A sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering-based lateral flow immunochromatography test system (SERS-LFIA) was developed using multi-branched gold nanostars (AuNS) coated with a Raman active molecule, 4-aminothiophenol (ATP), as a signal reporter. The unique characteristic of the AuNS having multi-arms and surface roughness features allows high SERS performance in the system to be achieved via the increased bioconjugation sites and hot spot regions. To demonstrate the system performance, influenza A nucleoprotein was used as the target molecule. After a facile one-step synthesis, AuNS was tagged with the ATP molecule and conjugated to the antibody specific to influenza A nucleoprotein, and then used as both the SERS signal reporter and the detection probe in the system. It was demonstrated that the lower limit of detection using visual and SERS detection was 67 and 6.7 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. With the SERS detection signal, the detection sensitivity was significantly improved approximately 37 and 300 fold, as compared with fluorescence-based and conventional LFIA, respectively. The integrated SERS-LFIA platform reported here demonstrated an ultrahigh detection sensitivity, which could potentially facilitate a sensitive point-of-care test for diagnosis in many diseases.

Drug delivery particles in which the release of biomolecules is triggered by a magnetic simulant have attracted much attention and may have great potential in the fields of cancer therapy and tissue regenerative medicine. In this study, we have prepared magnetic Mn–Zn ferrite ((Mn,Zn)Fe₂O₄) (MZF) nanoparticles coated with chitosan-g-N-isopropylacrylamide (Chi-g-NIPAAm) polymer (MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm) to deliver the anticancer drug (Doxorubicin, DOX) and bioactive proteins (Bone morphogenic protein (BMP-2)-immobilized bovine serum albumin (BSA)) (P//MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm) and be used as chemo-hyperthermia and vector delivering biomolecules. For these purposes, we first show that the as-prepared MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm particles exhibit super paramagnetic behavior and under certain conditions, they can act as a heat source with a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 34.88 W g⁻¹. Under acidic conditions and in the presence of AMF, the fast release of DOX was seen at around 58.9% within 20 min. In vitro evaluations indicated that concurrent thermo-chemotherapy treatment by DOX-MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm using AMF had a better antitumor effect, compared with those using either DOX or DOX-MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm without AMF (89.02% of cells were killed as compared to 71.82% without AMF exposure). Up to 28.18% of the BSA (used as the model protein to determine the controlled release) is released from the P//MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm particles under AMF exposure for 1 h (only 17.31% was released without AMF). These results indicated that MZF@Chi-g-NIPAAm particles could be used to achieve hyperthermia at a precise location, effectively enhancing the chemotherapy treatments, and have a promising future as drug or bioactive delivering molecules for cancer treatment and cartilage or bone regenerative applications.

The treatment and regeneration of bone defects, especially tumor-induced defects, is an issue in clinical practice and remains a major challenge for bone substitute material invention.

This research aims at evaluating the performance of a combined system of biochar gasification and a sorption-enhanced water–gas shift reaction (SEWGS) for synthesis gas production. The effects of mangrove-derived biochar gasification temperature, pattern of combined gasification and SEWGS, amount of steam and CO₂ added as gasifying agent, and SEWGS temperature were studied in this work. The performances of the combined process were examined in terms of biochar conversion, gaseous product composition, and CO₂ emission. The results revealed that the hybrid SEWGS using one-body multi-functional material offered a greater amount of H₂ with a similar amount of CO₂ emissions when compared with separated sorbent/catalyst material. The gasification temperature of 900 °C provided the highest biochar conversion of ca. 98.7%. Synthesis gas production was found to depend upon the amount of water and CO₂ added and SEWGS temperature. Higher amounts of H₂ were observed when increasing the amount of water and the temperature of the SEWGS system.

Synthesized hydroxyapatite (sHA)—calcium phosphate (CaP) based biomaterials play a vital role and have been widely used in the process of bone regeneration for bone defect repair, due to their similarities to the inorganic components of human bones. However, for bone tissue engineering purpose, the composite components, physical and biological properties, efficacy and safety of sHA still need further improvements. In this work, we synthesized inhomogeneous hydroxyapatite based on biomimetic trace elements (Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Mo, Sr, Co, BO₃³⁻, and CO₃²⁻) co-doped into HA (THA) (Ca_10−δM_δ(PO₄)_5.5(CO₃)_0.5(OH)₂, M = trace elements) via co-precipitation from an ionic solution. The physical properties, their bioactivities using in vitro osteoblast cells, and in vivo cytotoxicity using zebrafish were studied. By introducing biomimetic trace elements, the as-prepared THA samples showed nanorod (needle-like) structures, having a positively charged surface (6.49 meV), and showing paramagnetic behavior. The bioactivity studies demonstrated that the THA substrate can induce apatite particles to cover its surface and be in contact with surrounding simulated body fluid (SBF). In vitro biological assays revealed that the osteoblast-like UMR-106 cells were well-attached with growth and proliferation on the substrate’s surface. Upon differentiation, enhanced ALP (alkaline phosphatase) activity was observed for bone cells on the surface of the THA compared with that on the control substrates (sHA). The in vivo performance in embryonic zebrafish studies showed that the synthesized THA particles are nontoxic based on the measurements of essential parameters such as survivability, hatching rate, and the morphology of the embryo. The mechanism of the ions release profile using digital conductivity measurement revealed that sustained controlled release was successfully achieved. These preliminary results indicated that the synthesized THA could be a promising material for potential practical applications in bone tissue engineering.

Multifunctional nanoparticles with special magnetic and optical properties have been attracting a great deal of attention due to their important applications in the bioanalytical and biomedical fields. In this study, we report the fabrication of biocompatible magneto-fluorescence nanoparticles consisting of carbon dots (CDots) and silica-coated cobalt–manganese nanoferrites (Co_0.5Mn_0.5Fe₂O₄) (CoMnF@Si@CDots) (MagSiCDots) by a facile hydrothermal method. The as-prepared MagSiCDots have a particle size of 100–120 nm and show a negative zeta potential of −35.50 mV at a neutral pH. The fluorescence spectrum of the MagSiCDots nanoparticles consists of sharp excitation at 365 nm and broad blue light emission with a maximum wavelength of 442.5 nm and the MagSiCDots exhibit superparamagnetic behaviour with a saturation magnetization of 11.6 emu g⁻¹. The potential of MagSiCDots as a fluorescent sensor and be used for magnetic hyperthermia applications. It is seen that the fluorescent intensity of a colloidal solution (a hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) solution containing MagSiCDots nanoparticles) has a linear relationship with the H₂S concentration range of 0.2–2 μM. The limit of detection (LOD) of H₂S by our MagSiCDots particles is 0.26 μM and they remain stable for at least 90 min. To test the suitability of the MagSiCDots nanoparticles for use in hyperthermia application, induction heating using an AMF was done. It was observed that these nanoparticles had a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 28.25 W g⁻¹. The in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity of MagSiCDots were tested on HeLa cells lines. The results show a cell viability of about 85% when exposed to 100 μg mL⁻¹ concentration of the particles. The in vivo cytotoxicity using zebrafish assay also confirmed the non-toxicity and biocompatibility of the nanoparticles to living cells. The reported data demonstrate that by combining CoMnF@Si and fluorescent CDots into a single system, not only nontoxic multifunctional nanomaterials but also multimodal nanoparticles for several applications, such as hazard gas detection and acting as a biocompatible heat source for therapeutic treatment of cancer, are provided.