Biocompatibility assessment of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in mice fetoplacental unit.

As the applications of titanium dioxide nanomaterials (nTiO2 ) are growing with an ever-increasing speed, the hazardous risks of this material have become a major concern. Several recent studies have reported that nTiO2 can cross the placental barrier in pregnant mice and cause neurotoxicity in their offspring. However, the influence of these nanoparticles on the fetoplacental unit during the pregnancy is yet to be studied. The present study reports on the effects of nTiO2 on the anatomical structure of fetal brain and liver in a pregnant mice model. Moreover, changes in the size and weight of the fetus and placenta are investigated as markers of fetal growth. Lastly, the toxicity of nTiO2 in primary brain and liver is quantified. Animals treated with nTiO2 showed a disrupted anatomical structure of the fetal brain and liver. Furthermore, the fetus and placental unit in the mice treated with these nanoparticles were smaller compared to untreated controls. Toxicity analyses revealed that nTiO2 was toxic to the brain and liver cells and the mechanism of cell death was mostly necrosis. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 580-589, 2018.

An overview of (124)I production at a medical cyclotron by ALICE/ASH, EMPIRE-3.2.2 and TALYS-1.6 codes.

Excitation functions of proton, deuteron and alpha induced nuclear reactions on enriched tellurium and antimony isotopes and also natural antimony were calculated by ALICE/ASH, EMPIRE-3.2.2 and TALYS-1.6 nuclear codes. Therefrom, the production yield of (124)I nuclide and its formed impurities were calculated by using the evaluation results. The calculated cross sections were compared with available experimental values in literatures. According to results, (124)Te(p,n)(124)I reaction is the method of choice due to formation of higher amount of (124)I nuclide and low levels of (125)I as an major concern in (124)I production.

Silica-encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles: enzyme immobilization and cytotoxic study.

Silica-encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were prepared via microemulsion method. The products were characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS). MNPs with no observed cytotoxic activity against human lung carcinoma cell and brine shrimp lethality were used as suitable support for glucose oxidase (GOD) immobilization. Binding of GOD onto the support was confirmed by the FTIR spectra. The amount of immobilized GODs was 95 mg/g. Storage stability study showed that the immobilized GOD retained 98% of its initial activity after 45 days and 90% of the activity was also remained after 12 repeated uses. Considerable enhancements in thermal stabilities were observed for the immobilized GOD at elevated temperatures up to 80°C and the activity of immobilized enzyme was less sensitive to pH changes in solution.

Preconcentration and separation of ultra-trace beryllium using quinalizarine-modified magnetic microparticles.

Magnetically-assisted chemical separation/preconcentration method for the analysis of beryllium from aqueous solutions was developed. According to this method several extractants were coated on certain magnetic microparticles to assist the extraction of beryllium from the aqueous solutions. The influence of different parameters (type and amount of extractant, pH, equilibrium time and ionic strength) was investigated. Also, the interfering effect of various cationic and anionic species on the percent recovery of beryllium was studied. The applied spectrophotometric method showed good linearity and precision at a given wavelength (605.0 nm). Among the extractants used, quinalizarine resulted in almost a full recovery of beryllium at pH 7.4, which was the optimum extraction pH. The equilibrium time of the extraction was 10.0 min. The quantitative re-extraction was carried out by 0.5 M nitric acid. Also, the stability of the extractant-coated magnetic microparticles was 4 cycles (extraction and re-extraction) and the used magnetic microparticles showed good selectivity for beryllium against other cations and anions. Finally, the developed method was applicable for the preconcentration and separation of beryllium from spring water, tap water and certified reference waters. The obtained detection limit was 30 ng L(-1).

An efficient method for recovery of target ssDNA based on amino-modified silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles.

In this paper, an improved recovery method for target ssDNA using amino-modified silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles (ASMNPs) is reported. This method takes advantages of the amino-modified silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles prepared using water-in-oil microemulsion technique, which employs amino-modified silica as the shell and iron oxide as the core of the magnetic nanoparticles. The nanoparticles have a silica surface with amino groups and can be conjugated with any desired bio-molecules through many existing amino group chemistry. In this research, a linear DNA probe was immobilized onto nanoparticles through streptavidin conjugation using covalent bonds. A target ssDNA(I) (5'-TMR-CGCATAGGGCCTCGTGATAC-3') has been successfully recovered from a crude sample under a magnet field through their special recognition and hybridization. A designed ssDNA fragment of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus at a much lower concentration than the target ssDNA(I) was also recovered with high efficiency and good selectivity.