Investigation of the toxic effect of a QDs heterojunction on the interactions between small molecules and plasma proteins by fluorescence and resonance light-scattering spectra.

The effect of a ZnO#ZnS QDs heterojunction (O#SQDs) on the binding affinities of flavonoid glycosides for bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated. The fluorescence intensities of BSA decreased remarkably with increasing concentration of O#SQDs. The magnitudes of the binding constants of flavonoid glycosides for BSA in the presence of O#SQDs were in the range of 10(5)-10(7) L mol(-1), and the number of binding sites per BSA (n) was determined as 1.24 ± 0.17. O#SQDs increased the affinities of flavonoid glycosides for BSA by about 2.96% to 114.68% depending on their structures. O#SQDs in blood will enhance the transportation of flavonoid glycosidegs in blood and improve their pharmacology effects. From this point, O#SQDs are a perfect candidate for flavonoid glycosides delivery applications.

ZnO-ZnS QDs interfacial heterostructure for drug and food delivery application: enhancement of the binding affinities of flavonoid aglycones to bovine serum albumin.

Zero-dimensional nanostructures are green nanomaterials that have recently attracted increasing attention. However, very little information is available on whether or not these heterostructures affect drug transport in blood. In current work, flavonoid aglycones were studied for their affinities for bovine serum albumin (BSA) in the presence and absence of zinc oxide-zinc sulfide quantum dots (ZnO-ZnS QDs) in vitro. The fluorescence intensity of BSA decreased remarkably with increasing concentration of ZnO-ZnS QDs, resulting in an obvious red-shift of the maximum emission of BSA from 340 to 348 nm. The magnitudes of binding constants in the presence of QDs ranged from 10(4) to 10(6) L/mol, and the number of binding sites per BSA molecule (n) was determined as 1.12 ± 0.17. Although ZnO-ZnS QDs significantly increased the affinities for BSA of myricetin, luteolin, gallocatechin gallate, tectorigenin, and formononetin, they barely affected the binding affinities of flavone, (-)-epicatechin gallate, and quercetin. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: Serum albumins are major transport proteins in blood that reversibly bind fatty acids, amino acids, drugs, and inorganic ions, which interactions have important effects on the distribution, free concentration, and metabolism of drugs in blood. In this research nine flavonoid aglycones were studied for their affinities for bovine serum albumin (BSA). Interestingly it was found that presence of ZnO-ZnS QDs significantly increased the affinities of BSA for several of these aglycones.

A novel method for quantitative determination of tea polysaccharide by resonance light scattering.

A new method for the determination of tea polysaccharide (TPS) in green tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves has been developed. The method was based on the enhancement of resonance light scattering (RLS) of TPS in the presence of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC)-NaOH system. Under the optimum conditions, the RLS intensity of CPC was greatly enhanced by adding TPS. The maximum peak of the enhanced RLS spectra was located at 484.02 nm. The enhanced RLS intensity was proportional to the concentration of TPS in the range of 2.0-20 µg/ml. It showed that the new method and phenol-sulfuric acid method give some equivalent results by measuring the standard compounds. The recoveries of the two methods were 96.39-103.7% (novel method) and 100.15-103.65% (phenol-sulfuric acid method), respectively. However, it showed that the two methods were different to some extent. The new method offered a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.047 µg/ml, whereas the phenol-sulfuric acid method gives a LOD of 1.54 µg/ml. Interfered experiment demonstrated that the new method had highly selectivity, and was more suitable for the determination of TPS than phenol-sulfuric method. Stability test showed that new method had good stability. Moreover, the proposed method owns the advantages of easy operation, rapidity and practicability, which suggested that the proposed method could be satisfactorily applied to the determination of TPS in green tea.