Low-cost luminescent scaffolds-based on thiol chitosans by microwave radiation for vertebral disc repair/theragnostic

DNA hydrogels and nanogels for diagnostics, therapeutics, and theragnostics of various cancers

As an efficient class of hydrogel-based therapeutic drug delivery systems, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) hydrogels (particularly DNA nanogels) have attracted massive attention in the last five years. The main contributor to this is the programmability of these 3-dimensional (3D) scaffolds that creates fundamental effects, especially in treating cancer diseases. Like other active biological ingredients (ABIs), DNA hydrogels can be functionalized with other active agents that play a role in targeting drug delivery and modifying the half-life of the therapeutic cargoes in the body's internal environment. Considering the brilliant advantages of DNA hydrogels, in this survey, we intend to submit an informative collection of feasible methods for the design and preparation of DNA hydrogels and nanogels, and the responsivity of the immune system to these therapeutic cargoes. Moreover, the interactions of DNA hydrogels with cancer biomarkers are discussed in this account. Theragnostic DNA nanogels as an advanced species for both detection and therapeutic purposes are also briefly reviewed.

Ionic crosslinking of alginate/carboxymethyl chitosan fluorescent hydrogel for bacterial detection and sterilization

Herein, a polysaccharide-based fluorescent hydrogel with multi-responsiveness simply implemented by concurrent effects of ionic crosslinking/rehydration processes is presented. Specifically, the alginate and carboxymethyl chitosan are chosen to prepare the interpenetrating polymer matrix while a pair of metal cations has been selectively sequentially integrated to alter hydrogel mechanical and fluorescent properties. Experimental results indicate the hydrogels show tunable fluorescent emission in response to multiple cations and pH conditions, and display a reversible "ON/OFF" fluorescent response to Mⁿ⁺/ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Moreover, this synergistic ionic crosslinking strategy is proved to be highly effective in preparing multifunctional metallohydrogels possessing robust/anisotropic mechanical properties, typical shape memory and cation/pH-responsive fluorescence performance, and a proof-of-application for bacterial detection and sterilization has also been demonstrated. Therefore, we believe this study would provide new insights into multifunctional luminescent hydrogels for advanced biomedical systems.

Preparation of polyethyleneimine-modified chitosan/Ce-UIO-66 composite hydrogel for the adsorption of methyl orange

In this work, a polyethyleneimine-modified chitosan/Ce-UIO-66 composite hydrogel (PEI-CS/Ce-UIO-66) was prepared using the ex-situ blend method. The synthesized composite hydrogel was characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, FTIR, BET, XPS, and TG techniques, while the zeta potential was recorded for sample analysis. The adsorbent performance was studied by conducting adsorption experiments using methyl orange (MO), which showed that PEI-CS/Ce-UIO-66 exhibited excellent MO adsorption properties (900.5 ± 19.09 mg/g). The adsorption kinetics of PEI-CS/Ce-UIO-66 could be explained by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and its isothermal adsorption followed the Langmuir model. Thermodynamics showed that the adsorption was spontaneous and exothermic at low temperatures. MO could interact with PEI-CS/Ce-UIO-66 via electrostatic interaction, π-π stacking, and hydrogen bonding. The results indicated that the PEI-CS/Ce-UIO-66 composite hydrogel could potentially be used for the adsorption of anionic dyes.