RSS 1.0Miscellaneous
Recent Submissions
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Mitigation of the effect of drought on growth and yield of pomegranates by foliar spraying of different sizes of selenium nanoparticles.Trees treated with Se-NPs displayed higher levels of photosynthetic pigments, a better nutrient status, better physical (especially fruit cracking) and chemical parameters, a higher phenolic content, and higher concentrations of osmolytes, antioxidant enzymes and abscisic acid as compared to untreated trees under drought stress. Foliar spraying of 10 and 50 nm Se-NPs alleviated many of the deleterious effects of drought in pomegranate leaves and fruits and this was achieved by reducing stress-induced lipid peroxidation and H2 O2 content through enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes. Furthermore, the 10 nm Se-NPs treatment produced more noticeable effects than the treatment with 50 nm Se-NPs.
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Particle number-based trophic transfer of gold nanomaterials in an aquatic food chain.Analytical limitations considerably hinder our understanding of the impacts of the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials (NMs) on their biological fate in organisms. Here, using a fit-for-purpose analytical workflow, including dosing and emerging analytical techniques, NMs present in organisms are characterized and quantified across an aquatic food chain. The size and shape of gold (Au)-NMs are shown to control the number of Au-NMs attached to algae that were exposed to an equal initial concentration of 2.9 × 1011 particles mL-1. The Au-NMs undergo size/shape-dependent dissolution and agglomeration in the gut of the daphnids, which determines the size distribution of the NMs accumulated in fish. The biodistribution of NMs in fish tissues (intestine, liver, gills, and brain) also depends on NM size and shape, although the highest particle numbers per unit of mass are almost always present in the fish brain. The findings emphasize the importance of physicochemical properties of metallic NMs in their biotransformations and tropic transfers.
