Extracellular vesicles (EV) are involved in important processes of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), including malignancy and invasion. EV secreted by glioblastoma cells may cross the hematoencephalic barrier and carry molecular cargo derived from the tumor into the peripheral circulation. Therefore, the determination of the molecular composition of exosomes released by glioblastoma cells seems to be a promising approach for the development of non-invasive methods of the detection of the specific exosomal protein markers in the peripheral blood. The present study aimed to determine the common exosomal proteins presented in preparations from different cell lines and search potential glioblastoma biomarkers in exosomes. We have performed proteomics analysis of exosomes obtained from the conditioned culture medium of five glioblastoma cell lines. A list of 133 proteins common for all these samples was generated. Based on the data obtained, virtual two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) maps of proteins presented in exosomes of glioblastoma cells were constructed and the gene ontology (GO) analysis of exosome proteins was performed. A correlation between overexpressed in glial cell proteins and their presence in exosomes have been found. Thus, the existence of many potential glioblastoma biomarkers in exosomes was confirmed.

While extracellular vesicles (EVs) are extensively studied by various practical applications in biomedicine, there is still little information on their biomechanical properties due to their nanoscale size. We identified isolated blood plasma vesicles that carried on biomarkers associated with exosomes and exomeres and applied atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study them at single particle level in air and in liquid. Air measurements of exosomes revealed a mechanically indented internal cavity in which highly adhesive sites were located. In contrast, the highly adhesive sites of exomeres were located at the periphery and the observed diameter of the particles was ~35 nm. In liquid, the reversible deformation of the internal cavity of exosomes was observed and a slightly deformed lipid bi-layer was identified. In contrast, exomeres were not deformed and their observed diameter was ~16 nm. The difference in diameters might be associated with a higher sorption of water film in air. The parameters we revealed correlated with the well-known structure and function for exosomes and were observed for exomeres for the first time. Our data provide a new insight into the biomechanical properties of nanoparticles and positioned AFM as an exclusive source of in situ information about their biophysical characteristics.

The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) on the chicken erythrocyte nuclei demonstrates the bifractal nature of the chromatin structural organization. Use of the contrast variation (${\mathrm{D}}_2\mathrm{O}-{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$) in SANS measurements reveals the differences in the DNA and protein arrangements inside the chromatin substance. It is the DNA that serves as a framework that constitutes the bifractal behavior showing the mass fractal properties with $D=2.22$ at a smaller scale and the logarithmic fractal behavior with $D\approx 3$ at a larger scale. The protein spatial organization shows the mass fractal properties with $D\approx 2.34$ throughout the whole nucleus. The borderline between two fractal levels can be significantly shifted toward smaller scales by centrifugation of the nuclei disposed on the dry substrate, since nuclei suffer from mechanical stress transforming them to a disklike shape. The height of this disk measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) coincides closely with the fractal borderline, thus characterizing two types of the chromatin with the soft (at larger scale) and rigid (at smaller scale) properties. The combined SANS and AFM measurements demonstrate the stress induced switch of the DNA fractal properties from the rigid, but loosely packed, mass fractal to the soft, but densely packed, logarithmic fractal.

The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) on HeLa nuclei demonstrates the bifractal nature of the chromatin structural organization. The border line between two fractal structures is detected as a crossover point at $Q_c\approx 4\times {10}^{-2}{\mathrm{nm}}^{-1}$ in the momentum transfer dependence $Q^{-D}$. The use of contrast variation (${\mathrm{D}}_2\mathrm{O}\text{−}{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$) in SANS measurements reveals clear similarity in the large scale structural organizations of nucleic acids (NA) and proteins. Both NA and protein structures have a mass fractal arrangement with the fractal dimension of $D\approx 2.5$ at scales smaller than 150 nm down to 20 nm. Both NA and proteins show a logarithmic fractal behavior with $D\approx 3$ at scales larger than 150 nm up to 6000 nm. The combined analysis of the SANS and atomic force microscopy data allows one to conclude that chromatin and its constitutes (DNA and proteins) are characterized as soft, densely packed, logarithmic fractals on the large scale and as rigid, loosely packed, mass fractals on the smaller scale. The comparison of the partial cross sections from NA and proteins with one from chromatin as a whole demonstrates spatial correlation of two chromatin's components in the range up to 900 nm. Thus chromatin in HeLa nuclei is built as the unified structure of the NA and proteins entwined through each other. Correlation between two components is lost upon scale increases toward 6000 nm. The structural features at the large scale, probably, provide nuclei with the flexibility and chromatin-free space to build supercorrelations on the distance of ${10}^3$ nm resembling cycle cell activity, such as an appearance of nucleoli and a DNA replication.

A new approach was applied to improve the proton conductivity mechanism in perfluorinated membranes for hydrogen fuel cells. The composite short-side chain membranes were modified with functionalized diamond nanoparticles. Carboxylated nanodiamonds embedded in the polymer matrix provide an increase in conductivity at a moderate nanodiamond content, while the mechanical strength of the membranes remains high. The casting method of membranes preparation from solutions in N,N-dimethylformamide allowed saving the general channel structure in membranes at the presence of nanodiamonds, in agreement with neutron scattering data. We propose the formation of additional areas of conductivity, formed controllably, due to nanodiamond particles associated with polymer chains, on the surface of which accelerated diffusion of protons through the hopping Grotthus mechanism from the centers of proton adsorption proceeds with the transition to proton-conducting channels of the matrix covered with sulfonic groups.