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Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) transplantation could enhance bone repair. However, the cell fate of transplanted MSCs, in terms of their local distribution and spatial associations with other types of cells were poorly understood. Here, we developed a single-cell 3D spatial correlation (sc3DSC) method to track transplanted MSCs based on deep tissue microscopy of fluorescent nanoparticles (fNPs) and immunofluorescence of key proteins. Locally delivered fNP-labeled MSCs enhanced tibial defect repair, increased the number of stem cells and vascular maturity in mice. fNP-MSCs persisted in the defect throughout repair. But only a small portion of transplanted cells underwent osteogenic differentiation (OSX+); a significant portion has maintained their expression of mesenchymal stem cell and skeletal stem cell markers (SCA-1 and PRRX1). Our results contribute to the optimization of MSC-based therapies. The sc3DSC method may be useful in studying cell-based therapies for the regeneration of other tissue types or disease models.

Development of multi-responsive biodegradable micellar drug delivery systems for targeted cancer chemotherapy remains a major challenge. Here we demonstrate a kind of pH and reduction dual-responsive cationic polymer via an effective amine–epoxy polymerization, which could self-assemble into the biodegradable micelles in an aqueous solution. On account of the tumor cells or tissues possessing low pH values and high concentrations of reductive agents, these micelles exhibited the specific tumor target ability and maximal drug-release controllability inside tumor cells upon changes in physical and chemical environments, but presented excellent stability at physiological conditions. CCK-8 assay showed that these DOX-loaded micelles had a similar cytotoxicity for MCF-7 tumor cells as the free DOX molecules while blank micelles were low toxic to the cells. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) observation revealed that the drug-loaded micelles were quickly internalized by endosomes to effectively restrain the cancer cell growth. These results indicated these biodegradable micelles could be the novel and efficient dual-responsive nanocarriers to improve the drug delivery and enhance the antitumor efficacy.

Dendrimers, as a type of artificial polymers with unique structural features, have been extensively explored for their applications in biomedical fields, especially in drug delivery. However, one important concern about the most commonly used dendrimers exists - the nondegradability, which may cause side effects induced by the accumulation of synthetic polymers in cells or tissues. Therefore, biodegradable dendrimers incorporating biodegradability with merits of dendrimers such as well-defined architectures, copious internal cavities and surface functionalities, are much more promising for developing novel nontoxic drug carriers. Herein, we review the recent advances in design and synthesis of biodegradable dendrimers, as well as their applications in fabricating drug delivery systems, with the aim to provide researchers in the related fields a good understanding of biodegradable dendrimers for drug delivery.

Self-assembly schemes provide a simple and tunable approach to creating a myriad of well-defined nanostructures from design of macromolecules in bulk, thin film and solution environments. Here we demonstrated a facile method to construction of tetraphenylethylene nanoparticles (TPE NPs) by decomposition-assembly from pH-responsive and AIE-characteristic vesicles, which were self-assembled by an amphiphilic PEG 750 -POSS-(TPE) 7 polymer in aqueous solutions. The introduction of Schiff base bonds furnished the fluorescent polymersomes with unique pH responsiveness that is stable under physiological conditions but quickly degradable in acidic environments. Interestingly, the luminous vesicles were transformed into spherical TPE NPs in a solution of lower pH on account of the synergetic combination of cleavage rate of the Schiff base bonds and guidance effect of the entangled tadpole-shaped polymeric chains. The AIE feature of TPE molecule was completely retained in the TPE NPs. Compared to the pH-responsive PEG 750 -POSS-(TPE) 7 vesicles, these AIE-active TPE NPs possessed stable morphology and adjustable size by manipulation of the incubation time. These TPE NPs can be quickly internalized into the tumors through endocytosis pathway and retain strong blue luminescence inside the living cells for a long period, presenting the good photostability and biological imaging property. Cytotoxicity assay revealed that TPE NPs were biocompatible and thus can be utilized for long-term live cell imaging and biomedical applications.

To explore the vertical distribution of the aerosol optical parameters over Jinhua City, southeast China, a Dual-wavelength Mie Polarization Raman Lidar (DMPRL) system was operated to obtain the atmospheric backscattering signals from June 2013 to May 2014. Profiles of aerosol occurrence frequency and aerosol optical parameters, including backscattering ratio, particle depolarization ratio, and color ratio, were retrieved from the lidar signals. The cases with a cloud base below 6 km and profiles on rainy days were eliminated. The multi-layer vertical aerosol structure was found in Jinhua area and the altitude-resolved optical properties varies with seasons. In autumn, winter and spring, the aerosol layer occurrence frequencies were higher than summer at 3–6 km, especially in spring. The mean particle depolarization ratio at 4–6 km exceeded 0.1 in autumn, winter, and spring, whereas it was

The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique has been used to investigate the structure of dendrimers based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) in solution. Three generations and two distinct terminal groups (either vinyl or polyethylene glycol (PEG) terminal groups) as well as four concentrations for each dendrimer have been measured in deuterated tetrahydrofuran. Two main scattering regimes, one with a length scale of nm and the other with a length scale of sub-micron, are found to contribute to the SANS signals. In order to fit the SANS data, a new modified two correlation lengths model has been developed. Fit parameters include scale factors, correlation lengths, Porod exponents and “particle” elongation parameters. Our fit results show that the local structure does not correspond to single dendrimer molecules, but rather to POSS-rich domains surrounded by POSS-poor domains. The large-scale structure represents the overall morphology of multi-dendrimer aggregates. The flexible PEG outer links help to enhance the stability of inorganic POSS cages, and allow the hybrid polymers to adjust their conformation in order to respond to their surroundings. With increasing concentration, the local structure becomes more compact as evidenced by the decrease of correlation length and concurrent increase of the Porod exponent. The deformation of local structure during the compaction process is also observed. The structure becomes elongated at intermediate concentrations whereas it tends to be more globular at low and high concentrations.

Multicomponent reactions are of substantial significance not only for organic synthesis but also for polymer synthesis due to their more bond-forming events per synthetic operation. Generally due to that there are two or more reactions in one multicomponent reaction system, synergistic catalysis, in which the two or more reactions are activated by two or more different catalysts at the same time, is very important for achieving high-efficiency transformations. However, achieving synergistic catalysis via using two or more different catalyst simultaneously is a great challenge. Here, we propose a new reactant-synergistically catalyzed multicomponent reaction, in which the units coming from the reactant can synergistically catalyze the two reactions at the same time. Moreover, this multicomponent reaction can be extended to multicomponent polymerization, which is a very promising method for the preparation of functional polymers with defined-sequence. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The compound of hydroxyapatite-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (HA-PLGA) was prepared by ionic bond between HA and PLGA. HA-PLGA was more stable than the simple physical blend of hydroxyapatite and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (HA/PLGA). The surface of HA-PLGA microsphere fabricated by an emulsion–solvent evaporation method was rougher than that of HA/PLGA microspheres. Moreover, surface HA content of HA-PLGA microspheres was more than that of HA/PLGA microspheres. In vitro mouse OCT-1 osteoblast-like cell culture results showed that the HA-PLGA microspheres clearly promoted osteoblast attachment, proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity. It was considered that surface rich HA component and rough surface of HA-PLGA microsphere enhanced cell growth and differentiation. The good cell affinity of the HA-PLGA microspheres indicated that they could be used as an injectable scaffold for bone tissue engineering.

A turn-key Raman–Mie lidar system for water vapor and aerosol detection is described, which is placed in a boxcar and can be operated both at night and daytime. The operation of the lidar is very simple, especially, it does not need readjustment after road transit. The effective detection range of the system can reach tropopause for aerosol, and the improved system can obtain water vapor profile in boundary layers during daytime. Some experimental results and validations are presented.

Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT), Raman spectroscopy of adsorbed pyridine molecules (Py-Raman) and in situ Py-IR have been used to investigate the hydroxyl species and acid sites on diatomite surfaces. The Lewis (L) and Bronsted (B) acid sites, and various hydroxyl species, including isolated hydroxyl groups, H-bonded hydroxyl groups and physically adsorbed water, are identified. The L acid sites in diatomite samples are resulted from the clay impurities, and the B acid sites are resulted from some moderate strength H-bonded hydroxyl groups. At room temperature, both of the isolated and H-bonded silanols associate with the physically adsorbed water by hydrogen bond. After calcination treatment, physically adsorbed water will be desorbed from the silanols, and the silanols will condense with the increase of temperature. Generally, the H-bonded silanols condense more easily than the isolated ones. The properties of surface hydroxyl species of diatomaceous silica are more similar to precipitated silica rather than fumed silica.