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A catechol-functionalized phenazine imidazole (PD) was tailored with 2,3-diaminophenazine and 3,4-dihydroxy benzaldehyde, and it served as a hybrid acceptor for capturing HSO 4 - anions. The selectivity and sensitivity of the PD receptor for anion sensing were studied. It was found that the PD receptor could not only display a preferable sensitivity to HSO 4 - ions with a "turn-off" fluorescence response, but also have a strong anti-interference ability toward other common anions, especially basic anions such as CH 3 COO - , HPO 4 2- , and H 2 PO 4 - . The anion recognition mechanism of PD towards HSO 4 - is based on multiple hydrogen bond interactions. Finally, the strips for anion detection were prepared, which were verified to be a convenient and high-efficiency test kit for detecting HSO 4 - ions with the naked eye.

Composite porous scaffolds have attracted extensive attention in the biomedical material field. The aim of this research was to prepare a novel tri-component composite porous scaffold and to evaluate its relevant properties. The porous scaffold was composed of chitosan (CS), silk fibroin (SF), and nanohydroxyapatite particles (nHA), which we named CS/SF/nHA scaffold and prepared via salt fractionation method combined with lyophilization. The porous structure was achieved using a porogen (salt), and the pore size was controlled by the size of porogen. To evaluate the characteristics of the tri-component scaffold, three bi-component scaffolds, CS/SF, CS/nHA, and SF/nHA, were simultaneously prepared for comparison. The scaffolds were subjected to morphological, micro-structural, and biodegradation analyses. Results demonstrated that all of the scaffolds had pore sizes of 100-300 μm and a porosity of 90.5-96.1%. The biodegradation characteristics of all scaffolds meet the requirements of good biomedical materials. The investigation of the mechanical properties showed that the tri-component scaffold has better properties than the bi-component scaffolds. The in vitro biocompatibility with osteoblast-like MG-63 cells showed that all the scaffolds are suitable for cell attachment and proliferation; however, the CS/SF/nHA composite porous scaffold is much more effective than the others., (© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

An efficient and convenient method, three-dimensional (3-D) cell bioreactor coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for affinity screening and analysis of multiple bioactive components from herbal medicines. Cancer cells were cultured on a porous scaffold to form a 3-D cell bioreactor. After interacting with live and fixed cells, the HPLC fingerprinting chromatograms of herbal medicine extract were compared to evaluate the binding properties of herbal components on cells. Model anticancer drugs (paclitaxel and resveratrol) and non-anticancer drugs (ketoprofen and penicillin G) were chosen to investigate the feasibility. When cell-drug interaction time was 30 min, the binding degrees of paclitaxel and resveratrol (each 15 μg/ml) were 82.2±7.2% and 66.1±4.1%, and for ketoprofen and penicillin G (each 15 μg/ml) were less than 3%. This method was used to screen bioactive components from Polygonum cillinerve (Nakai) Ohwi (PCO) extract, and the binding degrees of two main components in PCO extract (10 μg/ml), aristolochic acid A and aristolochic acid B, were 63.0±5.1% and 18.8±0.9%, respectively. These results demonstrated that this method was highly specific, efficient and convenient for affinity screening and analysis of bioactive components interacted with cells., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)