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Karolina Rucinska
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Nanotechnology Letters
Metal and metal oxides nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted much attention in the nanoscience over the past decade due to their chem- ical and physical properties i.e. catalytic and antimicrobial activity [1,2]. Copper-based nanoparticles are released into the environ- ment as a result of the processing of copper ores, industrial ap- plications and, as a result, the combustion of fossil fuels [3]. This may lead to increased exposure of living organisms including human beings to Cu nanomaterials. Copper cations play a crucial role in several cellular functions i.e. it is involved in antioxidant defense and neurotransmitter synthesis. On the other hand, current evidence indi- cates that excessive levels of copper cause the generation of free radicals and occur in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer Disease. The main aim of our studies was to synthesize and characterize the copper as well as the copper oxide nanoparticles including the investigation of their interaction with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human cystatin C (HCC). Serum albumins play an important role in transportation of drugs and nutrients through the body and human cystatin C is a protein possibly associated with Alzheimer disease thus it is very important to investigate the interaction be- tween these proteins and copper-based nanoparticles. Cu and CuO NPs of average size less than 50 nm have been syn- thesized by chemical reduction method according to procedures described by Sulce et al. [1] and Ahamed et al. [2]. Furthermore Cu NPs have been functionalized with ligands such as cysteine, proline and OH- to maintain their stability. UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-Ray dif- fraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to characterize the NPs. Circular dichroism (CD) studies and ThT fluorescence assay on plate reader have been utilized for the measurements of the interaction of NPs with BSA (CD) and aggregation HCC in the presence of NPs. This research has been founded by grants 2017/27/B/ST4/00485 and 2021/41/B/ ST4/03807 from National Science Centre (Poland).
Karolina Rucinska is a PhD student in Biomedical Physics Department, Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. In this work, she synthesized and characterized copper-based nanoparticles, which may have impact on serum protein possibly associated with Alzheimer Disease. She is interested in nanoscience and neurodegenerative diseases.
