Interference of flavonoids with enzymatic assays for the determination of free fatty acid and triglyceride levels

Flavonoids are bioactive food compounds with potential lipid-lowering effects. Commercially available enzymatic assays are widely used to determine free fatty acid (FFA) and triglyceride (TG) levels both in vivo in plasma or serum and in vitro in cell culture medium or cell lysate. However, we have observed that various flavonoids interfere with peroxidases used in these enzymatic assays, resulting in incorrect lower FFA and TG levels than actually present. Furthermore, addition of isorhamnetin or the major metabolite of the flavonoid quercetin in human and rat plasma, quercetin-3-O-glucuronide, to murine serum also resulted in a significant reduction of the detected TG levels, while a trend was seen for FFA levels. It is concluded that when applying these assays, vigilance is needed and alternative analytical methods, directly assessing FFA or TG levels, should be used for studying the biological effects of flavonoids on FFA and TG levels.     

Quantitative determination of ochratoxin A in vegetable foods

Summary A simple method for the quantitative determination of ochratoxin A (OA) in rice and other vegetable foods (oatmeal, coconut flakes and peas) is described. This procedure implies an acetonitrile-4% KCl -6N HCl (88+10+2) extraction of the acidic OA, subsequent twodimensional thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and detection by fluorescence after exposure to ammonia fumes (excitation at 340 nm; emission at 475 nm). The quantitative detection limit for OA in rice or coconut flakes is 2.4–4 g/kg and the recovery is 96%. For oatmeal and peas the detection limit is only 20 g/kg because of the interference by other metabolites.

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Quantitative Bestimmung von Ochratoxin A in pflanzlichen Nahrungsmitteln

Zusammenfassung Eine einfache Methode zur quantitativen Bestimmung von Ochratoxin A (OA) in Reis und anderen pflanzlichen Nahrungsmitteln (Haferflocken, Kokosflocken, und Erbsen) wird beschrieben. Zur Extraktion wird Acetonitril-4% KCl -6N HCl (88+10+2) benutzt. Nach der Aufbereitung wird eine Auftrennung durch zweidimensionale DC-Trennung (TLC) vorgenommen. Die quantitative Bestimmung erfolgt durch Fluorescenzphotometrie nach Behandlung der Platten mit gasförmigem Ammoniak (Anregung bei 340 nm, Emission bei 475 nm). Die quantitative Bestimmungsgrenze in Reis oder Kokosflocken beträgt 2,4–4 g/kg und die Wiederfindung (Reis) 96%. Für Haferflocken und Erbsen wurde wegen des Störeffektes durch andere Metaboliten nur eine quantitative Bestimmungsgrenze von 20 g/kg erreicht.

     

Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical free energy simulations of the glutathione S-transferase (M1-1) reaction with phenanthrene 9,10-oxide

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play an important role in the detoxification of xenobiotics in mammals. They catalyze the conjugation of glutathione to a wide range of electrophilic compounds. Phenanthrene 9,10-oxide is a model substrate for GSTs, representing an important group of epoxide substrates. In the present study, combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations of the conjugation of glutathione to phenanthrene 9,10-oxide, catalyzed by the M1-1 isoenzyme from rat, have been carried out to obtain insight into details of the reaction mechanism and the role of solvent present in the highly solvent accessible active site. Reaction-specific AM1 parameters for sulfur have been developed to obtain an accurate modeling of the reaction, and QM/MM solvent interactions in the model have been calibrated. Free energy profiles for the formation of two diastereomeric products were obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the enzyme, using umbrella sampling and weighted histogram analysis techniques. The barriers (20 kcal/mol) are in good agreement with the overall experimental rate constant and with the formation of equal amounts of the two diastereomeric products, as experimentally observed. Along the reaction pathway, desolvation of the thiolate sulfur of glutathione is observed, in agreement with solvent isotope experiments, as well as increased solvation of the epoxide oxygen of phenanthrene 9,10-oxide, illustrating an important stabilizing role for active site solvent molecules. Important active site interactions have been identified and analyzed. The catalytic effect of Tyr115 through a direct hydrogen bond with the epoxide oxygen of the substrate, which was proposed on the basis of the crystal structure of the (9S,10S) product complex, is supported by the simulations. The indirect interaction through a mediating water molecule, observed in the crystal structure of the (9R,10R) product complex, cannot be confirmed to play a role in the conjugation step. A selection of mutations is modeled. The Asn8Asp mutation, representing one of the differences between the M1-1 and M2-2 isoenzymes, is identified as a possible factor contributing to the difference in the ratio of product formation by these two isoenzymes. The QM/MM reaction pathway simulations provide new and detailed insight into the reaction mechanism of this important class of detoxifying enzymes and illustrate the potential of QM/MM modeling to complement experimental data on enzyme reaction mechanisms.     

Improving pulse sequences for 3D DOSY: COSY-IDOSY

An improved pulse sequence for measuring diffusion-ordered COSY spectra is achieved by incorporating the diffusion encoding directly into the evolution and detection periods of a gradient-enhanced COSY sequence, giving improved sensitivity and a 32-fold reduction in minimum experiment time.     

Insight into lipase-catalyzed formation of macrocyclic oligoesters

A detailed study of a mild lipase-catalyzed route to cyclic ester oligomers based on diester and diol monomers is provided. A systematic variation of acyl donor and acceptor substrates enabled us to relate cyclization to their structural elements and elucidate the role of the immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B (Novozym 435) in this process. Moreover, its potential for optimization and as a tool for the production of cyclic oligoesters as monomers was investigated. For instance, a series of cyclic oligoesters of di-, tri-, tetra- and pentaethylene terephthalate was obtained in excellent purities (>99%) and conversions. Furthermore, 2,5- and 2,6-pyridinodicarboxylate combined with diethylene glycol yielded high amounts of cyclic oligoesters. Also cyclic oligoesters of propylene terephthalate were produced in good purity (84%) in toluene at moderate temperature (70 °C at 285 mbar). In some cases the cyclic dimer with rotational C2 symmetry was preferentially obtained.     

Monte Carlo Simulation of Randomly Branched Step‐Growth Polymers: Generation and Analysis of Representative Molecular Ensembles

A Monte Carlo simulation procedure has been set up and applied to generate representative ensembles of randomly branched step‐growth polymers based on their reaction recipe. The molecular distributions thus obtained are consistent with those from statistical/analytical approaches. However, because the current method gives access to the complete ensemble of simulated molecules, a very detailed structural analysis is possible. Our procedures are applicable to any ‘A_fB_g’ system with f + g ≥ 1. We apply this approach to randomly branched polyamides in order to gain insight into their molecular structure and understand the effect of the reaction recipe on the final product.