Interaction of Carbon Dots from Grilled Spanish Mackerel with Human Serum Albumin, γ-Globulin and Fibrinogen

Engineering of Green Carbon Dots for Biomedical and Biotechnological Applications

Carbon dots (CDs) are attracting increasing research attention due to their exceptional attributes, including their biocompatibility, water solubility, minimal toxicity, high photoluminescence, and easy functionalization. Green CDs, derived from natural sources such as fruits and vegetables, present advantages over conventionally produced CDs, such as cost-effectiveness, stability, simplicity, safety, and environmental friendliness. Various methods, including hydrothermal and microwave treatments, are used to synthesize green CDs, which demonstrate strong biocompatibility, stability, and luminescence. These properties give green CDs versatility in their biological applications, such as bioimaging, biosensing, and drug delivery. This review summarizes the prevalent synthesis methods and renewable sources regarding green CDs; examines their optical features; and explores their extensive biological applications, including in bioimaging, biosensing, drug/gene delivery, antimicrobial and antiviral effects, formatting of mathematical components, cancer diagnosis, and pharmaceutical formulations.

An overview on animal/human biomass-derived carbon dots for optical sensing and bioimaging applications

Over the past decade, carbon dots (CDs) have emerged as some of the extremely popular carbon nanostructures for diverse applications. The advantages of sustainable CDs, characterized by their exceptional photoluminescence (PL), high water solubility/dispersibility, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, substantiate their potential for a wide range of applications in sensing and biology. Moreover, nature offers plant- and animal-derived precursors for the sustainable synthesis of CDs and their doped variants. These sources are not only readily accessible, inexpensive, and renewable but are also environmentally benign green biomass. This review article presents in detail the production of sustainable CDs from various animal and human biomass through bottom-up synthetic methods, including hydrothermal, microwave, microwave-hydrothermal, and pyrolysis methods. The resulting CDs exhibit a uniform size distribution, possibility of heteroatom doping, surface passivation, and remarkable excitation wavelength-dependent/independent emission and up-conversion PL characteristics. Consequently, these CDs have been successfully utilized in multiple applications, such as bioimaging and the detection of various analytes, including heavy metal ions. Finally, a comprehensive assessment is presented, highlighting the prospects and challenges associated with animal/human biomass-derived CDs for multifaceted applications.

An Overview of the Potential of Food-Based Carbon Dots for Biomedical Applications

Food-based carbon dots (CDs) hold significant importance across various fields, ranging from biomedical applications to environmental and food industries. These CDs offer unique advantages over traditional carbon nanomaterials, including affordability, biodegradability, ease of operation, and multiple bioactivities. This work aims to provide a comprehensive overview of recent developments in food-based CDs, focusing on their characteristics, properties, therapeutic applications in biomedicine, and safety assessment methods. The review highlights the potential of food-based CDs in biomedical applications, including antibacterial, antifungal, antivirus, anticancer, and anti-immune hyperactivity. Furthermore, current strategies employed for evaluating the safety of food-based CDs have also been reported. In conclusion, this review offers valuable insights into their potential across diverse sectors and underscores the significance of safety assessment measures to facilitate their continued advancement and application.