bims-mricoa 2022-04-03 papers

Issue of 2022–04–03
two papers selected by
Merve Yavuz, Bilkent University

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Mar 29.

Bacterial Growth, Communication, and Guided Chemotaxis in 3D-Bioprinted Hydrogel Environments.

Julia Müller, Anna C Jäkel, Jonathan Richter, Markus Eder, Elisabeth Falgenhauer, Friedrich C Simmel.

Bioprinting of engineered bacteria is of great interest for applications of synthetic biology in the context of living biomaterials, but so far, only a few viable approaches are available for the printing of gels hosting live Escherichia coli bacteria. Here, we develop a gentle extrusion-based bioprinting method based on an inexpensive alginate/agarose ink mixture that enables printing of E. coli into three-dimensional hydrogel structures up to 10 mm in height. We first characterize the rheological properties of the gel ink and then study the growth of the bacteria inside printed structures. We show that the maturation of fluorescent proteins deep within the printed structures can be facilitated by the addition of a calcium peroxide-based oxygen generation system. We then utilize the bioprinter to control different types of interactions between bacteria that depend on their spatial position. We next show quorum-sensing-based chemical communication between the engineered sender and receiver bacteria placed at different positions inside the bioprinted structure and finally demonstrate the fabrication of barrier structures defined by nonmotile bacteria that can guide the movement of chemotactic bacteria inside a gel. We anticipate that a combination of 3D bioprinting and synthetic biological approaches will lead to the development of living biomaterials containing engineered bacteria as dynamic functional units.

Keywords: bacteria; bacterial communication; bioprinting; chemotaxis; living biomaterials; synthetic biology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c20836

Breast Cancer (Auckl). 2022 ;16 11782234221086728

Synergistic Effect of Quercetin Magnetite Nanoparticles and Targeted Radiotherapy in Treatment of Breast Cancer.

Mostafa A Askar, Heba As El-Nashar, Mahmood A Al-Azzawi, Sahar S Abdel Rahman, Omama E Elshawi.

Quercetin is a potent cancer therapeutic agent present in fruits and vegetables. The pharmaceutical uses of quercetin are limited due to many problems associated with low solubility, bioavailability, permeability, and instability. In addition, the high doses of quercetin show toxic effects in clinical and experimental studies. Therefore, a new strategy is warranted to overcome these problems without the use of toxic doses. The iron oxide nanoparticles can be used as a drug delivery system. This study aimed to prepare quercetin-conjugated magnetite nanoparticles (QMNPs) using biological simple nanoprecipitation and mediated by fungus Aspergillus oryzae. Also, we initiated in vitro and in vivo studies to determine whether QMNPs might sensitize breast cancer to radiotherapy treatment. The structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of the prepared nanoparticles were studied. The results indicated that QMNPs were spherical in shape and 40 nm in diameter. The in vitro studies showed that the incubation of MCF-7, HePG-2, and A459 cancer cells with QMNPs for 24 h effectively inhibited the growth of cancer cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 values of 11, 77.5, and104 nmol/mL, respectively. The combination of QMNPs with irradiation (IR) potently blocked MCF-7 cancer cell proliferation and showed significant changes in the morphology of these cells as observed by bright-field inverted light microscopy. Focusing on the long-term toxicity of QMNPs (20 ml/kg), the assessment of hematological, hepatic, and renal markers indicated no toxic effect. Besides, QMNPs inhibited tumor growth and potently enhanced the lateral radiotherapy treatment in N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced breast cancer in female white albino rats. These anticancer and radiosensitizing activities were ascribed to cytotoxicity, cell cycle arrest, immunomodulation, and efficiency through induction of apoptosis. In a conclusion, these observations suggest that the QMNPs combined with LRT could act as a potential targeted therapy in breast cancer.

Keywords: Nanoparticles; apoptosis; breast cancer; magnetic oxide; methyl-N-nitrosourea; quercetin; radiotherapy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/11782234221086728