Donghua University

About: Donghua University is a education organization based out in Shanghai, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Fiber & Nanofiber. The organization has 21155 authors who have published 21841 publications receiving 393091 citations. The organization is also known as: Dōnghuá Dàxué & China Textile University.

BMP-2 Derived Peptide and Dexamethasone Incorporated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Enhanced Osteogenic Differentiation of Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Abstract: Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), a growth factor that induces osteoblast differentiation and promotes bone regeneration, has been extensively investigated in bone tissue engineering. The peptides of bioactive domains, corresponding to residues 73-92 of BMP-2 become an alternative to reduce adverse side effects caused by the use of high doses of BMP-2 protein. In this study, BMP-2 peptide functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs-pep) were synthesized by covalently grafting BMP-2 peptide on the surface of nanoparticles via an aminosilane linker, and dexamethasone (DEX) was then loaded into the channel of MSNs to construct nanoparticulate osteogenic delivery systems (DEX@MSNs-pep). The in vitro cell viability of MSNs-pep was tested with bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) exposure to different particle concentrations, revealing that the functionalized MSNs had better cytocompatibility than their bare counterparts, and the cellular uptake efficiency of MSNs-pep was remarkably larger than that of bare MSNs. The in vitro results also show that the MSNs-pep promoted osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs in terms of the levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium deposition, and expression of bone-related protein. Moreover, the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs can be further enhanced by incorporating of DEX into MSNs-pep. After intramuscular implantation in rats for 3 weeks, the computed tomography (CT) images and histological examination indicate that this nanoparticulate osteogenic delivery system induces effective osteoblast differentiation and bone regeneration in vivo. Collectively, the BMP-2 peptide and DEX incorporated MSNs can act synergistically to enhance osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, which have potential applications in bone tissue engineering.

Sheath-run artificial muscles.

Abstract: Although guest-filled carbon nanotube yarns provide record performance as torsional and tensile artificial muscles, they are expensive, and only part of the muscle effectively contributes to actuation. We describe a muscle type that provides higher performance, in which the guest that drives actuation is a sheath on a twisted or coiled core that can be an inexpensive yarn. This change from guest-filled to sheath-run artificial muscles increases the maximum work capacity by factors of 1.70 to 2.15 for tensile muscles driven electrothermally or by vapor absorption. A sheath-run electrochemical muscle generates 1.98 watts per gram of average contractile power-40 times that for human muscle and 9.0 times that of the highest power alternative electrochemical muscle. Theory predicts the observed performance advantages of sheath-run muscles.

Single Atom Array Mimic on Ultrathin MOF Nanosheets Boosts the Safety and Life of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Abstract: The development of Li-S batteries is largely impeded by the growth of Li dendrites and polysulfide shuttling. To solve these two problems simultaneously, herein the study reports a "single atom array mimic" on ultrathin metal organic framework (MOF) nanosheet-based bifunctional separator for achieving the highly safe and long life Li-S batteries. In the designed separator, the periodically arranged cobalt atoms coordinated with oxygen atoms (CoO4 moieties) exposed on the surface of ultrathin MOF nanosheets, "single atom array mimic", can greatly homogenize Li ion flux through the strong Li ion adsorption with O atoms at the interface between anode and separator, leading to stable Li striping/plating. Meantime, at the cathode side, the Co single atom array mimic serves as "traps" to suppress polysulfide shuttling by Lewis acid-base interaction. As a result, the Li-S coin cells with the bifunctional separator exhibit a long cycle life with an ultralow capacity decay of 0.07% per cycle over 600 cycles. Even with a high sulfur loading of 7.8 mg cm-2 , an areal capacity of 5.0 mAh cm-2 can be remained after 200 cycles. Moreover, the assembled Li-S pouch cell displays stable cycling performance under various bending angles, demonstrating the potential for practical applications.