Evaluation of antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity assays of amino acids functionalized magnetite nanoparticles: Hyperthermia and flow cytometry applications.

We report the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles (MNP) and their functionalization with glycine (MNPGly), ß-alanine (MNPAla), L-phenylalanine (MNPPhAla), D-(-)-α-phenylglycine (MNPPhGly) amino acids. The functionalized nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS), magnetic hyperthermia (MH), dynamic light scattering and zeta potential. The functionalized nanoparticles had isoelectric points (IEP) at pH ≃ 4.4, 5.8, 5.9 and 6.8 for samples MNPGly, MNPAla, MNPPhGly and MNPPhAla, respectively, while pure magnetite had an IEP at pH 5.6. In the MH experiments, the samples showed specific absorption rate (SAR) of 64, 71, 74, 81 and 66 W/g for MNP, MNPGly, MNPAla, MNPPhGly, and MNPPhAla, respectively. We used a flow cytometric technique to determine the cellular magnetic nanoparticles plus amino acids content. Magnetic fractionation and characterization of Resovist® magnetic nanoparticles were performed for applications in magnetic particle imaging (MPI). We have also studied the antiproliferative and antiparasitic effects of functionalized MNPs. Overall, the data showed that the functionalized nanoparticles have great potential for using as environmental, antitumor, antiparasitic agents and clinical applications.

Effects of additives in wet brewery residue silage on lamb carcass traits and meat quality.

The objective was to evaluate the use of wet brewery residue (WBR) silage additives on carcass characteristics and sheep meat quality. Thirty-two Santa Inês male sheep uncastrated with initial body weight of 22.61 ± 7.2 kg were allocated to a completely randomized design with four treatments: (1) WBR silage without additive (WBRS), (2) WBR silage with milled corn (WBRS + MC), (3) WBR silage with wheat bran (WBRS + WB), and (4) WBR silage with cassava flour (WBRS + CF) and eight replicates. WBRS + WB resulted in lower cold carcass weight than WBRS + CF; however, this reduction was not sufficient to alter the carcass commercial yield or loin-eye area. The leg cut of animals fed WBRS + WB showed less value than those animals fed with WBRS + CS. The meat lightness of WBRS was higher that of WBRS + MC, WBRS + WB, and WBRS + CF. The cooking loss for WBRS + WB was less than those animals fed with WBRS + CS. However, meat protein, meat cholesterol, and shear force were similar among treatments (17.69%, 42.46 mg/100 g of meat, and 2.48 kgf/cm2, respectively). The use of additives in wet brewery residue silage does not improve carcass characteristics or the quality of sheep meat, and it is therefore recommended to use WBR silage without additives.