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Arsenic sulfide nanoparticles prepared by milling: properties, free-volume characterization, and anti-cancer effects

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Abstract

In this paper, nanosuspensions of three arsenic sulfide (As4S4) compounds, commercial synthetic arsenic(II) sulfide, and natural realgar and pararealgar minerals were prepared. Nanosuspensions were obtained by ultrafine wet milling in a circulation mill. The zeta potential and particle size distribution were measured for stability estimation. Structural changes were studied using Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic methods and positron annihilation lifetime method. The morphology of the prepared nanoparticles was determined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The anticancer effects were tested using flow cytometry and western blotting analysis. The average particle size in the individual samples varied from 137 to 153 nm. The effects of milling were associated with the formation of arsenic sulfide crystalline nanoparticles and the fragmentation of the corresponding free-volume entities. Consequently, an increase in the arsenic dissolution was observed. The anti-cancer effects of the nanosuspensions were verified on the human cancer H460 cell line, in which case DNA damage and greater numbers of apoptotic cells were observed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Agency for Science and Development (projects LPP-0107-09, APVV-0189-10), the Slovak Grant Agency (projects VEGA 2/0027/14, 2/0064/14), the Slovak-Taiwan project SAS-NSC JRP 2010/03, and the European Regional Development Fund (ITMS:26220120048). PM acknowledges for financial support from Ministry of Education and Science of R. Macedonia. TCL acknowledges Dr. Pinping Lin, National Research Institutes of Health, Miaoli, Taiwan, for ICP-MS measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 04001, Košice, Slovakia

    Zdenka Bujňáková, Peter Baláž, Erika Turianicová & Anna Zorkovská

  2. Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Arhimedova 5, 1000, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

    Petre Makreski

  3. Research Center for Environment and Materials, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Krste Misirkov 2, 1000, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

    Gligor Jovanovski

  4. Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, 84215, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Mária Čaplovičová

  5. Center STU for Nanodiagnostics, University Research Park, Slovak University of Technology, Vazovova 5, 81243, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Mária Čaplovičová

  6. Institute of Materials Science, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Paulínska 16, Trnava, Slovakia

    Ľubomír Čaplovič

  7. Scientific Research Company “Carat”, 202, Stryjska Str., Lviv, 79031, Ukraine

    Oleh Shpotyuk

  8. Institute of Physics, Jan Dlugosz University, 13/15, Armii Krajowej Str., 42200, Czestochowa, Poland

    Oleh Shpotyuk

  9. Opole University of Technology, 75 Ozimska Str., 45370, Opole, Poland

    Adam Ingram

  10. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Sec. 2, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Te-Chang Lee

  11. National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jing-Jy Cheng

  12. Cancer Research Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Vlárska 7, 83391, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Ján Sedlák

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  1. Zdenka Bujňáková
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Correspondence to Zdenka Bujňáková.

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Bujňáková, Z., Baláž, P., Makreski, P. et al. Arsenic sulfide nanoparticles prepared by milling: properties, free-volume characterization, and anti-cancer effects. J Mater Sci 50, 1973–1985 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8763-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8763-5

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