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    Stimuli-responsive nanogel composites and their application in nanomedicine
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015) Molina, Maria; Asadian-Birjand, Mazdak; Balach, Juan; Bergueiro, Julian; Miceli, Enrico; Calderón, Marcelo
    Nanogels are nanosized crosslinked polymer networks capable of absorbing large quantities of water. Specifically, smart nanogels are interesting because of their ability to respond to biomedically relevant changes like pH, temperature, etc. In the last few decades, hybrid nanogels or composites have been developed to overcome the ever increasing demand for new materials in this field. In this context, a hybrid refers to nanogels combined with different polymers and/or with nanoparticles such as plasmonic, magnetic, and carbonaceous nanoparticles, among others. Research activities are focused nowadays on using multifunctional hybrid nanogels in nanomedicine, not only as drug carriers but also as imaging and theranostic agents. In this review, we will describe nanogels, particularly in the form of composites or hybrids applied in nanomedicine.
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    Intestinal epithelial barrier integrity investigated by label-free techniques in ulcerative colitis patients
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2023) Quansah, Elsie; Gardey, Elena; Ramoji, Anuradha; Meyer-Zedler, Tobias; Goehrig, Bianca; Heutelbeck, Astrid; Hoeppener, Stephanie; Schmitt, Michael; Waldner, Maximillian; Stallmach, Andreas; Popp, Jürgen
    The intestinal epithelial barrier, among other compartments such as the mucosal immune system, contributes to the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis. Therefore, any disturbance within the epithelial layer could lead to intestinal permeability and promote mucosal inflammation. Considering that disintegration of the intestinal epithelial barrier is a key element in the etiology of ulcerative colitis, further assessment of barrier integrity could contribute to a better understanding of the role of epithelial barrier defects in ulcerative colitis (UC), one major form of chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Herein, we employ fast, non-destructive, and label-free non-linear methods, namely coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS), second harmonic generation (SHG), two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF), and two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging (2P-FLIM), to assess the morpho-chemical contributions leading to the dysfunction of the epithelial barrier. For the first time, the formation of epithelial barrier gaps was directly visualized, without sophisticated data analysis procedures, by the 3D analysis of the colonic mucosa from severely inflamed UC patients. The results were compared with histopathological and immunofluorescence images and validated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to indicate structural alterations of the apical junction complex as the underlying cause for the formation of the epithelial barrier gaps. Our findings suggest the potential advantage of non-linear multimodal imaging is to give precise, detailed, and direct visualization of the epithelial barrier in the gastrointestinal tract, which can be combined with a fiber probe for future endomicroscopy measurements during real-time in vivo imaging.
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    Accurate in vivo tumor detection using plasmonic-enhanced shifted-excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS)
    (Wyoming, NSW : Ivyspring, 2021) Strobbia, Pietro; Cupil-Garcia, Vanessa; Crawford, Bridget M.; Fales, Andrew M.; Pfefer, T. Joshua; Liu, Yang; Maiwald, Martin; Sumpf, Bernd; Vo-Dinh, Tuan
    For the majority of cancer patients, surgery is the primary method of treatment. In these cases, accurately removing the entire tumor without harming surrounding tissue is critical; however, due to the lack of intraoperative imaging techniques, surgeons rely on visual and physical inspection to identify tumors. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is emerging as a non-invasive optical alternative for intraoperative tumor identification, with high accuracy and stability. However, Raman detection requires dark rooms to work, which is not consistent with surgical settings. Methods: Herein, we used SERS nanoprobes combined with shifted-excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) detection, to accurately detect tumors in xenograft murine model. Results: We demonstrate for the first time the use of SERDS for in vivo tumor detection in a murine model under ambient light conditions. We compare traditional Raman detection with SERDS, showing that our method can improve sensitivity and accuracy for this task. Conclusion: Our results show that this method can be used to improve the accuracy and robustness of in vivo Raman/SERS biomedical application, aiding the process of clinical translation of these technologies. © The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). See http://ivyspring.com/terms for full terms and conditions.