A novel materials design procedure based on the co-doping of metal nanoparticle and azo dye compound （MNPADC） is developed to improve the properties of functional molecules. The synthesized materials were characteri...A novel materials design procedure based on the co-doping of metal nanoparticle and azo dye compound （MNPADC） is developed to improve the properties of functional molecules. The synthesized materials were characterized by transmission electron micrograph （TEM）, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra （UV-Vis） and fluorescence spectra （FS）. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of methyl orange （MO） was enhanced by 5 times in the aqueous composite system doped with silver nanoparticles whereas it was reduced by 15% and 20% in composite films with co-mixing and coating structures, respectively. The results indicate that the properties of functional molecules can be greatly improved in composite film with supra molecular structure and that the procedure presented here is effective.展开更多
Starch-nanoparticles were synthesized in water-in-oil microemusion at room temperature, and the starch-nanoparticles were coated with poly-L-lysine. The surface of the starch-nanoparticles was combined with fluorescen...Starch-nanoparticles were synthesized in water-in-oil microemusion at room temperature, and the starch-nanoparticles were coated with poly-L-lysine. The surface of the starch-nanoparticles was combined with fluorescence material Ru(bpy)32+·6H2O, and then the particles were characterized via transmission electron microscope. The fluorescence nanoparticles were conjugated with plasmid DNA to form complexes, and then treated with ultrasound and DNase I. pEGAD plasmid DNA-nanoparticle complexes were co-cultured with plant suspension cells of Dioscrea Zigiberensis G H Wright, and treated with ultrasound. The results show that the diameter of the fluorescence starch-nanoparticles is 50-100 nm. DNA-nanoparticle complexes can protect DNA from ultrasound damage as well as from DNase I cleavage. Mediated by ultrasound, pEGAD plasmid DNA-nanoparticle complexes can pierce into the cell wall, cell membrane and nucleus membrane of plant suspension cells. The green fluorescence protein(GFP) gene at a high frequency exceeds 5%. This nano-biomaterial can efficiently solve the problem that exterior genes cannot traverse the plant cell wall easily.展开更多
A DNA fluorescence probe system based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer （FRET） from CdTe quantum dot （QD） donors to Au nanoparticle （AuNP） acceptors is presented. CdTe QDs, 2.5nm in diameter, as energy d...A DNA fluorescence probe system based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer （FRET） from CdTe quantum dot （QD） donors to Au nanoparticle （AuNP） acceptors is presented. CdTe QDs, 2.5nm in diameter, as energy donors, were prepared in water. Au nanoparticles, 16nm in diameter, as energy acceptors, were prepared from gold chloride by reduction. CdTe QDs were linked to 5＇-NH2-DNA through 1-ethyl-3-（dimethylaminopropyl）car- bodiimide hydrochloride （EDC） as a linker, and the 3＇-SH-DNA was self-assembled onto the surface of AuNPs. The hybridization of complementary double stranded DNA （dsDNA） bound to the QDs and AuNPs （CdTe-dsDNA-Au） determined the FRET distance of CdTe QDs and Au nanoparticles. Compared to the fluorescence of CdTe-DNA, the fluorescence of CdTe-DNA-Au conjugates decreased extremely, which indicated that the FRET occurred between CdTe QDs and Au nanoparticles. The fluorescence change of this conjugate depended on the ratio of Au-DNA to CdTe-DNA. When the AuNPs-DNA to QD-DNA ratio was 10：1, the FRET efficiency reached a maximum. The probe system would have a certain degree of fluorescence recovery when a complementary single stranded DNA was introduced into this system, which showed that the distance between CdTe QDs and Au nanoparticles was increased.展开更多
AIM: To investigate the anti-tumor effects of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitor SN50 and related mechanisms of SGC7901 human gastric carcinoma cells. METHODS: MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effects ...AIM: To investigate the anti-tumor effects of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitor SN50 and related mechanisms of SGC7901 human gastric carcinoma cells. METHODS: MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effects of SN50 in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901. Hoechst 33258 staining was used to detect apoptosis morphological changes after SN50 treatment. Activation of autophagy was monitored with monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining after SN50 treatment.Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the expression of light chain 3 (LC3). Mitochondrial membrane potential was measured using the fluorescent probe JC-1. Western blotting analysis were used to determine the expression of proteins involved in apoptosis and autophagy including p53, p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA), damage-regulated autophagy modulator (DRAM), LC3 and Beclin 1. We detected the effects of p53-mediated autophagy activation on the apoptosis of SGC7901 cells with the p53 inhibitor pifithrin-α. RESULTS: The viability of SGC7901 cells was inhibited after SN50 treatment. Inductions in the expression of apoptotic protein p53 and PUMA as well as autophagic protein DRAM, LC3 and Beclin 1 were detected with Western blotting analysis. SN50-treated cells exhibited punctuate microtubule-associated protein 1 LC3 in immunoreactivity and MDC-labeled vesicles increased after treatment of SN50 by MDC staining. Collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential Δψ were detected for 6 to 24 h after SN50 treatment. SN50-induced increases in PUMA, DRAM, LC3 and Beclin 1 and cell death were blocked by the p53 specific inhibitor pifithrin-α. CONCLUSION: The anti-tumor activity of NF-κB inhibitors is associated with p53-mediated activation of autophagy.展开更多
AIM： To explore the effects of ultrasound exposure combined with microbubble contrast agent （SonoVue） on the permeability of the cellular membrane and on the expression of plasrnid DNA encoding enhanced green fluor...AIM： To explore the effects of ultrasound exposure combined with microbubble contrast agent （SonoVue） on the permeability of the cellular membrane and on the expression of plasrnid DNA encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein （pEGFP） transfer into human umbilical vein endothelial cells （HUVECs）. METHODS： HUVECs with fluorescein isothiocyanatedextran （FD500） and HUVECs with pEGFP were exposed to continuous wave （1.9 MHz, 80.0 mW/cm^2） for 5 min, with or without a SonoVue. The percentage of FD500 taken by the HUVECs and the transient expression rate of pEGFP in the HUVECs were examined by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytornetry, respectively. RESULTS： The percentage of FDS00-positive HUVECs in the group of ultrasound exposure combined with SonoVue was significantly higher than that of the group of ultrasound exposure alone （24.0%± 5.5% vs 66.6% ± 4.1%, P 〈 0.001）. Compared with the group of ultrasound exposure alone, the transfection expression rate of pEGFP in HUVECs was markedly increased with the addition of SonoVue （16.1% ± 1.9% vs 1.5% ± 0.2%, P 〈 0.001）. No statistical significant difference was observed in the HUVECs survival rates between the ultrasound group with and without the addition of SonoVue （94.1% ± 2.3% vs 91.1% ± 4.1% ）. CONCLUSION： The cell membrane permeability of HUVECs and the transfection efficiency of pEGFP into HUVECs exposed to ultrasound are significantly increased after addition of an ultrasound contrast agent without obvious damage to the survival of HUVECs. This non- invasive gene transfer method may be a useful tool for clinical gene therapy of hepatic tumors.展开更多
Magnetic starch particles （MSPs） were synthesized in water-in-oil mieroemulsion at room temperature. MSPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry （FTI...Magnetic starch particles （MSPs） were synthesized in water-in-oil mieroemulsion at room temperature. MSPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry （FTIR）, zeta potential system, thermogravimetric analysis （TGA） and vibrating sample magnetometry （VSM）. The average diameter of the MSPs was 220 nm, dispersed with well-proportioned size and magnetic resonance, the saturation magnetization was 3.64 A.mR/kg. MSP was coated with poly-L-lysine （PLL）, and then the surface of PLL-MSP was combined with fluorescein isothiocynate （FITC）. Results show that fluorescent/magnetic starch particles （FMSPs） are of stable photo-bleaching capability compared with free FITC, with low bio-toxicity and certain function of magnetic separation. It is expected that FMSPs are bifimctional nano-materials including fluorescence labelling and magnetic separation.展开更多
Here we demonstrate the fabrication of nanometer-sized gaps by assembling single coreshell nanoparticles between metallic nanoelectrodes. Protein coated SiO2@Au coreshell nanopar- tides arc synthesized and positioned ...Here we demonstrate the fabrication of nanometer-sized gaps by assembling single coreshell nanoparticles between metallic nanoelectrodes. Protein coated SiO2@Au coreshell nanopar- tides arc synthesized and positioned between fluorescent molecules-covered electrodes in a controllable way using dielectrophoretic trapping, forming nanogaps sandwiched between nanoparticle and manoelectrodes. Preliminary photoluminescence measurements show that enhanced molecular fluorescence could be detected from the fluorescent molecules inside the nanogaps. These results pave the way for realizing electrically driven molecular fluorescence based on nanogap electrodes.展开更多
The complicated life cycle ofAurelia spp., comprising benthic asexually-reproducing polyps and sexually-reproducing medusae, makes it hard for researchers to identify and track them, especially for early stage individ...The complicated life cycle ofAurelia spp., comprising benthic asexually-reproducing polyps and sexually-reproducing medusae, makes it hard for researchers to identify and track them, especially for early stage individuals, such as planulae. To solve this problem, we developed a real-time PCR assay （SYBR Green I） to identify planulae in both cultured and natural seawater samples. Species-specific primers targeting Aurelia sp.1 mitochondrial 16S rDNA （mr 16S rDNA） regions were designed. Using a calibration curve constructed with plasmids containing the Aurelia sp. 1 mt 16S rDNA fragment and a standard curve for planulae, the absolute number of mt 16S rDNA copies per planula was determined and from that the total number ofplanulae per sample was estimated. For the field samples, a 100-fold dilution of the sample DNA combined with a final concentration of 0.2 μg/μL BSA in the PCR reaction mixture was used to remove real- time PCR inhibitors. Samples collected in Jiaozhou Bay from July to September 2012 were subsequently analyzed using this assay. Peak Aurelia sp.1 planula abundance occurred in July 2012 at stations near Hongdao Island and Qingdao offshore; abundances were very low in August and September. The real-time PCR assay （SYBR Green I） developed here negates the need for traditional microscopic identification, which is laborious and time-consuming, and can detect and quantify jellyfish planulae in field plankton samples rapidly and specifically.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant No. 50271038）the Key Research Project Foundation of Shaanxi Normal University of China （No. 200403） Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China （No. 20050698017）.
文摘A novel materials design procedure based on the co-doping of metal nanoparticle and azo dye compound （MNPADC） is developed to improve the properties of functional molecules. The synthesized materials were characterized by transmission electron micrograph （TEM）, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra （UV-Vis） and fluorescence spectra （FS）. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of methyl orange （MO） was enhanced by 5 times in the aqueous composite system doped with silver nanoparticles whereas it was reduced by 15% and 20% in composite films with co-mixing and coating structures, respectively. The results indicate that the properties of functional molecules can be greatly improved in composite film with supra molecular structure and that the procedure presented here is effective.
基金Project(200501) supported the "985" Program of China
文摘Starch-nanoparticles were synthesized in water-in-oil microemusion at room temperature, and the starch-nanoparticles were coated with poly-L-lysine. The surface of the starch-nanoparticles was combined with fluorescence material Ru(bpy)32+·6H2O, and then the particles were characterized via transmission electron microscope. The fluorescence nanoparticles were conjugated with plasmid DNA to form complexes, and then treated with ultrasound and DNase I. pEGAD plasmid DNA-nanoparticle complexes were co-cultured with plant suspension cells of Dioscrea Zigiberensis G H Wright, and treated with ultrasound. The results show that the diameter of the fluorescence starch-nanoparticles is 50-100 nm. DNA-nanoparticle complexes can protect DNA from ultrasound damage as well as from DNase I cleavage. Mediated by ultrasound, pEGAD plasmid DNA-nanoparticle complexes can pierce into the cell wall, cell membrane and nucleus membrane of plant suspension cells. The green fluorescence protein(GFP) gene at a high frequency exceeds 5%. This nano-biomaterial can efficiently solve the problem that exterior genes cannot traverse the plant cell wall easily.
基金Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin（Nos.06TXTJJC14400, 07JCYBJC15900） and Young Teacher Foun-dation of Tianjin Polytechnic University （No.029624）.
文摘A DNA fluorescence probe system based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer （FRET） from CdTe quantum dot （QD） donors to Au nanoparticle （AuNP） acceptors is presented. CdTe QDs, 2.5nm in diameter, as energy donors, were prepared in water. Au nanoparticles, 16nm in diameter, as energy acceptors, were prepared from gold chloride by reduction. CdTe QDs were linked to 5＇-NH2-DNA through 1-ethyl-3-（dimethylaminopropyl）car- bodiimide hydrochloride （EDC） as a linker, and the 3＇-SH-DNA was self-assembled onto the surface of AuNPs. The hybridization of complementary double stranded DNA （dsDNA） bound to the QDs and AuNPs （CdTe-dsDNA-Au） determined the FRET distance of CdTe QDs and Au nanoparticles. Compared to the fluorescence of CdTe-DNA, the fluorescence of CdTe-DNA-Au conjugates decreased extremely, which indicated that the FRET occurred between CdTe QDs and Au nanoparticles. The fluorescence change of this conjugate depended on the ratio of Au-DNA to CdTe-DNA. When the AuNPs-DNA to QD-DNA ratio was 10：1, the FRET efficiency reached a maximum. The probe system would have a certain degree of fluorescence recovery when a complementary single stranded DNA was introduced into this system, which showed that the distance between CdTe QDs and Au nanoparticles was increased.
基金Supported by Health Foundation of Jiangsu Province (H20 0719)the Higher Education Foundation of Jiangsu Province (08KJB320014)+2 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2008168)Suzhou High-Level Talents Project (2008-11)the Science, Education and Health Foundation of Soochow City (SWKQ00814)
文摘AIM: To investigate the anti-tumor effects of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitor SN50 and related mechanisms of SGC7901 human gastric carcinoma cells. METHODS: MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effects of SN50 in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901. Hoechst 33258 staining was used to detect apoptosis morphological changes after SN50 treatment. Activation of autophagy was monitored with monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining after SN50 treatment.Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the expression of light chain 3 (LC3). Mitochondrial membrane potential was measured using the fluorescent probe JC-1. Western blotting analysis were used to determine the expression of proteins involved in apoptosis and autophagy including p53, p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA), damage-regulated autophagy modulator (DRAM), LC3 and Beclin 1. We detected the effects of p53-mediated autophagy activation on the apoptosis of SGC7901 cells with the p53 inhibitor pifithrin-α. RESULTS: The viability of SGC7901 cells was inhibited after SN50 treatment. Inductions in the expression of apoptotic protein p53 and PUMA as well as autophagic protein DRAM, LC3 and Beclin 1 were detected with Western blotting analysis. SN50-treated cells exhibited punctuate microtubule-associated protein 1 LC3 in immunoreactivity and MDC-labeled vesicles increased after treatment of SN50 by MDC staining. Collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential Δψ were detected for 6 to 24 h after SN50 treatment. SN50-induced increases in PUMA, DRAM, LC3 and Beclin 1 and cell death were blocked by the p53 specific inhibitor pifithrin-α. CONCLUSION: The anti-tumor activity of NF-κB inhibitors is associated with p53-mediated activation of autophagy.
基金Supported by grants from the Nationl Natural Scientific Foundation of China, No.30300082, 30470467, and Scientific Foundation Committee of Guangdong Province, China, No.04009360
文摘AIM： To explore the effects of ultrasound exposure combined with microbubble contrast agent （SonoVue） on the permeability of the cellular membrane and on the expression of plasrnid DNA encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein （pEGFP） transfer into human umbilical vein endothelial cells （HUVECs）. METHODS： HUVECs with fluorescein isothiocyanatedextran （FD500） and HUVECs with pEGFP were exposed to continuous wave （1.9 MHz, 80.0 mW/cm^2） for 5 min, with or without a SonoVue. The percentage of FD500 taken by the HUVECs and the transient expression rate of pEGFP in the HUVECs were examined by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytornetry, respectively. RESULTS： The percentage of FDS00-positive HUVECs in the group of ultrasound exposure combined with SonoVue was significantly higher than that of the group of ultrasound exposure alone （24.0%± 5.5% vs 66.6% ± 4.1%, P 〈 0.001）. Compared with the group of ultrasound exposure alone, the transfection expression rate of pEGFP in HUVECs was markedly increased with the addition of SonoVue （16.1% ± 1.9% vs 1.5% ± 0.2%, P 〈 0.001）. No statistical significant difference was observed in the HUVECs survival rates between the ultrasound group with and without the addition of SonoVue （94.1% ± 2.3% vs 91.1% ± 4.1% ）. CONCLUSION： The cell membrane permeability of HUVECs and the transfection efficiency of pEGFP into HUVECs exposed to ultrasound are significantly increased after addition of an ultrasound contrast agent without obvious damage to the survival of HUVECs. This non- invasive gene transfer method may be a useful tool for clinical gene therapy of hepatic tumors.
基金Project(200501) supported by the "985" Program of China
文摘Magnetic starch particles （MSPs） were synthesized in water-in-oil mieroemulsion at room temperature. MSPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry （FTIR）, zeta potential system, thermogravimetric analysis （TGA） and vibrating sample magnetometry （VSM）. The average diameter of the MSPs was 220 nm, dispersed with well-proportioned size and magnetic resonance, the saturation magnetization was 3.64 A.mR/kg. MSP was coated with poly-L-lysine （PLL）, and then the surface of PLL-MSP was combined with fluorescein isothiocynate （FITC）. Results show that fluorescent/magnetic starch particles （FMSPs） are of stable photo-bleaching capability compared with free FITC, with low bio-toxicity and certain function of magnetic separation. It is expected that FMSPs are bifimctional nano-materials including fluorescence labelling and magnetic separation.
文摘Here we demonstrate the fabrication of nanometer-sized gaps by assembling single coreshell nanoparticles between metallic nanoelectrodes. Protein coated SiO2@Au coreshell nanopar- tides arc synthesized and positioned between fluorescent molecules-covered electrodes in a controllable way using dielectrophoretic trapping, forming nanogaps sandwiched between nanoparticle and manoelectrodes. Preliminary photoluminescence measurements show that enhanced molecular fluorescence could be detected from the fluorescent molecules inside the nanogaps. These results pave the way for realizing electrically driven molecular fluorescence based on nanogap electrodes.
基金Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(973 Program)(No.2011CB403602)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41076085)the National Special Research Fund for Non-Profit Marine Sector(No.201205031)
文摘The complicated life cycle ofAurelia spp., comprising benthic asexually-reproducing polyps and sexually-reproducing medusae, makes it hard for researchers to identify and track them, especially for early stage individuals, such as planulae. To solve this problem, we developed a real-time PCR assay （SYBR Green I） to identify planulae in both cultured and natural seawater samples. Species-specific primers targeting Aurelia sp.1 mitochondrial 16S rDNA （mr 16S rDNA） regions were designed. Using a calibration curve constructed with plasmids containing the Aurelia sp. 1 mt 16S rDNA fragment and a standard curve for planulae, the absolute number of mt 16S rDNA copies per planula was determined and from that the total number ofplanulae per sample was estimated. For the field samples, a 100-fold dilution of the sample DNA combined with a final concentration of 0.2 μg/μL BSA in the PCR reaction mixture was used to remove real- time PCR inhibitors. Samples collected in Jiaozhou Bay from July to September 2012 were subsequently analyzed using this assay. Peak Aurelia sp.1 planula abundance occurred in July 2012 at stations near Hongdao Island and Qingdao offshore; abundances were very low in August and September. The real-time PCR assay （SYBR Green I） developed here negates the need for traditional microscopic identification, which is laborious and time-consuming, and can detect and quantify jellyfish planulae in field plankton samples rapidly and specifically.
