The affinity of zeolite nanoparticles (diameter of 8–12 nm) possessing high surface area and high pore volume towards human plasma proteins has been investigated. The protein composition (corona) of zeolite nanoparticles has been shown to be more dependent on the plasma protein concentrations and the type of zeolites than zeolite nanoparticles concentration. The number of proteins present in the corona of zeolite nanoparticles at 100% plasma (in vivo state) is less than with 10% plasma exposure. This could be due to a competition between the proteins to occupy the corona of the zeolite nanoparticles. Moreover, a high selective adsorption for apolipoprotein C-III (APOC-III) and fibrinogen on the zeolite nanoparticles at high plasma concentration (100%) was observed. While the zeolite nanoparticles exposed to low plasma concentration (10%) exhibited a high selective adsorption for immunoglobulin gamma (i.e. IGHG1, IGHG2 and IGHG4) proteins. The zeolite nanoparticles can potentially be used for selectively capture of APOC-III in order to reduce the activation of lipoprotein lipase inhibition during hypertriglyceridemia treatment. The zeolite nanoparticles can be adapted to hemophilic patients (hemophilia A (F-VIII deficient) and hemophilia B (F-IX deficient)) with a risk of bleeding, and thus might be potentially used in combination with the existing therapy.
The optical properties of photopolymer layers consisting of an acrylamide-based matrix and microporous aluminophosphate nanocrystals of AEI-type are investigated. The compatibility of the photopolymer doped with the nanoparticles is studied. The surface and volume properties of the layers with different levels of doping with microporous nanocrystals are characterized. The effective refractive indices and absorption coefficients of the doped photopolymer layers are determined and used to calculate the refractive index and porosity of pure AEI nanoparticles used as dopants. Volume transmission gratings were recorded in the doped photopolymer layers at different spatial frequencies.By spatial monitoring of the characteristic Raman peak of the AEI particles across the grating vector, the optimal concentrations of the nanocrystals for obtaining highest light induced redistribution of nanocrystals are determined. The optical properties of the photopolymer layers combined with the redistribution of the AEI nanoparticles during holographic recording are the parameters exploited for fabrication of optical sensors. An irreversible humidity sensor based on a transmission holographic grating is designed and fabricated. The diffraction efficiency of the sensor changes permanently after exposure to high humidity.
The toxicity of two types of ultra-small zeolites (8-18 nm) with LTL-and EMT-type structures is reported.Both the LTL-and EMT-type zeolites belong to the same group of molecular sieves; they have large pores (7.1-7.5 Å) and low silica content (Si/Al = 1.2-2.3). The zeolites are prepared by an environmentally friendly synthetic approach from precursor suspensions without using any organic template. Cellular interactions with the two types of zeolite nanocrystals are evaluated by cell viability, reactive oxygen species and cell life cycle assays. It is found that various concentrations of zeolites have negligible effects on the cell life cycle. Moreover, the LTL-and EMT-types zeolites did not cause extensive oxidative stress on the cells. Although it is seen that the zeolites extensively entered in the cells, there is no sign of toxicity for all employed concentrations of ultra-small EMT and LTL zeolites. Additionally, no abnormality in DNA replication while exposed to the zeolites is observed. Very importantly, the zeolite corona shows a high affinity for fibrinogen, moderate affinity for apoA-II and complement factor 3, and trace affinity for albumin, which is the most abundant protein of human plasma. Thus the zeolite nanoparticles can be considered as very promising material for purification of fibrinogen and lipoproteins. Since fibrinogen is considered as acute phase protein and found to be the most associated biomolecule in the composition of corona at the surface of zeolites, we propose that these nanoparticles can be potentially pro-inflammatory for in vivo applications. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See
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