The impact of blood on liver metabolite profiling – a combined metabolomic and proteomic approach

Metabolomics has entered the well‐established omic sciences as it is an indispensable information resource to achieve a global picture of biological systems. The aim of the present study was to estimate the influence of blood removal from mice liver as part of sample preparation for metabolomic and proteomic studies. For this purpose, perfused mice liver tissue (i.e. with blood removed) and unperfused mice liver tissue (i.e. containing blood) were compared by two‐dimensional gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC‐TOFMS) for the metabolomic part, and by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) for the proteomic part. Our data showed significant differences between the unperfused and perfused liver tissue samples. Furthermore, we also observed an overlap of blood and tissue metabolite profiles in our data, suggesting that the perfusion of liver tissue prior to analysis is beneficial for an accurate metabolic profile of this organ. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biocompatibility of nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes with murine fibroblasts and human hematopoietic stem cells

Journal of Nanoparticle Research - Workers are increasingly exposed to nanoparticles, mostly via inhalation. Respiratory protection is recommended as an additional control measure. Particulate...     

Nanoproteomic Approach for Isolation and Identification of Potential Biomarkers in Human Urine from Adults with Normal Weight,Overweight and Obesity

In this work, previously synthesized and characterized core-shell silica nanoparticles (FCSNP) functionalized with immobilized molecular bait, Cibacron blue, and a porous polymeric bis-acrylamide shell were incubated with pooled urine samples from adult women or men with normal weight, overweight or obesity for the isolation of potential biomarkers. A total of 30 individuals (15 woman and 15 men) were included. FCSNP allowed the capture of a variety of low molecular weight (LMW) proteins as evidenced by mass spectrometry (MS) and the exclusion of high molecular weight (HMW) proteins (>34 kDa) as demonstrated by SDS-PAGE and 2D SDS-PAGE. A total of 36 proteins were successfully identified by MS and homology database searching against the Homo sapiens subset of the Swiss-Prot database. Identified proteins were grouped into different clusters according to their abundance patterns. Four proteins were found only in women and five only in men, whereas 27 proteins were in urine from both genders with different abundance patterns. Based on these results, this new approach represents an alternative tool for isolation and identification of urinary biomarkers.     

Spin polarisation in dual catalysts for the oxygen evolution and reduction reactions

Strongly correlated catalysts can be understood from precise quantum approximations. Incorporating properly electronic correlations thus let’s define Spin rules in catalysis, opening a new door towards optimum compositions for the most important reactions for a sustainable future.     

CeO2/Pd Nanoparticles Incorporated Fly Ash Zeolite: An Efficient and Recyclable Catalyst for Csp2-Csp2 Bond Formation Reactions

The catalytic activity of CeO₂ and palladium nanoparticles supported fly ash zeolite (CeO₂/Pd@FAZ) for C_sp²-C_sp² bond formation was studied. CeO₂/Pd@FAZ was characterized by FTIR, XRD, EDAX and TEM studies. In the Suzuki-Miyauracross-coupling reaction, biphenyl derivatives with excellent yields were obtained, and the reaction conditions were optimized. The catalytic activity was explored using a wide variety of diversely substituted aryl bromides and chlorides with aryl boronic acid under optimized reaction conditions. The recyclability of the catalyst was established for three cycles, with the conversion rate from 99 to 40%, which gained the advantage of heterogeneous catalysis.     

Stereochemistry-Controlled Supramolecular Architectures of New Tetrahydroxy-Functionalised Amphiphilic Carbocyanine Dyes

The syntheses of novel amphiphilic 5,5′,6,6′-tetrachlorobenzimidacarbocyanine (TBC) dye derivatives with aminopropanediol head groups, which only differ in stereochemistry (chiral enantiomers, meso form and conformer), are reported. For the achiral meso form, a new synthetic route towards asymmetric cyanine dyes was established. All compounds form J aggregates in water, the optical properties of which were characterised by means of spectroscopic methods. The supramolecular structure of the aggregates is investigated by means of cryo-transmission electron microscopy, cryo-electron tomography and AFM, revealing extended sheet-like aggregates for chiral enantiomers and nanotubes for the mesomer, respectively, whereas the conformer forms predominately needle-like crystals. The experiments demonstrate that the aggregation behaviour of compounds can be controlled solely by head group stereochemistry, which in the case of enantiomers enables the formation of extended hydrogen-bond chains by the hydroxyl functionalities. In case of the achiral meso form, however, such chains turned out to be sterically excluded.     

Spectral,Optical and Mechanical studies on pure and thiourea doped ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate NLO single crystals

Pure and thiourea substituted single crystals of ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate have been grown from aqueous solution by isothermal solvent evaporation technique. Doped crystal exhibits prominent changes in physical and chemical properties. Single crystal XRD analyses of the samples are carried out and the results are compared. FTIR and UV–vis–NIR spectral analyses have been employed to identify the presence of various functional groups and the UV cut-off range in the grown crystals. Density measurements have been made and Photoconductivity studies revealed the negative photo conducting nature. Hardness measurement shows that the mechanical strength of the doped crystal is high when compared to pure ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate. The dielectric response of the samples has been studied in the frequency range 100 Hz–5 MHz at room temperature and the results are discussed.