No abstract

BackgroundHerbaceous plants are common vegetal species generally exposed, for a limited period of time, to bioavailable environmental pollutants. Heavy metals contamination is the most common form of environmental pollution. Herbaceous plants have never been used as natural bioindicators of environmental pollution, in particular to monitor the amount of heavy metals in soil. In this study, we aimed at assessing the usefulness of using three herbaceous plants (Plantago major L., Taraxacum officinale L. and Urtica dioica L.) and one leguminous (Trifolium pratense L.) as alternative indicators to evaluate soil pollution by heavy metals.ResultsWe employed Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) to assess the concentration of selected heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb, Cr and Pd) in soil and plants and we employed statistical analyses to describe the linear correlation between the accumulation of some heavy metals and selected vegetal species. We found that the leaves of Taraxacum officinale L. and Trifolium pratense L. can accumulate Cu in a linearly dependent manner with Urtica dioica L. representing the vegetal species accumulating the highest fraction of Pb.ConclusionsIn this study we demonstrated that common plants can be used as an alternative analytical tool for monitoring selected heavy metals in soil.

Cationic liposomes are good candidates as gene carriers in cell biology due to their ability to bind DNA through electrostatic interactions. These liposomes are used as non-viral delivery systems in the gene therapy of glioma. pH-dependency and transfection efficiency of seven novel lipids (MORF-1, MORF-2, MORF-3, PIPR-1, PIPR-2, MM54 and DC-Amy) were studied. Two of these molecules (PIPR-2 and MM54) show at specific charge ratios better transfection efficiency than that of some commercially available liposomes.

No abstract