Synthesis, characterisation and cytotoxicity of gold microwires for ultra-sensitive biosensor development

Enhancing biocompatibility of the brain-machine interface: A review

In vivo implantation of microelectrodes opens the door to studying neural circuits and restoring damaged neural pathways through direct electrical stimulation and recording. Although some neuroprostheses have achieved clinical success, electrode material properties, inflammatory response, and glial scar formation at the electrode-tissue interfaces affect performance and sustainability. Those challenges can be addressed by improving some of the materials' mechanical, physical, chemical, and electrical properties. This paper reviews materials and designs of current microelectrodes and discusses perspectives to advance neuroprosthetics performance.

A novel BMSN (biologically synthesized mesoporous silica nanoparticles) material: synthesis using a bacteria-mediated biosurfactant and characterization

Mesoporous materials (MMs) have recently been applied as advanced nanomaterials in different fields (separation, catalysis, adsorption etc.). Synthesis of MMs by chemical surfactants is not ecofriendly. This study focused on the biological synthesis of a MM by sol-gel method, using a Bacillus subtilis BBK006-mediated surfactant (template) and a precursor (TEOS). The biologically synthesized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (BMSN) were formed at calcination temperatures of 450-600 °C. The BMSN comprise Si and O elements with specific weights of 56.09% and 42.13% respectively, where the atomic% was detected to be 41.79% and 55.10%, respectively. The phase identity of the synthesized particles (61-300 nm uniform spherical shape; surface area: 8.2616 m2 g-1; pore diameter at 550 °C: 14.8516 nm) was confirmed with wide-angle XRD (10°-81°). A typical type IV isotherm was exhibited (BET curves) following IUPAC nomenclature and confirmed the mesoporous nature. The green-synthesized biosurfactant-mediated BMSN is an environmentally promising material to apply in biomedical science (e.g., antimicrobial activity, drug delivery, CMC, anticancer activity) and oil spill management.

Gold nanoclusters as prospective carriers and detectors of pramipexole

Pramipexole (PPX) is known in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome. We carried out a theoretical investigation on pramipexole-Au cluster interactions for the applications of drug delivery and detection. Three Au N clusters with sizes N = 6, 8 and 20 were used as reactant models to simulate the metallic nanostructured surfaces. Quantum chemical computations were performed in both gas phase and aqueous environments using density functional theory (DFT) with the PBE functional and the cc-pVDZ-PP/cc-pVTZ basis set. The PPX drug is mainly adsorbed on gold clusters via its nitrogen atom of the thiazole ring with binding energies of ca. -22 to -28 kcal mol-1 in vacuum and ca. -18 to -24 kcal mol-1 in aqueous solution. In addition to such Au-N covalent bonding, the metal-drug interactions are further stabilized by electrostatic effects, namely hydrogen-bond NH⋯Au contributions. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of PPX adsorbed on the Au surfaces and its desorption process were also examined. In comparison to Au8, both Au6 and Au20 clusters undergo a shorter recovery time and a larger change of energy gap, being possibly conducive to electrical conversion, thus signaling for detection of the drug. A chemical enhancement mechanism for SERS procedure was again established in view of the formation of nonconventional hydrogen interactions Au⋯H-N. The binding of PPX to a gold cluster is expected to be reversible and triggered by the presence of cysteine residues in protein matrices or lower-shifted alteration of environment pH. These findings would encourage either further theoretical probes to reach more accurate views on the efficiency of pramipexole-Au interactions, or experimental attempts to build appropriate gold nanostructures for practical trials, harnessing their potentiality for applications.