Chitosan-based nanoparticles for improved anticancer efficacy and bioavailability of mifepristone

• Huijuan Zhang,
• Fuqiang Wu,
• Yazhen Li,
• Xiping Yang,
• Jiamei Huang,
• Tingting Lv,
• Yingying Zhang,
• Jianzhong Chen,
• Haijun Chen,
• Yu Gao,
• Guannan Liu and
• Lee Jia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1861–1870, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.178

• observed using AFM (Figure 5B). It could be seen that the nanoparticles were spherical in shape with a relatively smooth surface. The tiny dots in the AFM images might be due to the free chitosan. No obvious morphological changes between CNs and MCNs could be found. The results showed that the horizontal

Viability and proliferation of endothelial cells upon exposure to GaN nanoparticles

• Tudor Braniste,
• Ion Tiginyanu,
• Tibor Horvath,
• Simion Raevschi,
• Serghei Cebotari,
• Marco Lux,
• Axel Haverich and
• Andres Hilfiker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1330–1337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.124

• SEM (e–h) images show the distribution of GaN nanoparticles and the morphological changes to endothelial cells upon exposure to GaN nanoparticles. The cells were exposed to either 10 µg/mL (b,f), 50 µg/mL (c,g), or 100 µg/mL (d,h) of GaN nanoparticles. Images a and e are negative controls treated with

Fast diffusion of silver in TiO₂ nanotube arrays

• Wanggang Zhang,
• Yiming Liu,
• Diaoyu Zhou,
• Hui Wang,
• Wei Liang and
• Fuqian Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1129–1140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.105

• pattern. The heat treatment can lead to a transition of TiO2 nanotubes from the amorphous phase to a crystalline phase, which has been observed by Jarose et al. [32]. It must be emphasized that the heat treatment with a temperature less than and equal to 500 °C does not cause any morphological changes of

Assembling semiconducting molecules by covalent attachment to a lamellar crystalline polymer substrate

• Rainhard Machatschek,
• Patrick Ortmann,
• Renate Reiter,
• Stefan Mecking and
• Günter Reiter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 784–798, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.70

• carboxyl groups was achieved during thermal annealing, which, in turn, was only possible upon inclusion of a layer of carboxyl groups into the stack of crystalline lamellae. A detailed description of the morphological changes that could be observed during thermal annealing, side-group inclusion and

• crystal surface. From AFM images of annealed crystals, we deduced that the thickness of the crystalline object increased by about 2 nm. As an additional consequence of annealing, holes were appearing within the large lamellar crystals, indicative of lamellar thickening [10]. These morphological changes

Bacteriorhodopsin–ZnO hybrid as a potential sensing element for low-temperature detection of ethanol vapour

• Saurav Kumar,
• Sudeshna Bagchi,
• Senthil Prasad,
• Anupma Sharma,
• Ritesh Kumar,
• Rishemjit Kaur,
• Jagvir Singh and
• Amol P. Bhondekar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 501–510, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.44

• , which in turn enables the charge transfer in ZnO-TF/bR and ZnO-NR/bR interfaces [10][14]. In order to characterize the morphological changes, the surface of the hybrid structures was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Figure 1 shows the XRD patterns of the

Hydration of magnesia cubes: a helium ion microscopy study

• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Johannes Schneider,
• Gilles R. Bourret and
• Oliver Diwald

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 302–309, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.28

• these oxides are in physical contact with a solid substrate such as the ones used for immobilization to perform electron or ion microscopy imaging. We used helium ion microscopy (HIM) and investigated morphological changes of vapor-phase-grown MgO cubes after vacuum annealing and pressing into foils of

• S1). After analyzing the vacuum-treated sample, it was exposed to de-ionized water for 17 h and then again investigated in the HIM to evaluate the morphological changes. Results and Discussion Reactive water attack on MgO cubes under high vacuum (p < 3·10−7 mbar) Figure 1 shows MgO cubes being

• partially embedded in the untreated indium foil right after the mounting procedure and after four days in the HIM vacuum chamber, respectively. After four days under high-vacuum conditions at a base pressure lower than 3·10−7 mbar, HIM imaging reveals that important morphological changes of the MgO cubes

Atomic force microscopy as analytical tool to study physico-mechanical properties of intestinal cells

• Christa Schimpel,
• Oliver Werzer,
• Eleonore Fröhlich,
• Gerd Leitinger,
• Markus Absenger-Novak,
• Birgit Teubl,
• Andreas Zimmer and
• Eva Roblegg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1457–1466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.151

• electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate morphological changes of cell surface architectures and examine protrusive surface structures including microvilli. For this, specimens were prepared similar as described previously [62]. After cultivation in transwell® systems cells were washed twice with PBS

PLGA nanoparticles as a platform for vitamin D-based cancer therapy

• Maria J. Ramalho,
• Joana A. Loureiro,
• Bárbara Gomes,
• Manuela F. Frasco,
• Manuel A. N. Coelho and
• M. Carmo Pereira

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1306–1318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.135

• cell growth, cell cycle arrest and morphological changes. Results Nanoparticle physicochemical properties PLGA NPs were prepared by a single emulsion solvent evaporation method and stabilized with Pluronic®F127. The obtained results for mean the diameter, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential

• calcitriol remained stable at release conditions throughout the experiment period. Cellular uptake of PLGA NPs and calcitriol-induced morphological changes The internalization of fluorescent C6–calcitriol–PLGA NPs by S2-013, hTERT-HPNE and A549 cells was evaluated by confocal microscopy. Counterstaining of

• to the endo-lysosomal escape, with most of the PLGA NPs localized in the cytoplasm. However, it is not possible to distinguish this due to autofluorescence in the pancreatic cells and extensive morphological changes. As can be seen in Figure 3C,F, pancreatic cells treated with calcitriol–PLGA NPs at

Automatic morphological characterization of nanobubbles with a novel image segmentation method and its application in the study of nanobubble coalescence

• Yuliang Wang,
• Huimin Wang,
• Shusheng Bi and
• Bin Guo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 952–963, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.98

• out. Moreover, the method was applied to evaluate the morphological changes occurring during coalescence. Experimental NB imaging A sample was prepared by spin coating a thin film of PS on a silicon (100) substrate at a speed of 500 rpm. The substrate was cleaned in a sonic bath of acetone and then

• rate of 2 Hz and the scan angle was 90°. To study the morphological changes occurring during NB coalescence, higher scanning loads with setpoints of 85% (6.2 nm), 79% (5.7 nm), and 66% (4.8 nm) were applied for a given 2 × 2 μm scanning area. After each high-load scan, the 95% setpoint was selected to

• of the AFM tip [46]. One can see that tip convolution leads to an overestimation of the radius of curvature. Assuming the NB heights are not influenced by the tip shape, the NB width and contact angle can then be obtained. The proposed method was used to study morphological changes in NBs in terms of

Electron-stimulated purification of platinum nanostructures grown via focused electron beam induced deposition

• Brett B. Lewis,
• Michael G. Stanford,
• Jason D. Fowlkes,
• Kevin Lester,
• Harald Plank and
• Philip D. Rack

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 907–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.94

• minimal beam current to prevent morphological changes. Conclusion We have studied the electron-stimulated O2 purification of PtC EBID deposits and have shown that the process can be extended to room temperature. Electron beam current and energy studies suggest the process is governed by a dynamic process

A simple approach to the synthesis of Cu_1.8S dendrites with thiamine hydrochloride as a sulfur source and structure-directing agent

• Xiaoliang Yan,
• Sha Li,
• Yun-xiang Pan,
• Zhi Yang and
• Xuguang Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 881–885, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.90

• that the Cu–S bonds exhibit a covalent component. In fact, such an interaction between Cu and S can also be understood from the deformation density, as shown in Figure 3b. The DFT results show that an interaction between Cu and S indeed exists. Figure 4 shows the morphological changes of the Cu1.8S

In situ observation of biotite (001) surface dissolution at pH 1 and 9.5 by advanced optical microscopy

• Chiara Cappelli,
• Daniel Lamarca-Irisarri,
• Jordi Camas,
• F. Javier Huertas and
• Alexander E. S. Van Driessche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 665–673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.67

• performed with LCM-DIM with a vertical resolution of about 1 nm over a wide field of view (ca. 0.3–2 mm). Although it only provides qualitative height information [31], morphological changes on mineral surfaces are suitably monitored. Additionally, owing to the relatively fast data acquisition (ca. 9.6 s to

Oxygen-plasma-modified biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds for enhanced compatibility of cardiovascular implants

• Anna Maria Pappa,
• Varvara Karagkiozaki,
• Silke Krol,
• Spyros Kassavetis,
• Dimitris Konstantinou,
• Charalampos Pitsalidis,
• Lazaros Tzounis,
• Nikos Pliatsikas and
• Stergios Logothetidis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 254–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.24

• . These findings, which are in correlation with the morphological changes observed by SEM and AFM imaging, underline the positive effect of the mild power plasma conditions on the nanofibrous scaffolds in terms of surface topography. Chemical characterization of the plasma-treated scaffolds As can be

Boosting the local anodic oxidation of silicon through carbon nanofiber atomic force microscopy probes

• Gemma Rius,
• Matteo Lorenzoni,
• Soichiro Matsui,
• Masaki Tanemura and
• Francesc Perez-Murano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 215–222, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.20

• Figure 4. In the left panel (Figure 4a), a SEM image of the CNF-AFM probe before the line patterning by LAO-AFM depicted in Figure 4b is shown. It is compared against a SEM image of CNF-AFM probe after LAO-AFM in the right panel (Figure 4c). Morphological changes of the CNF could not be noticed by SEM

Increasing throughput of AFM-based single cell adhesion measurements through multisubstrate surfaces

• Miao Yu,
• Nico Strohmeyer,
• Jinghe Wang,
• Daniel J. Müller and
• Jonne Helenius

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 157–166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.15

• replaced after characterizing 4 cells on each coating. If a cell showed morphological changes during the experiments, it was discarded. Adhesion forces were extracted from force–distance curves using JPK data processing software. Fluorescence microscopy and UV–vis spectroscopy Fluorescence microscopy was

Morphology, structural properties and reducibility of size-selected CeO_2−x nanoparticle films

• Maria Chiara Spadaro,
• Sergio D’Addato,
• Gabriele Gasperi,
• Francesco Benedetti,
• Paola Luches,
• Vincenzo Grillo,
• Giovanni Bertoni and
• Sergio Valeri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 60–67, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.7

• Ce3+ concentration is lower than in the NPs. This significant difference can be ascribed to structural and morphological changes occurring in the non-epitaxial film at increasing temperature, as shown in Figure 6 in which STM images of the non-epitaxial film before and after the reduction cycle are

Mammalian cell growth on gold nanoparticle-decorated substrates is influenced by the nanoparticle coating

• Christina Rosman,
• Sebastien Pierrat,
• Marco Tarantola,
• David Schneider,
• Eva Sunnick,
• Andreas Janshoff and
• Carsten Sönnichsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2479–2488, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.257

• , non-invasive biosensor, which permits the monitoring of morphological changes of living cells acting as dielectric bodies in real time [26][27]. The method measures the complex impedance, Z, of a small working electrode and a larger counter electrode (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3). The

Effect of silver nanoparticles on human mesenchymal stem cell differentiation

• Christina Sengstock,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Matthias Epple,
• Thomas A. Schildhauer and
• Manfred Köller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2058–2069, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.214

• (Figure 3B) or 1.0 µg·mL−1 Ag+ ions (Figure 3D) revealed no significant morphological changes compared with cells cultured without silver (Figure 3C). However, a large decrease in the number of formed lipid droplets was observed in the presence of a high concentration of Ag-NP or Ag+ ions (Figure 3B and

• -NP displayed no distinct morphological changes, but a decrease in the differentiation of hMSCs (Figure 6B) in contrast to cells cultured without silver (Figure 6C) was observed. In the presence of Ag+ ions, no significant change in calcium accretion was measured (Figure 6D) in contrast to the

Rapid degradation of zinc oxide nanoparticles by phosphate ions

• Rudolf Herrmann,
• F. Javier García-García and
• Armin Reller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2007–2015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.209

• medium is of crucial importance for biological studies of ZnO-NP. In this context, the effect of water itself must be distinguished from that of the phosphate ions. Aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles in water was attributed to partial dissolution [9]. Morphological changes of ZnO nanocrystals under the

PVP-coated, negatively charged silver nanoparticles: A multi-center study of their physicochemical characteristics, cell culture and in vivo experiments

• Sebastian Ahlberg,
• Alexandra Antonopulos,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Ralf Dringen,
• Matthias Epple,
• Rebekka Flöck,
• Wolfgang Goedecke,
• Christina Graf,
• Nadine Haberl,
• Jens Helmlinger,
• Fabian Herzog,
• Frederike Heuer,
• Stephanie Hirn,
• Christian Johannes,
• Stefanie Kittler,
• Manfred Köller,
• Katrin Korn,
• Wolfgang G. Kreyling,
• Fritz Krombach,
• Jürgen Lademann,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Eva M. Luther,
• Marcelina Malissek,
• Martina C. Meinke,
• Daniel Nordmeyer,
• Anne Pailliart,
• Jörg Raabe,
• Fiorenza Rancan,
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Carsten Schleh,
• Andreas Seibel,
• Christina Sengstock,
• Lennart Treuel,
• Annika Vogt,
• Katrin Weber and
• Reinhard Zellner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1944–1965, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.205

• correlated with morphological changes of cells as well as biochemical reactions in cellular media, such as changes in the intracellular distribution of Ca2+ during apoptosis. Such investigations require spectroscopic methods which permit high resolution imaging combined with selective probing. Imaging by

• thick (up to 10 µm) and wet samples can be studied. In spite of these advantages, the number of available setups is limited, so that STXM has only been applied to a small number of biological or biomedical samples in the past, including the investigation of local morphological changes in cells [75]. We

• were identified in the nucleus [76]. Within the resolution of STXM no morphological changes of the cells were found. The particles that were taken up into the cells appear to be slightly aggregated or at least associated to larger units (see Figure 5B in comparison to particles imaged by TEM or STXM

Imaging the intracellular degradation of biodegradable polymer nanoparticles

• Anne-Kathrin Barthel,
• Martin Dass,
• Melanie Dröge,
• Jens-Michael Cramer,
• Daniela Baumann,
• Markus Urban,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Volker Mailänder and
• Ingo Lieberwirth

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1905–1917, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.201

• detected at 680–750 nm). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) TEM was performed to precisely localize the intracellular particles and characterize morphological changes. For preparation, cells were seeded out in a 24-well plate (Greiner, Germany) containing three sapphire disks, surface C-coated. Cells

• MSCs), the uptake of PLLA/magnetite NPs in the cells does not lead to any morphological changes of the cells over the whole observation period. Cell morphology is not affected by the incubation. Generally, the particles were located inside the cells. After 24 h (Figure 2A), the PLLA nanoparticles were

Synthesis of Pt nanoparticles and their burrowing into Si due to synergistic effects of ion beam energy losses

• Pravin Kumar,
• Udai Bhan Singh,
• Kedar Mal,
• Sunil Ojha,
• Indra Sulania,
• Dinakar Kanjilal,
• Dinesh Singh and
• Vidya Nand Singh

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1864–1872, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.197

• with Se/Sn = 1 (where maximum burrowing was seen) was also performed in order to gain quantitative information, for example, particle size, depth of burrowing, etc. The morphological changes on the surfaces were studied using a multimode Nanoscope IIIa atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping mode. The

Carbon-based smart nanomaterials in biomedicine and neuroengineering

• Antonina M. Monaco and
• Michele Giugliano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1849–1863, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.196

• cultures; additionally, the electrical stimulation resulted in affecting the regulation of cytoskeleton protein related to cellular mobility, such as actin, resulting in morphological changes in cellular edges. Sahni et al. [139] compared the neurite outgrowth of rat primary cortical neurons cultured on

Influence of surface-modified maghemite nanoparticles on in vitro survival of human stem cells

• Michal Babič,
• Daniel Horák,
• Lyubov L. Lukash,
• Tetiana A. Ruban,
• Yurii N. Kolomiets,
• Svitlana P. Shpylova and
• Oksana A. Grypych

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1732–1737, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.183

• intravenous introduction of a nanoparticle colloid was described earlier [31][32][33]. This confirmed adaptive reactions of the mouse organism. Morphological changes of the organ cells may result from the direct action of nanoparticles on the cells, or may also indirectly result from impaired microcirculation

The protein corona protects against size- and dose-dependent toxicity of amorphous silica nanoparticles

• Dominic Docter,
• Christoph Bantz,
• Dana Westmeier,
• Hajo J. Galla,
• Qiangbin Wang,
• James C. Kirkpatrick,
• Peter Nielsen,
• Michael Maskos and
• Roland H. Stauber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1380–1392, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.151

• aggregation. ASP affect cell vitality in a size- and dose-dependent manner To investigate the (patho)biological effect of the ASP, we used independent experimental approaches. As a rapid and inexpensive screening method for cytotoxicity, we first employed light microscopy to analyze morphological changes of

• the Caco-2 cells following exposure to the different ASP (Figure 2). Exposure to ASP30 or ASP30L under serum free conditions induced dose- and time-dependent significant morphological changes, such as loss of a structured cell shape, disruption of the monolayer, and loss of adhesion, which is

• cells served as a negative control to correct for background fluorescence. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of representative ASP used in the study. Scale bar = 100 nm. Microscopy-based assessment of cell vitality by analyzing ASP-induced morphological changes. (A/B) Caco-2 morphology was