Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1065 Military Trail, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada.
J Mater Chem B. 2021 Jan 28;9(3):634-637. doi: 10.1039/d0tb02383c.
Polyserotonin-based nanoparticles are a new class of bioinspired nanomaterial with recently demonstrated therapeutic potential for future clinical applications. It is therefore important to establish a robust and rapid method of synthesizing polyserotonin nanoparticles (PSeNP) in the size range ideal for in vivo utilization. Since the formation of PSeNP is base-catalyzed, here we report the influence of solution pH, in the presence of different base systems, on the kinetics of PSeNP formation and physico-chemical properties of the resulting nanoparticles. We show that the rate of formation and the size of PSeNP depend on both the nature of the base and the initial pH of the reaction. We have also improved the kinetics of particle formation by performing the synthesis at an elevated temperature (60 °C), leading to a dramatic reduction in synthesis time from days to hours. This presents a significant advance in the efficiency of PSeNP synthesis and provides a facile approach in tuning the size of nanoparticles to suit various applications. Furthermore, we show that similar to serotonin, PSeNP also exhibits free radical scavenging property. Our results demonstrate that PSeNP has the potential to become a key player in the advancement of nanotechnology-mediated antioxidative therapy.
基于多聚色氨酸的纳米颗粒是一类新型的仿生纳米材料，最近被证明具有未来临床应用的治疗潜力。因此，建立一种稳健、快速的方法来合成适合体内应用的多聚色氨酸纳米颗粒（PSeNP）非常重要。由于 PSeNP 的形成是碱催化的，因此我们在这里报告了在不同碱体系存在下，溶液 pH 值对 PSeNP 形成动力学和所得纳米颗粒的物理化学性质的影响。我们表明，PSeNP 的形成速率和尺寸取决于碱的性质和反应的初始 pH 值。我们还通过在升高的温度（60°C）下进行合成来改善颗粒形成的动力学，从而将合成时间从数天缩短到数小时，这大大提高了 PSeNP 合成的效率，并提供了一种简单的方法来调整纳米颗粒的尺寸以适应各种应用。此外，我们表明，与血清素类似，PSeNP 也具有清除自由基的特性。我们的结果表明，PSeNP 有可能成为纳米技术介导的抗氧化治疗进展的关键因素。
