title: "Cleaning" the Surface of Hydroxyapatite Nanorods by a Reaction-Dissolution Approach.
abstract: Synthetic nanoparticles are always terminated with coating molecules, which are often cytotoxic and not desired in biomedicine. Here we propose a novel reaction-dissolution approach to remove the cytotoxic coating molecules. A two-component solution is added to the nanoparticle solution; one component reacts with the coating molecules to form a salt whereas another is a solvent for dissolving and thus removing the salt. As a proof of concept, this work uses a NaOH-ethanol solution to remove the cytotoxic linoleic acid molecules coated on the hydroxyapatite nanorods (HAP-NRs). The removal of the coating molecules not only significantly improves the biocompatibility of HAP-NRs but also enables their oriented attachment into tightly-bound superstructures, which mimic the organized HAP crystals in bone and enamel and can promote the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Our reaction-dissolution approach can be extended to the surface "cleaning" of other nanomaterials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK 73019-5251 USA.
authors.forename: Binrui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Bioresource Research, College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road 866, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors.forename: Mingying
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK 73019-5251 USA.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK 73019-5251 USA.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK 73019-5251 USA.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, OK 73019-5251 USA ; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Chuanbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mao