Robust and Lubricating Interface Semi-Interpenetrating Network on Inert Polymer Substrates Enabled by Subsurface-Initiated Polymerization.

Lubricating hydrogel coatings on inert rubber and plastic surfaces significantly reduce friction and wear, thus enhancing material durability and lifespan. However, achieving optimal hydration lubrication typically requires a porous polymer network, which unfortunately reduces their mechanical strength and limits their applicability where robust durability and wear-resistance are essential. In the research, a hydrogel coating with remarkable wear resistance and surface stability is developed by forming a semi-interpenetrating polymer network with polymer substrate at the interface. By employing a good solvent swelling method, monomers, and photoinitiators are embedded within the substrates' subsurface, followed by in situ polymerization under ultraviolet light, creating a robust semi-interpenetrating and entangled network structure. This approach, offering a thicker energy-dissipating layer, outperforms traditional surface modifications in wear resistance while preserving anti-fatigue, hydrophilicity, oleophobicity, and other properties. Adaptable to various rubber and plastic substrates by using suitable solvents, this method provides an efficient solution for creating durable, lubricating surfaces, broadening the potential applications in multiple industries.

A snowboard-inspired lubricating nanosystem with responsive drug release for osteoarthritis therapy.

Most of present works of osteoarthritis (OA) therapy are focusing on reducing friction and improving drug loading capacity, while little attention is paid to realizing long-time lubrication and on-demand drug release. In this study, inspired by snowboards with good solid-liquid interface lubrication, a fluorinated graphene based nanosystem with dual functions of long-time lubrication and thermal-responsive drug release was constructed for OA synergetic therapy. An aminated polyethylene glycol bridging strategy was developed to enable covalent grafting of hyaluronic acid on fluorinated graphene. This design not only greatly increased the nanosystem's biocompatibility, but also reduced the coefficient of friction (COF) by 83.3 % compared to H2O. The nanosystem showed long-time and steady aqueous lubrication behavior even after more than 24,000 times of friction tests, and a low COF of 0.13 was obtained with over 90% wear volume reduction. Diclofenac sodium was controllably loaded and sustained drug release was tuned by near-infrared light. Moreover, anti-inflammation results showed that the nanosystem had good protective effect on inhibiting OA deterioration, which could up-regulate cartilage anabolic genes of Col2α and aggrecan while down-regulating catabolic proteases genes of TAC1 and MMP1. This work constructs a novel dual-functional nanosystem that realizes friction and wear reduction with long lubrication life, and shows thermal-responsive on-demand drug release with good synergistic therapeutic effect of OA.

Relationship between the changes in thromboxane B2, 6-keto-prostaglandin Fla, and blood glucose levels and progressive ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: Progressive ischemic stroke is a common cerebrovascular disease with high morbidity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between changes of Thromboxane B2 (TXB2), 6-keto-prostaglandin Fla (6-k-PGFla), and blood glucose (BG) levels with progressive ischemic stroke. METHODS: A total of 106 patients with progressive ischemic stroke admitted to our hospital from December 2016 to December 2018 were recruited as the observation group, and 110 patients who received physical examination in our hospital during the same period were selected as the control group. The levels of TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, and BG in different groups were compared, the related risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with progressive ischemic stroke were analyzed, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the predictive value of TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, and BG for the prognostic mortality of patients with progressive ischemic stroke. RESULTS: The levels of TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, and BG in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The prognostic mortality of participants with abnormally increased expression of TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, and BG was significantly higher than that of patients with normal expression of TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, and BG (P<0.05). Hypertension, diabetes, collateral circulatory disorders, hyperlipidemia, TXB2 (abnormal increase), 6-k-PGFla (abnormal increase), and BG (abnormal increase) were risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with progressive ischemic stroke (P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of the ROC curve showed that TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, BG, and the combination of them were 0.846, 0.893, 0.835, and 0.971, respectively, showing that the AUC of the combination of them was the largest. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension, diabetes, collateral circulatory disorders, hyperlipidemia, TXB2 (abnormal increase), 6-k-PGFla (abnormal increase), and BG (abnormal increase) are risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with progressive ischemic stroke. The combined detection of the 3 indicators showed high sensitivity and specificity in evaluating the prognostic mortality of patients with progressive ischemic stroke, indicating that clinicians might improve the early diagnosis rate of progressive ischemic stroke by combining the detection of TXB2, 6-k-PGFla, and BG to predict the prognosis of patients.

MicroRNA-377-3p targeting MMP-16 inhibits ovarian cancer cell growth, invasion, and interstitial transition.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate role of microRNA (miRNA)-377-3p on the remission of ovarian cancer (OC) cell proliferation, invasion, and interstitial transition in vivo and vitro. METHODS: SKOV3 cells were used as the object of in vitro research and four-week-old immunodeficient BABL/c female nude mice were used to form the xenograft model. Cell models were constructed by transfecting NC mimics, miR-377 mimic, plasmid cloning DNA (pcDNA), pc-matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-16, or co-transfecting miR-377 mimic and pc-MMP-16. TargetScan software was used to predict the targeting relationship between miRNA-377-3p and MMP-16 in OC cells. The combination of miRNA-377-3p and MMP-16 was detected by dual luciferase report experiment. miRNA expression levels of miRNA-377-3p and MMP-16 in each transfection group cells were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The proliferation of SKOV3 cells were assessed by 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining and microtubule formation, while the invasion ability of SKOV3 cells was detected by Transwell assay. Protein expression levels of MMP-16, survivin, Ki67, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), E-cadherin, and N-cadherin were detected by Western blot (WB), and the positive cells of Ki67 and VEGF were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). RESULTS: MMP-16 overexpression markedly increased the EDU-positive cell percentage, upregulated survivin and Ki67 levels, increased the number of invasive cells per field, and enhanced VEGF and N-cadherin expression. Importantly, co-transfection of miRNA-377-3p and MMP-16 reversed these abnormal phenomena. Xenotransplantation mouse models were formed by injecting SKOV-3 cells subcutaneously. Tumor size, tumor volume, and tumor weight were all reduced in the miR-377-3p mimic-transfected group. The results of IHC indicated that Ki67 and VEGF expression were decreased in the miR-377-3p mimic-transfected group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that miR-377-3p could be a promising therapeutic agent for OC cell growth, invasion, and interstitial transition with MMP-16 being its likely target.