Pharmacological evaluation and kinetics of in vitro drug release efficacy of biofabricated silver nanoparticles using medicinally important Justicia neesii Ramamoorthy

Green nanotechnology, the science that utilizes various plant resources for the synthesis of nanoparticles without posing any chemical hazard has proved to be highly efficient and environment friendly technique. This opens up options for the synthesis of novel nanoparticles with desirable characteristics required for various application viz., biosensors, biomedicine, cosmetics, nanobiotechnology, as antimicrobials, electronics, sensing etc. In this context, here, we have made an attempt for cost effective and eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the extract of medicinally important plant Justicia neesii Ramamoorthy. The phytochemical analysis of the extract exhibited the presence of glycosides, flavonoids, lignins, phenols, phytosterols, reducing sugars, saponins, etc. The absorbance peak of the biofabricated nanoparticles at 425 nm as indicated by UV-Vis spectrophotometer broadens with increase in time indicating their poly dispersity nature and particle size analyzer revealed the average size to be in the range of 20-45 nm. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the synthesized AgNPs demonstrated promising results. The kinetics of in vitro drug release profile of the drug loaded AgNPs was carried out and the data obtained was correlated with various mathematical models. The drug release from AgNPs at both the pH’s shows good fit to the First order model which is obvious from the high values of coefficient of correlation which logically means that the release of drug from AgNPs is dependent on the concentration present within the nanoparticles

Kinetics and in vitro release studies of drug loaded silver nanoparticles from Indigofera tinctoria extract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP’s) have been successfully fabricated via bio-reduction of Indigofera tinctoria plant extract as the reducing and capping agent. The effects of pH and temperature on the formation of the AgNP’s have been studied. The synthesized AgNP’s have been characterized using UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Zeta potential analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Antimicrobial activities of the synthesized AgNP’s have been tested against both bacterial and fungal strains by agar well diffusion method. The biomass-capped AgNP’s imparted antimicrobial activity by inhibiting the growth of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum. The antioxidant activities of the synthesized AgNP’s exhibit low IC50 value of ~55.72 μg/mL. Studies on drug loading and kinetics of drug release reveal that I. tinctoria AgNP’s follow the zero-order kinetics at pH 4.6 and pH 7.4. The gradient value of 0.568 (pH 4.6) and 0.6 (pH 7.4) falls between 0.42 < n < 0.85 when fitted into Peppa’s plot indicating that the drug release follow an anomalous transport or non-Fickian diffusion transport, indicating that the diffusion is time dependent

An eco-friendly approach towards leather dyeing using fungal pigments

20-25There is a growing demand for eco-friendly and non-toxic dyes that can be used to impart colour to a wide variety of materials. Many synthetic dyes are known to cause health hazards due to possible carcinogenic effects associated with high heavy metal concentration and the possible use of other restricted substances. The present study aims at the extraction of pigments from fungi, which can be used as an alternative to synthetic dyes used for leather dyeing. The use of agricultural wastes for enhanced fungal growth and pigment production was also envisaged. The pigment thus obtained was subjected to characterization using analytical techniques like CHNS, FTIR, DSC and TGA. These pigments were further used for leather dyeing and effect of process parameters like colour fastness, rub fastness and heat resistant properties were analyzed and conditions optimized

Marine yeast isolation and industrial application

Over the last century, terrestrial yeasts have been widely used in various industries, such as baking, brewing, wine, bioethanol and pharmaceutical protein production. However, only little attention has been given to marine yeasts. Recent research showed that marine yeasts have several unique and promising features over the terrestrial yeasts, for example higher osmosis tolerance, higher special chemical productivity and production of industrial enzymes. These indicate that marine yeasts have great potential to be applied in various industries. This review gathers the most recent techniques used for marine yeast isolation as well as the latest applications of marine yeast in bioethanol, pharmaceutical and enzyme production fields. Keyword

Biosorption potential of dead and living Arthrobacter viscosus biomass in the removal of Cr(VI): Batch and column studies

Batch experiments were conducted with dead and living Arthrobacter viscosus biomass for Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solution. Both dead and living cells successfully reduced Cr(VI) to Cr(III) from aqueous solution in highly acidic pH (pH 1 and 2) with an efficiency of 100% for aqueous solutions having the initial concentrations of Cr(VI) lower than 100 mg/L. Langmuir isotherm and kinetic models based on reduction could simulate chromium removal at 5 and 8 g/L biosorbent dosages and in highly acidic pH conditions (pH = 1-2). Further, the potential use of the Arthrobacter viscosus biomass was examined in an open system, where Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solution was performed by a bacterial biofilm supported on a new type of polyethylene supports. The experiment showed a favorable uptake of chromium ions bound to the biomass, of 20.37 mg/g, with high potential for scaling up. This study showed that the reduction of toxic Cr(VI) to the less toxic Cr(III) by Arthrobacter viscosus, in batch and continuous modes is an efficient and promising technique for wastewaters polluted with chromium.This paper was elaborated with the support of BRAIN project Doctoral scholarships as an investment in intelligence - ID 6681, financed by the European Social Found and Romanian Government and with the support of a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0559, Contract 265/2011. H. Figueiredo is thankful to “FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” for the financial support through the concession of PhD grant SFRH/BD/28201/2006.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The establishment of a marine focused biorefinery for bioethanol production using seawater and a novel marine yeast strain

Current technologies for bioethanol production rely on the use of freshwater for preparing the fermentation media and use yeasts of a terrestrial origin. Life cycle assessment has suggested that between 1,388 to 9,812 litres of freshwater are consumed for every litre of bioethanol produced. Hence, bioethanol is considered a product with a high-water footprint. This paper investigated the use of seawater-based media and a novel marine yeast strain ‘Saccharomyces cerevisiae AZ65’ to reduce the water footprint of bioethanol. Results revealed that S. cerevisiae AZ65 had a significantly higher osmotic tolerance when compared with the terrestrial reference strain. Using 15-L bioreactors, S. cerevisiae AZ65 produced 93.50 g/L ethanol with a yield of 83.33% (of the theoretical yield) and a maximum productivity of 2.49 g/L/h when using seawater-YPD media. This approach was successfully applied using an industrial fermentation substrate (sugarcane molasses). S. cerevisiae AZ65 produced 52.23 g/L ethanol using molasses media prepared in seawater with a yield of 73.80% (of the theoretical yield) and a maximum productivity of 1.43 g/L/h. These results demonstrated that seawater can substitute freshwater for bioethanol production without compromising production efficiency. Results also revealed that marine yeast is a potential candidate for use in the bioethanol industry especially when using seawater or high salt based fermentation media

Pharmacological evaluation and kinetics of in vitro drug release efficacy of biofabricated silver nanoparticles using medicinally important Justicia neesii Ramamoorthy

185-195Green nanotechnology, the science that utilizes various plant resources for the synthesis of nanoparticles without posing any chemical hazard has proved to be highly efficient and environment friendly technique. This opens up options for the synthesis of novel nanoparticles with desirable characteristics required for various application viz., biosensors, biomedicine, cosmetics, nanobiotechnology, as antimicrobials, electronics, sensing etc. In this context, here, we have made an attempt for cost effective and eco-friendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the extract of medicinally important plant Justicia neesii Ramamoorthy. The phytochemical analysis of the extract exhibited the presence of glycosides, flavonoids, lignins, phenols, phytosterols, reducing sugars, saponins, etc. The absorbance peak of the biofabricated nanoparticles at 425 nm as indicated by UV-Vis spectrophotometer broadens with increase in time indicating their poly dispersity nature and particle size analyzer revealed the average size to be in the range of 20-45 nm. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the synthesized AgNPs demonstrated promising results. The kinetics of in vitro drug release profile of the drug loaded AgNPs was carried out and the data obtained was correlated with various mathematical models. The drug release from AgNPs at both the pH’s shows good fit to the First order model which is obvious from the high values of coefficient of correlation which logically means that the release of drug from AgNPs is dependent on the concentration present within the nanoparticles

Kinetics and in vitro release studies of drug loaded silver nanoparticles from Indigofera tinctoria extract

473-484Silver nanoparticles (AgNP’s) have been successfully fabricated via bio-reduction of Indigofera tinctoria plant extract as the reducing and capping agent. The effects of pH and temperature on the formation of the AgNP’s have been studied. The synthesized AgNP’s have been characterized using UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Zeta potential analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Antimicrobial activities of the synthesized AgNP’s have been tested against both bacterial and fungal strains by agar well diffusion method. The biomass-capped AgNP’s imparted antimicrobial activity by inhibiting the growth of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum. The antioxidant activities of the synthesized AgNP’s exhibit low IC50 value of ~55.72 μg/mL. Studies on drug loading and kinetics of drug release reveal that I. tinctoria AgNP’s follow the zero-order kinetics at pH 4.6 and pH 7.4. The gradient value of 0.568 (pH 4.6) and 0.6 (pH 7.4) falls between 0.42 < n < 0.85 when fitted into Peppa’s plot indicating that the drug release follow an anomalous transport or non-Fickian diffusion transport, indicating that the diffusion is time dependent

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> Imposex in rock whelks <i style="">Thais</i> and <i style="">Ocenebra </i>species (Mollusca, Neogastropoda, Muricidae) from Gujarat coast </smarttagtype>

321-328 Imposex in Thais bufo, T. rudolphi, T. tissoti and Ocenebra bombayana was observed from Saurashtra coast of Gujarat. The maximum percentage of imposex out of total sample size (44.80 and 46.55%) were observed at Porbandar in T. bufo and T. rudolphi respectively while T. tissoti and O. bombayana at Mahuva showed 10.29 and 9.72% of imposex respectively. The percentage conversion of potential females to imposex was minimum at Diu and maximum at Porbandar. The number of ships operated from Porbandar and Diu directly correlated with severity of CPFII and percentage of imposex at these places. The results indicate that severity of imposex in T. rudolphi could be utilized as a bioindicator of TBT contamination in the marine environment. The Relative Penis Size Index(RPSI) ranged from 3.24 at Veraval to 16.50 at Porbandar in T. bufo while in T. rudolphi it ranged from 44.26 at Okha and 55.96 at Veraval. It was 21.19 and 14.26 for T. tissoti and O. bombayana respectively. The results indicate that RPSI may not be a foolproof indicator of severity of imposex in these organisms. Therefore a new index has been developed which is termed as Conversion of Potential Females to Imposex Index (CPFII) to calculate the potential females of a given area of a population. It seems the causative agents in seawater is neither toxic nor growth inhibitory at all the places of study but it interferes with the reproductive mechanisms and morphogenesis in these four species. The imposex in these organisms and its relation to TBT concentration in the marine environment is discussed. </smarttagtype