Thin-Layer Chromatography—Densitometry and Thin-Layer Chromatography—Image Analysis for Screening Bile Acid-Binding Activities of Thai Edible Plants

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - Despite the fact that many researchers have developed different methods for the determination and detection of bile acid...     

Biosensors Based on Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect Transistors for HLA and MICA Antibody Detection in Kidney Transplantation

This work demonstrates the ability of the Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect Transistor (ISFET)-based immunosensor to detect antibodies against the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and the major histocompatibility complex class-I-related chain A (MICA). The sensing membrane of the ISFET devices was modified and functionalized using an APTES-GA strategy. Surface properties, including wettability, surface thickness, and surface topology, were assessed in each module of the modification process. The optimal concentrations of HLA and MICA proteins for the immobilization were 10 and 50 μg/mL. The dose-response curve showed a detection range of 1.98–40 µg/mL for anti-HLA and 5.17–40 µg/mL for anti-MICA. The analytical precision (%CV) was found to be 10.69% and 8.92% for anti-HLA and -MICA, respectively. Moreover, the electrical signal obtained from the irrelevant antibody was considerably different from that of the specific antibodies, indicating the specific binding of the relevant antibodies without noise interference. The sensitivity and specificity in the experimental setting were established for both antibodies (anti-HLA: sensitivity = 80.00%, specificity = 86.36%; anti-MICA: sensitivity = 86.67%, specificity = 88.89%). Our data reveal the potential of applying the ISFET-based immunosensor to the detection of relevant anti-HLA and -MICA antibodies, especially in the field of kidney transplantation.     

Effects of thermal treatment on hydrophilicity and corrosion resistance of Ti surface

Surface treatment of titanium (Ti) surface has been extensively studied to improve its properties for biomedical applications, including hydrophilicity, corrosion resistance, and tissue integration. In this present work, we present the effects of thermal oxidation as surface modification method on metallic titanium (Ti). The Ti foils were oxidized at 300°C, 400°C, 500°C, and 600°C under air atmosphere for 3 hours, which formed oxide layer on Ti surface. The physicochemical properties including surface chemistry, roughness, and thickness of the oxide layer were evaluated in order to investigate how these factors affected surface hydrophilicity, microhardness, and corrosion resistance properties of the Ti surface. The results revealed that surfaces of all oxidized samples were modified by formation of titanium dioxide layer, of which morphology, phase, and thickness were changed according to the oxidized temperatures. Increasing oxidation temperature led to the formation of thicker oxide layer and phase transformation of anatase to rutile. The presence of the oxide layer helped the improvement of corrosion resistance and microhardness. The most improvement in surface roughness was found in the specimens treated at 400°C, which significantly improved surface hydrophilicity. But both surface roughness and hydrophilicity reduced when oxidized at 500°C and 600°C, suggesting that hydrophilicity was dominated by the surface roughness. In addition, this surface treatment did not reduce the biocompatibility of the metallic Ti substrates against murine osteoblasts (MC3T3).     

Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomics to discriminate between cold pressed rice bran oils produced from two different cultivars of Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica in Thailand

A newly developed liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method for the analysis of cold pressed rice bran oil (RBO) was established and used to discriminate between RBOs produced from two different cultivars of major Thai fragrant rice species. The cold pressed RBO was prepared using the screw compression method. The LC-MS data were preprocessed with MZmine 2.10 program before evaluating with principal component analysis using SIMCA 13 software. The LC-MS method was able to detect and quantify several kinds of valuable constituents such as fatty acids, vitamin E, and γ-oryzanol. The chromatographic condition was feasible; short time for analysis and simple method were achieved. From score plot and loading plot of principle component analysis (PCA), two rice cultivar samples were clearly separated, and it was revealed that Khao-Hom-Pathum was more suitable than Khao-Hom-Mali for cold pressed RBO production since it contained high total γ-oryzanol and less saturated free fatty acids. As with the fixed price of all the rice brans, this information can be used in order to, if possible, preserve the price of rice brans from different cultivars.     

Characteristics of CO3(2-)-water hydrogen bonds in aqueous solution: insights from HF/MM and B3LYP/MM MD simulations

Two combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics simulations, namely HF/MM and B3LYP/MM, have been performed to investigate the local hydration structure and dynamics of carbonate (CO(3)(2-)) in dilute aqueous solution. With respect to the QM/MM scheme, the QM region, which contains the CO(3)(2-) and its surrounding water molecules, was treated at HF and B3LYP levels of accuracy, respectively, using the DZV+ basis set, while the rest of the system is described by classical MM potentials. For both the HF/MM and B3LYP/MM simulations, it is observed that the hydrogen bonds between CO(3)(2-) oxygens and their nearest-neighbor waters are relatively strong, i.e., compared to water-water hydrogen bonds in the bulk, and that the first shell of each CO(3)(2-) oxygen atom somewhat overlaps with the others, which allows migration of water molecules among the coordinating sites to exist. In addition, it is observed that first-shell waters are either "loosely" or "tightly" bound to the respective CO(3)(2-) oxygen atoms, leading to large fluctuations in the number of first-shell waters, ranging from 1 to 6 (HF/MM) and 2 to 7 (B3LYP/MM), with the prevalent value of 3. Upon comparing the HF and B3LYP methods in describing this hydrated ion, the latter is found to overestimate the hydrogen-bond strength in the CO(3)(2-)-water complexes, resulting in a slightly more compact hydration structure at each of the CO(3)(2-) oxygens.