Studying Adsorption and Cellular Toxicity of Boron Nitride Nanostructure versus Melphalan Anti-ovarian Cancer Drug

BACKGROUND

Inclusion of anticancer drugs into biocompatible nanoparticulate carriers decreases the general toxicity and improves the efficacy of clinical treatments due to the reduction of soluble circulating free drug.

METHODS

In addition, removal of emerging drug contaminants from wastewaters is a necessity that should be seriously attended. Boron nitride (BN) is choice in drug delivery because of many surprising properties. Here, boron nitride nanoparticles are prepared, characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) and used in the delivery of melphalan anti-cancer drug.

RESULTS

Then, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are carried out to study adsorption of this drug on the surface of pure boron nitride fullerene via familiar hybrid functionals B3LYP and B3PW91. In addition, the polarizable continuum model (PCM) calculations show that BN is stable in water.

CONCLUSION

Finally, the in vitro cellular toxicity and viability of BN nanoparticles was examined on ES-2 cancer cells. The inhibitory dose IC50 of the material confirmed an acceptable cytotoxicity and nanoparticles affected the average growth of ES-2 cancer cells.

Selective photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic alcohols to aldehydes with air by magnetic WO3ZnO/Fe3O4. In situ photochemical synthesis of 2-substituted benzimidazoles

Recently, visible light-driven organic photochemical synthesis has been a pioneering field of interest from academic and industrial associations due to its unique features of green and sustainable chemistry. Herein, WO3ZnO/Fe3O4 was synthesized, characterized, and used as an efficient magnetic photocatalyst in the preparation of a range of 2-substituted benzimidazoles via the condensation of benzyl alcohol and o-phenylenediamine in ethanol at room temperature for the first time. The key feature of this work is focused on the in situ photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohols to benzaldehydes under atmospheric air and in the absence of any further oxidant. This new heterogeneous nanophotocatalyst was characterized via XRD, FT-IR, VSM and SEM. Short reaction time, cost-effectiveness, broad substrate scope, easy work-up by an external magnet, and excellent product yield are the major advantages of the present methodology. A number of effective experimental parameters were also fully investigated to clear broadness and generality of the protocol.

A case of May-Thurner syndrome

May-Thurner syndrome is a condition that results from narrowing of the left common iliac vein lumen due to pressure from the right common iliac artery as it crosses anterior to it. We describe a very rare case in which a previously asymptomatic patient presented with May-Thurner syndrome.

Antidiabetic effect of garlic (Allium sativum L.) in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

OBJECTIVE

The antidiabetic effect of garlic ethanolic extract (Allium sativum L.) was investigated in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURE

In the present study, oral administration of garlic extract (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 g/kg body wt.) for 14 days on the level of serum glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, urea, uric acid, creatinine, aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT) in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were evaluated.

RESULTS

Oral administrations of the garlic extract significantly decreased serum glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, urea, uric acid, creatinine, AST and ALT levels, while increased serum insulin in diabetic rats but not in normal rats (p<0.05). A comparison was made between the action of garlic extract and glibenclamide (600 microg/kg), the known antidiabetic drug. The antidiabetic effect of the extract was more effective than that observed with glibenclamide.

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that the plant must be considered as excellent candidate for future studies on diabetes mellitus.