Herbal plants are considered natural pharmaceuticals but also accumulate chemical elements and compounds at high levels. ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb are highly radiotoxic and may cause carcinogenesis due to ionizing radiation. Thirteen of the most popular wild-growing herbaceous plant species, mostly included in the European Pharmacopoeia, were collected across Ukraine. ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb were determined in the medicinal plants, and their radiotoxicity and cancer risk were calculated. The results of ²¹⁰Po activities measured in herbal raw material ranged from 2.28 Bq kg^-1 dw (where dw is dry weight) in herb of common horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) collected near Lviv to 37.7 Bq kg^-1 dw in leaves of common birch (Betula pendula Roth.) from Rava Ruska. The activity concentrations of ²¹⁰Pb varied from 0.44 Bq kg^-1 dw in leaves of common birch from Starokostyantyniv to 28.4 Bq kg^-1 dw in leaves of common birch from Mizhhirya. There were statistically significant differences between ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb content in flowers, leaves, and aerial portions. The studies indicated that the estimated annual effective radiation dose from Ukrainian herbs consumption was low, ranging 5.00-82.6 µSv from ²¹⁰Po and 0.56-35.8 µSv from ²¹⁰Pb, while the cancer morbidity and mortality risk ranged from 10^-4 to 10^-6. The presented data indicated no radiological risk related to using herbal plant materials.

The anti-aging effects of alpha-lipoic acid (αLA), a natural antioxidant synthesized in human tissues, have attracted a growing interest in recent years. αLA is a short- -chain sulfur-containing fatty acid occurring in the mitochondria of all kinds of eukaryotic cells. Both the oxidized disulfide of αLA and its reduced form (dihydrolipoic acid, DHLA) exhibit prominent antioxidant function. The amount of αLA inside the human body gradually decreases with age resulting in various health disorders. Its lack can be compensated by supplying from external sources such as dietary supplements or medicinal dosage forms. The primary objectives of this study were the analysis of updated information on the latest two-decade research regarding the use of αLA from an anti-aging perspective. The information was collected from PubMed, Wiley Online Library, Scopus, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Google Scholar, and clinicaltrials.gov. Numerous in silico, in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies revealed that αLA shows a protective role in biological systems by direct or indirect reactive oxygen/nitrogen species quenching. αLA demonstrated beneficial properties in the prevention and treatment of many age-related disorders such as neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders, different cancers, nephropathy, infertility, and skin senescence. Its preventive effects in case of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases are of particular interest. Further mechanistic and clinical studies are highly recommended to evaluate the wide spectrum of αLA therapeutic potential that could optimize its dietary intake for prevention and alleviation disorders related to aging.

The demand for dependable near-infrared (NIR) probes, capable of sustained fluorescence within living systems and facile conjugation with biomolecules like antibodies and proteins, has been significantly on the rise, attributed to the substantial rise in the use of NIR imaging techniques and devices, with extensive integration into clinical diagnostics. Antibody conjugates are vital for targeted and selective bioimaging, enabling precise visualization of specific biomolecules within complex biological systems. Their multiplexing capability allows simultaneous detection of multiple targets, while their dynamic imaging capability enables real-time monitoring of cellular processes. Clinically, antibody conjugates have significant applications in disease prognosis, diagnosis, and monitoring. In this work, we report the synthesis of a new symmetrical NIR squaraine dye (SQ-58) with multiple carboxy anchoring groups for ease of coupling with antibodies. The dye showed decreased absorption and fluorescence intensity in phosphate buffer (PB) due to enhanced dye-aggregate formation. However, in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in PB, SQ-58 showed an enhanced fluorescence signal along concentrations of BSA. SQ-58 showed no cytotoxicity when tested in white laboratory mice while providing strong fluorescence when injected in vivo. Conjugation of SQ-58 through the carboxylic groups to the isotypic mouse IgG antibodies (IgG-SQ-58) resulted in uniform distribution of the targeted molecule in the whole cardiovascular system. The NIR signal of IgG-SQ-58 was stable for at least 7 days allowing the possibility of long-term imaging. Conjugation of SQ-58 to antibodies raised against NK-Ly lymphoma tumor cells allowed efficient discrimination of tumor cells grown in the abdomen of laboratory mice. Thus, to the best of our knowledge, we report for the first time a biocompatible NIR dye, SQ-58, that can be easily conjugatable to biomolecules, and its antibody conjugates for a wide range of bioimaging applications.