Selenium nanoparticles with improved biological effects

Abstract

Novel methods for biological effective, stable amorphous and monoclinic selenium nanoparticles are disclosed. They are prepared by reacting selenium source with a redox agent in an aqueous media at a temperature between 0-100° C. in the presence of nucleic acids or poly/oligosaccharide or their mixtures.

1 . A method for forming elemental selenium nano-particles, comprising the steps of:
 reacting a reaction-medium soluble selenium source with a reaction-medium soluble red-ox mixture in a reaction medium at a temperature between 0-100° C. for a period of time, wherein said reaction medium contains an elemental selenium binding polymeric molecule that is selected from the group consisting of nucleic acids, oligo-nulceic acids, polysaccharides, and the combination thereof; and   recovering nano-particles of sizes between 1-300 nm.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of deoxyribonucleic acid from calf thymus, deoxyribonucleic acid from herring, deoxyribonucleic acid sodium salt from salmon, deoxyribonucleic acid sodium salt from human placenta, ribonucleic acid from baker's yeast, ribonucleic acid from torula yeast, and ribonucleic acid diethylaminoethanol salt from torula yeast. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selenium source is selected from the group consisting of selenium salts, H 2 SeO 3 , H 2 SeO 4 , Na 2 SeO 3 , Na 2 Se, H 2 Se, Na 2 SeO 4 , Na 2 SSeO 3 , and H 2 SSeO 3 . 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the redox mixture comprises a reduction agent selected from the group consisting of chemicals with free thiols or hydroxyls. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the reduction agent is selected from the group consisting of L-glutathione, L-cysteine, L-ascobic acid, citric acid, citrate, thioacetamide, 2-thio-6-azauridine, thiobacillus broth, 2-thiobarbituric acid, 2-thiocytosine, 1-thioglycerol, thioglycolate broth, thioglycolic acid, 6-thioguanine, thiolactic acid, thiomalic acid, 2-thiopurine, thiourea, and 4-thiouridine. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said red-ox mixture comprises L-ascorbic acid. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reaction medium is an aqueous solution containing arabinan. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein red-ox mixture is the group selected from hydroxyl radicals, super-oxygen anion ion, single state oxygen, oxygen molecule (O 2  or O 3 ), and H 2 O 2 . 
     
     
         9 . An elemental selenium nanoparticle, comprising:
 a plurality of elemental selenium atoms aggregated as a nano-particle in size between 1-300 nm; and   a proportionate number of selenium binding polymeric molecules wherein said polymeric molecules are selected from the group consisting of nucleic acids, oligo nucleic acids, polysaccharides, oligosacchrides and the hybrid molecules thereof, and said polymeric molecules being at least partly complexed with said selenium atoms forming said selenium nanoparticle.   
     
     
         10 . The selenium nanoparticle of  claim 9 , wherein the selenium is aggregated in amorphous form. 
     
     
         11 . The selenium nanoparticle of  claim 9 , wherein the selenium is aggregated in monoclinic form. 
     
     
         12 . The selenium nanoparticles of  claim 9 , wherein the selenium is aggregated in a complex form having both amorphous and monoclinic aggregations.