Nanomaterials for Biomedical and Environmental Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Biology and Medicines".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2025) | Viewed by 1873

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Guest Editor
Section of Medicinal Chemistry and Cosmetic Product, Department of Pharmacy (DIFAR), University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV 3, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Interests: retinoids; drug delivery systems; polymeric micelles; liposomes; passive targeting; active targeting; poorly soluble drugs; formulation strategies; cancer; neuroblastoma; melanoma; tumor mouse models; oncology; apoptosis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomaterials, including nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanosized micelles, liposomes, etc. possess nonpareil properties, and at present, they find a plethora of applications in several sectors. Among them, synthetic bola-amphiphiles (BAs) are molecules mimicking archaeal membrane lipids. Traditionally, BAs bear two or more, equal or different, polar head groups linked by one or more hydrophobic chains. Inverted BAs featuring a polar central spacer flanked by nonpolar head groups have also been reported. Non-ionic BAs with dendritic capping with a high molecular weight have also been discovered. Bas, like other nanomaterials possess nonpareil colloidal properties able to self-assemble in solution in nanosized micelles capable of entrapping drugs, thus enhancing their solubility and stability or reducing toxicity.  The assembled structures formed by BAs in solution are complex and thus require further in-depth analysis. Although reviews exist summarizing the synthetic methods to prepare BAs, their self-assembling ability and their use as pore-forming and electron-conducting materials, drug delivery systems, hydrogels constituents, and cell membrane-active compounds effective against both pathogens and cancer—in addition to several other applications such as those relating to the environment—are still insufficiently explored. Research involving BAs as active components of a more complex formulation is expanding. At present, BAs are also studied in gene delivery, where multicomponent lipid nano-formulations are common. The goal of this Special Issue is to collect contributions, including full articles, reviews, featured articles, communications, and reports, on the development of all types of nanomaterials with a special focus on BAs and their applications in the biomedical and environmental fields.

Prof. Dr. Silvana Alfei
Prof. Dr. Guendalina Zuccari
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • bola-amphiphiles
  • bola-amphiphilic hydrogels
  • self-forming nanosized vesicles
  • colloidal properties
  • self-forming micelles
  • bis-phosphonium salts
  • bis-triphenyl phosphonium groups
  • mitochondria-targeted bola-amphiphiles
  • membrane permeabilization
  • drug delivery systems
  • gene delivery

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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28 pages, 3693 KiB  
Article
The Remarkable and Selective In Vitro Cytotoxicity of Synthesized Bola-Amphiphilic Nanovesicles on Etoposide-Sensitive and -Resistant Neuroblastoma Cells
by Silvana Alfei, Paolo Giannoni, Maria Grazia Signorello, Carola Torazza, Guendalina Zuccari, Constantinos M. Athanassopoulos, Cinzia Domenicotti and Barbara Marengo
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(18), 1505; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14181505 - 16 Sep 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1516
Abstract
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a solid tumor occurring in infancy and childhood. Its high-risk form has currently a survival rate <50%, despite aggressive treatments. This worrying scenario is worsened by drug-induced secondary tumorigenesis and the emergency of drug resistance, calling for the urgent development [...] Read more.
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a solid tumor occurring in infancy and childhood. Its high-risk form has currently a survival rate <50%, despite aggressive treatments. This worrying scenario is worsened by drug-induced secondary tumorigenesis and the emergency of drug resistance, calling for the urgent development of new extra-genomic treatments. Triphenyl phosphonium salts (TPPs) are mitochondria-targeting compounds that exert anticancer effects, impair mitochondria functions, and damage DNA at the same time. Despite several biochemical applications, TPP-based bola-amphiphiles self-assembling nanoparticles (NPs) in water have never been tested as antitumor agents. Here, with the aim of developing new antitumor devices to also counteract resistant forms of HR-NB, the anticancer effects of a TPP-based bola-amphiphile molecule have been investigated in vitro for the first time. To this end, we considered the previously synthesized and characterized sterically hindered quaternary phosphonium salt (BPPB). It embodies both the characteristics of mitochondria-targeting compounds and those of bola-amphiphiles. The anticancer effects of BPPB were assessed against HTLA-230 human stage-IV NB cells and their counterpart, which is resistant to etoposide (ETO), doxorubicin (DOX), and many other therapeutics (HTLA-ER). Very low IC50 values of 0.2 µM on HTLA-230 and 1.1 µM on HTLA-ER (538-fold lower than that of ETO) were already determined after 24 h of treatment. The very low cell viability observed after 24 h did not significantly differ from that observed for the longest exposure timing. The putative future inclusion of BPPB in a chemotherapeutic cocktail for HR-NB was assessed by investigating in vitro its cytotoxic effects against mammalian cell lines. These included monkey kidney cells (Cos-7, IC50 = 4.9 µM), human hepatic cells (HepG2, IC50 = 9.6 µM), a lung-derived fibroblast cell line (MRC-5, IC50 = 2.8 µM), and red blood cells (RBCs, IC50 = 14.9 µM). Appreciable to very high selectivity indexes (SIs) have been determined after 24 h treatments (SIs = 2.5–74.6), which provided evidence that both NB cell populations were already fully exterminated. These in vitro results pave the way for future investigations of BPPB on animal models and upon confirmation for the possible development of BPPB as a novel therapeutic to treat MDR HR-NB cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials for Biomedical and Environmental Applications)
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