Karolína M. Šišková
Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic
Title: Interaction of nanoparticles with amino acids and a physiologically important model protein studied by spectroscopic techniques
Biography
Biography: Karolína M. Šišková
Abstract
Nanoparticles (NPs) are currently the topic of interest of a bundle of research papers and proposals. There are persistent rumors about NPs toxicity and ecotoxicity, concerns about their increasing release into the environment and attempts to their risk assessment. Many researchers often test the impact of different kinds of NPs on cells, tissues, organs, and/or directly on whole organisms. However, in order to understand the possible NPs impacts it is necessary, in my opinion, at first to evaluate the interaction of NPs with one type of the basic units of all organisms and their cells, i.e. amino acids. Furthermore, it is important to elucidate whether and how can NPs affect the conformation of proteins (their secondary and tertiary structure). Only after gaining such information, the assessment of NPs toxicity and Eco toxicity could be meaningful. In this study, the interaction of synthesized and commercially available nanoparticles with selected amino acids and a physiologically important transmembrane protein, the sodium/potassium pump (Na+/K+-ATPase) will be investigated by using several spectroscopic techniques. The sodium/potassium pump is an enzyme which is ubiquitous in all animal cells and its malfunctions are related to many diseases such as hypertension, diabetic neuropathies, renal failure, neurological disorders etc.
Recent Publications :
- Siskova KM, Vecerova R. et al. (2015) Revisiting spontaneous silver nanoparticle formation: a factor influencing the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration values? AIMS Environmental Science 2:607-622.
- Markova Z, Novak P. et al. (2014) Iron(II,III)polyphenol complex nanoparticles derived from green tea with remarkable ecotoxicological impact. ACS Sustainable Chemistry 2:1674-1680.
- Adegboyega NF, Sharma VK et al. (2014) Enhanced formation of silver nanoparticles in Ag+-NOM-iron(II,III) systems and antibacterial activity studies. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48:3228-3235.
- Sharma VK, Siskova KM et al. (2014) Organic-coated silver nanoparticles in biological and environmental conditions: fate, stability and toxicity. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science. 204:15-34.
5. Siskova KM, Machala L et al. (2013) Mixtures of L-amino acids as reaction medium for iron nanoparticles formation: the order of addition into ferrous salt solution matters. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 14: 19452-49473.