Differences in trace element concentrations between Alzheimer and “normal” human brain tissue using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA)

Brain samples obtained from the Netherlands Brain Bank were taken fromthe superior frontal gyrus, superior parietal gyrus and medial temporal gyrusof 'normal' and Alzheimer's disease subjects in order todetermine elemental concentrations and compare elemental composition. Brainsamples from the cortex were taken from 18 subjects, eight 'normals'(6 males and 2 females) and eleven with Alzheimer's disease, (1 maleand 10 females) and the following elemental concentrations, Na, K, Fe, Zn,Se, Br, Rb, Ag, Cs, Ba, and Eu were determined by instrumental neutron activationanalysis (INAA). The element which showed the greatest difference was Br,which was found to be significantly elevated in the cortex of Alzheimer'sdisease brains as compared to the 'normals' at significance (p<0.001).     

Elemental characterization of the new Czech meteorite ‘Morávka’ by neutron and photon activation analysis

Forty two major, minor and some trace elements were determined by activation analysis in the new Czech Morávka H5 chondrite, which fell on May 6, 2000 in the vicinity of Morávka, north-east Moravia. The elements Na, Mg, Al, Si, Cl, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Co, Ni, and Cu were determined by means of instrumental short-time neutron activation analysis (INAA), whereas another group of elements, namely Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, As, Se, Br, Sb, La, Sm, Ir, Au and Hg were assayed using long-time INAA. Most of the rare earth elements (REE) were determined by radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) using precipitation of their oxalates, whilst for the determination of Rb and Cs an RNAA procedure based on selective sorption of the elements on ammonium phosphomolybdenate was employed. Mg, Ca, Ti, Mn, Ni, Sr, Y and Zr were determined by instrumental photon neutron activation analysis (IPAA) using the irradiation with 20 MeV bremsstrahlung from a microtron. For quality control, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reference rocks basalt BCR-1 and diabase W-1 were analyzed. Moreover, the self-verification principle in activation analysis was employed to increase the credibility of the obtained results.     

Expression of the plant viral protease NIa in the brain of a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease mitigates Aβ pathology and improves cognitive function

The plant viral protease, NIa, has a strict substrate specificity for the consensus sequence of Val-Xaa-His-Gln, with a scissoring property after Gln. We recently reported that NIa efficiently cleaved the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, which contains the sequence Val-His-His-Gln in the vicinity of the cleavage site by α-secretase, and that the expression of NIa using a lentiviral system in the brain of AD mouse model reduced plaque deposition levels. In the present study, we investigated whether exogenous expression of NIa in the brain of AD mouse model is beneficial to the improvement of cognitive deficits. To address this question, Lenti-NIa was intracerebrally injected into the brain of Tg-APPswe/PS1dE9 (Tg-APP/PS1) mice at 7 months of age and behavioral tests were performed 15-30 days afterwards. The results of the water maze test indicated that Tg-APP/PS1 mice which had been injected with Lenti-GFP showed an increased latency in finding the hidden-platform and markedly enhanced navigation near the maze-wall, and that such behavioral deficits were significantly reversed in Tg-APP/PS1 mice injected with Lenti-NIa. In the passive avoidance test, Tg-APP/PS1 mice exhibited a severe deficit in their contextual memory retention, which was reversed by NIa expression. In the marble burying test, Tg-APP/PS1 mice buried marbles fewer than non-transgenic mice, which was also significantly improved by NIa. After behavioral tests, it was verified that the Tg-APP/PS1 mice with Lenti-NIa injection had reduced Aβ levels and plaque deposition when compared to Tg-APP/PS1 mice. These results showed that the plant viral protease, NIa, not only reduces Aβ pathology, but also improves behavioral deficits.     

The vibrational spectrum and the normal coordinate analysis of β-TiCl3

The vibrational spectrum of β-TiCl₃ is reported. The observed bands are assigned on the basis of the normal coordinate analysis by use of a valence force field. It was found that the A_2u mode is lower in frequency than that in α-TiCl₃ and one of the TiTi stretchings is 281 cm⁻¹, resulting in a TiTi stretching force constant of 81.6 N/m.     

Investigation of the interaction of DNA and neutral red by fluorescence spectroscopic analysis

The binding characteristics of neutral red (NR) with DNA were investigated by fluorescence spectrometry. Chemometrics approach as singular value decomposition (SVD) was used to evaluate the number of spectral species in the drug-DNA binding process, and then the intrinsic binding constant of 1.6 × 104 in base pairs and the binding site number of 0.97 were obtained from the Scatchard plot.     

Study of multiple binding constants of dexamethasone with human serum albumin by capillary electrophoresis–frontal analysis and multivariate regression

Studies into the interactions between drugs and human serum albumin (HSA) are extremely important for drug discovery, since HSA behaves as a carrier for external drugs and internal biological molecules. In this paper, to evaluate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of dexamethasone (DXM), the interaction between DXM and HSA was studied by capillary electrophoresis–frontal analysis (CE-FA). According to the Klotz equation, four binding sites between DXM and HSA were obtained, and the average binding constant was 1.05 × 10³ M⁻¹. Furthermore, according to multiple equilibrium theory, based on the assumption that there are two types of binding site, the binding constant at one site was calculated to be 3.539 × 10³ M⁻¹, and the average of the other three was 1.234 × 10³ M⁻¹. In addition, to obtain the detailed binding information at each binding site, new equations were deduced by multivariate regression. The four binding constants of DXM and HSA were calculated to be 5.558 × 10¹ M⁻¹, 2.158 × 10⁴ M⁻¹, 7.312 × 10³ M⁻¹ and 2.043 × 10³ M⁻¹, respectively, which is helpful for detailed studies into the interactions between drugs and proteins with multiple binding sites. Figure Electropherograms of DXM sodium phosphate and HAS mixtures for different protein to drug concentration ratios, obtained by CE-FA     

The analysis of structural defects in piezo and ferroelectric materials by the “heat pulse” method

We consider the “heat pulse” technique for the analysis of structural imperfections. This method is based on the propagation of a pulse or packet of pulses of non-equilibrium acoustic phonons with 10¹¹–10¹² Hz frequencies.     

Determination of Evans blue as a blood–brain barrier integrity tracer in plasma and brain tissue by UHPLC/UV method

Blood–brain barrier changes are an integral part of many neurodegenerative diseases. Evans blue is an intravital dye that binds to albumin and can therefore be used to monitor extravasation of this plasma protein across blood–brain barrier in animal models of neurodegeneration. To monitor extravasation of albumin across blood–brain barrier, we developed and validated an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography method for the analysis of Evans blue in rat plasma and brain samples. Analyte was separated on ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1?mm?×?50?mm) using a 5-min gradient run and detected by a UV detector. The limits of quantification (LOQ) were 10?µg/mL in plasma and 0.5?µg/g in brain samples. The limits of detection (LOD) were 1?µg/mL in plasma and 0.015?µg/g in brain samples. The method showed excellent linearity with regression coefficients higher than 0.99. The accuracy was within the range of 91–105%. The inter-day precision was in the range of 1.3–8%. The benefits of using UPLC are selectivity, short analysis period, and thus, a very good sample throughput. Using this method, we analyzed albumin extravasation across blood–brain barrier in transgenic rat model for tauopathy SHR-72 and age-matched control animals.     

Small molecule microarrays enable the discovery of compounds that bind the Alzheimer's Aβ peptide and reduce its cytotoxicity

The amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregation pathway is a key target in efforts to discover therapeutics that prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Efforts at rational drug design, however, are hampered by uncertainties about the precise nature of the toxic aggregate. In contrast, high-throughput screening of compound libraries does not require a detailed understanding of the structure of the toxic species, and can provide an unbiased method for the discovery of small molecules that may lead to effective therapeutics. Here, we show that small molecule microarrays (SMMs) represent a particularly promising tool for identifying compounds that bind the Aβ peptide. Microarray slides with thousands of compounds immobilized on their surface were screened for binding to fluorescently labeled Aβ. Seventy-nine compounds were identified by the SMM screen, and then assayed for their ability to inhibit the Aβ-induced killing of PC12 cells. Further experiments focused on exploring the mechanism of rescue for one of these compounds: Electron microscopy and Congo red binding showed that the compound enhances fibril formation, and suggest that it may rescue cells by accelerating Aβ aggregation past an early toxic oligomer. These findings demonstrate that the SMM screen for binding to Aβ is effective at identifying compounds that reduce Aβ toxicity, and can reveal potential therapeutic leads without the biases inherent in methods that focus on inhibitors of aggregation.     

Vibrational spectrum and normal coordinate analysis of the P4S4−8 anion

The I.R. and Raman spectra of K₄P₄S₈ · 2H₂O and (NH₄)₄P₄S₈ · 2H₂O have been recorded and the vibrations of the anion have been assigned for D_4h symmetry. A normal coordinate analysis has been performed, and agreement between observed and calculated frequencies has been achieved by employing “standard” values for the PP and PS force constants, 2.05 and 2.8 [10² N m−1], respectively.     

Investigation of the interaction of DNA and neutral red by?uorescence spectroscopic analysis

The binding characteristics of neutral red (NR) with DNA were investigated by fluorescence spectrometry. Chemometrics approach as singular value decomposition (SVD) was used to evaluate the number of spectral species in the drug-DNA binding process, and then the intrinsic binding constant of 1.6 104 in base pairs and the binding site number of 0.97 were obtained from the Scatchard plot.     

Quantitative analysis of highly homologous proteins: the challenge of assaying the “CYP-ome” by mass spectrometry

Cytochrome P450 enzymes comprise families of highly homologous proteins. These proteins play a pivotal role in oxidative drug metabolism and are important targets in drug discovery research. Proteomics today is a valuable tool for the analysis of proteins. In the past, qualitative analysis of the proteome was the main focus of research, but in the last few years interest in the mathematical modelling of protein networks has been growing and so has the demand on quantitative proteome analysis. As a thorough understanding of cytochrome P450 dependent metabolism is crucial for drug discovery, it is thus not astounding that cytochrome P450 enzymes are a target for quantitative proteomics research. In this article, we review the techniques available for quantitative proteome analysis and to what extent these techniques have been used for the quantification of cytochrome P450 enzymes and give a brief outlook of the techniques that have promising potential for the analysis of these proteins in the future.     

Analysis of tizoxanide,active metabolite of nitazoxanide,in rat brain tissue and plasma by UHPLC–MS/MS

Tizoxanide, the active metabolite of nitazoxanide, has recently been reported as an effective agent for the treatment of glioma. As there had been no report about the analysis of tizoxanide in brain tissue, we established extraction and UHPLC–MS/MS methods to quantify tizoxanide in rat brain and plasma to evaluate the brain-to-plasma ratio of tizoxanide. The biological samples were mainly prepared by acetonitrile and the separation was performed on a Waters XBridge® BEH C₁₈ column. The mobile phase was composed of water mixed with 10 mm ammonium formate (pH 3.0) and acetonitrile according a gradient volume. Tizoxanide and topiramate (internal standard) were monitored utilizing negative electron spray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring mode. The methods were validated to be precise and accurate within the dynamic range of 5–1000 ng/mL and 0.2–50 ng/g for plasma and brain tissue samples, respectively. The lower limit of quantitation of the method was 0.2 ng/g, which was far more sensitive than all existing methods to quantify tizoxanide in biological samples. Application performed on rats exhibited that the brain-to-plasma ratio of tizoxanide ranged from 3.16 to 26.86% in 1 h after administration of 10 mg/kg nitazoxanide.     

IR spectrum and normal mode analysis of the antiAlzheimer''''s disease natural product Huperzine A: A quantum chemistry density-functional theory (DFT) investigation

ＨｕｐｅｒｚｉｎｅＡ(ＨｕｐＡ),ａｎａｌｋａｌｏｉｄｉｓｏｌａｔｅｄｆｒｏｍＣｈｉｎｅｓｅｈｅｒｂＨｕｐｅｒｚｉａｓｅｒｒａｔａＴｈｕｎｂ[1],ｉｓａｐｏｔｅｎｔｒｅｖｅｒｓｉｂｌｅａｃｅｔｙｌｃｈｏｌｉｎｅｓｔｅｒａｓｅ(ＡＣｈＥ)ｉｎｈｉｂｉｔｏｒ[2]ｗｉｔｈｈｉｇｈｅｆｆｉｃａｃｙａｎｄｌｏｗｔｏｘｉｃｉｔｙ(ｆｉｇ.1).Ａｃｅｔｙｌｃｈｏｌｉｎｅ(ＡＣｈ)ｉｓａｃｈｅｍｉｃａｌｓｕｂｓｔａｎｃｅ,ｗｈｉｃｈｃａｎｔｒａｎｓｍｉｔｔｈｅｓｉｇｎａｌｏｆｎｅｒｖｅｉｍｐｕｌｓｅ.Ｔｈｅｒｅａｒｅｍａｎｙ…     

Cross-validation and evaluation of the performance of methods for the elemental analysis of forensic glass by μ-XRF, ICP-MS, and LA-ICP-MS

Elemental analysis of glass was conducted by 16 forensic science laboratories, providing a direct comparison between three analytical methods [micro-x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (μ-XRF), solution analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry]. Interlaboratory studies using glass standard reference materials and other glass samples were designed to (a) evaluate the analytical performance between different laboratories using the same method, (b) evaluate the analytical performance of the different methods, (c) evaluate the capabilities of the methods to correctly associate glass that originated from the same source and to correctly discriminate glass samples that do not share the same source, and (d) standardize the methods of analysis and interpretation of results. Reference materials NIST 612, NIST 1831, FGS 1, and FGS 2 were employed to cross-validate these sensitive techniques and to optimize and standardize the analytical protocols. The resulting figures of merit for the ICP-MS methods include repeatability better than 5 % RSD, reproducibility between laboratories better than 10 % RSD, bias better than 10 %, and limits of detection between 0.03 and 9 μg g^?1 for the majority of the elements monitored. The figures of merit for the μ-XRF methods include repeatability better than 11 % RSD, reproducibility between laboratories after normalization of the data better than 16 % RSD, and limits of detection between 5.8 and 7,400 μg g^?1. The results from this study also compare the analytical performance of different forensic science laboratories conducting elemental analysis of glass evidence fragments using the three analytical methods.

Determination of Meserine,a new candidate for Alzheimer’s disease in mice brain by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and its application to a pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution study

A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for determination of Meserine ((?)-meptazinol phenylcarbamate), a novel potent inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), was developed, validated, and applied to a pharmacokinetic study in mice brain. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 1 ng mL^?1 and the linear range was 1–1,000 ng mL^?1. The analyte was eluted on a Zorbax SB-Aq column (2.1?×?100 mm, 3.5 μm) with the mobile phase composed of methanol and water (70:30, v/v, aqueous phase contained 10 mM ammonium formate and 0.3 % formic acid) using isocratic elution, and monitored by positive electrospray ionization in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The flow rate was 0.25 mL min^?1. The injection volume was 5 μL and total run time was 4 min. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of intraday and interday variation was 2.49–7.81 and 3.01–7.67 %, respectively. All analytes were stable after 4 h at room temperature and 6 h in autosampler. The extraction recoveries of Meserine in brain homogenate were over 90 %. The main brain pharmacokinetic parameters obtained after intranasal administration were T _max?=?0.05 h, C _max?=?462.0?±?39.7 ng g^?1, T _1/2?=?0.4 h, and AUC_(0-∞)?=?283.1?±?9.1 ng h g^?1. Moreover, Meserine was distributed rapidly and widely into brain, heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney tissue. The method is validated and could be applied to the pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution study of Meserine in mice.     

Elemental analysis of Cu−Ni and Nd−Al alloys and, nickel and iron powders by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) technique

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) has been used for elemental analysis of Cu−Ni alloy, neodymium aluminide, and iron and nickel powder. The preparation of Cu−Ni alloy and neodymium aluminide has been carried out by aluminothermic reduction of mixed oxides of copper and nickel and neodymium oxide respectively. Aqueous electrorefining technique has been followed for the preparation of iron and nickel powder using Fe−Ni alloy as anode. The determination of major and trace elements present in the Cu−Ni and, electrolytically refined nickel and iron has been accomplished by EDXRF using Cd¹⁰⁹ radioisotope source. In the case of Nd−Al alloy Am²⁴¹ radioisotope source has been used. The rapid and multielement analysis of the thermit product by EDXRF has aided in the appropriate variation of the charge constituents during the standardization of the optimum charge composition for Cu−Ni alloy. EDXRF analysis of electrolytically refined nickel and iron revealed heavy contamination of iron in nickel as compared to that of nickel in iron. Neodymium content has been found to be 67.68% in Nd−Al alloy.     

Identification of “hot spots” of the science of catalysis: bibliometric and thematic analysis of nowaday reviews and monographs

Bibliometric and thematic analyses were performed for more than 11 thousand reviews and monographs in catalysis registered in the Chemical Abstracts Plus database on the SciFinder platform from April, 2011, to December, 2012, with the aim to elucidate the hot spots of this area. The identified spots include photo- and electrocatalysis; stereoselective (bio-) catalysis; catalytic functionalization of organic compounds; catalysis by nanostructured, in particular, graphene-based materials; catalytic production of biofuel; and application of catalysis in novel energy technologies.     

Application of gas-diffusion microextraction to the analysis of free and bound acetaldehyde in wines by HPLC–UV and characterization of the extracted compounds by MS/MS detection

In wines, the presence of high levels of acetaldehyde (AA) not only is responsible for undesirable characteristic odours but can also cause health adverse effects. Such sensorial activity of AA can be overcome by adding sulphites during winemaking, due to the formation of adducts between AA and sulphites, which lower the sensorial impact of AA. Nevertheless, bound AA can be released during wine storage; therefore, the knowledge of its total amount can be important to estimate the long-term wine quality. The proposed methodology is based on the extraction of AA from wines using gas-diffusion microextraction and determination by liquid chromatography. Free and bound forms of AA could be differentiated and determined using an alkaline hydrolysis step to dissociate the sulphites–AA adducts. This methodology was successfully applied to different wine types, with free AA values ranging between 5 and 26 mg L⁻¹ and total form between 154 and 906 mg L⁻¹. Bound AA was above 90% of the total content determined for all samples analysed, and higher amounts were obtained for white wines (around 98%). Other carbonyl compounds were also identified in the extracts using mass spectrometry.