Search

Praseodymium (Pr)-doped ZnS nanoparticles were synthesized using a low-cost microwave-assisted technique and investigations on their structure, morphology, optical properties, Raman resonance, dielectric properties, and luminescence were conducted. Broad X-ray diffraction peaks suggested the formation of low-dimensional Pr-doped ZnS nanoparticles with a cubic structure that was validated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM)/high-resolution TEM analysis. The energy gaps were identified using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and it was found that the values varied between 3.54eV and 3.61eV for different samples. Vibrational experiments on Pr-doped ZnS nanoparticles revealed significant Raman modes at ~270 and ~350 cm -1 that were associated with optical phonon modes that are shifted to lower wavenumbers, indicating phonon confinement in the synthesized products. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of all samples demonstrated that the pure and Pr-doped ZnS nanoparticles were three-level laser active materials. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and mapping study confirmed the homogeneous presence of Pr in ZnS. TEM studies showed that the particles were of very small size and in the cubic phase. The samples had high dielectric constant values between 13 and 24 and low loss values, according to the dielectric analysis. With an increase in frequency and a change in the Pr content of ZnS, an intense peak could be seen in the PL spectra at a wavelength of 360 nm, and some other peaks observed corresponded to the transition of Pr 3+ . The produced nanoparticles were appropriate for optoelectronic applications due to their short dimension, high energy gap, high dielectric constant, and low loss values., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

In this work, we tested the efficacy of yttrium oxide nanoparticles (NY), a promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, in L-arginine (L-Arg) induced chronic pancreatitis (CP) model. The nanoparticles were characterized using multiple techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The rats were divided into three groups: normal control, L-Arg control, L-Arg + NY (1 mg/kg). We probed the mechanistic effects of the NY by ELISA, multiplex analysis of TGF-β pathway and inflammatory cytokines and immunoblotting. NY treatment significantly reduced pancreatic oxidative-nitrosative stress. In addition, NY intervention also reduced inflammatory cytokines and chemokines resulting in the inhibition of fibrosis signaling. Further, NY treatment suppressed the TGF-β signaling and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We conclude that NY shows potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrotic effects against CP and associated fibrosis., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Nanotechnology has been a boon for the biomedical field due to the freedom it provides for tailoring of pharmacokinetic properties of different drug molecules. Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology for the diagnosis, treatment and/or management of the diseases. Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) are metal oxide-based nanoparticles (NPs) which possess outstanding reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activities primarily due to the availability of "oxidation switch" on their surface. These NP have been found to protect from a number of disorders with a background of oxidative stress such as cancer, diabetes etc. In fact, the CNPs have been found to possess the environment-dependent ROS modulating properties. In addition, the inherent catalase, SOD, oxidase, peroxidase and phosphatase mimetic properties of CNPs provide them superiority over a number of NPs. Further, chemical reactivity of CNPs seems to be a function of their surface chemistry which can be precisely tuned by defect engineering. However, the contradictory reports make it necessary to critically evaluate the potential of CNPs, in the light of available literature. The review is aimed at probing the feasibility of CNPs to push towards the clinical studies. Further, we have also covered and censoriously discussed the suspected negative impacts of CNPs before making our way to a consensus. This review aims to be a comprehensive, authoritative, critical, and accessible review of general interest to the scientific community., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This research, for the first time, report the synthesis of core-shell magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) consisting poly acrylic acid (PAA) coated cobalt ferrite (CF) using a simple co-precipitation route. Nanocrystalline PAA@CF-NPs, particle size of 9.2 nm, exhibited saturation magnetization as 28.9 emu/g, remnant magnetization as 8.37 emu/g, and coercivity as 543 Oe. Keeping biomedical applications into consideration, PAA@CF-NPs were further analysed to evaluate antimicrobial performance against Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis) and Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) bacteria, and biocompatibility with reference to activated splenic cells. The PAA@CF-NPs were viable to the normal splenic cells (up to 1000 μg/ml) and do not affect the ability of fast dividing ability of the cells (activated splenic cells). An optimized dose of PAA@CF-NPs was intramuscularly administrated (100 μg/ml) into Albino mice to evaluate acute toxicity. The results of these studies suggest that injected PAA@CF-NPs do not affect vital organs mainly including liver and kidneys that confirmed the heptic/renal biocompatibility. The outcomes of this research project such developed nano-system for biomedical applications, mainly for magnetically guided drug delivery and image guided therapies development. However, to support the proposed claims, extended in-vivo studies are required to explore bio-distribution, chronic toxicity, and homeostatic conditions., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has wide prevalence globally that affects a considerable population and has renal fibrosis (RF) as a hallmark feature. RF is characterized by abnormal deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the interstitial space of renal tissue. There are only few studies where nanoparticles (NPs) were used for targeting the kidney mainly due to their size-dependent constraints. Further, most of the studies have been carried out in healthy animals. As the diseased kidney becomes susceptible to accumulation of nanoparticles, we hypothesized that nanoparticles (size ∼10 nm) could reach the kidney and might provide protective effects due to their inherent properties. We investigated the protective effects of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CONPs) with promising antioxidant activity in a CKD model. We, to the best of our knowledge, are first to report that CONPs abrogated RF by inhibiting transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in a fibrotic kidney.

Nanoparticles (NPs) serve to reduce the toxicity, enhance bioactivity, improve targeting, and provide versatile means to control the release profile of the encapsulated moiety. Among different NPs, inorganic NPs of metals like Ag, Au, Ce, Fe, Se, Ti and Zn possess a significant place owing to their unique bioactivities in nanoforms. Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element. It is incorporated into selenoproteins as selenocysteine (Sec) representing the most important part of the active center of their enzymatic activities. Many selenoproteins have oxidoreductase activity and, thus, regulate the physiological redox balance. Se has a narrow therapeutic window and the toxicity margins are very delicate whereas the nanoparticles of Se (SeNPs) possess remarkably reduced toxicity. SeNPs have been explored in various oxidative stress and inflammation mediated disorders like arthritis, cancer, diabetes and nephropathy with potential therapeutic benefits. SeNPs constitute an attractive carrier platform to ferry various drugs to the site of action. Herein we have discussed the significance of nanosizing on the pharmacological activity of Se. The role of SeNPs in pharmacological protection against various inflammatory and oxidative stress mediated conditions is presented. However, it is largely unknown how SeNPs may affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of selenoproteins. Most of the available studies were poorly designed without any comparison to the other Se sources. In the future, detailed studies with inclusion of an appropriate source of Se should be carried out with emphasis on understanding the role of selenoproteins in the observed pharmacological activity., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: The rapid progress in the application of different types of nanoparticles in various biomedical applications resulted in substantial increase in the use of these materials. The special physicochemical properties like small size and increased surface area offered by nanoparticles may pose unexpected toxicologic threats despite of offering promising biological effects., Objective: The intended as well as unintended exposure of nanoparticles to humans is a major challenge for the expanding field of nanoparticle therapy. In this review, an attempt has been made to briefly discuss the different factors affecting nanoparticle mediated toxicity, mechanism of toxicity, and interference of NPs with bioassays. A comprehensive overview has been provided for the in vitro and in vivo toxicologic assessment of NPs and what and how framing guidelines should be used for global unification of nanotoxicologic studies., Conclusion: The present review entails a discussion of the toxicity of nanoparticles along with interferences inherent to nanoparticles in toxicity studies. The lack of availability of regulatory guidelines for nanoparticles is one of the biggest issues. Our understanding of the mechanisms of NP-induced toxicity is superficial; thus, it is too early to come to a general consensus on the toxicity of NPs. There is a need, therefore, to standardize and validate the toxicity testing assays based on NPs properties., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have diverse utility these days ranging from being part of nanosensors to be ingredient of cosmetics. Present study was designed to report the effect of variable doses of ZnO NPs on selected aspects of male albino mice behavior. Nano particles were synthesized by sol-gel auto-combustion method (Data not shown here). 10 week old male albino mice were divided into four experimental groups; group A, B and C were orally supplemented with 50 (low dose), 300 (medium dose) and 600 mg/ml solvent/kg body weight (high dose) of ZnO NPs for 4 days. Group D (control) orally received 0.2 M sodium phosphate buffer (solvent for ZnO NPs) for the same duration. A series of neurological tests (Rota rod, open field, novel object and light-dark box test) were conducted in all groups and performance was compared between ZnO NPs treated and control group. Muscular functioning during rota rod test was significantly improved in all ZnO NPs treated mice as compared to control group. While no significant differences in open field, novel object and light-dark box test performance were observed when data from studied parameters of specific ZnO NPs treatment were compared with the control group indicating that applied doses of ZnO NPs did not affect the exploratory, anxiolytic behavior and object recognition capability of adult male albino mice.