Assessment of the effects of 2,4-D-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid-based herbicide exposure in eggs and embryos of golden apple snails using OCT.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of herbicide 2, 4-D-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid on golden apple snail eggs and embryos. Additionally, the study assessed the applicability of optical coherence tomography (OCT), a non-invasive depth cross-sectional microscopic imaging technique, as a novel method, to the best of our knowledge, for studying morphological changes in golden apple snail eggs and embryos, in comparison to the conventional approach of using white light microscopy. The study revealed that the herbicide 2,4-D-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid affected the hatchery rate and morphological changes of the eggs and embryos. The lethal concentration (LC50), representing the concentration of a substance that is expected to cause death in half of the population being studied, of the golden apple eggs and embryos increased with longer exposure time and higher concentrations. The estimated median effective concentration (EC50), which denotes the concentration producing the desired effect in 50% of the exposed golden apple embryos, exhibited a similar trend of change as the LC50. When compared to the microscopic study, it was observed that OCT could be employed to investigate morphological changes of golden apple snail eggs and embryos, enabling evaluation of alterations in both 2D and 3D structures.

Hybrid Cyanine/Methotrexate Nanoparticles for Synergistic PDT/Chemotherapy of Breast Cancer.

Typically, nanomedicine was prepared using a nanocarrier to load cargo for specific purposes. In this work, a carrier-free nanosystem for imaging and photodynamic (PDT)/chemo combination therapy was developed using simple self-assembly of a dye and a chemotherapeutic agent. The resulting nanoparticles (I2-IR783/MTX@NPs) exhibited a spherical morphology with a size of 240.6 ± 2.5 nm. I2-IR783/MTX@NPs had substantial internalization in 4T1 murine breast cancer cells and showed a synergistic anticancer effect after NIR light irradiation. Additionally, the 3D tumor model exhibits the same phototoxicity of nanoparticles as a 2D cell culture. The PDT efficiency of the nanosystem in the physiological environment was confirmed by the detection of intracellular reactive oxygen species as well as the live/dead viability/cytotoxicity assay following NIR light exposure. In addition, optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used as an alternative tool to monitor the response after treatment. Therefore, I2-IR783/MTX@NPs show great potential use in theranostic application for breast cancer PDT-chemotherapy.

Optical coherence tomography as an alternative tool for evaluating the effects of glyphosate on hybrid catfish (Clarias gariepinus × Clarias macrocephalus).

Glyphosate contamination in fresh water is a major problem in agricultural countries. It affects many vital organs in freshwater organisms that are important in the food chain. Hence, the effects of glyphosate on living organism organs are of particular interest. However, several existing techniques for evaluating the effect of glyphosate on aquatic organisms require stained tissue. To study organ tissue with minimal processing, alternative technique is demanded. Here, we investigated the used of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as an alternative tool for ex vivo evaluation of the effect of glyphosate on organ tissues of aquatic organisms, i.e., hybrid catfish (Clarias gariepinus × Clarias macrocephalus). The targeted samples were organ tissues from the brain, gill, and liver of hybrid catfish after glyphosate exposion at concentration of 10 mg L-1 for 24 h. The alteration was then verified by histology, and immunohistochemistry. The study found that all three techniques provide correlated results. We observed that OCT clearly showed damage to the brain and gill tissues of glyphosate-exposed hybrid catfish. However, the alteration in liver tissue was observable but not clear for this low concentration of exposure. The results from histology and immunohistochemistry confirmed the effect of glyphosate on brain, gill, and liver tissues of hybrid catfish. The results suggest that all three techniques could be used to examine the effects of glyphosate exposure in hybrid catfish. However, the choice of a suitable technique depends upon the purpose of the study.