Tomofumi Ukai

Synthesis of magnetic alloy-filling carbon nanoparticles in super-critical benzene irradiated with an ultraviolet laser

Magnetic nanoparticles are of great importance particularly in the field of biomedicine as well as nanotechnology and nano materials science and technology. Here, we synthesise magnetic alloy-filling carbon nanoparticles (MA@C NPs) via the following two-step procedure; (1) Irradiation of a laser beam of 266 nm wavelength into super-critical benzene, in which both ferrocene and cobaltocene are dissolved, at 290 °C; and (2) annealing of the particles at 600 and 800 °C. We find that the core particles are composed of cobalt (Co), iron (Fe) and oxygen (O) and covered with carbon layers. The structure of the core particles as-synthesised, and annealed at 600 and 800 °C, is, respectively, amorphous, CoFe2O4 and FeCo. We also investigate the viability of L929 cells in the presence of MA@C NPs and find that there is no serious advert effect of the MA@C NPs on the cell viability thanks to the carbon layers covering the core particles. The magnetic properties are well characterised. The saturation and remnant magnetisation and coercivity increase and as a result, the hyperthermic efficiency becomes higher with an increase in the annealing temperature. The further modification of the surface of the present particles with several functional molecules becomes easier due to the carbon layers, which makes the present particles more valuable. It is therefore supposed that the presently synthesised MA@C NPs may well be utilised for nanotechnology-based biomedical engineering; e.g., nano bioimaging, nano hyperthermia and nano surgery.

EQUILIBRIUM PATTERNS OF CHAIN CLUSTERS COMPOSED OF FERROMAGNETIC PARTICLES IN AN EXTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELD

We carry out Monte Carlo simulations of a ferromagnetic colloidal system, which is subjected to an external magnetic field, to investigate the structures formed by chain clusters. The control parameters are the ratio of the dipole moment energy to thermal energy, λ, and the ratio of the interactive energy between the dipole and the external magnetic field to thermal energy, ξ. We investigate the effect of the system height on the pattern formations for λ=18 and ξ=30, ∞. Note that the system becomes paramagnetic when ξ=∞. We find that as the system height increases, chains coagulate to form fat clusters and spatially ordered structures are created when ξ=30, whereas chains form thin meandering walls when ξ=∞.

Bioactive bacterial cellulose sulfate electrospun nanofibers for tissue engineering applications

Cellulosic materials have been of tremendous importance to mankind since its discovery due to its superior properties and its abundance in nature. Recently, an increase in demand for alternate green materials has rekindled the interest for cellulosic materials. Here, bacterial cellulose has been functionalized with sulfate groups through acetosulfation to gain solubility in aqueous media, which provides access to several applications. The cell viability, antioxidant, and hemocompatibility assays have verified the biocompatible and antioxidant characteristics of bacterial cellulose sulfate (BCS) in both in vitro and ex vivo conditions. Further, novel BCS/polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers were fabricated by simple electrospinning route to engineer ultrafine nanoscale fibers. The biological evaluation of BCS/polyvinyl alcohol nanofiber scaffolds was done using L929 mouse fibroblast cells, which confirmed that these nanofibers are excellent matrices for cell adhesion and proliferation.

Detection and Analysis of Targeted Biological Cells by Electrophoretic Coulter Method

Combining the electrophoresis and conventional Coulter methods, we previously proposed the electrophoretic Coulter method (ECM), enabling simultaneous analysis of the size, number, and zeta potential of individual specimens. We validated the ECM experimentally using standard polystyrene particles and red blood cells (RBCs) from sheep; the latter was the first ECM application to biological particles in biotechnology research. However, specimens are prevented from passing through the ECM module aperture, which prevents accurate determination of the zeta potential of each specimen. This problem is caused by electro-osmotic flow (EOF) due to the high zeta potential at the ECM microchannel surfaces. To significantly improve ECM feasibility for biomedicine, we here propose a method to estimate the zeta potential at the ECM microchannel surfaces separate from the zeta potential of each specimen, by investigating the electric-field dependence of the specimens experimental electrophoretic velocity. We minimize the zeta potential at the microchannel surfaces by applying an organic-molecule coating, and we suppress the surface zeta potential and its resultant EOF by optimizing the microchannel geometry. We demonstrate that the ECM can distinguish between different biological cells using the differences in zeta potential values and/or sizes. We also demonstrate that the ECM can determine the number of biomolecules attached to individual cells and identify whether the average cell state in an analyzed vial is alive or dead. The high-performance ECM can detect cellular morphology alterations, improve immunologic test sensitivity, and identify cell states (living, dying, and dead); this information is clinically useful for early diagnosis and its follow-up.

Electrophoretic mobility and resultant zeta potential of an individual cell analyzed by electrophoretic coulter method

Electrophoretic mobility measurement by the electrophoresis method is one of the simplest methods for analyzing surface properties of particles and cells [1]. In order to estimate the electrophoretic mobility; moving image analysis or optical signal analysis has been intensively developed. However, electrical signals are much more favorable for system integration, using techniques well-established in semiconductor fields. We previously presented a new methodology by incorporating the Coulter method [2] into electrophoretic mobility measurement using micro-fluidic devices. This methodology named electrophoretic Coulter method enables us to characterize the size, number, and electrophoretic mobility of particles simultaneously using electrical signals [3]. In this study, we validated our system with sheeps red blood cells as a first step to application to bio-related particles