Xl30 feg

The MUC2-producing human colonic carcinoma cell line LS174T ATCC CL-188 (ATCC) was grown in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum at 37°C and 5% CO₂. Approximately 1 × 10⁵ cells were seeded onto Corning Costar 24-well culture plates containing poly-l-lysine-coated coverslips and grown to confluence. B. dentium was incubated with confluent coverslips at 2 × 10⁵ bacteria and incubated for 1 h anaerobically at 37°C. Coverslips were then washed thoroughly with PBS (3 times) and fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in PBS for 1 h at room temperature. Coverslips were dehydrated with ethanol and coated in 20 nm of gold using a desktop sputtering system (Denton Desk II). Slides were viewed in a scanning electron microscope (FEI XL-30FEG) at 12 kV.

In order to identify the phase composition and the valence states of samples, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD, XRD-7000, Shimadzu, Chiba, Japan) with a Cu-Kα radiation source and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, ESCALAB-250, Thermo Fisher, Waltham, MA, USA) with an Al-Kα radiation source were used. Scanning electron microscope (SEM, XL-30 FEG, FEI, Hillsborough, OR, USA.) and transmission electron microscope (TEM, TECNAI F20, FEI, Hillsborough, OR, USA) were used to investigate the structure and morphology of the samples. The specific surface area and pore structure were determined by N₂ adsorption/desorption experiment (ASAP 2020 plus HD88, Micromeritics Instrument Corp, Norcross, GA, USA). Chemical bonding information of the studied samples was gathered with Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR, Nicolet iS50, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA).

ECNPs and ZNPs with quercetin, retinol and p-coumaric acid were prepared via an antisolvent precipitation technique. Briefly, 0.275 g of EC (for ECNPs) or 0.35 g zein (for ZNPs) and 7 wt% quercetin (thus 0.020 g for ECNPs and 0.025 g for ZNPs), 1.5 wt% p-coumaric acid and 1.5 wt% retinol (0.004 g for ECNPs and 0.005 g for ZNPs) were dissolved together in 50 mL ethanol (for ECNPs) or 50 mL of an ethanol/water mixture (80 (v/v)% EtOH) (for ZNPs). This solution was then poured into water (150 mL) under fast magnetic stirring, resulting in the spontaneous formation of ECNPs/ZNPs with encapsulated UV filters. Rotary evaporation removed ethanol and some water to give a 50 mL aqueous dispersion of ECNPs or ZNPs with encapsulated UV filters. The ECNP/ZNP dispersions were filtered through filter paper to remove any large aggregates formed during the antisolvent precipitation. The particles were characterised by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM, FEI XL30FEG, samples were sputter coated with platinum), spectrophotometry (HP 8452a), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and zeta potential measurements (Malvern Zetasizer, particle size distributions obtained using a CONTIN fitting and zeta potential measurements performed in presence of 10 mM NaCl background salt one day after preparation of the particles). DLS and zeta potential measurements were performed in triplicate.