Resveratrol-loaded octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch emulsions and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) microparticles: Cytotoxicity and antioxidant bioactivity assessment after in vitro digestion.

Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)-based microparticles and modified starch emulsions (OSA-MS) were loaded with resveratrol and characterized regarding their physicochemical and thermal properties. Both delivery systems were subject to an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion to assess the bioaccessibility of resveratrol. In addition, cell-based studies were conducted after in vitro digestion and cytotoxicity and oxidative stress were assessed. HPMC-based microparticles displayed higher average sizes (d) and lower polydispersity index (PDI) (d = 948 nm, PDI < 0.2) when compared to OSA-MS-based emulsions (d = 217 nm, PDI < 0.3). Both proved to protect resveratrol under digestive conditions, leading to an increase in bioaccessibility. Resveratrol-loaded HPMC-microparticles showed a higher bioaccessibility (56.7 %) than resveratrol-loaded emulsions (19.7 %). Digested samples were tested in differentiated co-cultures of Caco-2 and HT29-MTX, aiming at assessing cytotoxicity and oxidative stress, and a lack of cytotoxicity was observed for all samples. Results displayed an increasing antioxidant activity, with 1.6-fold and 1.4-fold increases over the antioxidant activity of free resveratrol, for HPMC-microparticles and OSA-MS nanoemulsions, respectively. Our results offer insight into physiological relevancy due to assessment post-digestion and highlight the protection that the use of micro-nano delivery systems can confer to resveratrol and their potential to be used as functional food ingredients capable of providing antioxidant benefits upon consumption.

Assessment of freeze damage in tuber starch with electrical impedance spectroscopy and thermodynamic, rheological, spectrographic techniques.

In this study, we aimed to use electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to assess the freeze-damage level of starches from potato tubers treated with multiple freezing-thawing (FT) cycles. The results showed that the relationship between the physicochemical properties of starches and the impedance characteristics of starch paste is temperature-dependent. As the temperature rises to 70-90 °C, the impedance modules show a significant correlation with the amylose and mineral contents, gelatinization and pasting properties, short-range ordered structure, relative crystallinity, and damage level within the range of 10-1 MHz (p < 0.01). This could be because FT leads to a reduction in amylose and ion content. Compared to a high level of freeze-damaged starch (FDS), a low level of FDS has less amylopectin and more amylose. Additionally, the ions could be typically evenly distributed throughout the unbranched linear amylose structure in starch paste. At the peak gelatinization temperature, the starch paste made from a low level of FDS exhibits a weakened network structure, allowing more unbound water for ion movement and enhancing electric conduction. In conclusion, EIS can predict the damage level and properties of FDS, which can benefit the frozen starchy food industry.

Safety Assessment of Starch Nanoparticles as an Emulsifier in Human Skin Cells, 3D Cultured Artificial Skin, and Human Skin.

Emulsion systems are widely used in various industries, including the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries, because they require emulsifiers to stabilize the inherently unstable contact between oil and water. Although emulsifiers are included in many products, excessive use of emulsifiers destroys skin barriers and causes contact dermatitis. Accordingly, the consumer demand for cosmetic products made from natural ingredients with biocompatibility and biodegradability has increased. Starch in the form of solid nanosized particles is considered an attractive emulsifier that forms and stabilizes Pickering emulsion. Chemical modification of nanosized starch via acid hydrolysis can effectively provide higher emulsion stability. However, typical acid hydrolysis limits the industrial application of starch due to its high time consumption and low recovery. In previous studies, the effects of starch nanoparticles (SNPs) prepared by treatment with acidic dry heat, which overcomes these limitations, on the formation and stability of Pickering emulsions were reported. In this study, we evaluated the safety of SNPs in skin cell lines, 3D cultured skin, and human skin. We found that the cytotoxicity of SNPs in both HaCaT cells and HDF cells could be controlled by neutralization. We also observed that SNPs did not induce structural abnormalities on 3D cultured skin and did not permeate across micropig skin tissue or human skin membranes. Furthermore, patches loaded with SNPs were found to belong in the "No irritation" category because they did not cause any irritation when placed on human skin. Overall, the study results suggest that SNPs can be used as a safe emulsifier in various industries, including in cosmetics.

Assessment of catalytic, antimicrobial and molecular docking analysis of starch-grafted polyacrylic acid doped BaO nanostructures.

The removal of cationic dyes from water has received a great attention of researchers considering their influence on environment and ecosystem. In current work, starch-grafted-poly acrylic acid (St-g-PAA) doped BaO nanostrucutures have been synthesized by co-precipitation approach. The aim of this research was to reduce the harmful methylene blue dye and evaluate the antibacterial activity of St-g-PAA doped BaO. XRD spectra exhibited the tetragonal structure of BaO and no variations occurred upon doping. The optical properties of St-g-PAA doped BaO have been evaluated by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The existence of a dopant in the product was verified using EDS spectroscopy. TEM revealed the formation of cubic-shaped NPs of BaO and upon the addition of St-g-PAA, a few nanorod-like structures. The higher concentration of St-g-PAA doped BaO exhibit a remarkable reduction of methylene blue in a basic environment. Furthermore, St-g-PAA doped BaO revealed higher antimicrobial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus in comparison to Escherichia coli. In silico studies were conducted against enoyl-[acylcarrier-protein] reductase (FabI) and beta-lactamase enzyme to evaluate the potential of both St-g-PAA and St-g-PAA doped BaO nanocomposites as their inhibitors and to rationalize their possible mode of action.

Development of low-cost edible coatings based on polysaccharides with active lactic acid bacteria for the protection of fresh produce modeled using fresh cut apples.

The loss of fresh produce along the supply chain represents a significant contributor to environmental and economic burden. Although technological advances in distribution and storage have provided a means to reduce the loss of fresh produce, in resource-limited settings, these technologies may not be available. One attractive approach to help address this limitation is to use edible coatings to protect fresh produce from biotic and abiotic factors that cause food deterioration. Here, we developed edible coatings from materials that are cheap and easy to prepare: maize starch, κ-carrageenan, and agar as the matrix; glycerol as the plasticizer; and Lactobacillus plantarum TPB21.12 as the active ingredient. Using fresh cut apples as a model substrate, we found that maize starch coating retained color, agar coating delayed browning, and κ-carrageenan coating decreased mass shrinkage of the fresh cut apples. L. plantarum TPB21.12 remained viable in the edible coating suspensions during storage and was active against Escherichia coli TPB21.8, a model bacterium for biotic factor that causes food spoilage. The simplicity of the edible coating formulation and preparation method offers an attractive approach for applications to help protect fresh produce from deterioration and reduce food loss and waste generation.

Modelling and assessment of plasticizer migration and structure changes in hydrophobic starch-based films.

The structures of starch and starch-based materials determine additives migration from material matrix. Propionylated starch derived from waxy, normal, G50 and G80 starch were selected as the matrix, the amylose effect on plasticizer (triacetin) migration as well as structural changes in hydrophobic starch-based films were discussed. The constant (k1) of first-order rate and initial release rate (V0) of triacetin migration were consistent with the increment of amylose content. Meanwhile, diffusion model disclosed that Fick's second law was apposite to characterize the short-term migration of triacetin, and larger diffusion coefficient (D) values of short- and long-term migration were also found in films with higher amylose content, indicating that amylose-formed structures were in favor of triacetin migration. In comparison of propionylated amylopectin, Van der Waals's interactions between propionylated amylose and triacetin were easier to be weakened with the migration of triacetin, which promoted the decrease of wavenumber of C-O-C, and enlarged the inter-planner spacing of crystalline structures, promoting the formation of amorphous structures and wrinkles and embossments in films with higher amylose content. This work confirmed that regulating the structures of starch were effective to control the migration behavior of additives from starch-based films.

Potato Juice, a Starch Industry Waste, as a Cost-Effective Medium for the Biosynthesis of Bacterial Cellulose.

In this work, we verified the possibility of valorizing a major waste product of the potato starch industry, potato tuber juice (PJ). We obtained a cost-effective, ecological-friendly microbiological medium that yielded bacterial cellulose (BC) with properties equivalent to those from conventional commercial Hestrin-Schramm medium. The BC yield from the PJ medium (>4 g/L) was comparable, despite the lack of any pre-treatment. Likewise, the macro- and microstructure, physicochemical parameters, and chemical composition showed no significant differences between PJ and control BC. Importantly, the BC obtained from PJ was not cytotoxic against fibroblast cell line L929 in vitro and did not contain any hard-to-remove impurities. The PJ-BC soaked with antiseptic exerted a similar antimicrobial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as to BC obtained in the conventional medium and supplemented with antiseptic. These are very important aspects from an application standpoint, particularly in biomedicine. Therefore, we conclude that using PJ for BC biosynthesis is a path toward significant valorization of an environmentally problematic waste product of the starch industry, but also toward a significant drop in BC production costs, enabling wider application of this biopolymer in biomedicine.

Construction of an Artificial In Vitro Synthetic Enzymatic Platform for Upgrading Low-Cost Starch to Value-Added Disaccharides.

Disaccharides are valuable oligosaccharides with an increasing demand in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Disaccharides can be manufactured by extraction from the acid hydrolysate of plant-derived substrates, but this method has several issues, such as the difficulty in accessing natural substrates, laborious product separation processes, and troublesome wastewater treatment. A chemical synthesis using glucose was developed for producing disaccharides, but this approach suffers from a low product yield due to the low specificity and requires tedious protection and deprotection processes. In this study, we adopted an artificial strategy for producing a variety of value-added disaccharides from low-cost starch through the construction of an in vitro synthetic enzymatic platform: two enzymes worked in parallel to convert starch to glucose and glucose 1-phosphate, and these two intermediates were subsequently condensed together to a disaccharide by a disaccharide phosphorylase. Several disaccharides, such as laminaribiose, cellobiose, trehalose, and sophorose, were produced successfully from starch with the yields of more than 80% with the help of kinetic mathematical models to predict the optimal reaction conditions, exhibiting great potential in an industrial scale. This study provided a promising alternative to reform the mode of disaccharide manufacturing.

Maltoheptaoside hydrolysis with chromatographic detection and starch hydrolysis with reducing sugar analysis: Comparison of assays allows assessment of the roles of direct α-amylase inhibition and starch complexation.

The aim was to determine inhibition of human α-amylase activity by (poly)phenols using maltoheptaoside as substrate with direct chromatographic product quantification, compared to hydrolysis of amylose and amylopectin estimated using 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid. Acarbose exhibited similar IC50 values (50% inhibition) with maltoheptaoside, amylopectin or amylose as substrates (2.37 ± 0.11, 3.71 ± 0.12 and 2.08 ± 0.01 µM respectively). Epigallocatechin gallate, quercetagetin and punicalagin were weaker inhibitors of hydrolysis of maltoheptaoside (<50% inhibition) than amylose (IC50: epigallocatechin gallate = 20.41 ± 0.25 µM, quercetagetin = 30.15 ± 2.05 µM) or amylopectin. Interference using 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid was in the order punicalagin > epigallocatechin gallate > quercetagetin, with minimal interference using maltoheptaoside as substrate. The main inhibition mechanism of epigallocatechin gallate and punicalagin was through complexation with starch, especially amylose, whereas only quercetagetin additionally binds to the α-amylase active site. Interference is minimised using maltoheptaoside as substrate with product detection by chromatography, potentially allowing assessment of direct enzyme inhibition by almost any compound.

Treating Surfaces with a Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma using the COST-Jet.

In recent years, non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas have been used extensively for surface treatments, in particular, due to their potential in biological applications. However, the scientific results often suffer from reproducibility problems due to unreliable plasma conditions as well as complex treatment procedures. To address this issue and provide a stable and reproducible plasma source, the COST-Jet reference source was developed. In this work, we propose a detailed protocol to perform reliable and reproducible surface treatments using the COST reference microplasma jet (COST-Jet). Common issues and pitfalls are discussed, as well as the peculiarities of the COST-Jet compared to other devices and its advantageous remote character. A detailed description of both solid and liquid surface treatment is provided. The described methods are versatile and can be adapted for other types of atmospheric pressure plasma devices.

Biodegradable films based on commercial κ-carrageenan and cassava starch to achieve low production costs.

Biodegradable films have been a great alternative compared to non-renewable sources because of their cytocompatibility, biodegradability, and antimicrobial features. These properties may raise the foodstuff shelf life, reducing costs and economic losses. Indeed, biodegradable films can also reduce the environmental pollution promoted by non-biodegradable conventional packs. For the first time, biodegradable films were produced by casting commercials kappa-carrageenan (κ-car) and cassava starch at different κ-carrageenan/cassava starch weight ratios. Physical, thermal, and mechanical properties were evaluated. Apparent opacity and color analyses suggest that the films present high transparency. The sample 0κ-c supported a film with high water solubility (39.22%) and a low swelling degree (391.6%). The lowest water vapor permeability (WVP) was observed for 50κ-c (3.01×10-8g (Pams)-1). The oil permeability varied from 0.0033 to 0.0043mmm2 d-1. The 100κ-c and 75κ-c films (with high κ-carrageenan contents) had higher stiffness (19.23 and 25.88MPa, respectively) than the 25κ-c and 0κ-c films with elongation at break (ε) of 21.60 and 67.65%, respectively. The thermal stability increased as the starch concentration raised in the blend. We produced low-cost biodegradable films from commercial polysaccharides. These films can be used as food packs.

Assessment of interfacial interactions between starch and non-isocyanate polyurethanes in their hybrids.

Manufacturing of multifunctional materials through blending is a promising route for improving performance of biopolymers including starch. Non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) are an emerging group of green materials. Understanding the mechanism of interaction between starch and NIPU not only highlights underlying chemistry but also offers an opportunity to tailor the properties and functions of starch-NIPU hybrids. We investigated the interfacial interactions between starch and NIPU to pave the way towards development of high-performance green materials. Multiple analyses revealed that NIPU interacted effectively with starch chains via intermolecular hydrogen bonds. We showed that NIPU domains can efficiently interact with the small portion of starch skeleton at interfacial region and they are only moderately miscible. Incorporation of either component above certain ratio resulted in a phase separation. This work contributes towards understanding of interfacial chemistry between starch and NIPUs and enables tailoring the interface for facile engineering of starch-NIPU hybrids.

Development of an easy-to-use colorimetric pH label with starch and carrot anthocyanins for milk shelf life assessment.

An intelligent freshness indicator was developed by immobilizing anthocyanins of black carrot (ABC) within the starch matrix (total anthocyanins content of 10 mg/100 mL) to monitor freshness/spoilage of milk. The microstructural, spectral, swelling and solubility properties as well as color stability (as a function of time, temperature and light) of the indicator at different pHs were characterized. The incorporation of ABC did not change the swelling index and water solubility. The prepared label showed visible color changes as a function of pH and excellent color stability after one month storage at different conditions. The total color difference (TCD) value of the indicator corresponded to the pH, acidity, and microbial growth of the pasteurized milk. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a high correlation between TCD and pH (R = -0.979), while a high and positive correlation between TCD and acidity as well as TMC (R = 0.983 and 0.968, respectively) was observed. The developed label can discriminate fresh milk form the milk entered into the initial (TCD: 7.8 after 24 h) and final (TCD: 34.8 after 48 h) steps of spoilage. The fabricated label opens a new perspective to use anthocyanins-incorporated biopolymers in the milk intelligent packaging as a simple and easy-to-use freshness indicator.

Assessment of simultaneous addition of sucrose and xanthan effects on the thermal, pasting, and rheological behavior of corn starch.

Thermal, pasting, and rheological properties of starch-based systems are the key characteristics for its processing. This study aimed to investigate the main and interactive effects of sucrose and xanthan on the thermal, pasting, and rheological behavior of corn starch. A central composite design (CCD) was used to evaluate the effect of simultaneous addition of sucrose and xanthan on some processing properties of starch-based systems. The results showed that besides the xanthan and sucrose effects (p < .001), the interactions played a significant role in all considered properties of corn starch except the flow behavior index (p < .05). Adding xanthan and sucrose increased the transition temperatures and the enthalpy change (ΔH) of the starch gelatinization, while they increased all pasting properties except setback viscosity. Statistical analysis results revealed the synergistic effects due to adding xanthan and sucrose on the thermal and pasting properties of starch. These were ascribed to the first- and second-order interaction effects (p < .05). Regression models proposed for prediction of all considered properties of the starch-based mixtures in the range of selected factors (R2 > 0.88). The Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra revealed an increase in hydrogen bonding by increasing xanthan and sucrose. Since the formation of hydrogen bonds between mixture components could be affected the considered properties of the starch pastes. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Starch-based foods are the most frequently consumed kind of foods in the developing countries, which provide a great deal of energy, and nutrients in a healthy diet. Therefore, the production of these kinds of food products is of great importance. The gelatinization, pasting, and rheological properties of starch-based foods are imperative aspects in its processing. These properties show differences according to the presence of other ingredients such as hydrocolloids and sweeteners. Since the addition of xanthan as hydrocolloid and sugar as a common sweetener in starch-based foods, affect optimal processing condition. Knowing the effects of the hydrocolloid and sweetener addition on thermal, pasting, and rheological properties of starch systems, help to improve the process and finding optimal process conditions for the production of sauces, baby foods, bread, confectionery, etc.

Combining in vitro digestion model with cell culture model: Assessment of encapsulation and delivery of curcumin in milled starch particle stabilized Pickering emulsions.

To investigate the encapsulation and oral delivery efficiency of milled starch particles stabilized Pickering emulsions for lipophilic bioactive compounds, in vitro digestion model coupled with Caco-2 cells models were used. Physicochemical and biological properties of curcumin encapsulated Pickering emulsions were analyzed regarding to emulsion structure, curcumin retention, in vitro digestion, in vitro anti-proliferate ability and cellular uptake. Milled starch particles stabilized Pickering emulsion system was able to protect curcumin against harsh gastric conditions. Around 80% of the encapsulated curcumin was retained after 2 h of simulated gastric digestion. By being encapsulated in Pickering emulsion, the bioaccessibility of curcumin was increased from 11% for curcumin in bulk oil phase to 28% under simulated intestinal digestion process. The resulting curcumin-loaded micelle phase from digested emulsion exhibited significant anti-cancer ability and enhanced cellular uptake. This research provides an exploratory study on the possible future application of milled starch particles stabilized Pickering emulsions as nutraceutical delivery vehicles in the creation of novel functional foods.

Synthesis and characterization of carboxymethyl starch-g-polyacrylic acids and their properties as adsorbents for ammonia and phenol.

Cigarette smoke contains a lot of harmful chemicals which cause different diseases like cancer, heart disease, bronchitis and ulcer etc. Ammonia and phenol are among those chemicals which cause cancer, fibrosis, respiratory disorder and pneumonia. So, to remove ammonia and phenol from cigarette smoke, five different types of carboxymethyl starch-g-polyacrylic acids (CMS-g-PAAs) were synthesized by using different initiators, different mole ratio of acrylic acid to CMS anhydroglucose unit (AGU) and different amount of water. Three types of modified CMSs, CMS-g-PAA1, CMS-g-PAA3 and CMS-g-PAA4 were selected for further characterization and application for ammonia and phenol adsorption. The 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed the successful grafting of PAA on CMS. Crystallinity of CMS and three modified CMSs was checked by their XRD analysis. The XRD analysis showed that CMS had crystalline nature which was lost after modification. The thermal properties of CMS and the modified samples were checked by TGA and DTG which also gave information about the successful grafting on PAA on CMS. Finally the modified CMSs were further used for the adsorption applications of ammonia and phenol from the gaseous stream. It was found that CMS-g-PAA4 showed the highest adsorption efficiency towards ammonia (0.352 mmol/g) and phenol (0.18 mmol/g).

Highly water resistant cassava starch/poly(vinyl alcohol) films.

Biodegradable films were prepared based on cassava starch (CS) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). To increase its tensile strength and flexibility, CS (20-60 wt%) was blended with PVA at various weight ratios (80-40 wt%). Triethylamine (TEA) was added as a homogeneous catalyst to increase intermolecular interaction and induce miscibility between CS and PVA. The crystallinity and hydrophobicity of blend films containing 20 wt% CS were promoted by the elimination of residual acetate groups in PVA. The number of hydrogen bonds in these blend films increased, which led to stronger interaction and more compact molecular packing between CS and PVA chains. The poor water resistance that limits the shelf-life and applications of CS blends was improved. The addition of TEA to blend films containing 20 wt% CS increased water resistance by 80% and tensile strength by as much as 440%. The development of greater structural integrity yielded ecologically sustainable, low-cost, biodegradable films with excellent physical and mechanical properties.

Starch functionalization of iron oxide by-product from steel industry as a sustainable low cost nanocomposite for removal of divalent toxic metal ions from water.

Heavy metal removal by waste material from different industry has become one of the main economical approaches for zero waste industrial activity. Therefore, iron oxide fine waste by-product from steel industry was converted into nanoparticulates (Fe2O3 NPs) and further crosslinked with starch as a good stabilizer and biodegradable polymer using formaldehyde to form Fe2O3 NPs-Starch nanocomposite. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed the average particle size (40-70 nm). The sorption behavior of this nanocomposite was investigated using Pb(II), Hg(II) and Cd(II). Different factors such as solution pH, contact time, nanocomposite dosage and metal concentration were monitored to determine the adsorptive capacity. Langmuir, Temkin, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich models were employed to study the adsorption isotherms. The maximum sorption capacities were 2000 mg g-1 for Pb(II), 133.3 mg g-1 for Hg(II) and 322.58 mg g-1 for Cd(II). The results referred that Hg(II) and Cd(II) were best fitted by all models except Pb(II) obeyed the Freundlich isotherm model only. The Fe2O3 NPs-Starch nanocomposite emphasized its potential application as a sustainable low cost nanocomposite for metals extraction from tap water, marine water and industrial wastewater with percentage recovery 93-97%, 70-94% and 76-93%, respectively.

Reconstitution followed by non-targeted mid-infrared analysis as a workable and cost-effective solution to overcome the blending duality in milk powder adulteration detection.

Mid-infrared analysis of reconstituted milk is proposed as a feasible solution for the detection of milk powder adulteration regardless of the blending practice. To challenge the concept, skim milk powders were spiked with three of the most reactive/unstable of potential milk adulterants: semicarbazide hydrochloride, ammonium sulfate and cornstarch. To create the wet-blended set, a fraction of each sample was reconstituted and re-spray dried at laboratory scale with a benchtop spray dryer. Dry and wet-blended adulterated samples were reconstituted prior to mid-infrared measurement and projected onto a one-class classifier SIMCA model for reconstituted skim milk. Quantitative sensitivities, determined from the normalized orthogonal distances, were compared. Although the non-industrial spray drying introduced a spectroscopic bias, as revealed by the control samples, the non-targeted mid-infrared model showed comparable sensitivities for both blending practices once the main bias-rich spectral regions were removed, validating thereby the proposed concept.

Assessment of silver nanoparticles decorated starch and commercial zinc nanoparticles with respect to their genotoxicity on onion.

High throughput production of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) having controlled size appropriate for industrial purposes were achieved via using facile and ecofriendly chemical reduction method. Native rice starch was used as reductant for silver ions (Ag+) to silver atoms (Ag0), as well as stabilizing for the obtainable AgNPs. Two different concentrations; 2000 ppm and 4000 ppm were successfully prepared and coded as AgNPs-2000 and AgNPs-4000 respectively. The attained AgNPs were characterized via ultra-visible (UV-vis) spectra, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Particle size analyzer, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential (ζ-potential). The average particle size of AgNPs (2000 ppm) was 8 nm with PDI = 0.01 which affirm the monodispersity and homogeneity of the produced AgNPs. Meanwhile, the size majority for the as prepared AgNPs (4000 ppm) was 24 nm with PDI = 0.021. Based on the aforementioned data, AgNPs prepared with a high concentration (4000 ppm) compared with the commercialized ZnNPs were used for the genotoxicity study on onion. Root-tips was used for cytogenetic studies using onion (Allium cepa L.) which are excellent materials for cytological and genotoxicity studies. Genotoxicity results explored that, by using AgNPs ≥40 ppm, the abnormalities disturbed chromosomes were observed and detected, that reflects the genotoxicity effect of these nanoparticles at this dose. In addition, the commercial available ZnNPs with the recommended dose (2 g/L) displayed also severe genotoxicity on A. cepa L. root meristem cells.