Sharif Digital Repository

Local three-stranded DNA/RNA hybrid regions of genomes (R-loops) have been detected either by binding of a monoclonal antibody (DRIP assay) or by enzymatic recognition by RNaseH. Such a structure has been postulated for mouse and human telomeres, clearly suggested by the identification of the complementary RNA Telomeric repeat-containing RNA “TERRA”. However, the tremendous disparity in the information obtained with antibody-based technology drove us to investigate a new strategy. Based on the observation that DNA/RNA hybrids in a triplex complex genome co-purify with the double-stranded chromosomal DNA fraction, we developed a direct preparative approach from total protein-free cellular... 

Co-precipitation of CoCl2.6H2O with graphene oxide (GO) and heating at 400°C for 4 h under hydrogen resulted in the construction of cobalt/ reduced GO (Co/rGO) nanocomposite utilisable in magnetic thermal therapy. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, thermogravimetric analysis/derivative thermogravimetry, and X-ray diffraction methods characterised the samples. Time-temperature curves of the samples containing 30, 50, 70, and 100 µg ml−1 Co/rGO nanoparticles (NPs) suspended in phosphate-buffered saline were determined at different specific heating rates. Magnetic-field response of... 

In the expanding field of tissue engineering (TE), improvement of biodegradability and osteoconductivity of biomaterials are required. The use of non-toxic reagents during manufacturing processes is also necessary to decrease toxicity and increase cell viability in vivo. Herein, we present a novel approach to prepare hydroxyapatite (HA) nanorods from sea bio-wastes through a green and eco-friendly wet-chemical processing for bone TE. Highly porous natural polymer-ceramic nanocomposites made of HA, gelatin (Ge) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) hydrogels are then introduced. It was found that cross-linking of the hydrogel matrix by glucose as a green reagent affected all characteristics of... 

Poly (lactate-co-glycolate) (PLGA) is a typical biocompatible and biodegradable synthetic polymer. The addition of TiO2 nanoparticles has shown to improve compressive modulus of PLGA scaffolds and reduced fast degradation. A novel method has been applied to fabricate PLGA/TiO2 scaffolds without using any inorganic solvent, with aim of improving the biocompatibility, macroscale morphology, and well inter-connected pores efficacy: Air–Liquid Foaming. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) revealed an increase in interconnected porosity of up to 98%. As well the compressive testing showed enhancement in modulus. Bioactivity and in vitro degradation were studied with immersion of... 

Bioactive glass has been used clinically in bone repair applications for bone grafting because of its prominent physiochemical and osteogenic properties. Various attempts have been made to enhance bioactive glass efficiency in combination with other biomaterials such as antibiotics and growth factors. In present study, we developed a modification of bioactive glass nanoparticles that insured long term antibacterial effect. Bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGNs) were functionalized with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTS), then vancomycin (VAN) was immobilized onto BGNs-APTS via EDC/NHS cross-linking process. Another study group namely BGNs-VAN was synthesized as a control group without any... 

Coaxial electrospinning with the ability to use simultaneously two separate solvents provides a promising strategy for drug delivery. Nevertheless, controlled release of hydrophilic and sensitive therapeutics from slow biodegradable polymers is still challenging. To address this gap, we fabricated core-sheath fibers for dual delivery of lysozyme, as a model protein, and phenytoin sodium as a small therapeutic molecule. The sheath was processed by a gelatin solution while the core fibers were fabricated from an aqueous gelatin/PVA solution. Microstructural studies by transmission and scanning electron microscopy reveal the formation of homogeneous core-sheath nanofibers with an outer and... 

Background: Cancer is the first cause of death in developed countries. The heterogeneous nature of cancer requires patient-specified treatment plans. One reliable approach is collecting Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) and using them for prognosis and drug response assessment purposes. CTCs are rare and their separation from normal cell requires high-accuracy methods. Methods: A microfluidic cell capture device to separate CTCs from peripheral blood is presented in this study. The CTC separation device applies hydrodynamic forces to categorize cells according to their sizes. The proposed device is designed and evaluated by numerical simulations and validated experimentally. The simulation... 

Arrayed Ti6Al4V nanotubes (TNT) coated with hydroxyapatite (HA) were synthesized via electrochemical anodization method. Paracetamol was loaded onto TNT-HA electrode. Effects of anodization, nanotube formation and hydroxyapatite deposition on sorption and release of the drug were investigated. Saturation time of paracetamol on the anodized samples was 30% shorter than the hydroxyapatite-coated samples. Release behavior of the loaded drug was studied by (a) plunging the probe into phosphate buffered saline (PBS), (b) sampling the drug-loaded PBS at different times and (c) analyzing the solution via ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. Results showed that HA electrodes hold higher... 

It is known that Fluoride ions strongly affect bone mineralization and formation. In the present study, the engineered bone tissue scaffolds are fabricated using silk fibroin (SF) and flouridated TiO2 nanoparticles. TiO2 nanoparticles are modified by fluoride ions, and different levels (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt%) of the fluoridated TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2-F) were subsequently added to the SF matrix through phase separation method to prepare silk fibroin/flouridated TiO2 nanocomposite scaffolds (SF/TiO2-F). Phase structure, functional groups, morphology and mechanical properties of the obtained scaffolds were evaluated by X-ray diffraction method (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy... 

Platinum nanotubes (PtNTs) are fabricated by potentiostatic electrodeposition at various overpotentials (−200 up to −400 mV versus SCE) in polycarbonate templates (PCTs) with pore diameter of 200 nm in a solution containing 5 mM H2PtCl6 and 0.1 M H2SO4. The synthesized PtNTs are characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The electrochemical growth mechanism within nanoscopic pores and the relationship between morphological variations and kinetic parameters are investigated for the first time. It is shown that more porous structure of nanotubes forms at high overpotentials possibly due to preferably nucleation. The... 

In order to evaluate the long-term viability, the iron content stability, and the labeling efficiency of mammalian cells using magnetic cell labeling; dextran-coated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIOs) nanoparticles with plain surfaces having a hydrodynamic size of 25 nm were used for this study. Tests were carried out in four groups each containing 5 flasks of 5.5 × 10 6 AD-293 embryonic kidney cells. The cell lines were incubated for 24 h using four different iron concentrations with and without protamine sulfate (Pro), washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and centrifuged three times to remove the unbounded USPIOs. Cell viability was also verified using USPIOs. There... 

By combination of 1-ethyl-3-methyl immidazolium ethyl sulfate as a typical room temperature ionic liquid (IL) and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, a nanocomposite was introduced for improving the direct electrochemistry and electrocatalytic activity of glucose oxidase (GOx). The enzyme on the IL-GO-modified glassy carbon electrode exhibited a quasireversible cyclic voltammogram corresponding to the flavine adenine dinucleotide/FADH2 redox prosthetic group of GOx. At the scan rate of 100 mV s-1, the enzyme showed a peak-to-peak potential separation of 82 mV and the formal potential of -463 mV (vs Ag/AgCl in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.0). The kinetic parameters of the charge transfer... 

Due to the hopeful potential of nanoparticles in medicine, they have attracted much attention for various applications such as targeted drug/gene delivery, separation or imaging. Interaction of NPs with the biological environment can lead to a wide range of cellular responses. In order to have safe NPs for biomedical applications, the current biocompatibility researches are particularly focused on the severe toxic mechanisms which cause cells death. These mechanisms are apoptosis, autophagy and necrosis, which can also be intricately linked with the cell-life cycle, as there are various check-points and controls in a cell's life cycle to ensure appropriate division processes. Mechanisms by... 

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was successfully immobilized on amine functionalized TiO 2-coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (NH 2-TiO 2-CNTs) by a convenient and efficient method. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and amperometry were applied to characterize the HRP/NH 2-TiO 2-CNT nano-composite. These techniques showed that the NH 2-TiO 2-CNTs greatly enhance the electron transfer between HRP and the modified electrode. Owing to the redox reaction of the electroactive centre of HRP, the HRP/NH 2-TiO 2-CNTs modified electrode exhibited a pair of quasi-reversible peaks with a peak-to-peak separation (ΔE p) of 70.6mV and a formal potential (E 0′) of -367.65mV (versus... 

In the present work, an amperometric inhibition biosensor for the determination of sulfide has been fabricated by immobilizing Coprinus cinereus peroxidase (CIP) on the surface of screen printed electrode (SPE). Chitosan/acrylamide was applied for immobilization of peroxidase on the working electrode. The amperometric measurement was performed at an applied potential of -150. mV versus Ag/AgCl with a scan rate of 100. mV in the presence of hydroquinone as electron mediator and 0.1. M phosphate buffer solution of pH 6.5. The variables influencing the performance of sensor including the amount of substrate, mediator concentration and electrolyte pH were optimized. The determination of sulfide... 

A mixture of multi-walled carbon nanotube/graphite paste electrode modified with a salophen complex of cobalt was prepared and was applied for the study of the electrochemical behavior of 6-mercaptopurine (MP) using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). An excellent electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of MP was achieved, which led to a considerable lowering in the anodic overpotential and remarkable increase in the response sensitivity in comparison with unmodified electrode. Utilizing DPV method, a linear dynamic range of 1-100 μM with detection limit of 0.1 μM was obtained in phosphate buffer of pH 3.0. The electrochemical detection system was very stable, and the... 

Catalytic activity of carbon/Pt nanoparticles modified TiO 2 nanotubes electrode was studied by using dopamine contained solutions. The TiO 2 nanotubes electrode was prepared using anodizing method in aqueous solution. The electrochemical pulse method was then applied for electrodeposition of Pt nanoparticles onto the TiO 2 nanotubes. Further modification was achieved by decomposition of polyethylene glycol in a tube furnace to have a carbon/Pt nanoparticles modified TiO 2 nanotubes electrode. The final modified electrode could successfully detect the electro-oxidation of dopamine in a ImM contained solution using cyclic voltametry method. Also, a high sensitivity towards the oxidation of... 

A theoretical model was developed to describe a dynamic process involving an enzymatic reaction and diffusion of reactants and product inside glucose sensitive composite membrane. The composite membrane consisted of nanoparticles of a weakly acidic polymer, glucose oxidase and catalase embedded in a hydrophobic polymer. Time- and position-dependent diffusivity of involved species was considered in the model. Donnan equilibrium was used to find concentrations of buffer ions inside the membrane. The profiles of pH, species concentrations, volume fraction of swollen gel, polymer and water-filled space, as well as solute diffusivity inside the membrane were predicted by the model as a function... 

Solid-phase microextraction probes based on poly(ethylene glycol)/C18-bonded silica were used for in vivo monitoring of drugs from circulating blood of beagles, over a period of 8 h. After sampling, the extracted drugs were subsequently quantified by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. External calibrations in whole blood and phosphate-buffered saline were used to correlate the amount of analytes extracted in regard to the total and free concentrations in blood respectively. The probe provided sufficient sensitivity for the drugs in the blood matrix, while the need for drawing blood was eliminated. The limit of detections of the method from whole blood were 1.7, 1.4... 

The present work describes sensing application of modified TiO 2 nanotubes having carbon-Pt nanoparticles for simultaneous detection of dopamine and uric acid. The TiO 2 nanotubes electrode was prepared using anodizing method, followed by electrodeposition of Pt nanoparticles onto the tubes. Carbon was deposited by decomposition of polyethylene glycol in a tube furnace to improve the conductivity. The C-Pt-TiO 2 nanotubes modified electrode was characterized by cyclic voltam-metry and differential pulse voltammetry methods. The modified electrode displayed high sensitivity towards the oxidation of dopamine and uric acid in a phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.00). The electro-oxidation currents...