Nanotechnology in action: silver nanoparticles for improved eco-friendly remediation.

Nanotechnology is an exciting area with great potential for use in biotechnology due to the far-reaching effects of nanoscale materials and their size-dependent characteristics. Silver and other metal nanoparticles have attracted a lot of attention lately because of the exceptional optical, electrical, and antimicrobial characteristics they possess. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) stand out due to their cost-effectiveness and abundant presence in the earth's crust, making them a compelling subject for further exploration.

Biogenic metallic nanoparticles as enzyme mimicking agents.

The use of biological systems such as plants, bacteria, and fungi for the synthesis of nanomaterials has emerged to fill the gap in the development of sustainable methods that are non-toxic, pollution-free, environmentally friendly, and economical for synthesizing nanomaterials with potential in biomedicine, biotechnology, environmental science, and engineering. Current research focuses on understanding the characteristics of biogenic nanoparticles as these will form the basis for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles with multiple functions due to the physicochemical properties they possess. This review briefly describes the intrinsic enzymatic mimetic activity of biogenic metallic nanoparticles, the cytotoxic effects of nanoparticles due to their physicochemical properties and the use of capping agents, molecules acting as reducing and stability agents and which aid to alleviate toxicity.

Synthesis, Characterization and In Vitro Antibacterial Evaluation of Conjugated Silver Nanoparticles.

In the present study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using both the chemical and biological methods and conjugated with extracts. These were then characterized and evaluated for antimicrobial activities against multi-drug resistant pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant (MRSA), and . Nanoparticles were analyzed with UV-visible spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX).

γ-Cyclodextrin capped silver nanoparticles for molecular recognition and enhancement of antibacterial activity of chloramphenicol.

Computational studies were conducted to identify the favourable formation of the inclusion complex of chloramphenicol with cyclodextrins. The results of molecular docking and molecular dynamics predicted the strongest interaction of chloramphenicol with γ-cyclodextrin. Further, the inclusion complex of chloramphenicol with γ-cyclodextrin was experimentally prepared and a phenomenon of inclusion was verified by using different characterization techniques such as thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and two dimensional nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) experiments.

Novel insights into amylin aggregation.

Amylin is a peptide that aggregates into species that are toxic to pancreatic beta cells, leading to type II diabetes. This study has for the first time quantified amylin association and dissociation kinetics (association constant ( ) = 28.7 ± 5.

Amylin uncovered: a review on the polypeptide responsible for type II diabetes.

Amylin is primarily responsible for classifying type II diabetes as an amyloid (protein misfolding) disease as it has great potential to aggregate into toxic nanoparticles, thereby resulting in loss of pancreatic β-cells. Although type II diabetes is on the increase each year, possibly due to bad eating habits of modern society, research on the culprit for this disease is still in its early days. In addition, unlike the culprit for Alzheimer's disease, amyloid β-peptide, amylin has failed to receive attention worthy of being featured in an abundance of review articles.

A direct fluorescence-based technique for cellular localization of amylin.

Amylin has been implicated in type II diabetes because of its inherent property to misfold into toxic aggregates. Although it has been shown that amylin interacts with cell membranes, no study to date has monitored the association process using a direct approach. The present study uses confocal microscopy to identify the localization of carboxyfluorescein-labeled amylin in RIN-5F cells.