We report an unprecedented catalytic decomposition of aqueous bilirubin solution, without any photo-activation, by citrate functionalized Mn 3 O 4 nanoparticles (NPs). In vitro reactivity of the catalyst on the whole blood specimen of hyperbilirubinemia patients revealed that the catalyst can significantly suppress the total bilirubin level in the blood specimens.
Aim:To test the potential of orally administered citrate functionalized Mn3O4 nanoparticles (C-Mn3O4 NPs) as a therapeutic agent against hepatic fibrosis and associated chronic liver diseases.Materials & methods:C-Mn3O4 NPs were synthesized and the pH dependent antioxidant mechanism was characterized by in vitro studies. CCl4 intoxicated mice were orally treated with C-Mn3O4 NPs to test its in vivo antioxidant and antifibrotic ability.Results:We demonstrated ultrahigh efficacy of the C-Mn3O4 NPs in treatment of chronic liver diseases such as hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis in mice compared with conventional medicine silymarin without any toxicological implications.Conclusion:These findings may pave the way for practical clinical use of the NPs as safe medication of chronic liver diseases associated with fibrosis and cirrhosis in human subjects.
Mercury is highly toxic to human health in all of its oxidation states. Thus, developing a low cost, efficient metal ion sensor for the detection of mercury ions at concentration levels down to parts-per-billion (ppb) remains a challenge. In the present work, we have developed a silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) impregnated poly(vinyle alcohol) capped 4-nitrophenylanthranilate (PVA-NPA) complex for mercury detection. The fluorescence intensity of the synthesized PVA-NPA is found to be quenched by the impregnated Ag-NPs through dynamic quenching. Moreover, energy transfer (ET) between the acceptor (Ag-NPs) and the donor (PVA-NPA) is observed to follow the nanosurface energy transfer (NSET) mechanism. We have utilized the amalgamation of Ag-NPs with Hg 2+ to develop a low cost prototype, which is highly efficient NSET based ultrasensitive "turn on" fluorescence mercury sensor. This sensor has high selectivity for Hg 2+ ions over a wide range of other competing heavy metal ions, generally present in water of natural sources. The sensor response is found to be linear over the Hg 2+ ions concentration regime from 0 to 1 ppb with a lower detection limit of 100 ppt (0.5 nM). The proposed method demonstrated successfully for monitoring trace Hg 2+ ions in real world samples.
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