Search Results
Reversibly growing crosslinked polymers with programmable sizes and properties
2023, Zhou, Xiaozhuang, Zheng, Yijun, Zhang, Haohui, Yang, Li, Cui, Yubo, Krishnan, Baiju P., Dong, Shihua, Aizenberg, Michael, Xiong, Xinhong, Hu, Yuhang, Aizenberg, Joanna, Cui, Jiaxi
Growth constitutes a powerful method to post-modulate materials’ structures and functions without compromising their mechanical performance for sustainable use, but the process is irreversible. To address this issue, we here report a growing-degrowing strategy that enables thermosetting materials to either absorb or release components for continuously changing their sizes, shapes, compositions, and a set of properties simultaneously. The strategy is based on the monomer-polymer equilibrium of networks in which supplying or removing small polymerizable components would drive the networks toward expansion or contraction. Using acid-catalyzed equilibration of siloxane as an example, we demonstrate that the size and mechanical properties of the resulting silicone materials can be significantly or finely tuned in both directions of growth and decomposition. The equilibration can be turned off to yield stable products or reactivated again. During the degrowing-growing circle, material structures are selectively varied either uniformly or heterogeneously, by the availability of fillers. Our strategy endows the materials with many appealing capabilities including environment adaptivity, self-healing, and switchability of surface morphologies, shapes, and optical properties. Since monomer-polymer equilibration exists in many polymers, we envision the expansion of the presented strategy to various systems for many applications.
Author Correction: Surface acoustic wave nebulization improves compound selectivity of low-temperature plasma ionization for mass spectrometry
2021, Kiontke, Andreas, Roudini, Mehrzad, Billig, Susan, Fakhfouri, Armaghan, Winkler, Andreas, Birkemeyer, Claudia
Correction to: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82423-w, published online 03 February 2021
Non-thermal plasma modulates cellular markers associated with immunogenicity in a model of latent HIV-1 infection
2021, Mohamed, Hager, Clemen, Ramona, Freund, Eric, Lackmann, Jan-Wilm, Wende, Kristian, Connors, Jennifer, Haddad, Elias K., Dampier, Will, Wigdahl, Brian, Miller, Vandana, Bekeschus, Sander, Krebs, Fred C., Kashanchi, Fatah
Effective control of infection by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the causative agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), requires continuous and life-long use of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) by people living with HIV-1 (PLWH). In the absence of ART, HIV-1 reemergence from latently infected cells is ineffectively suppressed due to suboptimal innate and cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses. However, ART-free control of HIV-1 infection may be possible if the inherent immunological deficiencies can be reversed or restored. Herein we present a novel approach for modulating the immune response to HIV-1 that involves the use of non-thermal plasma (NTP), which is an ionized gas containing various reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). J-Lat cells were used as a model of latent HIV-1 infection to assess the effects of NTP application on viral latency and the expression of pro-phagocytic and pro-chemotactic damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Exposure of J-Lat cells to NTP resulted in stimulation of HIV-1 gene expression, indicating a role in latency reversal, a necessary first step in inducing adaptive immune responses to viral antigens. This was accompanied by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines including interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ); the display of pro-phagocytic markers calreticulin (CRT), heat shock proteins (HSP) 70 and 90; and a correlated increase in macrophage phagocytosis of NTP-exposed J-Lat cells. In addition, modulation of surface molecules that promote or inhibit antigen presentation was also observed, along with an altered array of displayed peptides on MHC I, further suggesting methods by which NTP may modify recognition and targeting of cells in latent HIV-1 infection. These studies represent early progress toward an effective NTP-based ex vivo immunotherapy to resolve the dysfunctions of the immune system that enable HIV-1 persistence in PLWH.
Elucidation of Plasma-induced Chemical Modifications on Glutathione and Glutathione Disulphide
2017-10-23, Klinkhammer, Christina, Verlackt, Christof, Śmiłowicz, Dariusz, Kogelheide, Friederike, Bogaerts, Annemie, Metzler-Nolte, Nils, Stapelmann, Katharina, Havenith, Martina, Lackmann, Jan-Wilm
Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas are gaining increased interest in the medical sector and clinical trials to treat skin diseases are underway. Plasmas are capable of producing several reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). However, there are open questions how plasma-generated RONS interact on a molecular level in a biological environment, e.g. cells or cell components. The redox pair glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulphide (GSSG) forms the most important redox buffer in organisms responsible for detoxification of intracellular reactive species. We apply Raman spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and molecular dynamics simulations to identify the time-dependent chemical modifications on GSH and GSSG that are caused by dielectric barrier discharge under ambient conditions. We find GSSG, S-oxidised glutathione species, and S-nitrosoglutathione as oxidation products with the latter two being the final products, while glutathione sulphenic acid, glutathione sulphinic acid, and GSSG are rather reaction intermediates. Experiments using stabilized pH conditions revealed the same main oxidation products as were found in unbuffered solution, indicating that the dominant oxidative or nitrosative reactions are not influenced by acidic pH. For more complex systems these results indicate that too long treatment times can cause difficult-to-handle modifications to the cellular redox buffer which can impair proper cellular function.