Titanium Dioxide Modulation of the Contractibility of Visceral Smooth Muscles In Vivo

Abstract Electronic scanning microscopy was used in the work to obtain the image and to identify the sizes of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles 21 ± 5 nm. The qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis of the preparations of the caecum, antrum, myometrium, kidneys, and lungs of the rats, burdened with titanium dioxide, was also performed. It was established using the tenzometric method in the isometric mode that the accumulation of titanium dioxide in smooth muscles of the caecum resulted in the considerable, compared to the control, increase in the frequency of their spontaneous contractions, the decrease in the duration of the contraction–relaxation cycle, and the decrease in the indices of muscle functioning efficiency (the index of contractions in Montevideo units (MU) and the index of contractions in Alexandria units (AU)). In the same experimental conditions, there was not the increase, but the decrease in the frequency of spontaneous contractions, the duration of the contraction–relaxation cycle, and the increase in MU and AU indices in the smooth muscles of myometrium (in the group of rats, burdened with TiO2 for 30 days). It was also determined that TiO2 modulates both the mechanisms of the input of extracellular Ca2+ ions and the mechanisms of decreasing the concentration of these cations in smooth muscle cells of the caecum during the generation of the high potassium contraction. In these conditions, there is a considerable increase in the normalized maximal velocity of the contraction phase and the relaxation phase. It was demonstrated in the work that titanium dioxide also changes the cholinergic excitation in these muscles. The impact of titanium dioxide in the group of rats, burdened with TiO2, was accompanied with a considerable impairment of the kinetics of forming the tonic component of the oxytocin-induced contraction of the smooth muscles of myometrium

Kinetics of Hydrogen Generation from Oxidation of Hydrogenated Silicon Nanocrystals in Aqueous Solutions

Hydrogen generation rate is one of the most important parameters which must be considered for the development of engineering solutions in the field of hydrogen energy applications. In this paper, the kinetics of hydrogen generation from oxidation of hydrogenated porous silicon nanopowders in water are analyzed in detail. The splitting of the Si-H bonds of the nanopowders and water molecules during the oxidation reaction results in powerful hydrogen generation. The described technology is shown to be perfectly tunable and allows us to manage the kinetics by: (i) varying size distribution and porosity of silicon nanoparticles; (ii) chemical composition of oxidizing solutions; (iii) ambient temperature. In particular, hydrogen release below 0 °C is one of the significant advantages of such a technological way of performing hydrogen generation

Photo- and Radiofrequency-Induced Heating of Photoluminescent Colloidal Carbon Dots

Nitrogen- and oxygen-containing carbon nanoparticles (O, N-CDs) were prepared by a facile one-step solvothermal method using urea and citric acid precursors. This method is cost-effective and easily scalable, and the resulting O, N-CDs can be used without additional functionalization and sample pretreatment. The structure of O, N-CDs was characterized by TEM, AFM, Raman, UV-vis, and FTIR spectroscopies. The obtained O, N-CDs with a mean diameter of 4.4 nm can be easily dispersed in aqueous solutions. The colloidal aqueous solutions of O, N-CDs show significant photothermal responses under red-IR and radiofrequency (RF) irradiations. The as-prepared O, N-CDs have a bright temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL). PL/PLE spectral maps were shown to be used for temperature evaluation purposes in the range of 30–50 °C. In such a way, the O, N-CDs could be used for biomedicine-related applications such as hyperthermia with simultaneous temperature estimation with PL imaging