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The unusual intrinsic properties of nanomaterials, such as small size and high surface-to-volume ratio, have invited their applications in various sectors of animal and human nutrition. Since the recent past, there has been tremendous surge in demand for animal-derived foods due to the concomitant increase in human population. The quantity and quality of animal-derived foods are mainly dependent on the health and wellness of the livestock. Dietary mineral elements are well known to play essential roles in maintaining the livestock's nutrition. However, poor bioavailability of administered mineral elements leads to malnutrition and associated health issues in animals. Feeding nanoparticles to livestock has shown promising results including increased growth performance, immunity, reproduction ability, and quality of animal products. This review provides a comprehensive discussion on the need for animal nutrition, major bottlenecks of the field, and use of nanotechnologies as an alternative to the traditional pattern of mineral element supplementation. A significant emphasis has also been given to the possible approaches for developing nanominerals suitable for livestock nutrition. Availability of consumer market for nanotechnology-based food may drive this field to develop different strategies for food sensing, packaging, and nutrition.

Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in men worldwide. PTEN is well-known tumor suppressor gene which is frequently mutated in several cancer types, including prostate cancer. Although several drug based treatment strategies for prostate cancer has been reported, but have found limited success due to the toxicity and resistance developed with high dose administration. Therefore, novel strategies are imperative for prostate cancer treatment which does not involve pharmacological drugs. Therefore, in this work we have synthesized a nanocarrier which can successfully deliver PTEN plasmid into prostate cancer cells. Since, reactive oxygen species are also known to facilitate the initiation and progression of prostate cancer, we have also utilized an inorganic antioxidant (cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeNPs)) in the developed formulation. In the present study, we have observed that CeNPs can retain their free radical scavenging activity even after incorporation in liposomes. Further, studies reveal that the developed nanocarrier is nontoxic to PC-3 cells, however, the PTEN incorporated liposomes successfully transfect PC-3 cells and express the PTEN, as evident from the expression of GFP from GFP tagged PTEN plasmid. Thus, exogenous transfection of PTEN plasmid and CeNPs internalization may offer a therapeutic benefit to prostate cancer.

Fe−Pt alloy nanoparticles (NPs) with dendritic shells are efficaciously created by the chemical reduction of K2PtCl4 and FeCl3 species in a low-concentration of nonionic surfactant polyoxyethylene cholesteryl ether (ChEO15) solution. The dissimilarity in reduction potentials of the two soluble metal salts (Fe(III) and Pt(IV) species) plays a crucial role in the one-step synthesis of the bimetallic nanostructure, which is confirmed by TEM and XRD. Interestingly, Fe−Pt alloy NPs exhibit oxidase enzyme-like activity as well as a chemical catalyst. The kinetic parameters calculations revealed that this catalyst enhances the velocity of reaction 10 folds when compared with the reported oxidase-like activity exhibiting nanomaterials. The Fe-Pt alloy NPs also displayed high catalytic activity in the hydrogenation reaction of nitrophenol to aminophenol. The safety assessment of Fe-Pt alloy NPs revealed that these NPs are highly biocompatible to human normal liver cells up to 150 μM concentration. Therefore, the synthesized Fe-Pt alloy NPs showing excellent oxidase enzyme-like activity hold the promise to be used for multiple biomedical applications.

Catalytically active individual gold (Au) and cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are well known to exhibit specific enzyme-like activities, such as natural catalase, oxidase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase enzymes. These activities have been maneuvered to design several biological applications such as immunoassays, glucose detection, radiation and free radical protection and tissue engineering. In biological systems, multienzyme complexes are involved in catalyzing important reactions of essential metabolic processes such as respiration, biomolecule synthesis, and photosynthesis. It is well known that metabolic processes linked with multienzyme complexes offer several advantages over reactions catalyzed by individual enzymes. A functional nanozyme depicting multienzyme like properties has eluded the researchers in the nanoscience community for the past few decades. In the current report, we have designed a functional multienzyme in the form of Gold (core)-CeO2 (shell) nanoparticles (Au/CeO2 CSNPs) exhibiting excellent peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase enzyme-like activities that are controlled simply by tuning the pH. The reaction kinetic parameters reveal that the peroxidase-like activity of this core-shell nanozyme is comparable to natural horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme. Unlike peroxidase-like activity exhibited by other nanomaterials, Au/CeO2 CSNPs showed a decrease in hydroxyl radical formation, suggesting that the biocatalytic reactions are performed by efficient electron transfers. A significant enzyme-like activity of this core-shell nanoparticle was conserved at extreme pH (2–11) and temperatures (up to 90 °C), clearly suggesting the superiority over natural enzymes. Further, the utility of peroxidase-like activity of this core-shell nanoparticles was extended for the detection of glucose, which showed a linear range of detection between (100 µM to 1 mM). It is hypothesized that the proximity of the redox potentials of Au+/Au and Ce (III)/Ce (IV) may result in a redox couple promoting the multienzyme activity of core-shell nanoparticles. Au/CeO2 CSNPs may open new directions for development of single platform sensors in multiple biosensing applications.

Leishmaniasis is a notorious disease affecting mainly poor people. Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a clinical form of Leishmaniasis which mainly affects people living below poverty line. There are no available vaccines against VL and chemotherapy still remains the mainstay for treatment. However, the use of the current therapeutic agents are limited due to issues of toxicity, side effects and cost effectiveness. Thus, repositioning of FDA approved drugs for anti-leishmanial therapeutics and encapsulation of the same in nanoliposomes may pave the way of future anti-leishmanial therapeutics. In this work, liposome encapsulated Halofantrine (Halolipo) was prepared by extrusion of hydrated lipid film method. The Halolipo was characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering and Transmission Electron Microscopy. The effect of Halolipo on Leishmania donovani Ag83 promastigotes was assessed by MTT assay and qualitative analysis of ROS generation and mitochondrial membrane depolarization was performed. The cell death was visualized by dual staining with Acridine orange and Ethidium bromide followed by fluorescence microscopy. The encapsulation of Halofantrine drug in liposome was confirmed by characteristic peak at 260 nm by UV–vis spectrophotometer. The formulated halolipo was 20 nm in size and stable for > 4 weeks at 4 °C. Maximum encapsulation was observed at a ratio of 1:200 (Lipid:Halofantrine) Halofantrine is released from Halolipo at both pH 7.2 and 5.5. Halolipo causes decrease in cell viability of L. donovani Ag83 promastigotes and leading to cellular stress as evident from increased ROS generation and mitochondrial membrane depolarization. These events culminate into cell death as observed by dual staining of L. donovani promastigotes by Acridine orange and Ethidium bromide. The novel Halolipo is a promising anti-leishmanial agent and may be used for future anti-leishmanial therapeutics.