Spent anaerobically digested effluents of agricultural origin were collected and treated using membrane filtration to achieve three-large particle free-nutrient streams of N:P ratios of 16.53, 3.78 and 14.22. Three algal species were grown on these streams, achieving good levels of bioremediation of digester fluids simultaneously with biomass and associated end product formation. Nannochloropsis oceanica and Scenedesmus quadricuada, where proven highly effective in remediating the streams achieving ammonia and phosphate reduction over 60% while for Schizochytrium limacinum SR21 these serve as an ideal production medium for lipids and biomass reaching 16.70w/w% and 1.42gL correspondingly. These processes thus provide treatment of sludge, avoiding the disposal problems by land spreading. The solid components are nutrient depleted but rich in organic matter as a soil enhancer, while the fluids rich in nutrients can be efficiently utilised for growth to generate high value materials of microalgae facilitating water reclamation.
Background: Bridged silsesquioxane nanoparticles (BSNs) recently described represent a new class of nanoparticles exhibiting versatile applications and particularly a strong potential for nanomedicine.
Aims:In this work, we describe the synthesis of BSNs from an octasilylated functional porphyrin precursor (PORBSNs) efficiently obtained through a click reaction. These innovative and very small-sized nanoparticles were functionalized with PEG and mannose (PORBSNs-mannose) in order to target breast tumors in vivo.
Methods and Results:The structure of these nanoparticles is constituted of porphyrins J aggregates that allow two-photon spatiotemporal excitation of the nanoparticles. The therapeutic potential of such photoactivable nanoparticles was first studied in vitro, in human breast cancer cells in culture and then in vivo on zebrafish embryos bearing human tumors. These animal models were intravenously injected with 5 nL of a solution containing PORBSNs-mannose. An hour and half after the injection of photoactivable and targeted nanoparticles, the tumor areas were excited for few seconds with a two-photon beam induced focused laser. We observed strong tumor size decrease, with the involvement of apoptosis pathway activation.
Conclusion:We demonstrated the high targeting, imaging, and therapeutic potential of PORBSNs-mannose injected in the blood stream of zebrafish xenografted with human tumors.
KEYWORDSbridged silsesquioxane nanoparticles, human tumor targeting, photodynamic therapy, two-photon excitation Soraya Dib and Dina Aggad contribute equally to this work.
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