Evaluation of the pattern and kinetics of degradation of adalimumab using a stability‐indicating orthogonal testing protocol

Forced degradation studies are crucial for the evaluation of the stability and biosimilarity. Here, adalimumab was subjected to oxidation, pH, temperature, agitation and repeated freeze–thaw in order to generate all possible degradation products. An orthogonal stability‐indicating testing protocol comprising SE‐HPLC, RP‐HPLC, TapeStation gel electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and functional receptor binding assay was developed and validated. The assay protocol was used for the assessment of the pattern and kinetics of aggregation/degradation of adalimumab. SE‐HPLC and DLS were used to show the formation of aggregates/fragments of adalimumab under nondenaturing conditions. TapeStation electrophoresis was performed under denaturing conditions to reveal the nature of aggregates. Results of the receptor binding assay agreed to those of SE‐HPLC and DLS which indicated that it can be used as an activity‐indicating assay for adalimumab. RP‐HPLC demonstrated excellent selectivity for adalimumab in the presence of its oxidized forms. The kinetics of degradation was studied in each case and the results showed that it followed the first‐order reaction kinetics. Correlation between the results supported the quality assessment of the tested product in industrial and clinical settings. This orthogonal protocol is a useful tool in stability assessment of monoclonal antibodies and a key criterion for the biosimilarity assessment.     

Developing an electro-thermal model to determine heat generation and thermal properties in a lithium-ion battery

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Lithium-ion batteries should continuously be operated at the optimum temperature range $$\left( {15 \sim 40 \,^\circ C} \right)$$ for the best...     

Influence of foliar spray of ethephon and water stress on the essential oil composition and impact on the cytotoxic activity of Thymus vulgaris aerial parts

Thymus vulgaris, (Lamiaceae), essential oils composition and yield, were found to be greatly influenced by water stress and growth enhancers. Therefore, three controlled cultivation conditions were applied to achieve the highest essential oil productivity of T. vulgaris. The essential oils obtained by hydro-distillation of the aerial parts were analyzed using (GC-MS). The tested plant subjected to drought showed a 66% increase in the essential oil yield, while those subjected to drought stress and foliar spray showed 57.1% increase and the regularly irrigated group with foliar spraying showed 23.8% increase relative to the control group. The cytotoxic activity of T. vulgaris essential oils was evaluated against lung (A-549), colon (HCT-116), intestinal (CACO₂) and breast (MCF-7) carcinoma using the cell viability assay. The lowest IC₅₀ values 0.44 and 0.33 μg/mL were seen against (HCT-116) and (CACO₂) cells respectively. These IC₅₀ values were lower than that of doxorubicin used as reference drug.     

Visible Light-Driven Molecular Switches and Motors: Recent Developments and Applications

Inspired by human vision, a diverse range of light-driven molecular switches and motors have been developed for fundamental understanding and application in material science and biology. Recently, the design and synthesis of visible light-driven molecular switches and motors have been actively pursued. This emerging trend is partly motivated to avoid the harmful effects of ultraviolet light, which was necessary to drive the classical molecular switches and motors at least in one direction, impeding their employment in biomedical and photopharmacology applications. Moreover, visible light-driven molecular switches and motors are demonstrated to enable benign optical materials for advanced photonic devices. Therefore, during the past several years, visible light-driven molecular switches based on azobenzene derivatives, diarylethenes, 1,2-dicyanodithienylethenes, hemithioindigo derivatives, iminothioindoxyls, donor-acceptor Stenhouse adducts, and overcrowded alkene based molecular motors have been judiciously designed, synthesized, and used in the development of functional materials and systems for a wide range of applications. In this Review, we present the recent developments toward the design of visible light-driven molecular switches and motors, with their applications in the fabrication of functional materials and systems in material science, bioscience, pharmacology, etc. The visible light-driven molecular switches and motors realized so far undoubtedly widen the scope of these interesting compounds for technological and biological applications. We hope this Review article could provide additional impetus and inspire further research interests for future exploration of visible light-driven advanced materials, systems, and devices.     

Effects of crystallite size on the kinetics and mechanism of NiO reduction with H2

A kinetic investigation on the reduction of nanometer‐sized nickel oxide particles (supported and unsupported) with hydrogen was carried out. The reduction behavior was found to be related to the average size of NiO crystallites. When the NiO crystallite size was less than about 20 nm, the dissociation of H₂ was the key rate‐limiting factor and remained unchanged almost throughout the reduction process. However, when the NiO crystallite size was >20 nm, its reduction kinetics changed with conversion, showing two kinetic compensation effects at lower and higher NiO conversion levels. It is believed that the movement and rearrangement of H atoms inside such bulk Ni/NiO solid could be an important aspect of the reduction kinetics, especially at higher (50%–90%) NiO conversion levels. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 667–676, 2011     

Optical Nanobiosensing of Stibogluconate in Plasma and Urine Using Green Synthesized Fluorescent Carbon Nanodots

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - Fluorescent carbon nanodots were synthetized from garlic peels as optical nanobiosensors for an anti-leishmaniotic stibogluconate drug. The characterization...     

A highly sensitive GC–MS method for simultaneous determination of anacardic acids in cashew (Anacardium occidentale) nut shell oil in the presence of other phenolic lipid derivatives

The commercial value of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) has become a cornerstone of the agrowaste industry. It is the by‐product of the cashew industry and has an 1/8 inch thickness of soft honeycomb structure. CNSL contains phenolic lipids with aliphatic chains such as anacardic acid, cardanol, cardol and methyl cardol, and their derivatives. The developed GC–MS method is rapid, accurate and selective using a selected derivatizing reagent, namely N‐methyl‐N‐(trimethylsilyl)‐trifluoroacetamide that was previously diluted 1:1% with anhydrous pyridine. The proposed GC–MS method was applied for the analysis of different CNSL samples. The results showed that all classes of CNSL compounds were detected. The four alkyl phenols were detected with their different alkyl sidechains without any interference. This method is also specified for the detection of fatty acids of saturated and unsaturated chains. Silylation did not cause any alteration in the chemical structure of CNSL compounds regardless of esterification action. Silylation is considered a safe derivatizing agent compatible with GC chromatography and specific for all volatile and nonvolatile polar and nonpolar CNSL compounds that could be detected in CNSL samples.     

Gel–liquid crystal phase transition in dry and hydrated SOPC phospholipid studied by differential scanning calorimetry

We study the thermodynamic properties of pure and hydrated samples of SOPC (stearoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) membrane via Differential Scanning Calorimetry. We estimate the fundamental thermodynamic quantities, such as enthalpy and entropy, of the bilayer phosphatidylcholine. It is found that the gel-liquid crystal phase transition is driven by the van’t Hoff enthalpy, revealing the occurrence of an intermediate phase transition. We discuss the influence of the heating rate on the enthalpy and on the gel ? liquid crystal phase transition temperature by introducing the adequate thermodynamic Gibbs potential. The effect of hydrogen bonding of the water molecules with the polar head and polar-apolar interface on the energetics of the bilayer membrane matrix is analysed. The obtained transition temperature was found to vary between 3 and 4°C depending on the hydration level. A result corroborated by the behaviour of the heat capacity of SOPC computed via Molecular dynamics simulation.