In this paper, iron oxide nanoparticles coated with trisodium citrate were obtained. Nanoparticles self-assembling stable clusters were ~10 and 50–80 nm in size, consisting of NPs 3 nm in size. The stability was controlled by using multi-angle dynamic light scattering and the zeta potential, which was −32 ± 2 mV. Clusters from TSC-IONPs can be destroyed when interacting with a hen egg-white lysozyme. After the destruction of the nanoparticles and proteins, aggregates are formed quickly, within 5–10 min. Their sizes depend on the concentration of the lysozyme and nanoparticles and can reach micron sizes. It is shown that individual protein molecules can be isolated from the formed aggregates under shaking. Such aggregation was observed by several methods: multi-angle dynamic light scattering, optical absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy, TEM, and optical microscopy. It is important to note that the concentrations of NPs at which the protein aggregation took place were also toxic to cells. There was a sharp decrease in the survival of mouse fibroblasts (Fe concentration ~75–100 μM), while the ratio of apoptotic to all dead cells increased. Additionally, at low concentrations of NPs, an increase in cell size was observed.

The influence of laser radiation of a typical surgical laser on the physicochemical properties of the Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) protein was studied. It was established that the physicochemical characteristics of optical breakdown weakly depend on the concentration of protein molecules. At the same time, the patterns observed for an aqueous solution of BSA irradiated with a laser for different time periods were extremely similar to the classical ones. It was established that after exposure to laser radiation, the optical density of protein solutions increases. At the same time, the intensity of BSA fluorescence due to aromatic amino acid residues decreases insignificantly after exposure to laser radiation. In this case, the position of the excitation and emission maximum does not change, and the shape of the fluorescence spot on 3D maps also does not change significantly. On the Raman spectrum after exposure to laser radiation, a significant decrease in 1570 cm⁻¹ was observed, which indicates the degradation of α-helices and, as a result, partial denaturation of BSA molecules. Partial denaturation did not significantly change the total area of protein molecules, since the refractive index of solutions did not change significantly. However, in BSA solutions, after exposure to laser radiation, the viscosity increased, and the pseudoplasticity of aqueous solutions decreased. In this case, there was no massive damage to the polypeptide chain; on the contrary, when exposed to optical breakdown, intense aggregation was observed, while aggregates with a size of 400 nm or more appeared in the solution. Thus, under the action of optical breakdown induced by laser radiation in a BSA solution, the processes of partial denaturation and aggregation prevail, aromatic amino acid residues are damaged to a lesser extent, and fragmentation of protein molecules is not observed.

Currently, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) are considered potential immunomodulatory agents and as targets for activity modulation are granulocytes, which have the most abundant population of immune blood cells. The present study aims to evaluate the cytotoxic effect and its effect on the functional responses of granulocytes. In addition to the intrinsic activity of SeNPs, we studied the activity of the combination of SeNPs and IgG antibodies. Using laser ablation and fragmentation, we obtained nanoparticles with an average size of 100 nm and a rather narrow size evolution. The resulting nanoparticles do not show acute toxicity to primary cultures of fibroblasts and hepatocytes, epithelial-like cell line L-929 and granulocyte-like culture of HL-60 at a concentration of 10⁹ NPs/mL. SeNPs at a concentration of 10¹⁰ NPs/mL reduced the viability of HL-60 cells by no more than 10% and did not affect the viability of the primary culture of mouse granulocytes, and did not have a genotoxic effect on progenitor cells. The addition of SeNPs can affect the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by mouse bone marrow granulocytes, modulate the proportion of granulocytes with calcium spikes and enhance fMLF-induced granulocytes degranulation. SeNPs can modulate the effect of IgG on the physiological responses of granulocytes. We studied the expression level of genes associated with inflammation and cell stress. SeNPs increase the expression of catalase, NF-κB, Xrcc5 and some others; antibodies enhance the effect of SeNPs, but IgG without SeNPs decreases the expression level of these genes. This fact can be explained by the interaction between SeNPs and IgG. It has been established that antibodies interact with SeNPs. We showed that antibodies bind to the surface of selenium nanoparticles and are present in aqueous solutions in a bound form from DLS methods, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, vibrational–rotational spectrometry, fluorescence spectrometry, and refractometry. At the same time, in a significant part of the antibodies, a partial change in the tertiary and secondary structure is observed. The data obtained will allow a better understanding of the principles of the interaction of immune cells with antibodies and SeNPs and, in the future, may serve to create a new generation of immunomodulators.

On the basis of a direct current magnetron, a technology has been developed for producing nanoscale-oriented nanorods from zinc oxide on an acrylic polymer. The technology makes it possible to achieve different filling of the surface with zinc oxide nanorods. The nanorods is partially fused into the polymer; the cross section of the nanorods is rather close to an elongated ellipse. It is shown that, with intense abrasion, no delamination of the nanorods from the acrylic polymer is observed. The zinc oxide nanorods abrades together with the acrylic polymer. Zinc oxide nanorods luminesces with the wavelength most preferable for the process of photosynthesis in higher plants. It was shown that plants grown under the obtained material grow faster and gain biomass faster than the control group. In addition, it was found that on surfaces containing zinc oxide nanorods, a more intense formation of such reactive oxygen species as hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical is observed. Intensive formation of long-lived, active forms of the protein is observed on the zinc oxide coating. The formation of 8-oxoguanine in DNA in vitro on a zinc oxide coating was shown using ELISA method. It was found that the multiplication of microorganisms on the developed material is significantly hampered. At the same time, eukaryotic cells of animals grow and develop without hindrance. Thus, the material we have obtained can be used in photonics (photoconversion material for greenhouses, housings for LEDs), and it is also an affordable and non-toxic nanomaterial for creating antibacterial coatings.

Identification of specific mycotoxins p. Fusarium contained in infected winter wheat seeds can be achieved by visually recognizing their distinctive phenotypic species. The visual identification (ID) of species is subjective and usually requires significant taxonomic knowledge. Methods for the determination of various types of mycotoxins of the p. Fusarium are laborious and require the use of chemical invasive research methods. In this research, we investigate the possibility of using Raman spectroscopy (RS) as a tag-free, non-invasive and non-destructive analytical method for the rapid and accurate identification of p. Fusarium. Varieties of the r. Fusarium can produce mycotoxins that directly affect the DNA, RNA and chemical structure of infected seeds. Analysis of spectra by RS methods and chemometric analysis allows the identification of healthy, infected and contaminated seeds of winter wheat with varieties of mycotoxins p. Fusarium. Raman seed analysis provides accurate identification of p. Fusarium in 96% of samples. In addition, we present data on the identification of carbohydrates, proteins, fiber and other nutrients contaminated with p. Fusarium seeds obtained using spectroscopic signatures. These results demonstrate that RS enables rapid, accurate and non-invasive screening of seed phytosanitary status.

The temporal dynamics of luminescence from the surface of Nafion polymer membranes have been studied. In fact, the polymer membrane was soaked in liquids with different contents of deuterium. The test liquids were ordinary (natural) water (deuterium content equal to 157 ppm) and deuterium-depleted water (deuterium content is equal to 3 ppm). Simultaneously with the excitation of luminescence, the Nafion plate was irradiated with ultrasonic pulses, having a duration of 1 μs. The ultrasonic waves were generated with different repetition rates and amplitudes, and irradiated the surface of Nafion in the geometry of grazing or normal incidence. Luminescence regimes were studied when the membrane was irradiated with one ultrasonic wave (one piezoelectric transducer) or two counter-propagating waves (two piezoelectric transducers). It turned out that ultrasonic waves, which fall normal to the membrane interface, do not affect the dynamics of luminescence. At the same time, in the case of ultrasonic irradiation in the grazing incidence geometry, sharp jumps in the luminescence intensity occur, and the behavior of these jumps substantially depends on the mode of irradiation: one or two piezoelectric transducers. This allows for control of the dynamics of luminescence from the polymer surface. In accordance with this model, the possibility of altering the luminescence dynamics is due to the effect of unwinding the polymer fibers from the surface toward the liquid bulk upon soaking. It is important that such unwinding does not occur in deuterium-depleted water, which was confirmed in a direct experiment with dynamic light scattering from polydisperse aqueous suspensions of Nafion nanometer-sized particles; these suspensions were prepared in ordinary water and deuterium-depleted water. Thus, ultrasonic irradiation affects the dynamics of luminescence only when Nafion is swollen in ordinary water; in the case of deuterium-depleted water this effect is missed.