Differences in Metabolite Composition of Aloe barbadensis Mill. Extracts Lead to Differential Effects on Human Blood T Cell Activity In Vitro

Aloe barbadensis Mill. (Aloe) is used for diverse therapeutic properties including immunomodulation. However, owing to the compositionally complex nature of Aloe, bioactive component(s) responsible for its beneficial properties, though thought to be attributed to polysaccharides (acemannan), remain unknown. We therefore aimed to determine the metabolite composition of various commercial Aloe extracts and assess their effects on human blood T cell activity in vitro. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donors were stimulated polyclonally in presence or absence of various Aloe extracts. T cell phenotype and proliferation were investigated by flow cytometry. Aloe extracts were analyzed using targeted ¹H-NMR spectroscopy for standard phytochemical quality characterization and untargeted gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for metabolite profiling. Aloe extracts differing in their standard phytochemical composition had varying effects on T cell activation, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell-death in vitro, although this was not related to the acemannan content. Furthermore, each Aloe extract had its own distinct metabolite profile, where extracts rich in diverse sugar and sugar-derivatives were associated with reduced T cell activity. Our results demonstrate that all commercial Aloe extracts are unique with distinct metabolite profiles, which lead to differential effects on T cell activity in vitro, independent of the acemannan content.     

Picosecond X-ray diffraction studies of laser-excited acoustic phonons in InSb

We have employed time-resolved X-ray diffraction with picosecond temporal resolution to measure the time-dependent rocking curves of laser-irradiated asymmetrically cut single InSb crystals. Coherent acoustic phonons were excited in the crystals by irradiation with 800-nm, 100-fs laser pulses at irradiances between 0.25 and 12 mJ/cm². The induced time-dependent strain profiles (corresponding to the coherent phonons) were monitored by diffracting collimated, monochromatic pulses of X-rays from the irradiated crystals. Recording of the diffracted radiation with a fast low-jitter X-ray streak camera resulted in an overall temporal resolution of better than 2 ps. The strain associated with the coherent phonons modifies the rocking curve of the crystal in a time-dependent manner, and the rocking curve is recorded by keeping the angle of incidence of the X-rays upon the crystal fixed, but varying the energy of the incident X-rays around a central energy of 8.453 keV (corresponding to the peak of the rocking curve of the unperturbed crystal). The observed time-dependent diffraction from the irradiated crystals is in reasonable agreement with simulations over a wide range of energies from the unperturbed rocking-curve peak. Received: 22 March 2002 / Revised version: 25 March 2002 / Published online: 6 June 2002     

The charge distribution of iron complexes studied by XPS,Mössbauer spectroscopy,and SCC-MO calculations

A series of iron complexes has been studied by XPS and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Atomic charges and iron atom populations have been estimated from the experimental results and compared with iterative extended Hückel (IEH) calculations as well as with calculations based on a modified form of this method (MIEH).     

A method for MR quantification of flow velocities in blood and CSF using interleaved gradient-echo pulse sequences

The aim of this study was to establish a rapid method for in vivo quantification of a large range of flow velocities using phase information. A basic gradient-echo sequence was constructed, in which flow was encoded along the slice selection direction by variation of the amplitude of a bipolar gradient without changes in sequence timings. The influence of field inhomogeneities and eddy currents was studied in a 1.5 T scanner. From the basic sequence, interleaved sequences for calibration and in vivo flow determination were constructed, and flow information was obtained by pairwise subtraction of velocity-encoded from velocity non-encoded phase images. Calibration was performed in a nongated mode using flow phantoms, and the results were compared with theoretically calculated encoding efficiencies. In vivo flow was studied in healthy volunteers in three different areas using cardiac gating; central blood flow in the great thoracic vessels, peripheral blood flow in the popliteal vessels, and flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the cerebral aqueduct. The results show good agreement with results obtained with other techniques. The proposed method for flow determination was shown to be rapid and flexible, and we thus conclude that it seems well suited for routine clinical MR examinations.     

Atomic charges based on spherical harmonics expansion at the atomic centers

Molecular orbitals are expanded in spherical harmonics functions around atomic centers. The expansion coefficient is a function of the distance from the nucleus and the quotient between this function and a corresponding atomic orbital is almost constant in the core region. The square of the quotient is used as a definition of an atomic charge component. The erratic dependence on the type of basis functions in the Mulliken method is thereby avoided. The relationship between the new charge and the Mulliken population is investigated and a new invariant Mulliken population is suggested.     

A relation between the atomic charge of carbon and the C1s core electron binding energy estimated from a comparison of gas phase and solid state data and the molar polarizabilities of the investigated molecules

A method for internal calibration of ESCA (XPS ) spectra is described that permits the use of a simple relation between binding energy (E_b) and atomic charge (q) : E_b = kq + E_b0. This relation has been shown to hold for a large number of elements. So far the relation for carbon has, however, not been very well established. A method is now described that allows the use of carbon charges determined from E_b, vs. q correlations for other elements and has also made it possible to establish a linear relation for carbon. The method does not use carbon charges determined directly from quantum chemical calculations.

As an essential part of this procedure we investigated empirically the possible relation between the difference between the gas phase calibration standard and that for the same element in the solid state, “a”, and the molar polarizability of the substance, P. It was found that “a” decreases with increasing polarizability, tentatively as a=4.15+8.30 P^−1/3. Therefore, knowledge of the polarizability of carbon-containing molecules from the literature made it possible to determine “a” and then the charge of all other atoms in the molecule. In this way a set of E_b and qc date was obtained. These data were complemented by another set using theoretical q_c snd solid state E_b of phenyl compounds previously made.

The results of the investigation show a linear relation between E_b(Cls) and q_c valid for the solid state: E_b,(Cls) = 4.68 q_c + 286.2 eV with a correlation coefficient of 0.945. This brings the previously obtained k value for carbon, which seemed anomalously high, down to a value of similar magnitude as for other light elements.     

The45Sc(3He,d)46Ti reaction. DWBA analysis of transitions to states between 7.6 and 11.0 MeV

Angular distributions of transitions to 29 states in⁴⁶Ti between 7.6 and 11.0 MeV excitation energy from the⁴⁵Sc (³He,d) reaction at 15 MeV have been compared with DWBA predictions. The results support previously suggestedT=2 states in⁴⁶Ti.     

Separation of sugar derivatives by partition chromatography on anion-exchange resins

The separation of a number of sugar derivatives such as methyl, ethyl, benzyl, hydroxyethyl erners and various glycosides has been studied. An efficient separation of most species was obtained in 94% ethanol using an anion-exchange resin in its sulfate form. The eluate concentration was determined automatically using the orcinol method.     

Functionality and stability of heparin immobilized onto poly(dimethylsiloxane)

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) has become an attractive material when working in the field of microfluidics, mainly because of the rapid prototyping process it involves. The increased surface volume ratio in microchannels makes the interaction between sample and material surface highly important, evident when handling complex biological samples such as plasma or blood. This study demonstrates a new grade of non-covalent heparin surface that adds efficient anticoagulant property to the PDMS material. The surface modification is a simple and fast one-step process performed at neutral pH, optimal when working with closed microsystems. The heparin formed a uniform and functional coating on hydrophobic PDMS with comparatively high level of antithrombin-binding capacity. In addition, long-term studies revealed that the immobilized heparin was more or less stable in the microchannels over a time of three weeks. Recalcified plasma in contact with native PDMS showed complete coagulation after 1h, while no fibrin formation was detected in plasma incubated on heparin-coated PDMS within the same time. In conclusion, we see the heparin coating developed and evaluated in this study as a tool that greatly facilitates the use of PDMS in microfluidics dealing with plasma or blood samples.