In vitro bioassays for the study of endocrine-disrupting food additives and contaminants

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are capable of interfering with normal hormone homeostasis by acting on several targets and through a wide variety of mechanisms. Unwanted exposure to EDCs can lead to a wide spectrum of adverse health effects, especially when exposure is during critical windows of development. Feed and food are considered to be among the main routes of inadvertent exposure to EDCs, so there is an important need for efficient detection of EDCs in these matrices.We describe in vitro bioassays that can complement current analytical chemistry in order to detect unwanted EDCs and describe their action, emphasizing assays that can measure effects on nuclear receptor signaling or hormone production. We outline both validated and unvalidated in vitro assays currently available in the scientific community for detecting and studying the effects of EDCs, and discuss their possible role in the food-safety context. We conclude by identifying gaps in the current battery of in vitro assays available for EDCs and suggest future possibilities for development and validation.     

电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）法测定碳质板岩样品中铂族元素

碳质板岩属黑色岩系,与多种金属(包括贵金属)成矿有密切的联系。按照常规的分析方法,硫镍试金溶剂配方都不能对贵金属元素有较好的富集,影响贵金属元素的测定。根据石墨岩中样品的成份特征,对测定铂族元素的常规硫镍试金配方进行了改进,增加了硝酸钾和氧化镁,且无需加入锇稀释剂。通过实验选择了合适比例配料,熔融后粉碎镍扣,加入盐酸分解,碲共沉淀剂富集。过滤沉淀用王水溶解。用电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)法测定,Lu作内标,对碳质板样品中的铂族元素进行了测定。结果表明,加标回收率为85%～105%,能够满足碳质板岩中铂族元素的分析测定要求。     

Novel 2,4-disubstituted quinazolines as cytotoxic agents and JAK2 inhibitors: Synthesis,in vitro evaluation and molecular dynamics studies

Recent studies reported the involvement of JAK2/STAT3 pathway in various solid tumours including breast, ovarian, prostate and lung cancers. Clinical literature also reported the lowered burden in breast and ovarian cancers by targeting JAK2 pathway. In this study, a series of novel 2,4-disubstituted quinazolines (2a-2 j and 3a-3 j) were synthesized and were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) and ovarian cancer (SK-O-V3) cell lines using MTT assay. Moderate to good in vitro cytotoxic potentials of the newly synthesized molecules were reported against selected human cancer cell lines. Among the tested molecules, compound 3b has shown better cytotoxic activity against MD-MB-231 (10.1 ± 0.51 μM). in vitro JAK2 inhibition assay elucidated the mechanistic profile of the derivatives with moderate percentage of inhibition. Compounds 3b and 3d were reported with 35.4% and 34.2% inhibition of JAK2 protein. SAR studies suggest that the larger hydrophobic aromatic nucleus with hydrophilic linkage could probably increase the cytotoxic and JAK2 potentials and hydroxyl or nitro substitution could be more beneficial. Molecular dynamics simulation studies with JAK2-3b, and JAK2-3d complexes elucidated the conformational changes. With the reported bioactivities of these derivatives, further studies on the derivatization could elucidate the broader cytotoxic potentials.     

Catalytic Chemosensing Assay for Selective Detection of Methyl Parathion Organophosphate Pesticide

Herein, a catalytic chemosensing assay (CCA), based on a bimetallic complex, [Ru^II(bpy)₂(CN)₂]₂(Cu^II)₂ (bpy=2,2′-bipyridine), is described. This complex integrates a task-specific catalyst (Cu^I-catalyst) and a signaling unit ([Ru^II(bpy)₂(CN)₂]) to specifically hydrolyze methyl parathion, a highly toxic organophosphate (OP) pesticide. The bimetallic complex catalyzed the hydrolysis of the phosphate ester to generate o,o-dimethyl thiophosphate (DTP) anion and 4-nitrophenolate. Intrinsically, 4-nitrophenolate absorbed UV/Vis light at λ_max=400 nm, creating the first level of the chemosensing signal. DTP interacted with the original complex to displace the chromophore, [Ru^II(bpy)₂(CN)₂], which was monitored by spectrofluorometry; this was classified as the second level of chemosensing signal. By integrating both spectroscopic and spectrofluorometric signals with a simple AND logic gate, only methyl parathion was able to provide a positive response. Other aromatic and aliphatic OP pesticides (diazinon, fenthion, meviphos, terbufos, and phosalone) and 4-nitrophenyl acetate provided negative responses. Furthermore, owing to the metal-catalyzed hydrolysis of methyl parathion, the CCA system led to the detoxification of the pesticide. The CCA system also demonstrated its catalytic chemosensing properties in the detection of methyl parathion in real samples, including tap water, river water, and underground water.     

氟甲喹单克隆抗体制备、鉴定及间接竞争酶联免疫吸附分析法

以氟甲喹(FLU)为原料,合成4个碳原子手臂的半抗原(FLUABA),采用活泼酯法与牛血清白蛋白(BSA)偶联制备免疫抗原,通过免疫Balb/c小鼠及细胞融合,获得1株稳定分泌抗氟甲喹单克隆抗体的杂交瘤细胞株DB6-E7,其抗体亚类为IgG1,亲和力常数(KA)为8.19×108L/mol。将氟甲喹、FLUABA及6个碳原子手臂的半抗原FLUACA分别与卵清白蛋白(OVA)偶联作为包被抗原,研究异源包被对间接竞争ELISA灵敏度的影响。结果表明,异源包被可显著提高ELISA方法的灵敏度。基于最佳异源包被(FLU-OVA)的酶联免疫吸附分析法的IC50为26.33μg/L,检出限为4μg/L,定量检测范围为8.0～114μg/L(IC20～IC80)。与喹诺酮类药物及结构类似物几乎不存在交叉反应,特异性高。此方法可满足畜禽产品中氟甲喹残留的快速筛查。     

Flow systems exploiting in-line prior assays

An expert sequential injection system involving a prior assay is proposed for spectrophotometric determination of phosphate and eventually zinc in soil extracts. The result of phosphate determination is the basis for a concentration-oriented decision regarding to the need or not for zinc determination. Zinc was only determined if a threshold value (peak height corresponding to 5.0 mg l⁻¹ P) was surpassed. The methods involved formation of molybdenum blue and the Rhodamine 6G/ammonium thiocyanate/Zn²⁺ ternary complex. Variations in the threshold value were < 2% during 4 h operating periods, false responses were not verified, and the analytical time was reduced in about 30%. Precise results (R.S.D. <3% P and < 1% Zn) in agreement with spectrophotometry and flame atomic absorption spectrometry were obtained. The innovation permits faster information processing, as well as a reduction in the number of measurements, number of analytical steps, laboratorial time, and consumption of sample and reagents, thus waste generation.     

Identification of mechanisms of toxic action for skin sensitisation using a SMARTS pattern based approach

Skin sensitisation is a key endpoint under REACH as it is costly and its assessment currently has a high dependency on animal testing. In order to reduce both the cost and the numbers of animals tested, it is likely that (quantitative) structure–activity relationships ((Q)SAR) and read-across methods will be utilised as part of intelligent testing strategies. The majority of skin sensitisers elicit their effect via covalent bond formation with skin proteins. These reactions have been understood in terms of well defined nucleophilic–electrophilic reaction chemistry. Thus, a first step in (Q)SAR analysis is the assignment of a chemical's potential mechanism of action enabling it to be placed in an appropriate reactivity domain. The aim of this study was to design a series of SMARTS patterns capable of defining these reactivity domains. This was carried out using a large database of local lymph node assay (LLNA) results that had had potential mechanisms of action assigned to them using expert knowledge. A simple algorithm was written enabling the SMARTS patterns to be used to screen a database of SMILES strings. The SMARTS patterns were then evaluated using a second, smaller, test set of LLNA results which had also had potential mechanisms of action assigned by experts. The results showed that the SMARTS patterns provided an excellent method of identifying potential electrophilic mechanisms. The findings are supported, in part, by molecular orbital calculations which confirm assignment of reactive mechanism of action. The ability to define a chemical's potential reaction mechanism is likely to be of significant benefit to regulators and risk assessors as it enables category formation and subsequent read-across to be performed.     

Synthesis,computational quantum chemical study,in silico ADMET and molecular docking analysis,in vitro biological evaluation of a novel sulfur heterocyclic thiophene derivative containing 1,2,3-triazole and pyridine moieties as a potential human topoisomerase IIα inhibiting anticancer agent

Computational quantum chemical study and biological evaluation of a synthesized novel sulfur heterocyclic thiophene derivative containing 1,2,3-triazole and pyridine moieties namely BTPT [2-(1-benzyl-5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)-6-methoxy-4-(thiophen-2-yl) pyridine] was presented in this study. The crystal structure was determined by SCXRD method. For the title compound BTPT, spectroscopic characterization like ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FTIR, UV–vis were carried out theoretically by computational DFT method and compared with experimental data. Druglikeness parameters of BTPT were found through in silico pharmacological ADMET properties estimation. The molecular docking investigation was performed with human topoisomerase IIα (PDB ID:1ZXM) targeting ATP binding site. In vitro cytotoxicity activity of BTPT/doxorubicin were examined by MTT assay procedure against three human cancer cell lines A549, PC-3, MDAMB-231 with IC50 values of 0.68/0.70, 1.03/0.77 and 0.88/0.98 μM, respectively. Our title compound BTPT reveals notable cytotoxicity against breast cancer cell (MDAMB-231), moderate activity with human lung cancer cell (A-549) and less inhibition with human prostate cancer cell (PC-3) compared to familiar cancer medicine doxorubicin. From the results, BTPT could be observed as a potential candidate for novel anticancer drug development process.     

Design,synthesis, antimicrobial activity and computational studies of novel azo linked substituted benzimidazole,benzoxazole and benzothiazole derivatives

Novel azo linked substituted benzimidazole, benzoxazole, and benzothiazole were synthesized by diazo coupling and characterized by ¹H NMR, elemental analysis, FTIR and UV–vis spectroscopy. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for invitro antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia Coli strains by Resazurin microtiter assay method (REMA). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC in μg/mL) were used to express the antibacterial activities. The azo linked compounds exhibited good to moderate or high antibacterial activities in vitro. Computational studies were performed to correlate HOMO-LUMO gap with antibacterial activity. The comparative molecular docking studies revealed better insights into binding mechanisms.     

稀土元素对人肝癌细胞SMMC-7721增殖的影响

用MTT法研究了14种稀土元素(La，Ce，Pr，Nd，Sm，Eu，Gd，Tb，Dy，Ho，Er，Tm，Yb和Lu)对人肝癌细胞SMMC-7721增殖的影响。他们对肝癌细胞的生长作用可分为3类。其中La^3 、Ce^3 和Eu^3 对肝癌细胞的增殖有剂量依赖性正效应，能够在一定浓度范围内刺激细胞生长；Sm^3 ，Gd^3 ，Ho^3 ，Er^3 ，Yb^3 对肝癌细胞生长的刺激作用没有剂量依赖性特征；而Pr^3 ，Nd^3 ，Tb^3 ，Dy^3 ，Tm^3 和Lu^3 则表现出对肝癌细胞的增殖具有不用程度的抑制。推测14种稀土元素作用方式的不同与他们的原子结构有一定的关系，它们对肝癌细胞的相对增殖率随着原子序数的增加呈现出一定的规律性。