• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.464-468
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• 2009

Gelatin nanoparticles derived from bovine or porcine have been developed as various types of drug delivery system, and they need to be cross-linked to maintain their physicochemical properties in aqueous environments. Although gelatin is a widely used material in pharmaceutical industries, the safety issue of animal-origin gelatins, such as transmissible mad cow disease and anaphylaxis, remains to be solved. The purpose of this study was to prepare type A gelatin (GA) nanoparticles by modified, two-step, desolvation method and compare the toxicity of the resulting GA nanoparticles with recombinant human gelatin (rHG) nanoparticles. The GA nanoparticles were characterized, and drug loading and release pattern were measured. FITC-BSA, a model protein, was efficiently loaded in the nanoparticles and then released in a biphasic and sustained release pattern without an initial burst. In particular, the cell viability of the GA nanoparticles was less than that of the rHG nanoparticles. This finding suggests that rHG nanoparticles should be considered as an alternative to animal-origin gelatin nanoparticles in order to minimize the safety problems.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.513-519
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• 2007

Self-assembled nanoparticles have great potential to act as vehicles for hydrophobic drug delivery. Understanding nanoparticle cellular internalization is essential for designing drugs intended for intracellular delivery. Here, the endocytosis and exocytosis of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated glycol chitosan (FGC) self-assembled nanoparticles were investigated by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. The cellular internalization of FGC nanoparticles was initiated by nonspecific interactions between nanoparticles and cell membranes. Although adsorptive endocytosis of the nanoparticles occurred quickly, significant amounts of FGC nanoparticles were exocytosed, particularly in the early stage of endocytosis. The amount of exocytosed nanoparticles was dependent on the pre-incubation time with nanoparticles, suggesting that exocytosis is dependent on the progress of endocytosis. FGC nanoparticles internalized by adsorptive endocytosis were distributed in the cytoplasm, but not in the nucleus. In vitro cell cycle analysis demonstrated that FGC nanoparticles delivered paclitaxel into the cytoplasm and were effective in arresting cancer cell growth.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.287-294
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• 2019

The possibility of eye exposure for workers participating in manufacturing of nanoparticles or consumers using products containing nanoparticles has been reported, but toxicity studies on the eye are scarce. In this study, cytotoxicity of five nanoparticles including silver, ceria, silica, titanium and zinc were tested using Statens Seruminstitut Rabbit Cornea (SIRC) cells. When cells were treated with nanoparticles with concentrations of $1-100{\mu}g/mL$ for 24 hr, zinc oxide nanoparticles showed higher toxicity to cornea cells. $LC_{50}$ of zinc oxide nanoparticles was less than $25{\mu}g/mL$ but those of other nanoparticles could not be calculated in this test, which means more than $100{\mu}g/mL$. Generation of reactive oxygen species was observed, and expression of apoptosis related biomarkers including Bax and Bcl-2 were changed after treatment of zinc oxide nanoparticles, while no other significant toxicity-related changes were observed in cornea cells treated with Ag, $CeO_2$, $SiO_2$ and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2006

Biodegradable poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles were developed for sustained delivery of water-soluble macromolecules. PLGA nanoparticles were fabricated by spontaneous emulsification solvent diffusion method generating negatively charged particles and heterogeneous size distribution. As a model drug, blue dextran was encapsulated in PLGA nanoparticles. In addition, nanoparticles were also prepared with varying ratio of poloxamer 188 (P188) and poloxamer 407 (P407), and coating with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Then, the particle size, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency of nanoparticles containing blue dextran were studied. In vitro release of blue dextran from nanoparticles was also investigated. The surface and morphology of nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In case of nanoparticles prepared with PLGA, P407, and different organic solvents, particle size was in the range of $230{\sim}320\;nm$ and zeta potentials of nanoparticles were negative. The SEM images showed that ethyl acetate is suitable for the formulation of PLGA nanoparticles with good appearance. Moreover, ethyl acetate showed higher encapsulation efficiency than other solvents. The addition of P188 to formulation did not affect the particle size of PLGA nanoparticles but altered the release patterns of blue dextran from nanoparticles. However, PVA, as a coating material, altered the particle size with increasing the PVA concentration. The nanoparticles were physically stable in the change of particle size during long-term storage. From the results, the PLGA nanoparticles prepared with various contents of poloxamers and PVA, could modulate the particles size of nanoparticles, in vitro release pattern, and encapsulation of water-soluble macromolecules.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2009

To fabricate dental nanocomposites containing finely dispersed silica nanoparticles, nearly monodispersed silica nanoparticles smaller than 25 nm were synthesized without forming any aggregates via a modified sol-gel process. Since silica nanoparticles synthesized by the Stober method formed aggregates when the particle size is smaller than 25 nm, the synthetic method was modified by changing the reaction temperature and adding poly(1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone) (PVP) to the reaction mixture. The size of the formed silica nanoparticles was reduced by increasing the reaction temperature or adding PVP. Furthermore, the formation of aggregates with primary silica nanoparticles smaller than 25 nm was prevented by increasing the amount of PVP added to the reaction mixture. To enhance the dispersion of the silica particles in an organic matrix, the synthesized silica nanoparticles were treated with 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane ($\gamma$-MPS). A dental nanocomposite containing finely dispersed silica nanoparticles could be produced by using the surface-treated silica nanoparticles.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2009

This paper describes a condensation-evaporation method (CEM) to produce size-controlled spherical silver nanoparticles by perturbing coagulation and coalescence processes in the gas phase. Polydisperse silver nanoparticles generated by the CEM were first introduced into a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) to select a group of silver nanoparticles with same electrical mobility, which also enables to make a group of nanoparticles with elongated structures and same projected area. These silver nanoparticles selected by the DMA were then in-situ sintered at ${\sim}600^{\circ}C$, and then they were observed to turn into spherical shaped nanoparticles by the rapid coalescence process. With the assistance of modified converging-typed quartz reactor, we can also produce the 10 times higher number concentration of silver nanoparticles compared with a general quartz reactor with uniform diameter. Finally, the spherical silver nanoparticles with 30 nm were electrostatically deposited on the surface of silicon substrate with the coverage rate of ~4%/hr. This useful preparation method of size-controlled monodisperse silver nanoparticles developed in this work can be applied to the various studies for characterizing the physical, chemical, optical, and biological properties of nanoparticles as a function of their size.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.421.1-421.1
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• 2014

Top-down processes based on photolithography technology have been developed by using light sources with short wavelength, however, the processes are expected to meet their limits in higher integration of semiconductor integrated circuits. To overcome the limits, researches on bottom-up processes have been proceeded. One of those, fabrication of nanodevices by using nanoparticles has been on research. But it is difficult to align nanoparticles at appropriate positions. To resolve this, studies has been proceeded to form nanowires by bonding DNA molecules which have self-assembly property and positive-charged functionalized gold nanoparticles. There are negative-charged phosphates in backbones of DNA molecules. By using the attractive force between the negative charge of the phosphates and the positive charge of gold nanoparticles, the Au-DNA nanowires are made. However, bonding Au nanoparticles only on DNA molecules, not other nanoparticles, is to be solved. So we studied to resolve this problem. In the formation of Au nanoparticles, we changed the charge of Au nanoparticles by adding HCl to control pH of the functionalized nanoparticles, measured zeta potential. Then we bonded the nanoparticles and DNA molecules and made observation by using FE-SEM and AFM.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2007

Previously, we have reported that PLGA nanoparticles were prepared for sustained release of water-soluble blue dextran and the particle size, in vitro release pattern and encapsulation were modulated by varying polymers. This study was designed to encapsulate plasmid DNA in PLGA nanoparticles and to investigate the effect of Polymers and temperatures. PLGA nanoparticles were fabricated with poloxamer 188 (P188) or poloxamer 407 (P407) by using spontaneous emulsification solvent diffusion method. As a model plasmid DNA, pCMV-Taq2B/1L-18 was encapsulated in PLGA nanoparticles. Then, the particle size, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency of nanoparticles containing plasmid DNA were investigated. Particle sizes of PLGA nanoparticles prepared with P188 and P407 were in the range of 200-330 nm and 250-290 nm, respectively. Zeta potentials of nanoparticles were negative regardless of nanoparticle compositions. Encapsulation efficiency of P407 nanoparticles prepared at $30^{\circ}C$ was higher than those at other preparation condition. From the results, the PLGA nanoparticles prepared with poloxamers at different temperature, could modulate the particles size of nanoparticles, and encapsulation efficiency of plasmid DNA.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.169-180
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• 2019

Plasmonic effects of gold and platinum alloy nanoparticles (Au-Pt NPs) and their comparison to size was studied. Various factors including ratios of gold and platinum salt, temperature, pH and time of addition of reducing agent were studied for their effect on particle size. The size of gold and platinum alloy nanoparticles increases with increasing concentration of Pt NPs. Temperature dependent synthesis of gold and platinum alloy nanoparticles shows decrease in size at higher temperature while at lower temperature agglomeration occurs. For pH dependent synthesis of Au-Pt nanoparticles, size was found to be increased by increase in pH from 4 to 10. Increasing the time of addition of reducing agent for synthesis of pure and gold-platinum alloy nanoparticles shows gradual increase in size as well as increase in heterogeneity of nanoparticles. The size and elemental analysis of Au-Pt nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, XRD, SEM and EDX techniques.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.179-184
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• 2010

We have investigated the effects of post annealing on iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by the novel hydrothermal synthesis method with the $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$. To investigate the post annealing effect, the as-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles were annealed at different temperatures in a vacuum chamber. The morphological, structural and magnetic properties of the iron oxide nanoparticles were investigated with high resolution X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Mossbauer spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer analysis. According to the XRD and HRTEM analysis results, as-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles were only magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) phase with face-centered cubic structure but post annealed iron oxide nanoparticles at $700^{\circ}C$ were mainly magnetite phase with trivial maghemite ($\gamma-Fe_2O_3$) phase which was induced in the post annealing treatment. The crystallinity of the iron oxide nanoparticles is enhanced by the post annealing treatment. The particle size of the as-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles was about 5 nm and the particle shape was almost spherical. But the particle size of the post annealed iron oxide nanoparticles at $700^{\circ}C$ was around 25 nm and the particle shape was spherical and irregular. The as-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles showed superparamagnetic behavior, but post annealed iron oxide nanoparticles at $700^{\circ}C$ did not show superparamagnetic behavior due to the increase of particle size by post annealing treatment. The saturation of magnetization of the as-synthesized nanoparticles, post annealed nanoparticles at $500^{\circ}C$, and post annealed nanoparticles at $700^{\circ}C$ was found to be 3.7 emu/g, 6.1 emu/g, and 7.5 emu/g, respectively. The much smaller saturation magnetization value than one of bulk magnetite can be attributed to spin disorder and/or spin canting, spin pinning at the nanoparticle surface.