer; Chemodynamic therapy; Magnetic hyperthermia; Magnetic nanoparticles; Photodynamic therapy; Photothermal therapy

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2022.121697
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2022 Mar 24.

Methods to Characterize Granular Hydrogel Rheological Properties, Porosity, and Cell Invasion.

Taimoor H Qazi, Victoria G Muir, Jason A Burdick.

  Granular hydrogels are formed through the packing of hydrogel microparticles and are emerging for various biomedical applications, including as inks for 3D printing, substrates to study cell-matrix interactions, and injectable scaffolds for tissue repair. Granular hydrogels are suited for these applications because of their unique properties including inherent porosity, shear-thinning and self-healing behavior, and tunable design. The characterization of their material properties and biological response involves technical considerations that are unique to modular systems like granular hydrogels. Here, we describe detailed methods that can be used to quantitatively characterize the rheological behavior and porosity of granular hydrogels using reagents, tools, and equipment that are typically available in biomedical engineering laboratories. In addition, we detail methods for 3D cell invasion assays using multicellular spheroids embedded within granular hydrogels and describe steps to quantify features of cell outgrowth (e.g., endothelial cell sprouting) using standard image processing software. To illustrate these methods, we provide examples where features of granular hydrogels such as the size of hydrogel microparticles and their extent of packing during granular hydrogel formation are modulated. Our intent with this resource is to increase accessibility to granular hydrogel technology and to facilitate the investigation of granular hydrogels for biomedical applications.

Keywords:  angiogenesis; biomaterials; injectable; microgels; microscopy; sprouting

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c01440
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Mar 12. pii: 942. [Epub ahead of print]12(6):

New Insights into the Magnetic Properties of CoFe2O4@SiO2@Au Magnetoplasmonic Nanoparticles.

Rareș Bortnic, Adam Szatmari, Gabriela Souca, Răzvan Hirian, Roxana Dudric, Lucian Barbu-Tudoran, Valentin Toma, Rareș Știufiuc, Romulus Tetean, Emil Burzo.

  We report the successful synthesis and a complete magnetic characterization of CoFe2O4@SiO2@Au magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles. The CoFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles were prepared using the hydrothermal method. A subsequent SiO2 shell followed by a plasmonic Au shell were deposited on the magnetic core creating magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles with a core-shell architecture. A spin-glass-type magnetism was shown at the surface of the CoFe2O4 nanograins. Depending on the external magnetic field, two types of spin-glass were identified and analyzed in correlation with the exchange field acting on octahedral and tetrahedral iron sites. The magnetization per formula unit of the CoFe2O4 core is not changed in the case of CoFe2O4@SiO2@Au nanocomposites. The gold nanoparticles creating the plasmonic shell show a giant diamagnetic susceptibility, dependent on their crystallite sizes.

Keywords:  core–shell nanoparticles; exchange field; magnetic properties; magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles; spin-glass

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12060942
Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2022 ;13 274-283

Systematic studies into uniform synthetic protein nanoparticles.

Nahal Habibi, Ava Mauser, Jeffery E Raymond, Joerg Lahann.

  Nanoparticles are frequently pursued as drug delivery carriers due to their potential to alter the pharmacological profiles of drugs, but their broader utility in nanomedicine hinges upon exquisite control of critical nanoparticle properties, such as shape, size, or monodispersity. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jetting is a probate method to formulate synthetic protein nanoparticles (SPNPs), but a systematic understanding of the influence of crucial processing parameters, such as protein composition, on nanoparticle morphologies is still missing. Here, we address this knowledge gap by evaluating formulation trends in SPNPs prepared by EHD jetting based on a series of carrier proteins and protein blends (hemoglobin, transferrin, mucin, or insulin). In general, blended SPNPs presented uniform populations with minimum diameters between 43 and 65 nm. Size distributions of as-jetted SPNPs approached monodispersity as indicated by polydispersity indices (PDISEM) ranging from 0.11-0.19. Geometric factor analysis revealed high circularities (0.82-0.90), low anisotropy (<1.45) and excellent roundness (0.76-0.89) for all SPNPs prepared via EHD jetting. Tentatively, blended SPNPs displayed higher circularity and lower anisotropy, as compared to single-protein SPNPs. Secondary statistical analysis indicated that blended SPNPs generally present combined features of their constituents, with some properties driven by the dominant protein constituent. Our study suggests SPNPs made from blended proteins can serve as a promising drug delivery carrier owing to the ease of production, the composition versatility, and the control over their size, shape and dispersity.

Keywords:  nanogels; nanomedicine; particle characterization; protein-based biomaterials

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.13.22
Microbiology (Reading). 2022 Mar;168(3):

Bacterial pore-forming toxins.

Fatima R Ulhuq, Giuseppina Mariano.

  Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are widely distributed in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. PFTs can act as virulence factors that bacteria utilise in dissemination and host colonisation or, alternatively, they can be employed to compete with rival microbes in polymicrobial niches. PFTs transition from a soluble form to become membrane-embedded by undergoing large conformational changes. Once inserted, they perforate the membrane, causing uncontrolled efflux of ions and/or nutrients and dissipating the protonmotive force (PMF). In some instances, target cells intoxicated by PFTs display additional effects as part of the cellular response to pore formation. Significant progress has been made in the mechanistic description of pore formation for the different PFTs families, but in several cases a complete understanding of pore structure remains lacking. PFTs have evolved recognition mechanisms to bind specific receptors that define their host tropism, although this can be remarkably diverse even within the same family. Here we summarise the salient features of PFTs and highlight where additional research is necessary to fully understand the mechanism of pore formation by members of this diverse group of protein toxins.

Keywords:  bacterial antagonism; bacterial toxin; pore-forming; virulence factor

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001154