Physico-chemical characterization of asolectin–genistein liposomal system: An approach to analyze its in vitro antioxidant potential and effect in glioma cells viability

AbstractIn this study, the interaction between soy isoflavone genistein and asolectin liposomes was investigated by monitoring the effects of isoflavone on lipidic hydration, mobility, location and order. These properties were analyzed by the following techniques: horizontal attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (HATR-FTIR), low-field 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-field 31P NMR, zeta potential, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and UV–vis spectroscopy. The antioxidant and antitumoral activities of the genistein liposomal system were also studied. The genistein saturation concentration in ASO liposomes corresponded to 484μM. HATR–FTIR results indicated that genistein influences the dynamics of the lipidic phosphate, choline, carbonyl and acyl chain methylenes groups. At the lipid polar head, HATR–FTIR and 31P NMR results showed that the isoflavone reduces the hydration degree of the phosphate group, as well as its mobility. Genistein ordered the lipid interfacial carbonyl group, as evidenced by the HATR–FTIR bandwidth analysis. This ordering effect was also observed in the lipidic hydrophobic region, by HATR–FTIR, NMR, DSC and turbidity responses. At the saturation concentration, liposome-loaded genistein inhibits the lipid peroxidation induced by hydroxyl radical in 90.9%. ASO liposome-loaded genistein at 100μM decreased C6 glioma cell viability by 57% after 72h of treatment. Results showed an increase of the genistein in vitro activities after its incorporation in liposomes. The data described in this work will contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between genistein and a natural-source membrane and of its influence on isoflavone biological activities. Furthermore, the antitumoral results showed that genistein-based liposomes, which contain natural-sourced lipids, may be promising as a drug delivery system to be used in the glioma therapy

Characterization and comparison of human and mouse milk cells.

Recent data has characterized human milk cells with unprecedented detail and provided insight into cell populations. While such analysis of freshly expressed human milk has been possible, studies of cell functionality within the infant have been limited to animal models. One commonly used animal model for milk research is the mouse; however, limited data are available describing the composition of mouse milk. In particular, the maternal cells of mouse milk have not been previously characterized in detail, in part due to the difficulty in collecting sufficient volumes of mouse milk. In this study, we have established a method to collect high volumes of mouse milk, isolate cells, and compare the cell counts and types to human milk. Surprisingly, we found that mouse milk cell density is three orders of magnitude higher than human milk. The cell types present in the milk of mice and humans are similar, broadly consisting of mammary epithelial cells and immune cells. These results provide a basis of comparison for mouse and human milk cells and will inform the most appropriate uses of mouse models for the study of human phenomena