Antidiabetic Activity of Zinc Oxide and Silver Nanoparticles on Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

The use of nanoparticles in medicine is an attractive proposition. In the present study, zinc oxide and silver nanoparticles were evaluated for their antidiabetic activity. Fifty male albino rats with weight 120 ± 20 and age 6 months were used. Animals were grouped as follows: control; did not receive any type of treatment, diabetic; received a single intraperitoneal dose of streptozotocin (100 mg/kg), diabetic + zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs), received single daily oral dose of 10 mg/kg ZnONPs in suspension, diabetic + silver nanoparticles (SNPs); received a single daily oral dose of SNP of 10 mg/kg in suspension and diabetic + insulin; received a single subcutaneous dose of 0.6 units/50 g body weight. Zinc oxide and silver nanoparticles induce a significant reduced blood glucose, higher serum insulin, higher glucokinase activity higher expression level of insulin, insulin receptor, GLUT-2 and glucokinase genes in diabetic rats treated with zinc oxide, silver nanoparticles and insulin. In conclusion, zinc oxide and sliver nanoparticles act as potent antidiabetic agents.     

Dynamic changes of protein corona compositions on the surface of zinc oxide nanoparticle in cell culture media

The potential applications of nanomaterials used in nanomedicine as ingredients in drug delivery systems and in other products continue to expand. When nanomaterials are introduced into physiological environments and driven by energetics, they readily associate proteins forming a protein corona (PC) on their surface. This PC could result in an alteration of the nanomatcrial's surface characteristics, affecting their interaction with cells due to conformational changes in adsorbed protein molecules. However, our current understanding of nanobiological interactions is still very limited. Utilizing a liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy/mass spectroscopy technology and a Cytoscape plugin (ClueGO) approach, we examined the composition of the PC for a set of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONP) from cell culture media typically and further analyzed the biological interaction of identified proteins, respectively. In total, 36 and 33 common proteins were investigated as being bound to ZnONP at 5 min and 60 min, respectively. These proteins were further analyzed with ClueGO, a Cytoscape plugin, which provided gene ontology and the biological interaction processes of identified proteins. Proteins bound to the surface of nanoparticles that may modify the structure, therefore the function of the adsorbed protein could be consequently affect the complicated biological processes.     

Novel method for fabrication of room temperature polypyrrole–ZnO nanocomposite NO2 sensor

Nanocomposites of polypyrrole (PPy) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by spin coating method. These nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV–vis techniques, which proved the polymerization of pyrrole monomer and the strong interaction between polypyrrole and ZnO NPs. The nanocomposites were used for gas sensing to CH₃OH, C₂H₅OH, NH₃, H₂S and NO₂ at room temperature. It was revealed that PPy–ZnO nanocomposites with different ZnO weight ratios (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) could detect NO₂ at low concentration with very higher selectivity and sensitivity at room temperature than the reported PPy. The PPy–ZnO nanocomposites responded to NO₂ at concentration as low as 10 ppm. PPy–ZnO nanocomposite containing ZnO (50%) showed the maximum sensitivity 38% with 92.10% stability to 100 ppm NO₂ gas at room temperature. The sensing mechanism of PPy–ZnO nanocomposites to NO₂ was presumed to be the effects of p–n junction between PPy and ZnO.