Interaction of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and zinc ions enhances cytotoxicity of zinc ions

More and more nanomaterials enter the environment along with their production, application and deposal. They may alter the biological effect of pollutants already existing in the real environment by different interactions. Therefore efforts should also be paid to investigate the combined toxicity of nanomaterials and pollutants. Herein, we studied the combined toxicity of oxi- dized multi-walled carbon nanotubes （O-MWCNTs） and zinc ions on ceils. It is found that cytotoxicity of the combined O-MWCNTs and zinc ions elevates significantly, compared with O-MWCNTs or zinc ions alone. This result comes from the assays of cell morphology, cell viability and proliferation, cell membrane integrity, mitochondrial membrane potential and cell apoptosis. Mechanism studies indicate that O-MWCNTs absorb zinc ions and form slight aggregation. These enhance remark- ably the cellular uptake of O-MWCNTs, and thus induce the death of cells by bringing in more zinc ions into cells. Our study indicates that the existence of nanomaterials could change the bioconsequence of other pollutants and emphasizes the im- portance of the combined toxicity research in the presence of nanomaterials.

Silica nanoparticle with a single His-tag for addressable functionalization, reversible assembly, and recycling

For many biomedical and catalytic applications, such as encapsulation of proteins/enzymes in nanopartides （NPs）, it is preferable to have well-dispersed small NPs that are stable in solution and behave quasi-homogeneously. However, conventional liquid phase methods for small-NP synthesis and functionalization usually face great difficulties in separation/purification and recycling. In addition, controlling the orientation of proteins inside NPs is also a crucial issue to maximize the activity of the encapsulated proteins. Herein, we report a solid phase method to solve these problems. Using His-tagged proteins as cores, well-dispersed core-sheU silica NPs are facilely synthesized and functionalized in a column. The core His-tagged proteins are kept bound on the surface of the resIn beads in the column during the entire process, making the separation/purification of NPs and their precursors during the multiple-step process as simple as a few-minutes procedure of draining and washing the column. Each obtained silica NP has an adjustable eccentric core-shell structure with only one His-tag sticking out of the particle. This single His-tag on the surface of each NP not only makes it easy for addressable and stoichiometric functionalization of the NP but also provides an easy way to reversibly assemble NPs into dimers or be oriented on the surface of large particles. Notably, this solid phase approach also provides a versatile means to control the orientation of proteins inside NPs, and the His-tag makes it easy to recycle those well-dispersed small NPs.