Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics to Explore the Action Mechanism of the Pharmaceutical-Grade Triticum vulgare Extract in Speeding Up Keratinocyte Healing

Plant extracts have shown beneficial properties in terms of skin repair, promoting wound healing through a plethora of mechanisms. In particular, the poly-/oligosaccharidic aqueous extract of Triticum vulgare (TVE), as well as TVE-based products, shows interesting biological assets, hastening wound repair. Indeed, TVE acts in the treatment of tissue regeneration mainly on decubitus and venous leg ulcers. Moreover, on scratched monolayers, TVE prompts HaCat cell migration, correctly modulating the expression of metalloproteases toward a physiological matrix remodeling. Here, using the same HaCat-based in vitro scratch model, the TVE effect has been investigated thanks to an LFQ proteomic analysis of HaCat secretomes and immunoblotting. Indeed, the unbiased TVE effect on secreted proteins has not yet been fully understood, and it could be helpful to obtain a comprehensive picture of its bio-pharmacological profile. It has emerged that TVE treatment induces significant up-regulation of several proteins in the secretome (153 to be exact) whereas only a few were down-regulated (72 to be exact). Interestingly, many of the up-regulated proteins are implicated in promoting wound-healing-related processes, such as modulating cell–cell interaction and communication, cell proliferation and differentiation, and prompting cell adhesion and migration.     

How well does molecular simulation reproduce environment-specific conformations of the intrinsically disordered peptides PLP,TP2 and ONEG?

Understanding the conformational ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins and peptides (IDPs) in their various biological environments is essential for understanding their mechanisms and functional roles in the proteome, leading to a greater knowledge of, and potential treatments for, a broad range of diseases. To determine whether molecular simulation is able to generate accurate conformational ensembles of IDPs, we explore the structural landscape of the PLP peptide (an intrinsically disordered region of the proteolipid membrane protein) in aqueous and membrane-mimicking solvents, using replica exchange with solute scaling (REST2), and examine the ability of four force fields (ff14SB, ff14IDPSFF, CHARMM36 and CHARMM36m) to reproduce literature circular dichroism (CD) data. Results from variable temperature (VT) ¹H and Rotating frame Overhauser Effect SpectroscopY (ROESY) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are also presented and are consistent with the structural observations obtained from the simulations and CD. We also apply the optimum simulation protocol to TP2 and ONEG (a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) and a negative control peptide, respectively) to gain insight into the structural differences that may account for the observed difference in their membrane-penetrating abilities. Of the tested force fields, we find that CHARMM36 and CHARMM36m are best suited to the study of IDPs, and accurately predict a disordered to helical conformational transition of the PLP peptide accompanying the change from aqueous to membrane-mimicking solvents. We also identify an α-helical structure of TP2 in the membrane-mimicking solvents and provide a discussion of the mechanistic implications of this observation with reference to the previous literature on the peptide. From these results, we recommend the use of CHARMM36m with the REST2 protocol for the study of environment-specific IDP conformations. We believe that the simulation protocol will allow the study of a broad range of IDPs that undergo conformational transitions in different biological environments.

A protocol for simulating intrinsically disordered peptides in aqueous and hydrophobic solvents is proposed. Results from four force fields are compared with experiment. CHARMM36m performs the best for the simulated IDPs in all environments.     

Natural Polyphenols for the Preservation of Meat and Dairy Products

Food spoilage makes foods undesirable and unacceptable for human use. The preservation of food is essential for human survival, and different techniques were initially used to limit the growth of spoiling microbes, e.g., drying, heating, salting, or fermentation. Water activity, temperature, redox potential, preservatives, and competitive microorganisms are the most important approaches used in the preservation of food products. Preservative agents are generally classified into antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-browning agents. On the other hand, artificial preservatives (sorbate, sulfite, or nitrite) may cause serious health hazards such as hypersensitivity, asthma, neurological damage, hyperactivity, and cancer. Thus, consumers prefer natural food preservatives to synthetic ones, as they are considered safer. Polyphenols have potential uses as biopreservatives in the food industry, because their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities can increase the storage life of food products. The antioxidant capacity of polyphenols is mainly due to the inhibition of free radical formation. Moreover, the antimicrobial activity of plants and herbs is mainly attributed to the presence of phenolic compounds. Thus, incorporation of botanical extracts rich in polyphenols in perishable foods can be considered since no pure polyphenolic compounds are authorized as food preservatives. However, individual polyphenols can be screened in this regard. In conclusion, this review highlights the use of phenolic compounds or botanical extracts rich in polyphenols as preservative agents with special reference to meat and dairy products.     

Analysis of Fatty Acids,Amino Acids and Volatile Profile of Apple By-Products by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Apple industrial by-products are a promising source of bioactive compounds with direct implications on human health. The main goal of the present work was to characterize the Jonathan and Golden Delicious by-products from their fatty acid, amino acid, and volatile aroma compounds’ point of view. GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) and ITEX/GC-MS methods were used for the by-products characterization. Linoleic and oleic were the main fatty acids identified in all samples, while palmitic and stearic acid were the representant of saturated ones. With respect to amino acids, from the essential group, isoleucine was the majority compound identified in JS (Jonathan skin) and GS (Golden skin) samples, lysine was the representant of JP (Jonathan pomace), and valine was mainly identified in GP (Golden pomace). A total number of 47 aroma volatile compounds were quantified in all samples, from which the esters groups ranged from 41.55–53.29%, aldehydes 29.75–43.99%, alcohols from 4.15 to 6.37%, ketones 4.14–5.72%, and the terpenes and terpenoids group reached values between 2.27% and 4.61%. Moreover, the by-products were valorized in biscuits manufacturing, highlighting their importance in enhancing the volatile aroma compounds, color, and sensorial analysis of the final baked goods.     

Multifunctional polyurethane foams with thermal energy storage/release capability

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this work, polyurethane (PU) insulating panels containing different amounts of a microencapsulated paraffin with a nominal melting temperature of...     

Synthesis and characterization of cellulose acetate from cellophane industry residues. Application as acetaminophen controlled-release membranes

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Cellophane film production generates cellulosic residues from scraps, edges, and low-quality films. In this work, cellophane was used as a raw material...     

Amorphous alloys and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - A remarkable number of scientific papers are available in the literature about the bulk amorphous alloys and metallic glasses. Today, DSC is an...     

Fingerprinting pre-historical symbolic artefacts by a non-destructive methodological approach

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - A contribution to the discussion about Vila Nova de São Pedro (VNSP) as a production centre of symbolic lithic artefacts, the origin of raw...     

Crystallographic characterization of three cathinone hydrochlorides new on the NPS market: 1-(4-methylphenyl)-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)hexan-1-one (4-MPHP), 4-methyl-1-phenyl-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)pentan-1-one (α-PiHP) and 2-(methylamino)-1-(4-methylphenyl)pentan-1-one (4-MPD)

Cathinones belong to a group of compounds of great interest in the new psychoactive substances (NPS) market. Constant changes to the chemical structure made by the producers of these compounds require a quick reaction from analytical laboratories in ascertaining their characteristics. In this article, three cathinone derivatives were characterized by X-ray crystallography. The investigated compounds were confirmed as: 1-[1-(4-methylphenyl)-1-oxohexan-2-yl]pyrrolidin-1-ium chloride ( 1 , C₁₇H₂₆NO⁺·Cl^?, the hydrochloride of 4-MPHP), 1-(4-methyl-1-oxo-1-phenylpentan-2-yl)pyrrolidin-1-ium chloride ( 2 ; C₁₆H₂₄NO⁺·Cl^?, the hydrochloride of α-PiHP) and methyl[1-(4-methylphenyl)-1-oxopentan-2-yl]azanium chloride ( 3 ; C₁₃H₂₀NO⁺·Cl^?, the hydrochloride of 4-MPD). All the salts crystallize in a monoclinic space group: 1 and 2 in P2₁/c, and 3 in P2₁/n. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first detailed and comprehensive crystallographic data on salts 1 – 3 .     

Graphene‐Functionalized 3D‐Carbon Fiber Electrodes – Preparation and Electrochemical Characterization

Graphene nanosheets were produced on the surface of carbon fibers by in situ electrochemical procedure including oxidative and reductive steps to yield first graphene oxide, later converted to graphene. The electrode material composed of graphene‐functionalized carbon fibers was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammery demonstrating superior electrochemical kinetics comparing with the original carbon paper. The interfacial electron transfer rate for the reversible redox process of [Fe(CN)₆]^3?/4? was found ca. 4.5‐fold higher after the electrode modification with the graphene nanosheets. The novel electrode material is suggested as a promising conducting interface for bioelectrocatalytic electrodes used in various electrochemical biosensors and biofuel cells, particularly operating in vivo.