The effects of gold nanoparticles size and concentration on viscosity, flow activation energy, dielectric and optical properties

This study was carried out to investigate viscosity in relation with the temperature, flow activation energy and dielectric properties for 10, 20 and 50 nm gold nanoparticles size (GNPs) in addition to absorption and fluorescence spectra at different concentrations (0.2 × 10-3 to 1 × 10-2%) in an attempt to cover and understand the toxicity and potential role of their therapeutic and diagnostic use in medical applications. 10, 20 and 50 nm GNPs dissolved in aqueous solution were purchased (Product MKN-Au, Canada) and used in this study. Mechanical parameters were measured using Brookfield LVDV-III Programmable rheometer with temperature bath controlled by a computer. 0.5 ml of each GNP size in aqueous solution was poured in the sample chamber of the rheometer. The spindle was immersed and rotated in these gold nanofluids in the speed range from 50 to 250 rpm in steps of 20 min. Viscosity of GNPs was measured at temperature of 37°C and at a gradually increase of temperature to 42ºC. UV–Visible characterization of GNPs at different concentrations from 0.2 × 10-3 to 1 × 10-2 % was performed using UV-1601 PC, UV-Visible spectrophotometer. The absorbance measurements were made over the wavelength range of 250 to 700 nm using 1 cm path length quartz cuvettes. Fluorescence characterization of GNPs was performed over the wavelength range of 250 to 700 nm using FluoroMax-2 JOBIAN YVON-SPEX. The measured viscosities for all GNP sizes decreased with increasing the temperatures from 37 to 42°C. The GNPs with larger size (50 nm) exhibited higher viscosity values compared with 10 and 20 nm GNPs. The flow activation energies (kJ/mol) for 10, 20 and 50 nm GNPs were 332.55, 415.4 and 182.2 kJ/mol, respectively. The optical properties such as absorption maxima and the absorption intensity are particle size-dependent. The fluorescence emission band for GNPs with an excitation wavelength of 308 nm and photoluminescence (PL) band centre appeared at 408 nm. With the increase of GNPs concentration at a fixed GNP size of 20 nm, the intensity of emission band positioned increased, and the trend was consistent with the changes of the corresponding surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of GNPs. The presented dielectric data indicates that GNPs have strong dielectric dispersion corresponding to the alpha relaxation region in the frequency range of 20 Hz to 100 kHz which was identified as anomalous frequency dispersion. At a constant GNP size, the absorbance was found to be proportional to the concentration of gold. This is due to the increase in the number of GNPs as well as the increase in the SPR of GNPs. An intense absorption peak was observed at wavelength of 517 nm which is generally attributed to the surface plasmon excitation of the small spherical GNPs. The incident light at 308 nm will lead to excitation of the surface plasmon coherent electronic motion as well as the d electrons. This study suggests that the relaxation of these electronic motions followed by the recombination of the sp electrons with holes in the d band leads to the fluorescence emission. These results indicate that the intensity of fluorescence emission band of GNPs was dependent on the concentration of GNPs. A rapid decrease in the dielectric constant may be attributed to the tendency of dipoles in GNPs to orient themselves in the direction of the applied field in the low-frequency range. However, in the high-frequency range, the dipoles will hardly be able to orient themselves in the direction of the applied field and hence the value of the dielectric constant is nearly constant.Key words: Gold nanoparticles, viscosity, size, temperature, dielectric, absorption, fluorescence

The changes in various hydroxyproline fractions in aortic tissue of rabbits are closely related to the progression of atherosclerosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The most important function of collagen and elastin is to induce several mechanical parameters which are known to play a dominant role in governing mechanical properties of the blood vessels. The aortic tissue of rabbit is one of the important sources of collagen and elastin. The effects of high fat diet (HFD) on the hydroxyproline (Hyp) fractions in serum and aortic tissues of rabbits and collagen content in the aortic tissues of rabbits have not been documented before. The present study was undertaken to investigate the changes in Hyp fractions in serum and aortic tissues of rabbits and collagen content in the aortic tissues of rabbits during the progression of atherosclerosis. The atherosclerotic model used in this study was the New Zealand white rabbit (male; 12 weeks old). Twenty five rabbits were individually caged, and divided into control group (NOR; n = 10) and HFD group (CHO; n = 15). The control group was fed (100 g/day) of normal (NOR) diet for a period of 15 weeks. The HFD group was fed normal diet supplemented with 1.0% cholesterol plus 1.0% olive oil (100 g/day) for the same period of time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that the TC, LDLC, and TG (mg/dl) were significantly (p < 0.001) increased in HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits with percentage normalized changes of 1198%, 1591%, and 710%, respectively. The peptide-bound Hyp in the serum was significantly (P < 0.05) increased in HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits with percentage normalized change of 517% while it significantly (P < 0.01) decreased in aortic tissues of HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits with percentage normalized change of 65%. The protein-bound Hyp in the serum was significantly (P < 0.01) increased in HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits with percentage normalized change of 100%; the protein-bound Hyp in the aortic tissues of control rabbits was 235.30 ± 55.14 (Mean ± SD) while it was not detectable (ND) in HFD rabbits. Total serum Hyp showed no significant (P < 0.05) change in HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits while it was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in aortic tissues of HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits with percentage normalized change of 73%. The total collagen was significantly (p < 0.01) decreased in aortic tissues of HFD rabbits compared with control rabbits with percentage normalized change of 73% which was supported by histological study.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that percentage decrease in various Hyp fractions in aortic tissue of HFD rabbits are closely related to percentage decrease of collagen content in aortic tissues of HFD rabbits. These results also suggest that it may be possible to use the changes in various Hyp fractions in aortic tissues of rabbits as an important risk factor during the progression of atherosclerosis.</p

Identification of novel drug targets in bovine respiratory disease: an essential step in applying biotechnologic techniques to develop more effective therapeutic treatments

Meena Kishore Sakharkar,1 Karthic Rajamanickam,1 Ramesh Chandra,2 Haseeb A Khan,3 Abdullah S Alhomida,3 Jian Yang1 1College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; 2Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi, India; 3Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Background: Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is a major problem in cattle production which causes substantial economic loss. BRD has multifactorial aetiologies, is multi-microbial, and several of the causative pathogens are unknown. Consequently, primary management practices such as metaphylactic antimicrobial injections for BRD prevention are used to reduce the incidence of BRD in feedlot cattle. However, this poses a serious threat in the form of development of antimicrobial resistance and demands an urgent need to find novel interventions that could reduce the effects of BRD drastically and also delay/prevent bacterial resistance. Materials and methods: We have employed a subtractive genomics approach that helps delineate essential, host-specific, and druggable targets in pathogens responsible for BRD. We also proposed antimicrobials from FDA green and orange book that could be repositioned for BRD. Results: We have identified 107 putative targets that are essential, selective and druggable. We have also confirmed the susceptibility of two BRD pathogens to one of the proposed antimicrobials &ndash; oxytetracycline. Conclusion: This approach allows for repositioning drugs known for other infections to BRD, predicting novel druggable targets for BRD infection, and providing a new direction in developing more effective therapeutic treatments for BRD. Keywords: BRD, pathogenic bacteria, targets, drugs, prioritization, differential genome analyses, druggabilit