Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary scientific field that involves research ranging from the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials to their applications. In this doctoral dissertation, we set four main objectives: i) to prepare anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles that enable the incorporation of drug molecules and perform the magneto-mechanical effect, ii) to study the utilization of anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles as a nanocarriers, iii) to prepare anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles that are able to selectively target amyloid fibrils, and iv) to prove the influence of anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles on the structure of amyloid beta fibrils in a rotating magnetic field. Within our research, we prepared anisotropic magnetic iron oxide nanochains coated with silicon dioxide with different morphologies by using an adjustable and versatile coating procedure assisted by micellar-based structures. Using our developed coating procedure, we prepared mesoporous silica-coated nanochains with well-defined morphology and radially aligned pores. The coating thickness and pore size could be efficiently changed by adjusting the developed coating procedure. Our approach allows coating with thicknesses ranging from 20 nm to 90 nm and the pore size in the range from a few nm to ~40 nm. Magnetic nanochains coated with mesoporous silica were then used to study the incorporation and delivery of ibuprofen molecules. Ibuprofen was loaded into the mesoporous coating using two different procedures and thus achieved an ibuprofen loading degree of up to 45 wg%. The release of ibuprofen from the nanodelivery system based on the nanochains with mesoporous silica coating was immediate. Various fluorescent probes have been specifically developed for the selective targeting of amyloid beta structures which were then attached to the nanochains. Finally, using these fluorescently-labelled nanochains, we investigated the magneto-mechanical effect generated by nanochains on the structure of amyloid beta fibrils in a rotating magnetic field. The results confirmed that the magnetic nanochains affected the fibrillar structure of the amyloid beta fibrils because smaller and less defined fragments were observed after the magneto-mechanical treatment. Moreover, a part of the mechanically broken fibrils were adsorbed on the surface of the nanochains.
In summary, we confirmed a new approach of physical disruption of the structure of a soft biological material such as amyloid beta fibrils at the nanometer scale using anisotropic magnetic nanochains in a rotating magnetic field. A proof of the concept of magneto-mechanical disruption of biological soft materials is, in our opinion, a very important scientific achievement that opens a new branch of research activity in the field of magneto-mechanical actuation of biological targets with anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles.
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