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Red elemental nanoselenium was prepared by reducing sodium selenite with ascorbic acid using Arabic resin as template in this study. The factors effecting on the particle size change of nanoselenium such as reaction time, reactant concentration, template mass fraction and reaction temperature were studied. The orthogonal experiment L9(34) was designed to determine the optimal process conditions. The elemental nanoselenium was characterized by IR and particle size analyzer. The results showed that the stable red elemental selenium with nanometer scale was prepared.

The red elemental selenoprotein was biosynthesized by active dry yeast in this study. Through a single factor experiment and L9(34)-orthogonal test fermentation condition optimization, the selenium content was 15.72 mg/g under optimal condition. The optimum culture condition was as follows: the sodium selenite concentration (0.8 mg/mL), culture time (36 h), the yeast dosage (5 g), pH (5.5), culture temperature (30°C), and the medium Baume degree (8 °Bé). The analysis of amino acid species, content and morphology of the product showed that the red elemental selenoprotein was successfully synthesized.

Spectrin, the principal protein of the cytoskeleton of erythrocyte, plays a crucial role in the stability and flexibility of the plasma membrane of erythrocyte. In this work, we investigate the interactions between spectrins and phase-separated lipid bilayers using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. We focus on the preference of spectrins with different lipids, the effects of the anionic lipids and the residue mutation on the interactions between spectrins and the lipid bilayers. The results indicate that spectrins prefer to contact with phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) lipids rather than with phosphatidylcholine (PC) lipids, and tend to contact with the liquid-disordered (Ld) domains enriched in unsaturated PE. Additionally, the anionic lipids, which show specific interaction with the positively charged or polar amino acids on the surface of the spectrins, can enhance the attraction between the spectrins and lipid domains. The mutation leads to the decrease of the structural stability of spectrins and increases the curvature of the lipid bilayer. This work provides some theoretical insights into understanding the erythrocyte structure and the mechanism of some blood diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both inorganic and organic selenium (Se) can prevent and treat various diseases caused by Se deficiency. However, organic Se has less toxicity and a higher absorption rate than inorganic Se. In this study, inorganic Se (Na2SeO3) was bio-transformed into Se-enriched discarded beer yeast (Se-enriched DB-yeast) through fermentation accumulation by re-using discarded Saccharomyces cerevisiae from the beer industry for Se-enriched fodder application. Through a single-factor experiment and L9(34)-orthogonal test for optimization of fermentation conditions, the Se content and biomass of Se-enriched DB-yeast were calculated as 14.95 mg/L and 7.3 g/L, respectively, under the optimized condition. The total amino-acid content of Se-enriched DB-yeast was increased by 9.9% compared with that from DB yeast. Additionally, alkaline amino-acid content was increased, whereas acidic amino-acid and sulfur-containing amino-acid contents were decreased. Reducing capacity, hydroxyl radical removal capacity, and sulfhydryl content after treatment with H2O2 of the Se-enriched DB-yeast extracted protein were obviously increased compared with those of the DB-yeast extracted protein. Mouse and genetically improved farmed tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) (GIFT) bioassays showed that the Se sedimentation of organs and serum indexes after feeding Se-enriched DB-yeast-containing fodder were higher than those of DB-yeast-containing fodder. The half lethal dose (LD50) of Se-enriched DB-yeast (9260.0 mg/kg body weight (BW), 18.97 mg/kg of Se content, non-toxic level) was considerably higher than that of Na2SeO3 (20.0 mg/kg BW, 5.08 mg/kg of Se content, highly toxic level) against mouse. Therefore, Se-enriched yeast prepared by re-using discarded S. cerevisiae from beer industry fermentation accumulation has the potential to be a safe and effective Se-enriched fodder additive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]