Macromolecules and Nanomaterials: Their Impact on Nanomedicine

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2018) | Viewed by 4196

Special Issue Editors

Soft Matter and Molecular Biophysics Group, Department of Applied Physics, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: synthesis and characterization of nanostructured templated materials; biophysics of proteins and protein interactions; self-aggregation processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Programa Institucional de Fomento a la Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM), Ignacio Valdivieso 2409, Santiago 8940577, Chile
Interests: nanoscience; nanotechnology; materials science and technology; biochemistry; chemistry; medicine; biological sciences; pharmacology; drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomacromolecule structures have been studied in several publications; nevertheless, some interactions have not been studied deeply in the context of medicine. In this scenario, soft materials can interact with several different biomacromolecules (proteins, phospholipids, organelles, biological fluid, etc.) starting a competition of these biological molecules with material surface altering biological systems. New computational and experimental techniques have been explored in recent years to answer different questions that have not yet been solved. Biosensors, tissue engineering, microfluidics, and so on are some new perspective to be studied in this topic. In this Special Issue, we would like to demonstrate that new soft materials can completely change biomacromolecule structures, giving potential information on the clearance, immune response, biodistribution, metabolism and their biocompatibility, inducing their final bioapplication.

Prof. Dr. Juan M. Ruso
Dr. Natalia Hassan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Bionanomaterials
  • Bioinspired nanostructures
  • Microfluidic devices
  • Hydrogels and microgels
  • Biocomposite materials
  • Protein nanoparticles
  • Nanocapsules for drug delivery

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1477 KiB  
Article
Designed Functional Dispersion for Insulin Protection from Pepsin Degradation and Skeletal Muscle Cell Proliferation: In Silico and In Vitro Study
by Veera C. S. R. Chittepu, Poonam Kalhotra, Tzayhri Gallardo-Velázquez, Raúl René Robles-de la Torre and Guillermo Osorio-Revilla
Nanomaterials 2018, 8(10), 852; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano8100852 - 19 Oct 2018
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3777
Abstract
Functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes with polyethylene glycol (PEGylated SWCNTs) are a promising nanomaterial that recently has emerged as the most attractive “cargo” to deliver chemicals, peptides, DNA and RNAs into cells. Insulin therapy is a recommended therapy to treat diabetes mellitus despite its [...] Read more.
Functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes with polyethylene glycol (PEGylated SWCNTs) are a promising nanomaterial that recently has emerged as the most attractive “cargo” to deliver chemicals, peptides, DNA and RNAs into cells. Insulin therapy is a recommended therapy to treat diabetes mellitus despite its side effects. Recently, functional dispersion made up of bioactive peptides, bioactive compounds and functionalized carbon nanomaterials such as PEGylated SWCNTs have proved to possess promising applications in nanomedicine. In the present study, molecular modeling simulations are utilized to assist in designing insulin hormone-PEGylated SWCNT composites, also called functional dispersion; to achieve this experimentally, an ultrasonication tool was utilized. Enzymatic degradation assay revealed that the designed functional dispersion protects about 70% of free insulin from pepsin. In addition, sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay, the quantification of insulin and glucose levels in differentiated skeletal muscle cell supernatants, reveals that functional dispersion regulates glucose and insulin levels to promote skeletal muscle cell proliferation. These findings offer new perspectives for designed functional dispersion, as potential pharmaceutical preparations to improve insulin therapy and promote skeletal muscle cell health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Macromolecules and Nanomaterials: Their Impact on Nanomedicine)
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