L-Selenocystine induce HepG2 cells apoptosis through ROS-mediated signaling pathways

At present, Hepatocarcinoma is one of the main causes of tumor related death all over the world. However, there are still many clinical restrictions on the treatment of liver cancer. Recently, L-Selenocystine has been shown to be a novel treatment for tumors, especially human glioma cells. But, the mechanism of L-Selenocystine against hepatocellular carcinoma remains unclear. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of L-Selenocystine on HepG2 cell proliferation and activation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated signaling pathway. L-Selenocystine can significantly inhibit HepG2 cell proliferation by activating caspase-3 and cleaving PARP to induce apoptosis. Moreover, the excessive production of ROS and the influence of Bax signaling pathway which can promote cell apoptosis are key factors for L-Selenocystine to induce HepG2 cell apoptosis. Therefore, the date of this study suggest that ROS mediated signal transduction mechanism may provide certain reference significance for L-Selenocystine induced HepG2 cell apoptosis.     

Hydrothermal preparation of TiO₂-Ag nanoparticles and its antimicrobial performance against human pathogenic microbial cells in water

Water contaminated with pathogenic microbes is considered as one of the most common routes for transmitting diseases in human beings. Different methods have been applied for the decontamination of microbes in contaminated water. In the current study, an easy to do hydrothermal method has been used for the preparation of TiO₂-Ag nanoparticles. The obtained material was characterised using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). The morphological appearance of the obtained nanoparticles was in the shape of a sphere with a size range of 60-90 nm. The antimicrobial activity of the prepared nanoparticles was tested against several pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The obtained results proved that the nanoparticles succeeded to affect all the tested microbes in the following order: Bacillus cereus ATCC6633>Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027= Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC13883>Vibrio cholera ATCC700=Candida albicans ATCC 700=Escherichia coli NCTC10418>Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the prepared nanoparticles varied among the tested microbes at range of 12 mg/ml and 25 mg/ml. These results encourage the application of prepared TiO₂-Ag nanoparticles for treatment of microbe-contaminated waters.