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

Water-oxidizing complex in Photosystem II: Its structure and relation to manganese-oxide based catalysts

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Cyanobacteria, green algae, and higher plants provide the major part of molecular O2 of Earth atmosphere via water oxidation of oxygenic photosynthesis. The water-oxidizing complex is a manganese-calcium oxide-based cluster embedded in Photosystem II that oxidizes water with high turnover frequency. The atomic structure and analysis of the Mn-Ca cluster are important in understanding the mechanism of water oxidation and for the design of efficient artificial water-oxidizing catalysts. With this short review, we aim to introduce the basic features of the biological water oxidation to the new-comers in the field. Taking into account the recent structural studies, including a high-resolution, radiation-damage-free structure of the water-oxidizing complex, and structures of intermediate S-states revealed by femtosecond X-ray free electron lasers, we discuss the structure and functions of the biologically active site and its implications for the development of inorganic catalysts for solar fuels production