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Background and Objectives: The development and functioning of all living beings ends with the inevitable aging process, as a result of which the activity of all organs and the body as a whole is suppressed, which leads to imminent death. Protein glycation is considered to be one of the causes of aging. This process takes place throughout life, but it intensifies with age. Protein glycation is a reaction of covalent coupling of free amino groups of proteins and reducing carbohydrates, which proceeds without the participation of enzymes and leads to disruption of protein functions. This process is unregulated, as it occurs without the participation of biological catalysts. As a result of glycation of proteins in humans, inflammatory processes occur in the body and a number of diseases such as heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, cataract, glycemia, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes mellitus, etc. develop. In the tasks of medical diagnostics, methods of monitoring the state of proteins in the human body are necessary. In this regard, the work is devoted to the study of the processes of interaction of human serum albumin globules (HSA) with globules of human glycated serum albumin (gHSA). Materials and Methods: In conducting a study of the spectral-kinetic characteristics of the eosin luminescent probe in solutions of glycated and non-glycated HSA, as well as in a mixture of glycated and non–glycated HSA, an exponential dependence of the second order was used to approximate the dependencies of DF (delayed fluorescence) and PHOS (phosphorescence), and an anisotropy equation was used to assume the formation of the gHSA-HSA complex. Results: It has been found that the intensity and kinetics of quenching of delayed fluorescence and phosphorescence of the eosin fluorescent probe associated with proteins are sensitive to the ratio of glycated and non-glycated proteins in solution. To explain the increase in the intensity and lifetime of eosin phosphorescence during the transition from a solution of HSA to a mixture of HSA and gHSA, it is assumed that the globules of HSA and gHSA form a complex of the composition of gHSA-HSA, as a result of diffusion encounters. The rotational mobility of this complex is much less than the separate globules of HSA and gHSA. The formation of the complex is confirmed by an increase in the anisotropy of delayed fluorescence and phosphorescence of eosin in a mixture of HSA and gHSA. Conclusion: The obtained results of the work can be used to diagnose the presence of a complex of glycated with non-glycated proteins in human blood plasma.

Background and Objectives: The object of the study was the cytotoxicity of various types of coated upconversion nanoparticles. The aim is to overview the literature on the cytotoxicity of various types of upconversion nanoparticles without/with coating and to search for their maximum permissible concentration when applied to cell. Materials and Methods: The approach used has been the analysis of recent publications on the topic. Results: Upconversion nanoparticles are promising for fluorescence imaging and cancer therapy. Nanoparticles with additional shells or functionalized by surface coating with targeted or photoactive molecules are considered. The toxicological effect of nanoparticles on living organisms is of decisive importance when they are used in therapy or diagnostics. The “dark” cytotoxicity of particles is considered. The cytotoxicity of particles depends on the total number of nanoparticles that have penetrated into the cell. Conclusion: Based on the analysis of a large number of publications, it can be concluded that nanoparticles coated with silicon dioxide (SiO2) are characterized by the least cytotoxic effect, which opens up prospects for the use of this type of nanoparticles in medical practice.

Background and Objectives: Knowledge of the optical and thermal human tissues properties is essential for optimizing laser therapy and optical diagnostics. Most studies are carried out at room temperature of the sample. At the same time, it is known that the optical properties of biological tissues depend on temperature even in the physiological temperature range, that is, in the range of normal functioning of the body. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the use of literature data will lead to an incorrect assessment of the conditions for the propagation of light through biological tissue in a living object. Incorrect data on the optical properties of biological tissues at physiological temperature can lead to unreliable results in medical optical diagnostics or therapy. Therefore, studies of the temperature dependences of the optical properties of biological objects are undoubtedly topical. This work shows the differences in the optical properties of rat muscle tissue before and after heating the samples to physiological temperature. Materials and Methods: The spectra of collimated transmission, total transmission and diffuse reflection of rat muscle tissue were recorded. The spectra were recorded at 25°C (room temperature) and 38–39°C (physiological temperature). For each measured point of the sample, the spectral dependences of the absorption coefficients, transport scattering coefficient, and anisotropy factor of the studied samples were calculated. Results and conclusion: It has been shown that the optical properties of muscle tissue differ for room and physiological temperatures. In this case, the absorption and scattering coefficients practically do not change. The main parameter that changes with temperature is the anisotropy factor. This change also leads to a change in the transport scattering coefficient.

Background and Objectives: Experimental registration of fluorescence spectra in the visible region of solid nanocomposites based on bovine serum albumin and single-walled carbon nanotubes, depending on their diameter and concentration, has been performed. Results: For nanocomposites with “thick” (average diameter 4.10 nm) nanotubes, fluorescence quenching is observed in the experimental fluorescence spectra with an increase in their concentration (from 0.001 to 0.01 g/L) under laser excitation with wavelengths of 240, 270 and 290 nm. In the case of “thin” (average diameter 1.04 nm) nanotubes in the experimental spectra of the nanocomposite, the fluorescence intensity increases by an order of magnitude as compared with the spectra of both albumin and nanotubes. Using molecular modeling, it has been shown that the surface of “thin” nanotubes forming covalent bonds with aspartic and glutamic amino acids located on the surface of albumin takes a wave-like shape. Conclusions: Electron motion is localized inside small regions of thin nanotubes, leading to the formation of “quantum dots”, which is the cause for a significant increase in the fluorescence intensity of solid nanocomposites of albumin-“thin” nanotubes.

The intensity of upconversion luminescence depends nonlinearly on the excitation intensity. The aim of this work is to study the effect of the temperature of NaYF4:Er,Yb upconversion particles on the dependence of the luminescence intensity on the excitation intensity. The synthesized particles were observed to have the shape of a hexagonal prism with a width of about 440 nm and a height of 445 nm. The upconversion luminescence spectra were obtained in the temperature range of 22–55° C with the excitation intensity in the range of 1.5–9.4 W/cm2. The obtained results show the green-band luminescence photons can be generated by means of two-step and three-step mechanisms: the contribution of these mechanisms depends on the temperature of the particles. As the temperature increases, the contribution of the three-stage mechanism of green luminescence excitation is enhanced.

Background and Objectives: The object of the study was the toxicity of upconversion nanoparticles. The aim is to overview the literature on the toxicity of various types of upconversion nanoparticles and to search for their maximum permissible concentration when administered to laboratory animals in vivo. Materials and Methods: The approach used has been the analysis of recent publications on the topic. Results: Upconversion particles are promising for visualization of the structure of biological tissues and organs in fluorescent light, as well as for use in diagnostics of diseases and photoinduced therapy. Nanoparticles with additional shells or functionalized by surface coating with targeted or photoactive molecules, allowing the creation of particles with several modalities, are considered. The phototoxicity of such particles is considered separately. When using nanoparticles for therapy or diagnostics of the state of living objects, the issue of toxicity is urgent. The toxic effect of upconversion nanoparticles on the body depends on their concentration upon administration, as well as on the total amount of nanoparticles correlated with the body weight. Conclusion: From the considered concentration dependences, based on the results of histological and biochemical studies, it was shown that, as a rule, no noticeable toxicity was observed in such particles, and the maximum permissible concentration of particles can be considered 2 mg/ml.