Nano-selenium stablilized by Konjac Glucommannan and its biological activity in vitro.

Nano-selenium particles (SeNPs) are considered to have high biological activity and low toxicity, but their stability need to be improved. Konjac glucomannan (KGM) was introduced as a stabilizer for the preparation of SeNPs via ascorbic acid (AA)-sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃) redox system in this study, the influence of reaction conditions on the formation of KGM-SeNPs was estimated and the preparation parameters were optimized via orthogonal experiment. It is found that KGM concentration and Se^{4 +} concentration are the two most important parameters that affect the particle size and morphology of KGM-SeNPs, beside of the agglomeration promoted by higher temperature. The optimal product possessed spherical particles with a particle size of 50-150 nm, the selenium content in lyophilized supernatant and lyophilized precipitate were 38.17% and 19.19%, respectively, and infrared spectroscopy analysis showed KGM-SeNPs were mainly compounded by intermolecular electrostatic interaction. KGM-SeNPs exhibited inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus...