Bremsstrahlung in carbon thick targets by proton incidence

The subtraction of the continuum from an X-ray spectrum emitted by proton bombardment is usually carried out by means of a mathematical fitting. The purpose of the present work is to develop an analytical function to model the continuous spectrum generated in a PIXE experiment for different incident beam energies in carbon thick targets. With this purpose, PIXE spectra of a carbon bulk sample were measured in an ion accelerator. The proton beam energies were varied between 0.7 MeV and 2 MeV and the X-rays generated were collected by an energy dispersive spectrometer. The spectra analysis was performed taking into account the main effects underlying the production of the continuous spectrum. Nevertheless, for the cases considered here, it was found that the atomic bremsstrahlung is the most important and other contributions were neglected. The experimental spectra from carbon thick targets were corrected by self-absorption and detector efficiency. The results show that the spectral shape corresponding to thick targets corrected by these effects is similar to the functional behavior presented by thin targets.Fil: Pérez, Pablo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Bertol, Ana Paula Lamberti. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Rodríguez, Tabatha P.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Vasconcellos, Marcos Antônio Zen. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Trincavelli, Jorge Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentin

Magnetic Mesoporous Silica for Targeted Drug Delivery of Chloroquine: Synthesis, Characterization, and In Vitro Evaluation

Malaria is a dangerous tropical disease, with high morbidity in developing countries. The responsible parasite has developed resistance to the existing drugs; therefore, new drug delivery systems are being studied to increase efficacy by targeting hemozoin, a parasite paramagnetic metabolite. Herein, magnetic mesoporous silica (magMCM) was synthesized using iron oxide particles dispersed in the silica structure for magnetically driven behavior. The X-ray diffractogram (XRD) and Mössbauer spectra show patterns corresponding to magnetite and maghemite. Furthermore, Mössbauer spectroscopy revealed superparamagnetic behavior, attributed to single magnetic domains in particles smaller than 10 nm. Even in the presence of iron oxide particles, the hexagonal structure of MCM is clearly identified in XRD (low-angle region) and the channels are visible in TEM images. The drug chloroquine (CQ) was encapsulated by incipient wetness impregnation (magMCM-CQ). The N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms show that CQ molecules were encapsulated in the pores, without completely filling the mesopores. BET surface area values were 630 m2 g−1 (magMCM) and 467 m2 g−1 (magMCM-CQ). Encapsulated CQ exhibited rapid delivery (99% in 3 h) in buffer medium and improved solubility compared to the non-encapsulated drug, attributed to CQ encapsulation in amorphous form. The biocompatibility assessment of magMCM, magMCM-CQ, and CQ against MRC5 non-tumoral lung fibroblasts using the MTT assay after 24 h revealed no toxicity associated with magMCM. On the other hand, the non-encapsulated CQ and magMCM-CQ exhibited comparable dose–response activity, indicating a similar cytotoxic effect