Use Of Selenium Nanoparticles Research Articles

Production and Use of Selenium Nanoparticles as Fertilizers.

The synergy problem was discussed linking Se nanoparticles and different soil fertility agents. Se zero-valent-state nanoparticles were investigated as fertilizers and antioxidants. A technology was proposed for producing Se zero-valent-state nanoparticles. Se nanoparticles were obtained by laser ablation of Se in water using a fiber ytterbium laser, with a wavelength between 1060 and 1070 nm, a pulse repetition rate of 20 kHz, a pulse duration of 80 ns, and an average power of 20 W, and a copper vapor laser with wavelengths of 510.6 and 578.2 nm and an average power of 8 W. The main particle mass part shifted from 800 nm to a size less than 100 nm, corresponding to the increase in the laser fragmentation time. The resulting nanoparticles were monodisperse in size and mass. The Se nanoparticle water suspension was introduced into the soil. The soil Se nanoparticle concentrations were about 1, 5, 10, and 25 μg kg–1. An experiment was carried out in a climate chamber in two series: (1) growing plants in soil imitating the standard organogenesis environment conditions such as illumination of 16 h per day, temperature of 22 °C, soil humidity of 25% SDW, and an experiment duration of 30 days and (2) growing plants in soil under changing environmental conditions of organogenesis. The standard environmental conditions for the first 10 days are illumination of 16 h day–1, temperature of 22 °C, and soil humidity of 25% SDW. The plant stress for 5 days is hyperthermia of 40 °C. The standard environmental conditions for the next 15 days are illumination of 16 h day–1, temperature of 22 °C, and soil humidity of 25% SDW. At standard organogenesis, the plant leaf plate surface area was 30 ± 2 cm2 in the control option, and the Se nanoparticle doses were correspondingly 1 μg kg–1 for 32 ± 3 cm2, 5 μg kg–1 for 37 ± 2 cm2, 10 μg kg–1 for 38 ± 3 cm2, and 25 μg kg–1 for 28 ± 4 cm2. Hyperthermia stressed plant growth was studied. The highest plant growth rate was in Se nanoparticle concentrations of 5 and 10 μg kg–1. The eggplant growth on the soil with the Se nanoparticle addition at a concentration of 10 μg kg–1 of leaf plate surface area was twice compared to the eggplant growth in untreated soil. The same was for tomato plants. The leaf plate surface area of the cucumber plant grown using Se nanoparticles was 50% higher compared to the control option. The Biogeosystem technique methodology of 20–45 cm soil-layer intrasoil milling for soil multilevel aggregate system formation and intrasoil pulse continuous-discrete watering for soil water regime control was proposed for the Se nanoparticles for better function in the real soil, providing a synergy effect of soil mechanical processing, nanoparticles, humic substances, and polymicrobial biofilms on soil fertility.

Antimycobacterial Effect of Selenium Nanoparticles on Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death from a single infection agent worldwide. In recent years, the occurrence of TB cases caused by drug-resistant strains has spread, and is expected to continue to grow. Therefore, the development of new alternative treatments to the use of antibiotics is highly important. In that sense, nanotechnology can play a very relevant role, due to the unique characteristics of nanoparticles. In fact, different types of nanoparticles have already been evaluated both as potential bactericides and as efficient drug delivery vehicles. In this work, the use of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) has been evaluated to inhibit the growth of two types of mycobacteria: Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msm) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The results showed that SeNPs are able to inhibit the growth of both types of mycobacteria by damaging their cell envelope integrity. These results open a new opportunity for the use of this type of nanoparticles as antimycobacterial agents by themselves, or for the development of novel nanosystems that combine the action of these nanoparticles with other drugs.

Exploring the applicability of nano-selenium for capture of mercury vapor: Paper based sorbent and a chemical modifier in graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

The ability of the selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) to capture mercury (Hg) is a subject of interest as this concept can be applied to reduce mercury poisoning cases to certain extent. In this work, SeNPs were fabricated on a paper and used as sorbent for capturing mercury vapor. The formation of the stable HgSe on the paper sorbent after the sequestration was visible to the naked eye for mercury concentration of higher than 200 μg L−1, corresponding with the discoloration of the paper sorbent from dark orange to gray color. The gray color was more intense with increasing Hg concentrations from 200 to 300, 500, and 1000 μg L−1. Therefore, color analysis software was used as a semi-quantitative technique for mercury analysis. The mercury captured was also analyzed with the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). After confirming that SeNPs helps capture mercury, it was further applied as a chemical modifier in graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) for mercury determination. The SeNPs (410 mg L−1) allowed the use of pyrolysis temperature up to 300 °C with adequate sensitivity. Calibration curve was constructed from 100 to 500 μg L−1 with good linearity (R2 = 0.9968). With the use of SeNPs, 15 times sensitivity improvement was obtained compared to that without the use of any chemical modifier. The detection limit (N = 10 at 3σ) was calculated at 2 μg L−1 for the Hg standard. The proposed modifier was used for analyzing mercury in the saliva sample. Apart from minimizing extensive sample pretreatment process, the recovery percentage of Hg from the spiked sample was found to be approximately 90% (RSD 0–2%) with the help of the SeNPs modifier. This work exhibits multi-dimensional applications of SeNPs towards mercury analysis.

Effect of Selenium Nanoparticles on the Formation of Corn Yield

The peculiarities Obsky 140 variety of corn in yield formation when it is cultivated with the use of selenium nanoparticles in an optimum concentration were studied. The experiment was conducted in soil culture in threefold repetition. Agrochemical indicators of soil were: 6.2 pHKCl, 2.6% content of humus, 204 mg/kg P2O5, and 219 mg/kg K2O of soil. Four variants of the experiment were developed: control 1 (dry seeds), control 2 (seeds soaked in water), seed incrustation with NP Se (semidry pickling), and seeds soaked in NP Se (30 min before seeding calculated for 0.1 g/ha). NP Se containing 3.7 mg of Se nanopreparation in 1 L of water was used. The positive effect of selenium nanoparticles on the growth processes of corn seeds—germination, germination energy, and growth force—was shown. Seed treatment with NP Se increased the seed germination energy by 6.90 and 9.13%, laboratory germination by 4.67 and 8.34%, and growth force by 26.32 and 31.05%, respectively, compared with control 2 and control 1. Under adverse conditions, the use of selenium nanoparticles increased plant growth in height. NP Se had a positive effect on starch accumulation, and soaking in this preparation increased the content of protein fractions. The greatest increase in yield of corn’s dry phytomass was provided by the soaking of seeds in selenium nanoparticles, which is caused by an increase corn’s green mass yield.

Effect of selenium nanoparticles on the formation of the corn crop

Peculiarities of yield formation of maize variety Obskiy 140 the cultivation of it with the use of selenium nanoparticles of an optimum concentration. The experiment was carried out in soil culture in 3-fold repetition. Agrochemical parameters of soil: рН 6,2; the КСl humus of 2.6%; P O 204 mg/kg and K O 219 mg/kg soil. Four variants of the experiment were developed: control 1 (dry seeds), 2 5 2 control 2 (soaking seeds in water), NP Se inlay (semi-dry etching) and NP Se soaking (30 minutes before sowing at the rate of 0,1 g/ha of NP selenium). In the experiments, NP Se containing 3,7 mg of nanopreparation Se in 1 liter of water was used. The positive effect of selenium nanoparticles on the growth processes of maize seeds: germination, germination energy, growth force is shown. Se NP seed treatment increases germination energy by 6,90 and 9,13%, laboratory germination by 4,67 and 8,34%, growth strength by 26,32 and 31,05%, respectively, control 2 (soaking in water) and control 1 (dry change). Under adverse conditions, the use of selenium nanoparticles increases the growth of plants in height. Positive effect on the accumulation of starch in corn grains inlay NP Se, and soaking in this drug increases the content of protein fractions. The greatest increase in the yield of dry corn phytomass provides soaking seeds with selenium nanoparticles, which is caused by an increase in the yield of green corn mass.

Selenium nanoparticle as a bright promising anti-nanobacterial agent

The use of nanotechnology for nanobacteria (or calcifying nanoparticles) treatment is a new creative approach. Use of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) as anti-nanobacterial agents might be considered as a bright promising approach due to their critical role in the inhibition of crystal growth and aggregation of calcium oxalate. Hence, in this study, we investigated the probable outcome of SeNPs inhibitory effects on growth of nanobacteria. Fragments of thirty urinary tract stones were chemically analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and urinary stones Kits for calcifying nanoparticles presence. Then powder of stone fragments were resuspended in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM), sterilized by filtration and cultured in presence of 1, 5, 30, 60, and 90 μmol/L SeNPs concentrations. Besides, calcifying nanoparticles growth in the culture without SeNPs was measured spectrophotometrically. Also, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses were used, where calcifying nanoparticles formation occurred. Results showed that in the culture without SeNPs, the positive calcifying nanoparticles detection was 60% while after adding SeNPs at 90 μmol/L, not any calcifying nanoparticles were observed. Further confirmation came out when Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed calcium and phosphate peaks in the culture medium without any SeNPs while in the culture containing 90 μm/L SeNPs a decrease in calcium and other minerals was obvious. Therefore, SeNPs clearly restricted the growth of nanobacteria due to their inhibitory effects on calcium oxalate deposition.

Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA Growth and Biofilm Formation after Treatment with Antibiotics and SeNPs.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a dangerous pathogen resistant to β-lactam antibiotics. Due to its resistance, it is difficult to manage the infections caused by this strain. We examined this issue in terms of observation of the growth properties and ability to form biofilms in sensitive S. aureus and MRSA after the application of antibiotics (ATBs)—ampicillin, oxacillin and penicillin—and complexes of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) with these ATBs. The results suggest the strong inhibition effect of SeNPs in complexes with conventional ATBs. Using the impedance method, a higher disruption of biofilms was observed after the application of ATB complexes with SeNPs compared to the group exposed to ATBs without SeNPs. The biofilm formation was intensely inhibited (up to 99% ± 7% for S. aureus and up to 94% ± 4% for MRSA) after application of SeNPs in comparison with bacteria without antibacterial compounds whereas ATBs without SeNPs inhibited S. aureus up to 79% ± 5% and MRSA up to 16% ± 2% only. The obtained results provide a basis for the use of SeNPs as a tool for the treatment of bacterial infections, which can be complicated because of increasing resistance of bacteria to conventional ATB drugs.