D, L-Sulforaphane loaded Fe3O4@ gold core shell nanoparticles: A potential sulforaphane delivery system

A novel design of gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles was fabricated as a potential delivery system to improve the efficiency and stability of d, l-sulforaphane as an anticancer drug. To this purpose, the surface of gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles was modified for sulforaphane delivery via furnishing its surface with thiolated polyethylene glycol-folic acid and thiolated polyethylene glycol-FITC. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by different techniques such as FTIR, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The average diameters of the synthesized nanoparticles before and after sulforaphane loading were obtained ∼ 33 nm and ∼ 38 nm, respectively, when ∼ 2.8 mmol/g of sulforaphane was loaded. The result of cell viability assay which was confirmed by apoptosis assay on the human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 line) as a model of in vitro-cancerous cells, proved that the bare nanoparticles showed little inherent cytotoxicity, whereas the sulforaphane-loaded nanoparticles were cytotoxic. The expression rate of the anti-apoptotic genes (bcl-2 and bcl-xL), and the pro-apoptotic genes (bax and bak) were quantified, and it was found that the expression rate of bcl-2 and bcl-xL genes significantly were decreased when MCF-7 cells were incubated by sulforaphane-loaded nanoparticles. The sulforaphane-loaded into the designed gold-coated iron oxide nanoparticles, acceptably induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells

Study of the antimicrobial effect of Amikacin encapsulated in Mesoporous Silica nanoparticles against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus

Background and Aim: Amikacin, as an aminoglycoside antibiotic, is prescribed against a broad spectrum of bacteria. Limiting the use of this medicine includes the risk of microbial resistance, toxicity and short half-life in the body. One strategy to overcome the problem is the use of nanotechnology which can help to development of medicine delivery systems. This study was done in 2015 to assess the ability of mesoporous silica nanoparticles in improving the traditional formulation of amikacin. Materials and Methods: SBA-15 was synthesized using hydrothermal method. The kinetics of medicine release from carriers, was investigated at 37 °C. The antimicrobial activity of formulations was conducted by disk diffusion method and broth dilution test on samples of bacteria. Results: Nanoparticles SBA-15 with a hexagonal arrangement and pore diameter of 5 -100 nm, were able to encapsulation 47% of Amikacin. The kinetics of medicine release from the carrier at pH (5, 7.4and 8.9) showed that in the first 24 hours, respectively, 10, 34.54 and 69% amikacin was released from the carriers. The rate of MIC of native amikacin and amikacin@SBA-15 of S. aureus were respectively, 1.66, 13.29 μg/mL and for P. aeruginosa were respectively 3.32, 26.59 μg/mL. Conclusions: The results confirmed the stability of the encapsulated amikacin and high capacity SBA-15 to control the medicine release in the acidic environment of the stomach to the intestinal alkaline that made hopes to provide oral formulation of the medicine

Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles: an alternative to conventional phosphorus fertilizers in acidic culture media

Abstract Background Traditional phosphorus fertilizers generally have low efficiencies due to their immobilization in soil, and a large part of these fertilizers are not plant-available. Also, phosphorus resources are non-renewable. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid to nanofertilizers because of their slow or controlled release and also their very small particle size which increases the solubility and uptake of nanoparticles in plant. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles are of great importance as phosphorus nanofertilizer thanks to their very low toxicity, biocompatibility, and the fact that products obtained from their degradation, i.e., phosphate and calcium ions, are naturally available in soils. Results In this study, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were synthesized using the wet chemical precipitation method in three formulations and characterized with various techniques including electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Chemical and microscopic analyses showed that phosphorus was distributed in different parts of the wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plant. To investigate the fertilizing effects of the nanoparticles, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were used in different culture media including alkaline soil, acidic soil, the mixture of peat moss and perlite, and cocopeat. Based on our observations, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles showed fertilizing properties in all media. However, fertilizing potential strongly depended on the culture media. HAP nanoparticles demonstrated a high potential to be used as a fertilizer in acidic media. Nevertheless, only a slight fertilizing effect was observed in alkaline soils. Furthermore, the findings of our study showed fertilizing properties of powder hydroxyapatite nanoparticles without the need to convert them to suspension. Moreover, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in all the three formulations showed low toxicity in such a way that their toxicity was even less than that of triple super phosphate. Conclusions Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in both suspension and powder forms can be considered an alternative to conventional phosphorus fertilizers in acidic culture media. Our study revealed that hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were likely dissolved in the culture media and absorbed by plant mainly in the phosphate form. Graphical Abstrac

Optical microscopy images of incubated cells by SF-loaded FITC@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs and SF-loaded FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs after 24 h.

<p>A: Bright-field image, B: Fluorescence image of FITC detection, and C: Combined of A and B, after 24 h incubation of MCF-7 cells with SF-loaded FITC@/FA[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs. D: Bright-field image, E: Fluorescence image of FITC detection, and F: Combined of D and E, after 24 h incubation of MCF-7 cells with SF-loaded FITC@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs.</p

Optical microscopy images of cells after 24 h.

<p>A: Bright-field image, B: Fluorescence image of DAPI detection, and C: Combined of A and B, after 24 h incubation of MCF-7 cells (control). D: Bright-field image, E: Fluorescence image of DAPI detection, and F: Combined of D and E, after 24 h incubation of MCF-7 cells with free SF. G: bright-field image, H: fluorescence image of DAPI detection, and I: fluorescence image of FITC detection of the same area after 24 h incubation of MCF-7 cells with FITC@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs.</p

Magnetization hysteresis loop of NPs.

<p>The room-temperature magnetization (<i>M</i>) hysteresis loop curves of the same mass of [Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs and FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs as a function of applied magnetic field (<i>H</i>).</p

Release of FITC from NPs (A) and average hydrodynamic (B) of NPs.

<p>A: Release of FITC from FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs. B: The average hydrodynamic diameter of [Fe₃O₄@Au] and FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs at <i>p</i>H = 7.4.</p

SF loading (A) and releasing (B).

<p>A: The profile of SF loading in FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs. B: The profile of SF releasing from SF-loaded FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs at two different <i>p</i>Hs (PBS buffer: <i>p</i>H = 7.4 and citrate buffer: <i>p</i>H = 5.4).</p

Flow cytometric analysis (A and B) and the rate of gene expression in MCF-7 cells (C).

<p>A: Flow cytometric analysis of MCF-7 cells were treated with free SF, FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs, SF-loaded FITC@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs, and SF-loaded FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs at equivalent SF concentration after 48 h. B: SF-loaded FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs induces significantly apoptosis versus free SF. Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation of replicates. C: The rate of gene expression in MCF-7 cells after 72 h treatment with free SF, FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs, SF-loaded FITC@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs, and SF-loaded FITC/FA@[Fe₃O₄@Au] NPs.</p