Graphene oxide conjugated with polymers: a study of culture condition to determine whether a bacterial growth stimulant or an antimicrobial agent?

Background: The results showed that the deciding factor is the culture medium in which the bacteria and the graphene oxide (GO) are incubated at the initial manipulation step. These findings allow better use of GO and GO-based materials more and be able to clearly apply them in the field of biomedical nanotechnology.

Results: To study the use of GO sheets applied in the field of biomedical nanotechnology, this study determines whether GO-based materials [GO, GO-polyoxyalkyleneamine (POAA), and GO-chitosan] stimulate or inhibit bacterial growth in detail.

Graphene quantum dots with nitrogen-doped content dependence for highly efficient dual-modality photodynamic antimicrobial therapy and bioimaging.

Reactive oxygen species is the main contributor to photodynamic therapy. The results of this study show that a nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dot, serving as a photosensitizer, was capable of generating a higher amount of reactive oxygen species than a nitrogen-free graphene quantum dot in photodynamic therapy when photoexcited for only 3 min of 670 nm laser exposure (0.1 W cm), indicating highly improved antimicrobial effects.

Two-Photon Photoexcited Photodynamic Therapy and Contrast Agent with Antimicrobial Graphene Quantum Dots.

A graphene quantum dot (GQD) used as the photosensitizer with high two-photon absorption in the near-infrared region, a large absolute cross section of two-photon excitation (TPE), strong two-photon luminescence, and impressive two-photon stability could be used for dual modality two-photon photodynamic therapy (PDT) and two-photon bioimaging with an ultrashot pulse laser (or defined as TPE). In this study, a GQD efficiently generated reactive oxygen species coupled with TPE, which highly increased the effective PDT ability of both Gram-positive and -negative bacteria, with ultralow energy and an extremely short photoexcitation time generated by TPE. Because of its two-photon properties, a GQD could serve as a promising two-photon contrast agent for observing specimens in depth in three-dimensional biological environments while simultaneously proceeding with PDT action to eliminate bacteria, particularly in multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains.

Graphene quantum dots conjugated with polymers for two-photon properties under two-photon excitation.

Few studies have investigated the two-photon properties of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and GQD-conjugated polymers. The results of the present study revealed that conjugated polymers containing nitrogen and sulfur atoms caused higher quantum confinement of emissive energy to be trapped on the surface of nanomaterials, resulting in a high-photoluminescence quantum yield and notable two-photon properties. Additionally, the nanomaterials generated no reactive oxygen species-dependent oxidative stress on cells and served as promising two-photon contrast probes.

An improved process for high nutrition of germinated brown rice production: Low-pressure plasma.

Brown rice was exposed to low-pressure plasma ranging from 1 to 3kV for 10min. Treatment of brown rice in low-pressure plasma increases the germination percentage, seedling length, and water uptake in laboratory germination tests. Of the various treatments, 3-kV plasma exposure for 10min yielded the best results.

Rice bran feruloylated oligosaccharides activate dendritic cells via Toll-like receptor 2 and 4 signaling.

This work presents the effects of feruloylated oligosaccharides (FOs) of rice bran on murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) and the potential pathway through which the effects are mediated. We found that FOs induced phenotypic maturation of DCs, as shown by the increased expression of CD40, CD80/CD86 and MHC-I/II molecules. FOs efficiently induced maturation of DCs generated from C3H/HeN or C57BL/6 mice with normal toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) or TLR-2 but not DCs from mice with mutated TLR4 or TLR2.

Immunomodulatory effects of feruloylated oligosaccharides from rice bran.

Feruloylated oligosaccharides (FOs), the ferulic acid ester of oligosaccharides, can be released either by the enzymatic or mild acid hydrolysis of arabinoxylans present in cereal bran, and are usually considered as natural antioxidants. However, no related research is available to explain their immunomodulatory effects. This report elucidated their immunomodulatory effects through the variations of pro-inflammatory mediators in vitro.

Phytochemicals characterization of solvent extracts from taro-scented japonica rice bran.

The major phytochemicals and antioxidant properties of taro-scented rice bran (TaiNung 71; TN71) extracts using 3 different solvents are characterized. Some progress is realized in creating an economic value for rice bran that has long been considered an agricultural waste. Various solvent extracts reveal the presence of phenolic compounds, oryzanols, tocopherols, and tocotrienols.

Optimization of acid hydrolysis conditions for feruloylated oligosaccharides from rice bran through response surface methodolgy.

Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the hydrolysis conditions with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) to obtain the maximum amount of feruloylated oligosaccharides from rice bran. The TFA concentration and hydrolysis time effects on feruloylated oligosaccharides recovery are studied. The optimum hydrolysis conditions for maximizing feruloylated oligosaccharides recovery were 193 mM TFA concentration and 1.