Nanomaterials for Biological Applications: Innovative Strategies from Theranostic Approaches to Regenerative Medicine

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 4 July 2025 | Viewed by 1760

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Health Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: morphology; nanomaterials; biomaterials; regenerative medicine; tissue engineering; imaging

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale (UPO), 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: biomaterials; nanomaterials; regenerative medicine; vitamin D; extracellular matrix; inflammatory and rheumatic diseases; cardiovascular diseases; translational research
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomaterials are a very promising class of materials showing a wide range of possible applications in many research and industrial fields. The most interesting feature of these innovative materials is represented by their large surface area and tunability during production, allowing for their use in a plethora of different applications.

Nanotechnology led to cutting-edge tools for manipulation and detection at the nanoscale in various fields, including biology and medicine.

The biomedical field represent one of the most dynamic areas of nanomaterial development and evolution. Some examples of biomedical applications of these cutting-edge solutions are represented as follows: fluorescent biological labelling, drug and gene delivery, and the thermal ablation of cancer tissues.

Considering the highly tunable nature of these materials, their potential use is not limited only to the above mentioned more “classical” biomedical applications, but can also be extended to cosmetics, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine fields, where they may represent support the continuous evolution of these research domains toward new solutions characterized by higher efficiency and sustainability.

The main goal of this Special Issue is to provide an updated perspective on nanomaterials to support biological interactions. Contributions that support the advancement of the current knowledge about production, characterization, and biological application of nanomaterials are welcomed, both in form of review and original articles.

The potential topics of interest about nanomaterials are as follows:

  • Novel synthetic approaches;
  • Characterization techniques;
  • Nanomaterial applications;
  • Therapeutic and theranostic approaches;
  • Biosensors.

We encourage contributions from colleagues with different backgrounds (i.e., biologists, medical researchers, researchers from the cosmetic industry, chemists, etc.) to provide the readers with a complete overview of the most recent advancements in the exciting field of nanomaterials for biological applications.

Dr. Elena Canciani
Dr. Manuela Rizzi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nanomaterials
  • regenerative medicine
  • toxicology
  • cosmetics
  • therapy
  • imaging
  • theragnostic
  • nanoparticles synthesis and applications
  • drug delivery

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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23 pages, 5179 KiB  
Article
Comparison In Vitro Study on the Interface between Skin and Bone Cell Cultures and Microporous Titanium Samples Manufactured with 3D Printing Technology Versus Sintered Samples
by Maxim Shevtsov, Emil Pitkin, Stephanie E. Combs, Greg Van Der Meulen, Chris Preucil and Mark Pitkin
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(18), 1484; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14181484 - 12 Sep 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1350
Abstract
Percutaneous implants osseointegrated into the residuum of a person with limb amputation need to provide mechanical stability and protection against infections. Although significant progress has been made in the biointegration of percutaneous implants, the problem of forming a reliable natural barrier at the [...] Read more.
Percutaneous implants osseointegrated into the residuum of a person with limb amputation need to provide mechanical stability and protection against infections. Although significant progress has been made in the biointegration of percutaneous implants, the problem of forming a reliable natural barrier at the level of the surface of the implant and the skin and bone tissues remains unresolved. The use of a microporous implant structure incorporated into the Skin and Bone Integrated Pylon (SBIP) should address the issue by allowing soft and bone tissues to grow directly into the implant structure itself, which, in turn, should form a reliable barrier to infections and support strong osseointegration. To evaluate biological interactions between dermal fibroblasts and MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts in vitro, small titanium discs (with varying pore sizes and volume fractions to achieve deep porosity) were fabricated via 3D printing and sintering. The cell viability MTT assay demonstrated low cytotoxicity for cells co-cultured in the pores of the 3D-printed and sintered Ti samples during the 14-day follow-up period. A subsequent Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of the relative gene expression of biomarkers that are associated with cell adhesion (α2, α5, αV, and β1 integrins) and extracellular matrix components (fibronectin, vitronectin, type I collagen) demonstrated that micropore sizes ranging from 200 to 500 µm of the 3D printed and sintered Ti discs were favorable for dermal fibroblast adhesion. For example, for representative 3D-printed Ti sample S6 at 72 h the values were 4.71 ± 0.08 (α2 integrin), 4.96 ± 0.08 (α5 integrin), 4.71 ± 0.08 (αV integrin), and 1.87 ± 0.12 (β1 integrin). In contrast, Ti discs with pore sizes ranging from 400 to 800 µm demonstrated the best results (in terms of marker expression related to osteogenic differentiation, including osteopontin, osteonectin, osteocalcin, TGF-β1, and SMAD4) for MC3T3-E1 cells. For example, for the representative 3D sample S4 on day 14, the marker levels were 11.19 ± 0.77 (osteopontin), 7.15 ± 0.29 (osteonectin), and 6.08 ± 0.12 (osteocalcin), while for sintered samples the levels of markers constituted 5.85 ± 0.4 (osteopontin), 4.45 ± 0.36 (osteonectin), and 4.46 ± 0.3 (osteocalcin). In conclusion, the data obtained show the high biointegrative properties of porous titanium structures, while the ability to implement several pore options in one structure using 3D printing makes it possible to create personalized implants for the best one-time integration with both skin and bone tissues. Full article
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