Essential oil and fractions isolated of Laurel to control adults and larvae of cattle ticks

Abstract

This study, was to evaluate the acaricidal effect of the essential oil (EO) and fractions (FR) obtained from Laurus nobilis leaves on Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. Eight fractions were obtained, however FR1: sabinene (37.83%), β-pinene (13.50%), 1,8-cineole (12.66%), α-pinene (12.56%) and FR8: α-terpineol (79.19%) were highlighted as to the larvicidal potential when submitted by Larval Packet Test. The EO was tested by the Adult Immersion Test, at concentrations of 200.00; 100.00 and 50.00?µL/mL caused mortality of engorged females, egg mass reduction and hatching inhibition. Two fractions are shown to be efficient in controlling larvae FR8 (LC₅₀?=?0.13?µL/mL, LC₉₉?=?0.51?µL/mL) and FR1 (LC₅₀?=?0.20?µL/mL, LC₉₉?=?0.56?µL/mL). The fractionation of EO was determinant to elucidate which compounds were responsible for the larvicidal potential. This study opens new perspectives to direct new bioassays with the compounds obtained in the fractionation, since they present high potential on cattle tick larvae.     

Development and validation of an HPLC method for the quantitation of 1,3-dihydroxy-2-methylxanthone in biodegradable nanoparticles

A rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of 1,3-dihydroxy-2-methylxanthone (DHMXAN) in biodegradable poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanosphere and nanocapsule formulations is developed and validated. The method does not require any complex sample extraction procedure. Chromatographic separation is made with a reversed-phase C18 column, using methanol-water (90:10, v/v) containing 1% (v/v) acetic acid as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Identification is made by UV detection at 237 nm. The isocratic system operates at ambient temperature and requires 7.5 min of chromatographic time. The developed method is statistically validated according to ICH guidelines and USP 29 for its specificity, linearity, accuracy, and precision. The assay method proposed in this study is specific for DHMXAN in the presence of nanosphere and nanocapsule excipients. Diode-array analyses confirm the purity of DHMXAN peak in stress conditions (> 99.0%). The method is shown to be linear (r > or = 0.999) over the concentration range of 0.25-3.0 microg/mL. Recovery ranges from 99.0% to 102.7% (RSD: 1.49%) and from 98.3% to 101.6% (RSD: 1.07%) for nanospheres and nanocapsules, respectively. Repeatability (intra-assay precision) and intermediate precision is acceptable with RSD values ranging from 0.6% to 1.9% and from 0.3% to 2.0%, respectively. The method is shown to be suitable for the evaluation of DHMXAN content entrapped in PLGA nanoparticles.     

The Biochemical Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy†

The unbridled dissemination of multidrug-resistant pathogens is a major threat to global health and urgently demands novel therapeutic alternatives. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has been developed as a promising approach to treat localized infections regardless of drug resistance profile or taxonomy. Even though this technique has been known for more than a century, discussions and speculations regarding the biochemical mechanisms of microbial inactivation have never reached a consensus on what is the primary cause of cell death. Since photochemically generated oxidants promote ubiquitous reactions with various biomolecules, researchers simply assumed that all cellular structures are equally damaged. In this study, biochemical, molecular, biological and advanced microscopy techniques were employed to investigate whether protein, membrane or DNA damage correlates better with dose-dependent microbial inactivation kinetics. We showed that although mild membrane permeabilization and late DNA damage occur, no correlation with inactivation kinetics was found. On the other hand, protein degradation was analyzed by three different methods and showed a dose-dependent trend that matches microbial inactivation kinetics. Our results provide a deeper mechanistic understanding of aPDT that can guide the scientific community toward the development of optimized photosensitizing drugs and also rationally propose synergistic combinations with antimicrobial chemotherapy.     

Light-driven horseradish peroxidase cycle by using photo-activated methylene blue as the reducing agent

In this work, the regeneration of native horseradish peroxidase (HRP), following the consecutive reduction of oxo-ferryl pi-cation (compound I) and oxo-ferryl (compound II) forms, was observed by UV-visible spectrometry and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in the presence of methylene (MB+), in the dark and under irradiation. In the dark, MB+ did not affect the rate of HRP compound I and II reduction, compatible with hydrogen peroxide as the solely reducing species. Under irradiation, the dye promoted a significant increase in the native HRP regeneration rate in a pH-dependent manner. Flash photolysis measurements revealed significant redshift of the MB+ triplet absorbance spectrum in the presence of native HRP. This result is compatible with the dye binding on the enzyme structure leading to the increase in the photogenerated MB* yield. In the presence of HRP compound II, the lifetime of the dye at 520 nm decreased approximately 75% relative to the presence of native HRP that suggests MB* as the heme iron photochemical reducing agent. In argon and in air-saturated media, photoactivated MB+ led to native HRP regeneration in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The apparent rate constant for photoactivated MB+-promoted native HRP regeneration, in argon and in air-saturated medium and measured as a function of MB+ concentration, exhibited saturation that is suggestive of dye binding on the HRP structure. The dissociation constant (KMB) observed for the binding of dye to HRP was 5.4+/-0.6 microM and 0.57+/-0.05 microM in argon and air-saturated media, respectively. In argon-saturated medium, the rate of the conversion of HRP compound II to native HRP was significantly higher, k2argon=(2.1+/-0.1)x10(-2) s(-1), than that obtained in air-equilibrated medium, k2air=(0.73+/-0.02)x10(-2) s(-1). Under these conditions the efficiency of photoactivated MB(+)-promoted native HRP regeneration was determined in argon and air-equilibrated media as being, respectively: k2/KMB=3.9x10(3) and 12.8x10(3) M(-1) s(-1).     

Structure-property relationships in push-pull amino/cyanovinyl end-capped oligothiophenes: quantum chemical and experimental studies

A series of push-pull chromophores built around thiophene-based pi-conjugating spacers and bearing various types of amino donors and cyanovinyl acceptors have been analyzed by means of UV-vis-NIR, IR, and Raman spectroscopic measurements in the solid state as well as in solution. The intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) of these pi-conjugated systems has also been tested by analyzing the ability of the solute molecules to undergo shifts in their fluorescence emission maxima with increasing solvent polarity. These push-pull oligomers also display an attractive electrochemical behavior since they generate stable species both upon oxidation and reduction. Oxidation mainly involves changes in the electron-rich aminooligothienyl half-part of the molecule and leads to the formation of stable cations. On the other hand, reduction to radical anions and dianions is mainly cyanovinyl-centered but also affects the pi-conjugated electron relay. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out to help the assignment of the most relevant electronic and vibrational features and to derive useful information about the molecular structure of these NLO-phores.     

Application of ACC method to synchronous luminiscence: determination of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl acetate in beverages

A new method based on the Q parameter, that permits the determination of the C_{compound A} /C_{compound B} ratio without preparing calibration graphs of the two compounds, is proposed. This method has been applied to signals obtained by synchronous luminiscence. Simultaneous determination of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl acetate in beverages using synchronous fluorescence has been carried out. To isolate the compounds from samples, liquid extraction with n-hexane as the organic phase was employed. The presence of interferences was tested using the apparent content curves (ACC) method and the C_{α-tocopherol}/¶C_{α-tocopheryl acetate} ratio was calculated using the Q parameter. The reproducibility and detection limit for the determination of α-tocopherol and α-tocopheryl acetate were 6.6% and 0.016 mg/L and 1.8% and 0.017 mg/L, respectively.     

Global solvability for first order real linear partial differential operators II

Let L be a real $C^{\infty }$ vector field on a smooth manifold X, vanishing at exactly one point $x_0$. From the pioneering work of B. Malgrange (1955–1956) [6], we know that solvability of $P=L+c$ on $C^{\infty }(X)$, for $c\in C^{\infty }(X,\mathbb{C})$, implies that: (a) X is L-convex. Also, it follows: (b) a non-resonance condition for the jet-solvability at $x_0$.In a previous paper, in addition to (a) and (b), the authors showed that P is globally solvable on $C^{\infty }$ if we assume: (c) a non-resonance condition in order to linearize L near $x_0$; that (d) the only relatively compact orbit of L is $\{x_0\}$; and that (e) c is real.Here we obtain the same conclusion without (c) and (e).     

Coupling atomistic and finite element approaches for the simulation of optoelectronic devices

Multiscale methods coupling quantum mechanical/atomistic models such as envelope function and tight binding approaches with continuous media models e.g. for strain or electronic transport are very useful for an accurate simulation of modern and emerging electronic and optoelectronic devices based on nanostructured active regions. We present simulations using TiberCAD whose main focus is on providing an integrated multiscale/multiphysics simulation environment.     

Molecular dynamics simulations on the local order of liquid and amorphous ZnTe

Molecular dynamics studies of structural and dynamical correlations of molten and vitreous states under several conditions of density and temperature were performed. We use an effective recently proposed interatomic potential, consisting of two- and three-body covalent interactions which has successfully described the structural, dynamical, and structural phase transformation induced by pressure in ZnTe [D. S. Borges and J. P. Rino, Phys. Rev. B 72, 014107 (2005)]. The two-body term of the interaction potential consists of Coulomb interaction resulting from charge transfer, steric repulsion due to atomic sizes, charge-dipole interaction to include the effect of electronic polarizability of anions, and dipole-dipole (van der Waals) interactions. The three-body covalent term is a modification of the Stillinger-Weber potential. Molecular dynamics simulations in isobaric-isenthalpic ensemble have been performed for systems amounting to 4096 and 64 000 particles. Starting from a crystalline zinc-blende (ZB) structure, the system is initially heated until a very homogeneous liquid is obtained. The vitreous zinc telluride phase is attained by cooling the liquid at sufficiently fast cooling rates, while slower cooling rates lead to a disordered ZB crystalline structure. Two- and three-body correlations for the liquid and vitreous phases are analyzed through pair distribution functions, static structure factors, and bond angle distributions. In particular, the neutron static structure factor for the liquid phase is in very good agreement with both the reported experimental data and first-principles simulations.