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Sample records for metabolite signal identification

  1. A new paradigm for known metabolite identification in metabonomics/metabolomics: metabolite identification efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Everett, Jeremy R

    2015-01-01

    A new paradigm is proposed for assessing confidence in the identification of known metabolites in metabonomics studies using NMR spectroscopy approaches. This new paradigm is based upon the analysis of the amount of metabolite identification information retrieved from NMR spectra relative to the molecular size of the metabolite. Several new indices are proposed including: metabolite identification efficiency (MIE) and metabolite identification carbon efficiency (MICE), both of which can be easily calculated. These indices, together with some guidelines, can be used to provide a better indication of known metabolite identification confidence in metabonomics studies than existing methods. Since known metabolite identification in untargeted metabonomics studies is one of the key bottlenecks facing the science currently, it is hoped that these concepts based on molecular spectroscopic informatics, will find utility in the field.

  2. A New Paradigm for Known Metabolite Identification in Metabonomics/Metabolomics: Metabolite Identification Efficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeremy R. Everett

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A new paradigm is proposed for assessing confidence in the identification of known metabolites in metabonomics studies using NMR spectroscopy approaches. This new paradigm is based upon the analysis of the amount of metabolite identification information retrieved from NMR spectra relative to the molecular size of the metabolite. Several new indices are proposed including: metabolite identification efficiency (MIE and metabolite identification carbon efficiency (MICE, both of which can be easily calculated. These indices, together with some guidelines, can be used to provide a better indication of known metabolite identification confidence in metabonomics studies than existing methods. Since known metabolite identification in untargeted metabonomics studies is one of the key bottlenecks facing the science currently, it is hoped that these concepts based on molecular spectroscopic informatics, will find utility in the field.

  3. Unambiguous Metabolite Identification in High-Throughput Metabolomics by Hybrid 1H-NMR/ESI-MS1 Approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2016-10-18

    The invention improves accuracy of metabolite identification by combining direct infusion ESI-MS with one-dimensional 1H-NMR spectroscopy. First, we apply a standard 1H-NMR metabolite identification protocol by matching the chemical shift, J-coupling and intensity information of experimental NMR signals against the NMR signals of standard metabolites in a metabolomics reference libraries. This generates a list of candidate metabolites. The list contains both false positive and ambiguous identifications. The software tool (the invention) takes the list of candidate metabolites, generated from NMRbased metabolite identification, and then calculates, for each of the candidate metabolites, the monoisotopic mass-tocharge (m/z) ratios for each commonly observed ion, fragment and adduct feature. These are then used to assign m/z ratios in experimental ESI-MS spectra of the same sample. Detection of the signals of a given metabolite in both NMR and MS spectra resolves the ambiguities, and therefore, significantly improves the confidence of the identification.

  4. New Methodology for Known Metabolite Identification in Metabonomics/Metabolomics: Topological Metabolite Identification Carbon Efficiency (tMICE).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchon-Lopez, Beatriz; Everett, Jeremy R

    2016-09-02

    A new, simple-to-implement and quantitative approach to assessing the confidence in NMR-based identification of known metabolites is introduced. The approach is based on a topological analysis of metabolite identification information available from NMR spectroscopy studies and is a development of the metabolite identification carbon efficiency (MICE) method. New topological metabolite identification indices are introduced, analyzed, and proposed for general use, including topological metabolite identification carbon efficiency (tMICE). Because known metabolite identification is one of the key bottlenecks in either NMR-spectroscopy- or mass spectrometry-based metabonomics/metabolomics studies, and given the fact that there is no current consensus on how to assess metabolite identification confidence, it is hoped that these new approaches and the topological indices will find utility.

  5. Metabolites in vertebrate Hedgehog signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberg-Larsen, Hanne; Strand, Martin Frank; Krauss, Stefan; Wilson, Steven Ray

    2014-04-11

    The Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway is critical in embryonic development, stem cell biology, tissue homeostasis, chemoattraction and synapse formation. Irregular HH signaling is associated with a number of disease conditions including congenital disorders and cancer. In particular, deregulation of HH signaling has been linked to skin, brain, lung, colon and pancreatic cancers. Key mediators of the HH signaling pathway are the 12-pass membrane protein Patched (PTC), the 7-pass membrane protein Smoothened (SMO) and the GLI transcription factors. PTC shares homology with the RND family of small-molecule transporters and it has been proposed that it interferes with SMO through metabolites. Although a conclusive picture is lacking, substantial efforts are made to identify and understand natural metabolites/sterols, including cholesterol, vitamin D3, oxysterols and glucocorticoides, that may be affected by, or influence the HH signaling cascade at the level of PTC and SMO. In this review we will elaborate the role of metabolites in HH signaling with a focus on oxysterols, and discuss advancements in modern analytical approaches in the field. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. GPCR-Mediated Signaling of Metabolites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Husted, Anna Sofie; Trauelsen, Mette; Rudenko, Olga

    2017-01-01

    microbiota target primarily enteroendocrine, neuronal, and immune cells in the lamina propria of the gut mucosa and the liver and, through these tissues, the rest of the body. In contrast, metabolites from the intermediary metabolism act mainly as metabolic stress-induced autocrine and paracrine signals...... and obesity. The concept of key metabolites as ligands for specific GPCRs has broadened our understanding of metabolic signaling significantly and provides a number of novel potential drug targets....

  7. Metabolite identification through multiple kernel learning on fragmentation trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Huibin; Dührkop, Kai; Böcker, Sebastian; Rousu, Juho

    2014-06-15

    Metabolite identification from tandem mass spectrometric data is a key task in metabolomics. Various computational methods have been proposed for the identification of metabolites from tandem mass spectra. Fragmentation tree methods explore the space of possible ways in which the metabolite can fragment, and base the metabolite identification on scoring of these fragmentation trees. Machine learning methods have been used to map mass spectra to molecular fingerprints; predicted fingerprints, in turn, can be used to score candidate molecular structures. Here, we combine fragmentation tree computations with kernel-based machine learning to predict molecular fingerprints and identify molecular structures. We introduce a family of kernels capturing the similarity of fragmentation trees, and combine these kernels using recently proposed multiple kernel learning approaches. Experiments on two large reference datasets show that the new methods significantly improve molecular fingerprint prediction accuracy. These improvements result in better metabolite identification, doubling the number of metabolites ranked at the top position of the candidates list. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

  8. Identification of drug metabolites in human plasma or serum integrating metabolite prediction, LC-HRMS and untargeted data processing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobs, P.L.; Ridder, L.; Ruijken, M.; Rosing, H.; Jager, N.G.L.; Beijnen, J.H.; Bas, R.R.; Dongen, W.D. van

    2013-01-01

    Background: Comprehensive identification of human drug metabolites in first-in-man studies is crucial to avoid delays in later stages of drug development. We developed an efficient workflow for systematic identification of human metabolites in plasma or serum that combines metabolite prediction,

  9. Emerging New Strategies for Successful Metabolite Identification in Metabolomics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bingol, Ahmet K.; Bruschweiler-Li, Lei; Li, Dawei; Zhang, Bo; Xie, Mouzhe; Bruschweiler, Rafael

    2016-02-26

    NMR is a very powerful tool for the identification of known and unknown (or unnamed) metabolites in complex mixtures as encountered in metabolomics. Known compounds can be reliably identified using 2D NMR methods, such as 13C-1H HSQC, for which powerful web servers with databases are available for semi-automated analysis. For the identification of unknown compounds, new combinations of NMR with MS have been developed recently that make synergistic use of the mutual strengths of the two techniques. The use of chemical additives to the NMR tube, such as reactive agents, paramagnetic ions, or charged silica nanoparticles, permit the identification of metabolites with specific physical chemical properties. In the following sections, we give an overview of some of the recent advances in metabolite identification and discuss remaining challenges.

  10. MIDAS: a database-searching algorithm for metabolite identification in metabolomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yingfeng; Kora, Guruprasad; Bowen, Benjamin P; Pan, Chongle

    2014-10-07

    A database searching approach can be used for metabolite identification in metabolomics by matching measured tandem mass spectra (MS/MS) against the predicted fragments of metabolites in a database. Here, we present the open-source MIDAS algorithm (Metabolite Identification via Database Searching). To evaluate a metabolite-spectrum match (MSM), MIDAS first enumerates possible fragments from a metabolite by systematic bond dissociation, then calculates the plausibility of the fragments based on their fragmentation pathways, and finally scores the MSM to assess how well the experimental MS/MS spectrum from collision-induced dissociation (CID) is explained by the metabolite's predicted CID MS/MS spectrum. MIDAS was designed to search high-resolution tandem mass spectra acquired on time-of-flight or Orbitrap mass spectrometer against a metabolite database in an automated and high-throughput manner. The accuracy of metabolite identification by MIDAS was benchmarked using four sets of standard tandem mass spectra from MassBank. On average, for 77% of original spectra and 84% of composite spectra, MIDAS correctly ranked the true compounds as the first MSMs out of all MetaCyc metabolites as decoys. MIDAS correctly identified 46% more original spectra and 59% more composite spectra at the first MSMs than an existing database-searching algorithm, MetFrag. MIDAS was showcased by searching a published real-world measurement of a metabolome from Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 against the MetaCyc metabolite database. MIDAS identified many metabolites missed in the previous study. MIDAS identifications should be considered only as candidate metabolites, which need to be confirmed using standard compounds. To facilitate manual validation, MIDAS provides annotated spectra for MSMs and labels observed mass spectral peaks with predicted fragments. The database searching and manual validation can be performed online at http://midas.omicsbio.org.

  11. Emerging technologies, recent developments, and novel applications for drug metabolite identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Wenjie; Xu, Youzhi; Zhao, Yinglan; Cen, Xiaobo

    2014-01-01

    Drug metabolite identification and metabolic characteristics analysis play a crucial role in new drug research and development, because they can lead to varied efficacy, severe adverse reactions, and even toxicity. Classical methodologies for metabolite identification have mainly been based on mass spectrometry (MS) coupled with gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC), and some other techniques are used as complementary approaches, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Over the past decade, more and more newly emerging techniques or technologies have been applied to metabolite identification, and are making the procedure easier and more robust, such as LC-NMR-MS, ion mobility MS, ambient ionization techniques, and imaging MS. A novel application of drug metabolite identification based on "omics" known as pharmacometabonomics is discussed, which is an interdisciplinary field that combines pre-dose metabolite profiling and chemometrics methods for data analysis and modeling, aiming to predict the responses of individuals to drugs.

  12. Identification of natural metabolites in mixture: a pattern recognition strategy based on (13)C NMR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hubert, Jane; Nuzillard, Jean-Marc; Purson, Sylvain; Hamzaoui, Mahmoud; Borie, Nicolas; Reynaud, Romain; Renault, Jean-Hugues

    2014-03-18

    Because of their highly complex metabolite profile, the chemical characterization of bioactive natural extracts usually requires time-consuming multistep purification procedures to achieve the structural elucidation of pure individual metabolites. The aim of the present work was to develop a dereplication strategy for the identification of natural metabolites directly within mixtures. Exploiting the polarity range of metabolites, the principle was to rapidly fractionate a multigram quantity of a crude extract by centrifugal partition extraction (CPE). The obtained fractions of simplified chemical composition were subsequently analyzed by (13)C NMR. After automatic collection and alignment of (13)C signals across spectra, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) was performed for pattern recognition. As a result, strong correlations between (13)C signals of a single structure within the mixtures of the fraction series were visualized as chemical shift clusters. Each cluster was finally assigned to a molecular structure with the help of a locally built (13)C NMR chemical shift database. The proof of principle of this strategy was achieved on a simple model mixture of commercially available plant secondary metabolites and then applied to a bark extract of the African tree Anogeissus leiocarpus Guill. & Perr. (Combretaceae). Starting from 5 g of this genuine extract, the fraction series was generated by CPE in only 95 min. (13)C NMR analyses of all fractions followed by pattern recognition of (13)C chemical shifts resulted in the unambiguous identification of seven major compounds, namely, sericoside, trachelosperogenin E, ellagic acid, an epimer mixture of (+)-gallocatechin and (-)-epigallocatechin, 3,3'-di-O-methylellagic acid 4'-O-xylopyranoside, and 3,4,3'-tri-O-methylflavellagic acid 4'-O-glucopyranoside.

  13. SPE-NMR metabolite sub-profiling of urine

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobs, D.M.; Spiesser, L.; Garnier, M.; Roo, de N.; Dorsten, van F.; Hollebrands, B.; Velzen, van E.; Draijer, R.; Duynhoven, van J.P.M.

    2012-01-01

    NMR-based metabolite profiling of urine is a fast and reproducible method for detection of numerous metabolites with diverse chemical properties. However, signal overlap in the (1)H NMR profiles of human urine may hamper quantification and identification of metabolites. Therefore, a new method has

  14. Unambiguous metabolite identification in high-throughput metabolomics by hybrid 1D 1 H NMR/ESI MS 1 approach: Hybrid 1D 1 H NMR/ESI MS 1 metabolomics method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walker, Lawrence R. [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99354 USA; Hoyt, David W. [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99354 USA; Walker, S. Michael [Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS 66045 USA; Ward, Joy K. [Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS 66045 USA; Nicora, Carrie D. [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99354 USA; Bingol, Kerem [Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA 99354 USA

    2016-09-16

    We present a novel approach to improve accuracy of metabolite identification by combining direct infusion ESI MS1 with 1D 1H NMR spectroscopy. The new approach first applies standard 1D 1H NMR metabolite identification protocol by matching the chemical shift, J-coupling and intensity information of experimental NMR signals against the NMR signals of standard metabolites in metabolomics library. This generates a list of candidate metabolites. The list contains false positive and ambiguous identifications. Next, we constrained the list with the chemical formulas derived from high-resolution direct infusion ESI MS1 spectrum of the same sample. Detection of the signals of a metabolite both in NMR and MS significantly improves the confidence of identification and eliminates false positive identification. 1D 1H NMR and direct infusion ESI MS1 spectra of a sample can be acquired in parallel in several minutes. This is highly beneficial for rapid and accurate screening of hundreds of samples in high-throughput metabolomics studies. In order to make this approach practical, we developed a software tool, which is integrated to Chenomx NMR Suite. The approach is demonstrated on a model mixture, tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana metabolite extracts, and human urine.

  15. MetaboSearch: tool for mass-based metabolite identification using multiple databases.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Zhou

    Full Text Available Searching metabolites against databases according to their masses is often the first step in metabolite identification for a mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics study. Major metabolite databases include Human Metabolome DataBase (HMDB, Madison Metabolomics Consortium Database (MMCD, Metlin, and LIPID MAPS. Since each one of these databases covers only a fraction of the metabolome, integration of the search results from these databases is expected to yield a more comprehensive coverage. However, the manual combination of multiple search results is generally difficult when identification of hundreds of metabolites is desired. We have implemented a web-based software tool that enables simultaneous mass-based search against the four major databases, and the integration of the results. In addition, more complete chemical identifier information for the metabolites is retrieved by cross-referencing multiple databases. The search results are merged based on IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI keys. Besides a simple list of m/z values, the software can accept the ion annotation information as input for enhanced metabolite identification. The performance of the software is demonstrated on mass spectrometry data acquired in both positive and negative ionization modes. Compared with search results from individual databases, MetaboSearch provides better coverage of the metabolome and more complete chemical identifier information.The software tool is available at http://omics.georgetown.edu/MetaboSearch.html.

  16. Characterization and identification of in vitro metabolites of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Characterization and identification of in vitro metabolites of (-)-epicatechin using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Rui Jun Cai, Xiao Ling Yin, Jing Liu, Da Xu Qin, Gui Zhen Zhao ...

  17. Robust volcano plot: identification of differential metabolites in the presence of outliers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Nishith; Hoque, Md Aminul; Sugimoto, Masahiro

    2018-04-11

    The identification of differential metabolites in metabolomics is still a big challenge and plays a prominent role in metabolomics data analyses. Metabolomics datasets often contain outliers because of analytical, experimental, and biological ambiguity, but the currently available differential metabolite identification techniques are sensitive to outliers. We propose a kernel weight based outlier-robust volcano plot for identifying differential metabolites from noisy metabolomics datasets. Two numerical experiments are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed technique against nine existing techniques, including the t-test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Artificially generated data with outliers reveal that the proposed method results in a lower misclassification error rate and a greater area under the receiver operating characteristic curve compared with existing methods. An experimentally measured breast cancer dataset to which outliers were artificially added reveals that our proposed method produces only two non-overlapping differential metabolites whereas the other nine methods produced between seven and 57 non-overlapping differential metabolites. Our data analyses show that the performance of the proposed differential metabolite identification technique is better than that of existing methods. Thus, the proposed method can contribute to analysis of metabolomics data with outliers. The R package and user manual of the proposed method are available at https://github.com/nishithkumarpaul/Rvolcano .

  18. MSM, an Efficient Workflow for Metabolite Identification Using Hybrid Linear Ion Trap Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Robert; Huang, Yingying; Schwartz, Jae C.; Chen, Yan; Carlson, Timothy J.; Ma, Ji

    2012-05-01

    Identification of drug metabolites can often yield important information regarding clearance mechanism, pharmacologic activity, or toxicity for drug candidate molecules. Additionally, the identification of metabolites can provide beneficial structure-activity insight to help guide lead optimization efforts towards molecules with optimal metabolic profiles. There are challenges associated with detecting and identifying metabolites in the presence of complex biological matrices, and new LC-MS technologies have been developed to meet these challenges. In this report, we describe the development of an experimental approach that applies unique features of the hybrid linear ion trap Orbitrap mass spectrometer to streamline in vitro and in vivo metabolite identification experiments. The approach, referred to as MSM, utilizes multiple collision cells, dissociation methods, mass analyzers, and detectors. With multiple scan types and different dissociation modes built into one experimental method, along with flexible post-acquisition analysis options, the MSM workflow offers an attractive option to fast and reliable identification of metabolites in different kinds of in vitro and in vivo samples. The MSM workflow was successfully applied to metabolite identification analysis of verapamil in both in vitro rat hepatocyte incubations and in vivo rat bile samples.

  19. Post-acquisition data mining techniques for LC-MS/MS-acquired data in drug metabolite identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhurjad, Pooja Sukhdev; Marothu, Vamsi Krishna; Rathod, Rajeshwari

    2017-08-01

    Metabolite identification is a crucial part of the drug discovery process. LC-MS/MS-based metabolite identification has gained widespread use, but the data acquired by the LC-MS/MS instrument is complex, and thus the interpretation of data becomes troublesome. Fortunately, advancements in data mining techniques have simplified the process of data interpretation with improved mass accuracy and provide a potentially selective, sensitive, accurate and comprehensive way for metabolite identification. In this review, we have discussed the targeted (extracted ion chromatogram, mass defect filter, product ion filter, neutral loss filter and isotope pattern filter) and untargeted (control sample comparison, background subtraction and metabolomic approaches) post-acquisition data mining techniques, which facilitate the drug metabolite identification. We have also discussed the importance of integrated data mining strategy.

  20. A guide to the identification of metabolites in NMR-based metabonomics/metabolomics experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dona, Anthony C; Kyriakides, Michael; Scott, Flora; Shephard, Elizabeth A; Varshavi, Dorsa; Veselkov, Kirill; Everett, Jeremy R

    2016-01-01

    Metabonomics/metabolomics is an important science for the understanding of biological systems and the prediction of their behaviour, through the profiling of metabolites. Two technologies are routinely used in order to analyse metabolite profiles in biological fluids: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS), the latter typically with hyphenation to a chromatography system such as liquid chromatography (LC), in a configuration known as LC-MS. With both NMR and MS-based detection technologies, the identification of the metabolites in the biological sample remains a significant obstacle and bottleneck. This article provides guidance on methods for metabolite identification in biological fluids using NMR spectroscopy, and is illustrated with examples from recent studies on mice.

  1. A guide to the identification of metabolites in NMR-based metabonomics/metabolomics experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony C. Dona

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Metabonomics/metabolomics is an important science for the understanding of biological systems and the prediction of their behaviour, through the profiling of metabolites. Two technologies are routinely used in order to analyse metabolite profiles in biological fluids: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS, the latter typically with hyphenation to a chromatography system such as liquid chromatography (LC, in a configuration known as LC–MS. With both NMR and MS-based detection technologies, the identification of the metabolites in the biological sample remains a significant obstacle and bottleneck. This article provides guidance on methods for metabolite identification in biological fluids using NMR spectroscopy, and is illustrated with examples from recent studies on mice.

  2. Rapid identification of herbal compounds derived metabolites using zebrafish larvae as the biotransformation system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chen; Yin, Ying-Hao; Wei, Ying-Jie; Shi, Zi-Qi; Liu, Jian-Qun; Liu, Li-Fang; Xin, Gui-Zhong

    2017-09-15

    Metabolites derived from herbal compounds are becoming promising sources for discovering new drugs. However, the rapid identification of metabolites from biological matrixes is limited by massive endogenous interference and low abundance of metabolites. Thus, by using zebrafish larvae as the biotransformation system, we herein proposed and validated an integrated strategy for rapid identification of metabolites derived from herbal compounds. Two pivotal steps involved in this strategy are to differentiate metabolites from herbal compounds and match metabolites with their parent compounds. The differentiation step was achieved by cross orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis. Automatic matching analysis was performed on R Project based on a self-developed program, of which the number of matched ionic clusters and its corresponding percentage between metabolite and parent compound were taken into account to assess their similarity. Using this strategy, 46 metabolites screened from incubation water samples of zebrafish treated with total Epimedium flavonoids (EFs) could be matched with their corresponding parent compounds, 37 of them were identified and validated by the known metabolic pathways and fragmentation patterns. Finally, 75% of the identified EFs metabolites were successfully detected in urine samples of rats treated with EFs. These experimental results indicate that the proposed strategy using zebrafish larvae as the biotransformation system will facilitate the rapid identification of metabolites derived from herbal compounds, which shows promising perspectives in providing additional resources for pharmaceutical developments from natural products. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Identification of metabolites of the tryptase inhibitor CRA-9249: observation of a metabolite derived from an unexpected hydroxylation pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Walter; Dener, Jeffrey M; Dickman, Daniel A; Grothaus, Paul; Ling, Yun; Liu, Liang; Havel, Chris; Malesky, Kimberly; Mahajan, Tania; O'Brian, Colin; Shelton, Emma J; Sperandio, David; Tong, Zhiwei; Yee, Robert; Mordenti, Joyce J

    2006-08-01

    The metabolites of the tryptase inhibitor CRA-9249 were identified after exposure to liver microsomes. CRA-9249 was found to be degraded rapidly in liver microsomes from rabbit, dog, cynomolgus monkey, and human, and less rapidly in microsomes from rat. The key metabolites included cleavage of an aryl ether, in addition to an unexpected hydroxylation of the amide side chain adjacent to the amide nitrogen. The chemical structures of both metabolites were confirmed by synthesis and comparison to material isolated from the liver microsomes. Several suspected hydroxylated metabolites were also synthesized and analyzed as part of the structure identification process.

  4. Identification of phase-II metabolites of flavonoids by liquid chromatography-ion-mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chalet, Clément; Hollebrands, Boudewijn; Janssen, Hans-Gerd; Augustijns, Patrick; Duchateau, Guus

    2018-01-01

    Flavonoids are a class of natural compounds with a broad range of potentially beneficial health properties. They are subjected to an extensive intestinal phase-II metabolism, i.e., conjugation to glucuronic acid, sulfate, and methyl groups. Flavonoids and their metabolites can interact with drug transporters and thus interfere with drug absorption, causing food-drug interactions. The site of metabolism plays a key role in the activity, but the identification of the various metabolites remains a challenge. Here, we developed an analytical method to identify the phase-II metabolites of structurally similar flavonoids. We used liquid chromatography-ion-mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (LC-IMS-MS) analysis to identify phase-II metabolites of flavonols, flavones, and catechins produced by HT29 cells. We showed that IMS could bring valuable structural information on the different positional isomers of the flavonols and flavones. The position of the glucuronide moiety had a strong influence on the collision cross section (CCS) of the metabolites, with only minor contribution of hydroxyl and methyl moieties. For the catechins, fragmentation data obtained from MS/MS analysis appeared more useful than IMS to determine the structure of the metabolites, mostly due to the high number of metabolites formed. Nevertheless, CCS information as a molecular fingerprint proved to be useful to identify peaks from complex mixtures. LC-IMS-MS thus appears as a valuable tool for the identification of phase-II metabolites of flavonoids. Graphical abstract Structural identification of phase-II metabolites of flavonoids using LC-IMS-MS.

  5. Towards automated identification of metabolites using mass spectral trees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rojas-Chertó, Miquel

    2014-01-01

    The detailed description of the chemical compounds present in organisms, organs/tissues, biofluids and cells is the key to understand the complexity of biological systems. The small molecules (metabolites) are known to be very diverse in structure and function. However, the identification of the

  6. Fast metabolite identification with Input Output Kernel Regression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brouard, Céline; Shen, Huibin; Dührkop, Kai; d'Alché-Buc, Florence; Böcker, Sebastian; Rousu, Juho

    2016-01-01

    Motivation: An important problematic of metabolomics is to identify metabolites using tandem mass spectrometry data. Machine learning methods have been proposed recently to solve this problem by predicting molecular fingerprint vectors and matching these fingerprints against existing molecular structure databases. In this work we propose to address the metabolite identification problem using a structured output prediction approach. This type of approach is not limited to vector output space and can handle structured output space such as the molecule space. Results: We use the Input Output Kernel Regression method to learn the mapping between tandem mass spectra and molecular structures. The principle of this method is to encode the similarities in the input (spectra) space and the similarities in the output (molecule) space using two kernel functions. This method approximates the spectra-molecule mapping in two phases. The first phase corresponds to a regression problem from the input space to the feature space associated to the output kernel. The second phase is a preimage problem, consisting in mapping back the predicted output feature vectors to the molecule space. We show that our approach achieves state-of-the-art accuracy in metabolite identification. Moreover, our method has the advantage of decreasing the running times for the training step and the test step by several orders of magnitude over the preceding methods. Availability and implementation: Contact: celine.brouard@aalto.fi Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:27307628

  7. Isolation and identification of two galangin metabolites from rat urine ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Isolation and identification of two galangin metabolites from rat urine and determination of their in vitro hypolipidemic activity. Xuguang Zhang, Shouqian Cheng, Hailong Li, Xiaopo Zhang, Feng Chen, Youbin Li, Junqing Zhang, Yinfeng Tan ...

  8. LC-MS-MS identification of drug metabolites obtained by metalloporphyrin mediated oxidation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maurin Andrea J. M.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we report the application of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS to the identification of the products formed by oxidation of albendazole and disopyramide with metalloporphyrins in dichloroethane, using iodosylbenzene as an oxygen donor. Our results show that LC-MS-MS is a powerful tool to study the in vitro metabolism of drugs, allowing the identification of known and unknown metabolites. In addition, it was observed that the catalyst system used resulted in the formation of the same metabolites as obtained in vivo, although for disopyramide other products were also observed.

  9. Integrative Approaches for the Identification and Localization of Specialized Metabolites in Tripterygium Roots1[OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischedick, Justin T.; Lange, Malte F.; Poirier, Brenton C.

    2017-01-01

    Members of the genus Tripterygium are known to contain an astonishing diversity of specialized metabolites. The lack of authentic standards has been an impediment to the rapid identification of such metabolites in extracts. We employed an approach that involves the searching of multiple, complementary chromatographic and spectroscopic data sets against the Spektraris database to speed up the metabolite identification process. Mass spectrometry-based imaging indicated a differential localization of triterpenoids to the periderm and sesquiterpene alkaloids to the cortex layer of Tripterygium roots. We further provide evidence that triterpenoids are accumulated to high levels in cells that contain suberized cell walls, which might indicate a mechanism for storage. To our knowledge, our data provide first insights into the cell type specificity of metabolite accumulation in Tripterygium and set the stage for furthering our understanding of the biological implications of specialized metabolites in this genus. PMID:27864443

  10. A Rough Guide to Metabolite Identification Using High Resolution Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry in Metabolomic Profiling in Metazoans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David G Watson

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Compound identification in mass spectrometry based metabolomics can be a problem but sometimes the problem seems to be presented in an over complicated way. The current review focuses on metazoans where the range of metabolites is more restricted than for example in plants. The focus is on liquid chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry where it is proposed that most of the problems in compound identification relate to structural isomers rather than to isobaric compounds. Thus many of the problems faced relate to separation of isomers, which is usually required even if fragmentation is used to support structural identification. Many papers report the use of MS/MS or MS2 as an adjunct to the identification of known metabolites but there a few examples in metabolomics studies of metazoans of complete structure elucidation of novel metabolites or metabolites where no authentic standards are available for comparison.

  11. A unique automation platform for measuring low level radioactivity in metabolite identification studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joel Krauser

    Full Text Available Generation and interpretation of biotransformation data on drugs, i.e. identification of physiologically relevant metabolites, defining metabolic pathways and elucidation of metabolite structures, have become increasingly important to the drug development process. Profiling using (14C or (3H radiolabel is defined as the chromatographic separation and quantification of drug-related material in a given biological sample derived from an in vitro, preclinical in vivo or clinical study. Metabolite profiling is a very time intensive activity, particularly for preclinical in vivo or clinical studies which have defined limitations on radiation burden and exposure levels. A clear gap exists for certain studies which do not require specialized high volume automation technologies, yet these studies would still clearly benefit from automation. Use of radiolabeled compounds in preclinical and clinical ADME studies, specifically for metabolite profiling and identification are a very good example. The current lack of automation for measuring low level radioactivity in metabolite profiling requires substantial capacity, personal attention and resources from laboratory scientists. To help address these challenges and improve efficiency, we have innovated, developed and implemented a novel and flexible automation platform that integrates a robotic plate handling platform, HPLC or UPLC system, mass spectrometer and an automated fraction collector.

  12. A Unique Automation Platform for Measuring Low Level Radioactivity in Metabolite Identification Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krauser, Joel; Walles, Markus; Wolf, Thierry; Graf, Daniel; Swart, Piet

    2012-01-01

    Generation and interpretation of biotransformation data on drugs, i.e. identification of physiologically relevant metabolites, defining metabolic pathways and elucidation of metabolite structures, have become increasingly important to the drug development process. Profiling using 14C or 3H radiolabel is defined as the chromatographic separation and quantification of drug-related material in a given biological sample derived from an in vitro, preclinical in vivo or clinical study. Metabolite profiling is a very time intensive activity, particularly for preclinical in vivo or clinical studies which have defined limitations on radiation burden and exposure levels. A clear gap exists for certain studies which do not require specialized high volume automation technologies, yet these studies would still clearly benefit from automation. Use of radiolabeled compounds in preclinical and clinical ADME studies, specifically for metabolite profiling and identification are a very good example. The current lack of automation for measuring low level radioactivity in metabolite profiling requires substantial capacity, personal attention and resources from laboratory scientists. To help address these challenges and improve efficiency, we have innovated, developed and implemented a novel and flexible automation platform that integrates a robotic plate handling platform, HPLC or UPLC system, mass spectrometer and an automated fraction collector. PMID:22723932

  13. On-line signal trend identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tambouratzis, T.; Antonopoulos-Domis, M.

    2004-01-01

    An artificial neural network, based on the self-organizing map, is proposed for on-line signal trend identification. Trends are categorized at each incoming signal as steady-state, increasing and decreasing, while they are further classified according to characteristics such signal shape and rate of change. Tests with model-generated signals illustrate the ability of the self-organizing map to accurately and reliably perform on-line trend identification in terms of both detection and classification. The proposed methodology has been found robust to the presence of white noise

  14. The host plant metabolite glucose is the precursor of diffusible signal factor (DSF) family signals in Xanthomonas campestris.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Yinyue; Liu, Xiaoling; Wu, Ji'en; Lee, Jasmine; Chen, Shaohua; Cheng, Yingying; Zhang, Chunyan; Zhang, Lian-Hui

    2015-04-01

    Plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris produces cis-11-methyl-2-dodecenoic acid (diffusible signal factor [DSF]) as a cell-cell communication signal to regulate biofilm dispersal and virulence factor production. Previous studies have demonstrated that DSF biosynthesis is dependent on the presence of RpfF, an enoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) hydratase, but the DSF synthetic mechanism and the influence of the host plant on DSF biosynthesis are still not clear. We show here that exogenous addition of host plant juice or ethanol extract to the growth medium of X. campestris pv. campestris could significantly boost DSF family signal production. It was subsequently revealed that X. campestris pv. campestris produces not only DSF but also BDSF (cis-2-dodecenoic acid) and another novel DSF family signal, which was designated DSF-II. BDSF was originally identified in Burkholderia cenocepacia to be involved in regulation of motility, biofilm formation, and virulence in B. cenocepacia. Functional analysis suggested that DSF-II plays a role equal to that of DSF in regulation of biofilm dispersion and virulence factor production in X. campestris pv. campestris. Furthermore, chromatographic separation led to identification of glucose as a specific molecule stimulating DSF family signal biosynthesis in X. campestris pv. campestris. (13)C-labeling experiments demonstrated that glucose acts as a substrate to provide a carbon element for DSF biosynthesis. The results of this study indicate that X. campestris pv. campestris could utilize a common metabolite of the host plant to enhance DSF family signal synthesis and therefore promote virulence. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  15. Signal trend identification with fuzzy methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reifman, J.; Tsoukalas, L. H.; Wang, X.; Wei, T. Y. C.

    1999-01-01

    A fuzzy-logic-based methodology for on-line signal trend identification is introduced. Although signal trend identification is complicated by the presence of noise, fuzzy logic can help capture important features of on-line signals and classify incoming power plant signals into increasing, decreasing and steady-state trend categories. In order to verify the methodology, a code named PROTREN is developed and tested using plant data. The results indicate that the code is capable of detecting transients accurately, identifying trends reliably, and not misinterpreting a steady-state signal as a transient one

  16. Computational analyses of spectral trees from electrospray multi-stage mass spectrometry to aid metabolite identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Mingshu; Fraser, Karl; Rasmussen, Susanne

    2013-10-31

    Mass spectrometry coupled with chromatography has become the major technical platform in metabolomics. Aided by peak detection algorithms, the detected signals are characterized by mass-over-charge ratio (m/z) and retention time. Chemical identities often remain elusive for the majority of the signals. Multi-stage mass spectrometry based on electrospray ionization (ESI) allows collision-induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation of selected precursor ions. These fragment ions can assist in structural inference for metabolites of low molecular weight. Computational investigations of fragmentation spectra have increasingly received attention in metabolomics and various public databases house such data. We have developed an R package "iontree" that can capture, store and analyze MS2 and MS3 mass spectral data from high throughput metabolomics experiments. The package includes functions for ion tree construction, an algorithm (distMS2) for MS2 spectral comparison, and tools for building platform-independent ion tree (MS2/MS3) libraries. We have demonstrated the utilization of the package for the systematic analysis and annotation of fragmentation spectra collected in various metabolomics platforms, including direct infusion mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography coupled with either low resolution or high resolution mass spectrometry. Assisted by the developed computational tools, we have demonstrated that spectral trees can provide informative evidence complementary to retention time and accurate mass to aid with annotating unknown peaks. These experimental spectral trees once subjected to a quality control process, can be used for querying public MS2 databases or de novo interpretation. The putatively annotated spectral trees can be readily incorporated into reference libraries for routine identification of metabolites.

  17. The Secret Life of NAD(+): An Old Metabolite Controlling New Metabolic Signaling Pathways

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Houtkooper, Riekelt H.; Cantó, Carles; Wanders, Ronald J.; Auwerx, Johan

    2010-01-01

    A century after the identification of a coenzymatic activity for NAD(+), NAD(+) metabolism has come into the spotlight again due to the potential therapeutic relevance of a set of enzymes whose activity is tightly regulated by the balance between the oxidized and reduced forms of this metabolite. In

  18. Metabolite signal identification in accurate mass metabolomics data with MZedDB, an interactive m/z annotation tool utilising predicted ionisation behaviour 'rules'

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Snowdon Stuart

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Metabolomics experiments using Mass Spectrometry (MS technology measure the mass to charge ratio (m/z and intensity of ionised molecules in crude extracts of complex biological samples to generate high dimensional metabolite 'fingerprint' or metabolite 'profile' data. High resolution MS instruments perform routinely with a mass accuracy of Results Metabolite 'structures' harvested from publicly accessible databases were converted into a common format to generate a comprehensive archive in MZedDB. 'Rules' were derived from chemical information that allowed MZedDB to generate a list of adducts and neutral loss fragments putatively able to form for each structure and calculate, on the fly, the exact molecular weight of every potential ionisation product to provide targets for annotation searches based on accurate mass. We demonstrate that data matrices representing populations of ionisation products generated from different biological matrices contain a large proportion (sometimes > 50% of molecular isotopes, salt adducts and neutral loss fragments. Correlation analysis of ESI-MS data features confirmed the predicted relationships of m/z signals. An integrated isotope enumerator in MZedDB allowed verification of exact isotopic pattern distributions to corroborate experimental data. Conclusion We conclude that although ultra-high accurate mass instruments provide major insight into the chemical diversity of biological extracts, the facile annotation of a large proportion of signals is not possible by simple, automated query of current databases using computed molecular formulae. Parameterising MZedDB to take into account predicted ionisation behaviour and the biological source of any sample improves greatly both the frequency and accuracy of potential annotation 'hits' in ESI-MS data.

  19. Comparative study of radio gas-chromatography and gas chromatography - mass spectrometry coupling in the identification of metabolites of estrogens and progesterone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adessi, G.; Nhuan, T.Q.; Jayle, M.F.

    1978-01-01

    Radio-gas chromatography (RGC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to identify estrogen and progesterone metabolites. The RGC enables the identification of metabolites of labelled precursors ( 3 H)-estradiol-17β and ( 14 C)-progesterone were used as precursors. The GC-MS analytical technique with mass fragmentography, offers the interest of using unlabelled precursors at physiological levels. The identification of metabolites was based on obtaining the mass spectrum or the compiled fragmentogram on the basis of the most characteristic fragment ions. More over, several metabolites can be quantified on the same fragmentogram. Results on the metabolism of estradiol-17β and progesterone by the hepatic tissue of guinea pigs are given. (Auth.)

  20. Subpathway-GM: identification of metabolic subpathways via joint power of interesting genes and metabolites and their topologies within pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chunquan; Han, Junwei; Yao, Qianlan; Zou, Chendan; Xu, Yanjun; Zhang, Chunlong; Shang, Desi; Zhou, Lingyun; Zou, Chaoxia; Sun, Zeguo; Li, Jing; Zhang, Yunpeng; Yang, Haixiu; Gao, Xu; Li, Xia

    2013-05-01

    Various 'omics' technologies, including microarrays and gas chromatography mass spectrometry, can be used to identify hundreds of interesting genes, proteins and metabolites, such as differential genes, proteins and metabolites associated with diseases. Identifying metabolic pathways has become an invaluable aid to understanding the genes and metabolites associated with studying conditions. However, the classical methods used to identify pathways fail to accurately consider joint power of interesting gene/metabolite and the key regions impacted by them within metabolic pathways. In this study, we propose a powerful analytical method referred to as Subpathway-GM for the identification of metabolic subpathways. This provides a more accurate level of pathway analysis by integrating information from genes and metabolites, and their positions and cascade regions within the given pathway. We analyzed two colorectal cancer and one metastatic prostate cancer data sets and demonstrated that Subpathway-GM was able to identify disease-relevant subpathways whose corresponding entire pathways might be ignored using classical entire pathway identification methods. Further analysis indicated that the power of a joint genes/metabolites and subpathway strategy based on their topologies may play a key role in reliably recalling disease-relevant subpathways and finding novel subpathways.

  1. Compound to Extract to Formulation: a knowledge-transmitting approach for metabolites identification of Gegen-Qinlian Decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine formula

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Xue; Wang, Qi; Wang, Shuang; Miao, Wen-juan; Li, Yan-jiao; Xiang, Cheng; Guo, De-an; Ye, Min

    2016-01-01

    Herbal medicines usually contain a large group of chemical components, which may be transformed into more complex metabolites in vivo. In this study, we proposed a knowledge-transmitting strategy for metabolites identification of compound formulas. Gegen-Qinlian Decoction (GQD) is a classical formula in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is widely used to treat diarrhea and diabetes in clinical practice. However, only tens of metabolites could be detected using conventional approaches. To comprehensively identify the metabolites of GQD, a “compound to extract to formulation” strategy was established in this study. The metabolic pathways of single representative constituents in GQD were studied, and the metabolic rules were transmitted to chemically similar compounds in herbal extracts. After screening diversified metabolites from herb extracts, the knowledge was summarized to identify the metabolites of GQD. Tandem mass spectrometry (MSn), fragment-based scan (NL, PRE), and selected reaction monitoring (SRM) were employed to identify, screen, and monitor the metabolites, respectively. Using this strategy, we detected 131 GQD metabolites (85 were newly generated) in rats biofluids. Among them, 112 metabolites could be detected when GQD was orally administered at a clinical dosage (12.5 g/kg). This strategy could be used for systematic metabolites identification of complex Chinese medicine formulas. PMID:27996040

  2. Recent Advances in Mass Spectrometry for the Identification of Neuro-chemicals and their Metabolites in Biofluids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kailasa, Suresh Kumar; Wu, Hui-Fen

    2013-07-01

    Recently, mass spectrometric related techniques have been widely applied for the identification and quantification of neurochemicals and their metabolites in biofluids. This article presents an overview of mass spectrometric techniques applied in the detection of neurological substances and their metabolites from biological samples. In addition, the advances of chromatographic methods (LC, GC and CE) coupled with mass spectrometric techniques for analysis of neurochemicals in pharmaceutical and biological samples are also discussed.

  3. Metabolism of metofluthrin in rats: I. Identification of metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abe, Jun; Nagahori, Hirohisa; Tarui, Hirokazu; Tomigahara, Yoshitaka; Isobe, Naohiko

    2018-02-01

    1. Metofluthrin (2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-4-(methoxymethyl)benzyl (Z/E)-(1R)-trans-2,2-dimethyl-3-(1-propenyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylate) is a novel pyrethroid insecticide, which has E/Z isomers at prop-1-enyl group. 2. Rats were orally dosed with each [ 14 C]-labelled E/Z isomer, and the excreta were collected for isolation and identification of metabolites. Analysis of the excreta by LC/MS and NMR revealed formation of 33 and 23 (total 42) metabolites from rats dosed with Z-isomer and E-isomer, respectively. 3. Major metabolic reactions were cleavage of ester linkage, O-demethylation, hydroxylation, epoxidation or reduction of double bond, glutathione conjugation and its further metabolism, hydroxylation of epoxide and formation of lactone ring. Notably, the acid side, 2,2-dimethyl-3-(1-propenyl)-cyclopropanecarboxylic acid, was much more variously metabolised compared to chrysanthemic acid, the acid side of the known pyrethroids. 4. Major metabolites for Z-isomer mostly retained ester linkage with 1,2-dihydroxypropyl group and/or 2-methylalcohol of cyclopropane ring, while most of those for E-isomer received hydrolysis of the ester linkage without oxidation at the 1-propenyl group or the gem-methyl groups, suggesting epoxidation and hydroxylation could occur more easily on Z-isomer. 5. As the novel metabolic pathways for pyrethroids, isomerisation of ω-carboxylic acid moiety, reduction or hydration of double bond and cleavage of cyclopropane ring via epoxidation were suggested.

  4. Application of ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry in identification of three isoflavone glycosides and their corresponding metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiafen; Li, Xinhui; Liang, Xianrui

    2018-02-15

    Metabolites of isoflavones have attracted much attention in recent years due to their potential bioactivities. However, the complex constituents of the metabolic system and the low level of metabolites make them difficult to analyze. A mass spectrometry (MS) method was applied in our identification of metabolites and study of their fragmentation pathways due to the advantages of rapidity, sensitivity, and low level of sample consumption. Three isoflavone glycosides and their metabolites were identified using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/QTOF-MS). These metabolites were obtained by anaerobically incubating three isoflavone glycosides with human intestinal flora. The characteristic fragments of isoflavone glycosides and their metabolites were used for the identification work. Two metabolites from ononin, three metabolites from irilone-4'-O-β-D-glucoside, and five metabolites from sissotrin were identified respectively by the retention time (RT), accurate mass, and mass spectral fragmentation patterns. The losses of the glucosyl group, CO from the [M+H] + ion were observed for all the three isoflavone glycosides. The characteristic retro-Diels-Alder (RDA) fragmentation patterns were used to differentiate the compounds. The metabolic pathways of the three isoflavone glycosides were proposed according to the identified chemical structures of the metabolites. A selective, sensitive and rapid method was established for detecting and identifying three isoflavone glycosides and their metabolites using UPLC/QTOF-MS. The established method can be used for further rapid structural identification studies of metabolites and natural products. Furthermore, the proposed metabolic pathways will be helpful for understanding the in vivo metabolic process of isoflavone. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Identification and quantification of bio-actives and metabolites in physiological matrices by automated HPLC-MS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Platerink, C.J.

    2010-01-01

    Identification and quantification of bio-actives and metabolites in physiological matrices by automated HPLC-MS > Food plays an important role in human health. Nowadays there is an increasing interest in the health effects of so-calles functional foods, e.g. effects on blood pressure, cholesterol

  6. Prognostic Metabolite Biomarkers for Soft Tissue Sarcomas Discovered by Mass Spectrometry Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Sha; Balluff, Benjamin; Cleven, Arjen H. G.; Bovée, Judith V. M. G.; McDonnell, Liam A.

    2017-02-01

    Metabolites can be an important read-out of disease. The identification and validation of biomarkers in the cancer metabolome that can stratify high-risk patients is one of the main current research aspects. Mass spectrometry has become the technique of choice for metabolomics studies, and mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables their visualization in patient tissues. In this study, we used MSI to identify prognostic metabolite biomarkers in high grade sarcomas; 33 high grade sarcoma patients, comprising osteosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma were analyzed. Metabolite MSI data were obtained from sections of fresh frozen tissue specimens with matrix-assisted laser/desorption ionization (MALDI) MSI in negative polarity using 9-aminoarcridine as matrix. Subsequent annotation of tumor regions by expert pathologists resulted in tumor-specific metabolite signatures, which were then tested for association with patient survival. Metabolite signals with significant clinical value were further validated and identified by high mass resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) MSI. Three metabolite signals were found to correlate with overall survival ( m/z 180.9436 and 241.0118) and metastasis-free survival ( m/z 160.8417). FTICR-MSI identified m/z 241.0118 as inositol cyclic phosphate and m/z 160.8417 as carnitine.

  7. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight analysis for the identification and the determination of resveratrol and its metabolites in mouse plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menet, M.C.; Cottart, C.H.; Taghi, M.; Nivet-Antoine, V.; Dargère, D.

    2013-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Simultaneous identification and determination of new resveratrol metabolites in mice by UHPLC-Q-TOF in full scan mode. Highlights: ► Fast method to quantify resveratrol and its main metabolites in the mouse plasma. ► Isotope-labeled standards to build a linear calibration curve. ► Linear calibration curve on a wide range of concentrations. ► Simultaneous identification and quantification of metabolites by using full scan mode. ► Detection of uncommon metabolites not yet described in mice. - Abstract: Resveratrol is a polyphenol that has numerous interesting biological properties, but, per os, it is quickly metabolized. Some of its metabolites are more concentrated than resveratrol, may have greater biological activities, and may act as a kind of store for resveratrol. Thus, to understand the biological impact of resveratrol on a physiological system, it is crucial to simultaneously analyze resveratrol and its metabolites in plasma. This study presents an analytical method based on UHPLC-Q-TOF mass spectrometry for the quantification of resveratrol and of its most common hydrophilic metabolites. The use of 13 C- and D-labeled standards specific to each molecule led to a linear calibration curve on a larger concentration range than described previously. The use of high resolution mass spectrometry in the full scan mode enabled simultaneous identification and quantification of some hydrophilic metabolites not previously described in mice. In addition, UHPLC separation, allowing run times lower than 10 min, can be used in studies that requiring analysis of many samples.

  8. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight analysis for the identification and the determination of resveratrol and its metabolites in mouse plasma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menet, M.C., E-mail: marie-claude.menet@parisdescartes.fr [Universite Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris cite, EA 4463, Faculte des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, 4 avenue de l' Observatoire, Paris 75270 (France); Cottart, C.H. [APHP, Groupe hospitalier Pitie-Salpetriere, Charles Foix, Service de Biochimie, 7 avenue de la Republique, Ivry sur Seine 94205 (France); Universite Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris cite, EA 4466, Faculte des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, 4 avenue de l' Observatoire, Paris 75270 (France); Taghi, M. [Universite Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris cite, EA 4463, Faculte des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, 4 avenue de l' Observatoire, Paris 75270 (France); Nivet-Antoine, V. [Universite Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris cite, EA 4466, Faculte des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, 4 avenue de l' Observatoire, Paris 75270 (France); APHP, Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou, Service de Biochimie, 20 rue Leblanc, Paris 75015 (France); Dargere, D. [Universite Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris cite, EA 4463, Faculte des Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, 4 avenue de l' Observatoire, Paris 75270 (France); and others

    2013-01-25

    Graphical abstract: Simultaneous identification and determination of new resveratrol metabolites in mice by UHPLC-Q-TOF in full scan mode. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Fast method to quantify resveratrol and its main metabolites in the mouse plasma. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Isotope-labeled standards to build a linear calibration curve. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Linear calibration curve on a wide range of concentrations. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Simultaneous identification and quantification of metabolites by using full scan mode. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Detection of uncommon metabolites not yet described in mice. - Abstract: Resveratrol is a polyphenol that has numerous interesting biological properties, but, per os, it is quickly metabolized. Some of its metabolites are more concentrated than resveratrol, may have greater biological activities, and may act as a kind of store for resveratrol. Thus, to understand the biological impact of resveratrol on a physiological system, it is crucial to simultaneously analyze resveratrol and its metabolites in plasma. This study presents an analytical method based on UHPLC-Q-TOF mass spectrometry for the quantification of resveratrol and of its most common hydrophilic metabolites. The use of {sup 13}C- and D-labeled standards specific to each molecule led to a linear calibration curve on a larger concentration range than described previously. The use of high resolution mass spectrometry in the full scan mode enabled simultaneous identification and quantification of some hydrophilic metabolites not previously described in mice. In addition, UHPLC separation, allowing run times lower than 10 min, can be used in studies that requiring analysis of many samples.

  9. Identification of the urinary metabolites of 4-bromoaniline and 4-bromo-[carbonyl-13C]-acetanilide in rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scarfe, G B; Nicholson, J K; Lindon, J C; Wilson, I D; Taylor, S; Clayton, E; Wright, B

    2002-04-01

    1. The urinary excretion of 4-bromoaniline and its [carbonyl-(13)C]-labelled N-acetanilide, together with their corresponding metabolites, have been investigated in the rat following i.p. administration at 50 mg kg(-1). 2. Metabolite profiling was performed by reversed-phase HPLC with UV detection, whilst identification was performed using a combination of enzymic hydrolysis and directly coupled HPLC-NMR-MS analysis. The urinary metabolite profile was quantitatively and qualitatively similar for both compounds with little of either excreted unchanged. 3. The major metabolite present in urine was 2-amino-5-bromophenylsulphate, but, in addition, a number of metabolites with modification of the N-acetyl moiety were identified (from both the [(13)C]-acetanilide or produced following acetylation of the free bromoaniline). 4. For 4-bromoacetanilide, N-deacetylation was a major route of metabolism, but despite the detection of the acetanilide following the administration of the free aniline, there was no evidence of reacetylation (futile deacetylation). 5. Metabolites resulting from the oxidation of the acetyl group included a novel glucuronide of an N-glycolanilide, an unusual N-oxanilic acid and a novel N-acetyl cysteine conjugate.

  10. The application of NMR-based milk metabolite analysis in milk authenticity identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qiangqiang; Yu, Zunbo; Zhu, Dan; Meng, Xianghe; Pang, Xiumei; Liu, Yue; Frew, Russell; Chen, He; Chen, Gang

    2017-07-01

    Milk is an important food component in the human diet and is a target for fraud, including many unsafe practices. For example, the unscrupulous adulteration of soymilk into bovine and goat milk or of bovine milk into goat milk in order to gain profit without declaration is a health risk, as the adulterant source and sanitary history are unknown. A robust and fit-for-purpose technique is required to enforce market surveillance and hence protect consumer health. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique for characterization of food products based on measuring the profile of metabolites. In this study, 1D NMR in conjunction with multivariate chemometrics as well as 2D NMR was applied to differentiate milk types and to identify milk adulteration. Ten metabolites were found which differed among milk types, hence providing characteristic markers for identifying the milk. These metabolites were used to establish mathematical models for milk type differentiation. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of adulteration was 2% (v/v) for soymilk in bovine milk, 2% (v/v) for soymilk in goat milk and 5% (v/v) for bovine milk in goat milk, with relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 10%, which can meet the needs of daily inspection. The NMR method described here is effective for milk authenticity identification, and the study demonstrates that the NMR-based milk metabolite analysis approach provides a means of detecting adulteration at expected levels and can be used for dairy quality monitoring. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

  11. Signal-to-Signal Ratio Independent Speaker Identification for Co-channel Speech Signals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Saeidi, Rahim; Mowlaee, Pejman; Kinnunen, Tomi

    2010-01-01

    In this paper, we consider speaker identification for the co-channel scenario in which speech mixture from speakers is recorded by one microphone only. The goal is to identify both of the speakers from their mixed signal. High recognition accuracies have already been reported when an accurately...

  12. Identification and Characterization of CINPA1 Metabolites Facilitates Structure-Activity Studies of the Constitutive Androstane Receptor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherian, Milu T.; Yang, Lei; Chai, Sergio C.; Lin, Wenwei

    2016-01-01

    The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) regulates the expression of genes involved in drug metabolism and other processes. A specific inhibitor of CAR is critical for modulating constitutive CAR activity. We recently described a specific small-molecule inhibitor of CAR, CINPA1 (ethyl (5-(diethylglycyl)-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[b,f]azepin-3-yl)carbamate), which is capable of reducing CAR-mediated transcription by changing the coregulator recruitment pattern and reducing CAR occupancy at the promoter regions of its target genes. In this study, we showed that CINPA1 is converted to two main metabolites in human liver microsomes. By using cell-based reporter gene and biochemical coregulator recruitment assays, we showed that although metabolite 1 was very weak in inhibiting CAR function and disrupting CAR-coactivator interaction, metabolite 2 was inactive in this regard. Docking studies using the CAR ligand-binding domain structure showed that although CINPA1 and metabolite 1 can bind in the CAR ligand-binding pocket, metabolite 2 may be incapable of the molecular interactions required for binding. These results indicate that the metabolites of CINPA1 may not interfere with the action of CINPA1. We also used in vitro enzyme assays to identify the cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for metabolizing CINPA1 in human liver microsomes and showed that CINPA1 was first converted to metabolite 1 by CYP3A4 and then further metabolized by CYP2D6 to metabolite 2. Identification and characterization of the metabolites of CINPA1 enabled structure-activity relationship studies of this family of small molecules and provided information to guide in vivo pharmacological studies. PMID:27519550

  13. Metabolite transport and associated sugar signalling systems underpinning source/sink interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Cara A; Paul, Matthew J; Foyer, Christine H

    2016-10-01

    Metabolite transport between organelles, cells and source and sink tissues not only enables pathway co-ordination but it also facilitates whole plant communication, particularly in the transmission of information concerning resource availability. Carbon assimilation is co-ordinated with nitrogen assimilation to ensure that the building blocks of biomass production, amino acids and carbon skeletons, are available at the required amounts and stoichiometry, with associated transport processes making certain that these essential resources are transported from their sites of synthesis to those of utilisation. Of the many possible posttranslational mechanisms that might participate in efficient co-ordination of metabolism and transport only reversible thiol-disulphide exchange mechanisms have been described in detail. Sucrose and trehalose metabolism are intertwined in the signalling hub that ensures appropriate resource allocation to drive growth and development under optimal and stress conditions, with trehalose-6-phosphate acting as an important signal for sucrose availability. The formidable suite of plant metabolite transporters provides enormous flexibility and adaptability in inter-pathway coordination and source-sink interactions. Focussing on the carbon metabolism network, we highlight the functions of different transporter families, and the important of thioredoxins in the metabolic dialogue between source and sink tissues. In addition, we address how these systems can be tailored for crop improvement. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Automated pathway and reaction prediction facilitates in silico identification of unknown metabolites in human cohort studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quell, Jan D; Römisch-Margl, Werner; Colombo, Marco; Krumsiek, Jan; Evans, Anne M; Mohney, Robert; Salomaa, Veikko; de Faire, Ulf; Groop, Leif C; Agakov, Felix; Looker, Helen C; McKeigue, Paul; Colhoun, Helen M; Kastenmüller, Gabi

    2017-12-15

    Identification of metabolites in non-targeted metabolomics continues to be a bottleneck in metabolomics studies in large human cohorts. Unidentified metabolites frequently emerge in the results of association studies linking metabolite levels to, for example, clinical phenotypes. For further analyses these unknown metabolites must be identified. Current approaches utilize chemical information, such as spectral details and fragmentation characteristics to determine components of unknown metabolites. Here, we propose a systems biology model exploiting the internal correlation structure of metabolite levels in combination with existing biochemical and genetic information to characterize properties of unknown molecules. Levels of 758 metabolites (439 known, 319 unknown) in human blood samples of 2279 subjects were measured using a non-targeted metabolomics platform (LC-MS and GC-MS). We reconstructed the structure of biochemical pathways that are imprinted in these metabolomics data by building an empirical network model based on 1040 significant partial correlations between metabolites. We further added associations of these metabolites to 134 genes from genome-wide association studies as well as reactions and functional relations to genes from the public database Recon 2 to the network model. From the local neighborhood in the network, we were able to predict the pathway annotation of 180 unknown metabolites. Furthermore, we classified 100 pairs of known and unknown and 45 pairs of unknown metabolites to 21 types of reactions based on their mass differences. As a proof of concept, we then looked further into the special case of predicted dehydrogenation reactions leading us to the selection of 39 candidate molecules for 5 unknown metabolites. Finally, we could verify 2 of those candidates by applying LC-MS analyses of commercially available candidate substances. The formerly unknown metabolites X-13891 and X-13069 were shown to be 2-dodecendioic acid and 9

  15. Polydopamine-Coated Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers with Fragment Template for Identification of Pulsatilla Saponin Metabolites in Rat Feces with UPLC-Q-TOF-MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yu-Zhen; Zhang, Jia-Wei; Wang, Chong-Zhi; Zhou, Lian-Di; Zhang, Qi-Hui; Yuan, Chun-Su

    2018-01-24

    In this work, a modified pretreatment method using magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) was successfully applied to study the metabolites of an important botanical with ultraperformance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS). The MMIPs for glucoside-specific adsorption was used to identify metabolites of Pulsatilla chinensis in rat feces. Polymers were prepared by using Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles as the supporting matrix, d-glucose as fragment template, and dopamine as the functional monomer and cross-linker. Results showed that MMIPs exhibited excellent extraction performance, large adsorption capacity (5.65 mg/g), fast kinetics (60 min), and magnetic separation. Furthermore, the MMIPs coupled with UPLC-Q-TOF-MS were successfully utilized for the identification of 17 compounds including 15 metabolites from the Pulsatilla saponin metabolic pool. This study provides a reliable protocol for the separation and identification of saponin metabolites in a complex biological sample, including those from herbal medicines.

  16. Rationalization and prediction of in vivo metabolite exposures: The role of metabolite kinetics, clearance predictions and in vitro parameters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lutz, Justin D.; Fujioka, Yasushi; Isoherranen, Nina

    2010-01-01

    Importance of the field Due to growing concerns over toxic or active metabolites, significant efforts have been focused on qualitative identification of potential in vivo metabolites from in vitro data. However, limited tools are available to quantitatively predict their human exposures. Areas covered in this review Theory of clearance predictions and metabolite kinetics is reviewed together with supporting experimental data. In vitro and in vivo data of known circulating metabolites and their parent drugs was collected and the predictions of in vivo exposures of the metabolites were evaluated. What the reader will gain The theory and data reviewed will be useful in early identification of human metabolites that will circulate at significant levels in vivo and help in designing in vivo studies that focus on characterization of metabolites. It will also assist in rationalization of metabolite-to-parent ratios used as markers of specific enzyme activity. Take home message The relative importance of a metabolite in comparison to the parent compound as well as other metabolites in vivo can only be predicted using the metabolites in vitro formation and elimination clearances, and the in vivo disposition of a metabolite can only be rationalized when the elimination pathways of that metabolite are known. PMID:20557268

  17. Identification and Characterization of CINPA1 Metabolites Facilitates Structure-Activity Studies of the Constitutive Androstane Receptor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherian, Milu T; Yang, Lei; Chai, Sergio C; Lin, Wenwei; Chen, Taosheng

    2016-11-01

    The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) regulates the expression of genes involved in drug metabolism and other processes. A specific inhibitor of CAR is critical for modulating constitutive CAR activity. We recently described a specific small-molecule inhibitor of CAR, CINPA1 (ethyl (5-(diethylglycyl)-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[b,f]azepin-3-yl)carbamate), which is capable of reducing CAR-mediated transcription by changing the coregulator recruitment pattern and reducing CAR occupancy at the promoter regions of its target genes. In this study, we showed that CINPA1 is converted to two main metabolites in human liver microsomes. By using cell-based reporter gene and biochemical coregulator recruitment assays, we showed that although metabolite 1 was very weak in inhibiting CAR function and disrupting CAR-coactivator interaction, metabolite 2 was inactive in this regard. Docking studies using the CAR ligand-binding domain structure showed that although CINPA1 and metabolite 1 can bind in the CAR ligand-binding pocket, metabolite 2 may be incapable of the molecular interactions required for binding. These results indicate that the metabolites of CINPA1 may not interfere with the action of CINPA1. We also used in vitro enzyme assays to identify the cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for metabolizing CINPA1 in human liver microsomes and showed that CINPA1 was first converted to metabolite 1 by CYP3A4 and then further metabolized by CYP2D6 to metabolite 2. Identification and characterization of the metabolites of CINPA1 enabled structure-activity relationship studies of this family of small molecules and provided information to guide in vivo pharmacological studies. Copyright © 2016 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

  18. Identification of ionic chloroacetanilide-herbicide metabolites in surface water and groundwater by HPLC/MS using negative ion spray

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrer, I.; Thurman, E.M.; Barcelo, D.

    1997-01-01

    Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was combined with high-performance liquid chromatography/high-flow pneumatically assisted electrospray mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESP/MS) for the trace analysis of oxanilic and sulfonic acids of acetochlor, alachlor, and metolachlor. The isolation procedure separated the chloroacetanilide metabolites from the parent herbicides during the elution from C18 cartridges using ethyl acetate for parent compounds, followed by methanol for the anionic metabolites. The metabolites were separated chromatographically using reversed-phase HPLC and analyzed by negative-ion MS using electrospray ionization in selected ion mode. Quantitation limits were 0.01 ??g/L for both the oxanilic and sulfonic acids based on a 100-mL water sample. This combination of methods represents an important advance in environmental analysis of chloroacetanilide-herbicide metabolites in surface water and groundwater for two reasons. First, anionic chloroacetanilide metabolites are a major class of degradation products that are readily leached to groundwater in agricultural areas. Second, anionic metabolites, which are not able to be analyzed by conventional methods such as liquid extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, are effectively analyzed by SPE and high-flow pneumatically assisted electrospray mass spectrometry. This paper reports the first HPLC/MS identification of these metabolites in surface water and groundwater.

  19. Identification of phenylbutyrate-generated metabolites in Huntington disease patients using parallel liquid chromatography/electrochemical array/mass spectrometry and off-line tandem mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebbel, Erika N; Leymarie, Nancy; Schiavo, Susan; Sharma, Swati; Gevorkian, Sona; Hersch, Steven; Matson, Wayne R; Costello, Catherine E

    2010-04-15

    Oral sodium phenylbutyrate (SPB) is currently under investigation as a histone deacetylation (HDAC) inhibitor in Huntington disease (HD). Ongoing studies indicate that symptoms related to HD genetic abnormalities decrease with SPB therapy. In a recently reported safety and tolerability study of SPB in HD, we analyzed overall chromatographic patterns from a method that employs gradient liquid chromatography with series electrochemical array, ultraviolet (UV), and fluorescence (LCECA/UV/F) for measuring SPB and its metabolite phenylacetate (PA). We found that plasma and urine from SPB-treated patients yielded individual-specific patterns of approximately 20 metabolites that may provide a means for the selection of subjects for extended trials of SPB. The structural identification of these metabolites is of critical importance because their characterization will facilitate understanding the mechanisms of drug action and possible side effects. We have now developed an iterative process with LCECA, parallel LCECA/LCMS, and high-performance tandem MS for metabolite characterization. Here we report the details of this method and its use for identification of 10 plasma and urinary metabolites in treated subjects, including indole species in urine that are not themselves metabolites of SPB. Thus, this approach contributes to understanding metabolic pathways that differ among HD patients being treated with SPB. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Identification of N-acyl-fumonisin B1 as new cytotoxic metabolites of fumonisin mycotoxins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrer, Henning; Laviad, Elad L; Humpf, Hans Ulrich; Futerman, Anthony H

    2013-03-01

    Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species. The predominant derivative, fumonisin B1 (FB1), occurs in food and feed and is of health concern due to its hepatotoxic and carcinogenic effects. However, the role of FB1 metabolites on the mechanism of the toxicity, the inhibition of the ceramide synthesis, is unknown. The aim of this study was to identify new fumonisin metabolites and to evaluate their cytotoxic potential. MS, molecular biology, and in vitro enzyme assays were used to investigate fumonisin metabolism in mammalian cells overexpressing human ceramide synthase (CerS) genes. N-acyl-FB1 derivatives were detected as new metabolites in cultured cells at levels of up to 10 pmol/mg of protein. The N-acylation of FB1 and hydrolyzed FB1 was analyzed in several cell lines, including cells overexpressing CerS. The acyl-chain length of the N-acyl fumonisins depends on the CerS isoform acylating them. The N-acyl fumonisins are more cytotoxic than the parent fumonisin B1. The identification of N-acyl fumonisins with various acyl chain lengths together with the observed cytotoxicity of these compounds is a new aspect of fumonisin-related toxicity. Therefore, these new metabolites might play an important role in the mode of action of fumonisins. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  1. Identification of low-dose responsive metabolites in X-irradiated human B lymphoblastoid cells and fibroblasts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsuyama, Naohiro; Katafuchi, Atsushi; Abe, Yu; Kurosu, Yumiko; Yoshida, Mitsuaki; Kamiya, Kenji; Sakai, Akira; Mizuno, Hajime

    2015-01-01

    Ionizing radiation (IR) induces cellular stress responses, such as signal transduction, gene expression, protein modification, and metabolite change that affect cellular behavior. We analyzed X-irradiated human Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphoblastoid cells and normal fibroblasts to search for metabolites that would be suitable IR-responsive markers by Liquid Chromotography–Mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Mass spectra, as analyzed with principal component analysis, showed that the proportion of peaks with IR-induced change was relatively small compared with the influence of culture time. Dozens of peaks that had either been upregulated or downregulated by IR were extracted as candidate IR markers. The IR-changed peaks were identified by comparing mock-treated groups to 100 mGy-irradiated groups that had recovered after 10 h, and the results indicated that the metabolites involved in nucleoside synthesis increased and that some acylcarnitine levels decreased in B lymphoblastoids. Some peaks changed by as much as 20 mGy, indicating the presence of an IR-sensitive signal transduction/metabolism control mechanism in these cells. On the other hand, we could not find common IR-changed peaks in fibroblasts of different origin. These data suggest that cell phenotype-specific pathways exist, even in low-dose responses, and could determine cell behavior. (author)

  2. Identification of AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48 Metabolites in Authentic Human Urine Samples Using Human Liver Microsomes and Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

    OpenAIRE

    Vikingsson, Svante; Josefsson, Martin; Green, Henrik

    2015-01-01

    The occurrence of structurally related synthetic cannabinoids makes the identification of unique markers of drug intake particularly challenging. The aim of this study was to identify unique and abundant metabolites of AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48 for toxicological screening in urine. Investigations of authentic urine samples from forensic cases in combination with human liver microsome (HLM) experiments were used for identification of metabolites. HLM incubations of AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48 along with 3...

  3. Identification of AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48 Metabolites in Authentic Human Urine Samples Using Human Liver Microsomes and Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vikingsson, Svante; Josefsson, Martin; Gréen, Henrik

    2015-01-01

    The occurrence of structurally related synthetic cannabinoids makes the identification of unique markers of drug intake particularly challenging. The aim of this study was to identify unique and abundant metabolites of AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48 for toxicological screening in urine. Investigations of authentic urine samples from forensic cases in combination with human liver microsome (HLM) experiments were used for identification of metabolites. HLM incubations of AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48 along with 35 urine samples from authentic cases were analyzed with liquid chromatography quadrupole tandem time of flight mass spectrometry. Using HLMs 41 metabolites of AKB-48 and 37 metabolites of 5F-AKB-48 were identified, principally represented by hydroxylation but also ketone formation and dealkylation. Monohydroxylated metabolites were replaced by di- and trihydroxylated metabolites within 30 min. The metabolites from the HLM incubations accounted for on average 84% (range, 67-100) and 91% (range, 71-100) of the combined area in the case samples for AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48, respectively. While defluorinated metabolites accounted for on average 74% of the combined area after a 5F-AKB-48 intake only a few identified metabolites were shared between AKB-48 and 5F-AKB-48, illustrating the need for a systematic approach to identify unique metabolites. HLMs in combination with case samples seem suitable for this purpose. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Separation and identification of corticosterone metabolites by liquid chromatography--electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miksík, I; Vylitová, M; Pácha, J; Deyl, Z

    1999-04-16

    High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to atmospheric pressure ionization-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (API-ESI-MS) was investigated for the analysis of corticosterone metabolites; their characterization was obtained by combining the separation on Zorbax Eclipse XDB C18 column (eluted with a methanol-water-acetic acid gradient) with identification using positive ion mode API-ESI-MS and selected ion analysis. The applicability of this method was verified by monitoring the activity of steroid converting enzymes (20beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) in avian intestines.

  5. The simultaneous identification of metoprolol and its major acidic and basic metabolites in human urine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Feng; Cooper, S.F. [Universite du Quebec, Pointe-Claire (Canada)

    1996-12-31

    A novel gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method was developed to confirm and identify metoprolol and its metabolites by double derivatization with S-(-)menthyl chloroformate [(-)-MCF] and N-methyl(trimethylsilyl-trifluoroacetamide) (MSTFA). This is the first report, which describes the simultaneous identification of metoprolol, its one major acidc and other basic metabolites in human urine based on solid-phase extraction with C{sub 18} reversed-phase cartridges. 12 refs., 4 figs.

  6. SeMPI: a genome-based secondary metabolite prediction and identification web server.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zierep, Paul F; Padilla, Natàlia; Yonchev, Dimitar G; Telukunta, Kiran K; Klementz, Dennis; Günther, Stefan

    2017-07-03

    The secondary metabolism of bacteria, fungi and plants yields a vast number of bioactive substances. The constantly increasing amount of published genomic data provides the opportunity for an efficient identification of gene clusters by genome mining. Conversely, for many natural products with resolved structures, the encoding gene clusters have not been identified yet. Even though genome mining tools have become significantly more efficient in the identification of biosynthetic gene clusters, structural elucidation of the actual secondary metabolite is still challenging, especially due to as yet unpredictable post-modifications. Here, we introduce SeMPI, a web server providing a prediction and identification pipeline for natural products synthesized by polyketide synthases of type I modular. In order to limit the possible structures of PKS products and to include putative tailoring reactions, a structural comparison with annotated natural products was introduced. Furthermore, a benchmark was designed based on 40 gene clusters with annotated PKS products. The web server of the pipeline (SeMPI) is freely available at: http://www.pharmaceutical-bioinformatics.de/sempi. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  7. Identification and quantification of predominant metabolites of synthetic cannabinoid MAB-CHMINACA in an authentic human urine specimen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasegawa, Koutaro; Minakata, Kayoko; Gonmori, Kunio; Nozawa, Hideki; Yamagishi, Itaru; Watanabe, Kanako; Suzuki, Osamu

    2018-02-01

    An autopsy case in which the cause of death was judged as drug poisoning by two synthetic cannabinoids, including MAB-CHMINACA, was investigated. Although unchanged MAB-CHMINACA could be detected from solid tissues, blood and stomach contents in the case, the compound could not be detected from a urine specimen. We obtained six kinds of reference standards of MAB-CHMINACA metabolites from a commercial source. The MAB-CHMINACA metabolites from the urine specimen of the abuser were extracted using a QuEChERS method including dispersive solid-phase extraction, and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with or without hydrolysis with β-glucuronidase. Among the six MAB-CHMINACA metabolites tested, two predominant metabolites could be identified and quantified in the urine specimen of the deceased. After hydrolysis with β-glucuronidase, an increase of the two metabolites was not observed. The metabolites detected were a 4-monohydroxycyclohexylmethyl metabolite M1 (N-(1-amino-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-((4-hydroxycyclohexyl)methyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide) and a dihydroxyl (4-hydroxycyclohexylmethyl and tert-butylhydroxyl) metabolite M11 (N-(1-amino-4-hydroxy-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl)-1-((4-hydroxycyclohexyl)methyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide). Their concentrations were 2.17 ± 0.15 and 10.2 ± 0.3 ng/mL (n = 3, each) for M1 and M11, respectively. Although there is one previous in vitro study showing the estimation of metabolism of MAB-CHMINACA using human hepatocytes, this is the first report dealing with in vivo identification and quantification of MAB-CHMINACA metabolites in an authentic human urine specimen. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Grains colonised by moulds: fungal identification and headspace analysis of produced volatile metabolites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Paola Tampieri

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this work was to verify if the headspace analysis of fungal volatile compounds produced by some species of Fusarium can be used as a marker of mould presence on maize. Eight samples of maize (four yellow maize from North Italy and four white maize from Hungary, naturally contaminated by Fusarium and positive for the presence of fumonisins, were analyzed to detect moisture content, Aw, volatile metabolites and an enumeration of viable moulds was performed by means of a colony count technique. Headspace samples were analysed using a gas-chromatograph equipped with a capillary column TR-WAX to detect volatile metabolites of moulds. Furthermore macro and microscopic examination of the colonies was performed in order to distinguish, according to their morphology, the genera of the prevalent present moulds. Prevalent mould of eight samples was Fusarium, but other fungi, like Aspergillus, Penicillum and Mucoraceae, were observed. The metabolites produced by F.graminearum and F. moniliforme were Isobutyl-acetate, 3-Methyl-1-butanol and, only at 8 days, 3-Octanone. The incubation time can affect off flavour production in consequence of the presence of other moulds. Further studies on maize samples under different conditions are needed in order to establish the presence of moulds using the count technique and through the identification of volatile compounds.

  9. Device-Free Passive Identity Identification via WiFi Signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Jiguang; Yang, Wu; Man, Dapeng

    2017-11-02

    Device-free passive identity identification attracts much attention in recent years, and it is a representative application in sensorless sensing. It can be used in many applications such as intrusion detection and smart building. Previous studies show the sensing potential of WiFi signals in a device-free passive manner. It is confirmed that human's gait is unique from each other similar to fingerprint and iris. However, the identification accuracy of existing approaches is not satisfactory in practice. In this paper, we present Wii, a device-free WiFi-based Identity Identification approach utilizing human's gait based on Channel State Information (CSI) of WiFi signals. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and low pass filter are applied to remove the noises in the signals. We then extract several entities' gait features from both time and frequency domain, and select the most effective features according to information gain. Based on these features, Wii realizes stranger recognition through Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and identity identification through a Support Vector Machine (SVM) with Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernel. It is implemented using commercial WiFi devices and evaluated on a dataset with more than 1500 gait instances collected from eight subjects walking in a room. The results indicate that Wii can effectively recognize strangers and can achieves high identification accuracy with low computational cost. As a result, Wii has the potential to work in typical home security systems.

  10. Device-Free Passive Identity Identification via WiFi Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiguang Lv

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Device-free passive identity identification attracts much attention in recent years, and it is a representative application in sensorless sensing. It can be used in many applications such as intrusion detection and smart building. Previous studies show the sensing potential of WiFi signals in a device-free passive manner. It is confirmed that human’s gait is unique from each other similar to fingerprint and iris. However, the identification accuracy of existing approaches is not satisfactory in practice. In this paper, we present Wii, a device-free WiFi-based Identity Identification approach utilizing human’s gait based on Channel State Information (CSI of WiFi signals. Principle Component Analysis (PCA and low pass filter are applied to remove the noises in the signals. We then extract several entities’ gait features from both time and frequency domain, and select the most effective features according to information gain. Based on these features, Wii realizes stranger recognition through Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM and identity identification through a Support Vector Machine (SVM with Radial Basis Function (RBF kernel. It is implemented using commercial WiFi devices and evaluated on a dataset with more than 1500 gait instances collected from eight subjects walking in a room. The results indicate that Wii can effectively recognize strangers and can achieves high identification accuracy with low computational cost. As a result, Wii has the potential to work in typical home security systems.

  11. Immune regulation by microbiome metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Chang H

    2018-03-22

    Commensal microbes and the host immune system have been co-evolved for mutual regulation. Microbes regulate the host immune system, in part, by producing metabolites. A mounting body of evidence indicates that diverse microbial metabolites profoundly regulate the immune system via host receptors and other target molecules. Immune cells express metabolite-specific receptors such as P2X 7 , GPR41, GPR43, GPR109A, aryl hydrocarbon receptor precursor (AhR), pregnane X receptor (PXR), farnesoid X receptor (FXR), TGR5 and other molecular targets. Microbial metabolites and their receptors form an extensive array of signals to respond to changes in nutrition, health and immunological status. As a consequence, microbial metabolite signals contribute to nutrient harvest from diet, and regulate host metabolism and the immune system. Importantly, microbial metabolites bidirectionally function to promote both tolerance and immunity to effectively fight infection without developing inflammatory diseases. In pathogenic conditions, adverse effects of microbial metabolites have been observed as well. Key immune-regulatory functions of the metabolites, generated from carbohydrates, proteins and bile acids, are reviewed in this article. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Metabolism of a sea lamprey pesticide by fish liver enzymes part A: identification and synthesis of TFM metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bussy, Ugo; Chung-Davidson, Yu-Wen; Buchinger, Tyler; Li, Ke; Smith, Scott A; Jones, A Daniel; Li, Weiming

    2018-02-01

    The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a destructive invasive species in the Great Lakes that contributed to the collapse of native fish populations in the mid-1900s. 3-Trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) is a selective pesticide that has been applied to sea lamprey infested tributaries of the Great Lakes to kill larvae since the 1960s and has reduced the populations by as much as 90%. However, the metabolism of TFM by sea lamprey and non-target species is not fully illuminated. Elucidation of TFM metabolism is critical for understanding its mode of action and possible environmental impact. Here, we describe the screening, identification, synthesis and structural characterization of TFM metabolites in livers from sea lamprey and three non-target species that differ in their ability to survive TFM exposure. We identified glucuronidation, sulfation, N-acetylation, glutathione conjugation, and aromatic nitro group reduction as potential detoxification mechanisms. Seven metabolites were synthesized for use as markers of TFM metabolism in fish. Quantitative 1 H NMR was used to assay synthesized metabolite stock solutions that were then used as standard material to develop a quantitative LC-MS/MS method for TFM metabolites.

  13. [Identification of saponins from Panax notoginseng in metabolites of rats].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Wen-Wen; Zhang, Yin; Qiu, Shou-Bei; Zhu, Fen-Xia; Jia, Xiao-Bin; Tang, Dao-Quan; Chen, Bin

    2017-10-01

    UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS was used to identify metabolites in rat blood, urine and feces after the administration of n-butanol extract derived from steamed notoginseng. The metabolic process of saponins came from steamed notoginseng was analyzed. The metabolites were processed by PeakView software, and identified according to the structural characteristics of prototype compounds and the accurate qualitative and quantitative changes of common metabolic pathways. Four saponins metabolites were identified based on MS/MS information of metabolites, namely ginsenoside Rh₄, Rk₃, Rk₁, Rg₅,and their 15 metabolites were verified. The metabolic pathways of the four ginsenosides in n-butanol extract included glucuronidation, desugar, sulfation, dehydromethylation, and branch loss. The metabolites of main active saponin components derived from steamed Panax notoginseng were analyzed from the perspective of qualitative analysis. And the material basis for the efficacy of steamed notoginseng was further clarified. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

  14. Identification of gut-derived metabolites of maslinic acid, a bioactive compound from Olea europaea L.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozano-Mena, Glòria; Sánchez-González, Marta; Parra, Andrés; Juan, M Emília; Planas, Joana M

    2016-09-01

    Maslinic acid has been described to exert a chemopreventive activity in colon cancer. Hereby, we determined maslinic acid and its metabolites in the rat intestine previous oral administration as a first step in elucidating whether this triterpene might be used as a nutraceutical. Maslinic acid was orally administered at 1, 2, and 5 mg/kg to male Sprague-Dawley for 2 days. At 24 h after the last administration, the content of the duodenum and jejunum, ileum, cecum, and colon was collected and extracted with methanol 80% prior to LC-APCI-MS analysis. The developed method was validated providing suitable sensitivity (LOQ of 5 nM), good recovery (97.8 ± 3.6%), linear correlation, and appropriate precision (< 9%). Maslinic acid was detected in all the segments with higher concentrations in the distal part of the intestine. LC-APCI-LTQ-ORBITRAP-MS allowed the identification of 11 gut-derived metabolites that were formed by mono-, dihydroxylation, and dehydrogenation reactions. Maslinic acid undergoes phase I reactions resulting in a majority of monohydroxylated metabolites without the presence of phase II derivatives. The high concentration of maslinic acid achieved in the intestine suggests that it could exert a beneficial effect in the prevention of colon cancer. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  15. 21 CFR 862.3250 - Cocaine and cocaine metabolite test system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Cocaine and cocaine metabolite test system. 862... Test Systems § 862.3250 Cocaine and cocaine metabolite test system. (a) Identification. A cocaine and cocaine metabolite test system is a device intended to measure cocaine and a cocaine metabolite...

  16. Spatio-Temporal Metabolite Profiling of the Barley Germination Process by MALDI MS Imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karin Gorzolka

    Full Text Available MALDI mass spectrometry imaging was performed to localize metabolites during the first seven days of the barley germination. Up to 100 mass signals were detected of which 85 signals were identified as 48 different metabolites with highly tissue-specific localizations. Oligosaccharides were observed in the endosperm and in parts of the developed embryo. Lipids in the endosperm co-localized in dependency on their fatty acid compositions with changes in the distributions of diacyl phosphatidylcholines during germination. 26 potentially antifungal hordatines were detected in the embryo with tissue-specific localizations of their glycosylated, hydroxylated, and O-methylated derivates. In order to reveal spatio-temporal patterns in local metabolite compositions, multiple MSI data sets from a time series were analyzed in one batch. This requires a new preprocessing strategy to achieve comparability between data sets as well as a new strategy for unsupervised clustering. The resulting spatial segmentation for each time point sample is visualized in an interactive cluster map and enables simultaneous interactive exploration of all time points. Using this new analysis approach and visualization tool germination-dependent developments of metabolite patterns with single MS position accuracy were discovered. This is the first study that presents metabolite profiling of a cereals' germination process over time by MALDI MSI with the identification of a large number of peaks of agronomically and industrially important compounds such as oligosaccharides, lipids and antifungal agents. Their detailed localization as well as the MS cluster analyses for on-tissue metabolite profile mapping revealed important information for the understanding of the germination process, which is of high scientific interest.

  17. Identification of glucuronides as in vivo liver conjugates of seven cannabinoids and some of their hydroxy and acid metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, D J; Martin, B R; Paton, W D

    1977-02-01

    Glucuronide conjugates of cannabidiol (CBD), 7-hydroxy-CBD, propyl-CBD, cannabinol (CBN), 7-hydroxy-CBN, CBN-7-oic acid, propyl CBN and cannabichromene have been identified as major metabolites of CBD, CBN and their propyl homologues and of cannabichromene in mouse liver. Trace amounts of the glucuronide conjugates of delta1- and delta1(6)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) were also detected. Identification was made by combined gas-liquid chromatographic and mass spectrometric studies of the trimethylsilyl (TMS), d9-TMS and methyl ester-TMS derivatives of the glucuronides and the TMS derivatives of the product of the reduction of the metabolites with lithium aluminium deuteride.

  18. A non-invasive identification of hormone metabolites, gonadal event and reproductive status of captive female tigers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HERI DWI PUTRANTO

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Putranto HD (2011 A non-invasive identification of hormone metabolites, gonadal event and reproductive status of captive female tigers. Biodiversitas 12: 131-135. As a non-invasive method, fecal sample provides some advantage for animal and collector. The purpose of the present study were to monitor the reproductive status of female Siberian tigers (Panthera tigris altaica by assessing changes in fecal during natural ovarian activity and pregnancy and to identify whether progesterone (P4 exists and what kinds of P4 metabolites excreted into the feces. Two female tigers were fed a diet consisting of meat. Drinking water was available ad libitum. Feces were collected ones to twice a week. The fecal contents of P4 and estradiol-17β (E2 were determined by EIA and P4 metabolites were separated by a modified HPLC. The EIA results shown that during its natural ovarian activitythe E2 contents showed cyclic changes at the average of 27.0 d interval, however, no distinct cycles were shown in fecal P4 contents of non-pregnant tiger. In contrary, the fecal P4 contents in pregnant tiger increased remarkably after copulation approximately 2- to 6-fold higher than the mean value. The HPLC results indicated that two peaks were primarily detected fraction 63- 64 min (identified metabolites and fraction 85 min (not identified metabolite in feces of pregnant tiger. However, P4 detected only small amount in feces. It is possible to assess non-invasively gonadal events such as luteal or follicular activity or ovulation of Siberian tigers by endocrine monitoring based on fecal P4 and E2 to understand reproductive status.

  19. Metabolites of alectinib in human: their identification and pharmacological activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mika Sato-Nakai

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Two metabolites (M4 and M1b in plasma and four metabolites (M4, M6, M1a and M1b in faeces were detected through the human ADME study following a single oral administration of [14C]alectinib, a small-molecule anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor, to healthy subjects. In the present study, M1a and M1b, which chemical structures had not been identified prior to the human ADME study, were identified as isomers of a carboxylate metabolite oxidatively cleaved at the morpholine ring. In faeces, M4 and M1b were the main metabolites, which shows that the biotransformation to M4 and M1b represents two main metabolic pathways for alectinib. In plasma, M4 was a major metabolite and M1b was a minor metabolite. The contribution to in vivo pharmacological activity of these circulating metabolites was assessed from their in vitro pharmacological activity and plasma protein binding. M4 had a similar cancer cell growth inhibitory activity and plasma protein binding to that of alectinib, suggesting its contribution to the antitumor activity of alectinib, whereas the pharmacological activity of M1b was insignificant.

  20. Dereplication of Natural Products Using GC-TOF Mass Spectrometry: Improved Metabolite Identification By Spectral Deconvolution Ratio Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fausto Carnevale Neto

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Dereplication based on hyphenated techniques has been extensively applied in plant metabolomics, avoiding re-isolation of known natural products. However, due to the complex nature of biological samples and their large concentration range, dereplication requires the use of chemometric tools to comprehensively extract information from the acquired data. In this work we developed a reliable GC-MS-based method for the identification of non-targeted plant metabolites by combining the Ratio Analysis of Mass Spectrometry deconvolution tool (RAMSY with Automated Mass Spectral Deconvolution and Identification System software (AMDIS. Plants species from Solanaceae, Chrysobalanaceae and Euphorbiaceae were selected as model systems due to their molecular diversity, ethnopharmacological potential and economical value. The samples were analyzed by GC-MS after methoximation and silylation reactions. Dereplication initiated with the use of a factorial design of experiments to determine the best AMDIS configuration for each sample, considering linear retention indices and mass spectral data. A heuristic factor (CDF, compound detection factor was developed and applied to the AMDIS results in order to decrease the false-positive rates. Despite the enhancement in deconvolution and peak identification, the empirical AMDIS method was not able to fully deconvolute all GC-peaks, leading to low MF values and/or missing metabolites. RAMSY was applied as a complementary deconvolution method to AMDIS to peaks exhibiting substantial overlap, resulting in recovery of low-intensity co-eluted ions. The results from this combination of optimized AMDIS with RAMSY attested to the ability of this approach as an improved dereplication method for complex biological samples such as plant extracts.

  1. Comprehensive Metabolite Identification Strategy Using Multiple Two-Dimensional NMR Spectra of a Complex Mixture Implemented in the COLMARm Web Server

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bingol, Kerem [Environmental; Li, Da-Wei; Zhang, Bo; Brüschweiler, Rafael

    2016-12-06

    Identification of metabolites in complex mixtures represents a key step in metabolomics. A new strategy is introduced, which is implemented in a new public web server, COLMARm, that permits the co-analysis of up to three 2D NMR spectra, namely 13C-1H HSQC, 1H-1H TOCSY, and 13C-1H HSQC-TOCSY for the comprehensive, accurate, and efficient performance of this task. The highly versatile and interactive nature of COLMARm permits its application to a wide range of metabolomics samples independent of the magnetic field. Database query is performed using the HSQC spectrum and the top metabolite hits are then validated against the TOCSY-type experiment(s) by superimposing the expected cross-peaks on the mixture spectrum. In this way the user can directly accept or reject candidate metabolites by taking advantage of the complementary spectral information offered by these experiments and their different sensitivities. The power of COLMARm is demonstrated for a human serum sample uncovering the existence of 14 metabolites that hitherto were not identified by NMR.

  2. Biodegradation of clofibric acid and identification of its metabolites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salgado, R.; Oehmen, A.; Carvalho, G.; Noronha, J.P.; Reis, M.A.M.

    2012-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Metabolites produced during clofibric acid biodegradation. Highlights: ► Clofibric acid is biodegradable. ► Mainly heterotrophic bacteria degraded the clofibric acid. ► Metabolites of clofibric acid biodegradation were identified. ► The metabolic pathway of clofibric acid biodegradation is proposed. - Abstract: Clofibric acid (CLF) is the pharmaceutically active metabolite of lipid regulators clofibrate, etofibrate and etofyllinclofibrate, and it is considered both environmentally persistent and refractory. This work studied the biotransformation of CLF in aerobic sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with mixed microbial cultures, monitoring the efficiency of biotransformation of CLF and the production of metabolites. The maximum removal achieved was 51% biodegradation (initial CLF concentration = 2 mg L −1 ), where adsorption and abiotic removal mechanisms were shown to be negligible, showing that CLF is indeed biodegradable. Tests showed that the observed CLF biodegradation was mainly carried out by heterotrophic bacteria. Three main metabolites were identified, including α-hydroxyisobutyric acid, lactic acid and 4-chlorophenol. The latter is known to exhibit higher toxicity than the parent compound, but it did not accumulate in the SBRs. α-Hydroxyisobutyric acid and lactic acid accumulated for a period, where nitrite accumulation may have been responsible for inhibiting their degradation. A metabolic pathway for the biodegradation of CLF is proposed in this study.

  3. Identification of Unique Metabolites of the Designer Opioid Furanyl Fentanyl.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goggin, Melissa M; Nguyen, An; Janis, Gregory C

    2017-06-01

    The illicit drug market has seen an increase in designer opioids, including fentanyl and methadone analogs, and other structurally unrelated opioid agonists. The designer opioid, furanyl fentanyl, is one of many fentanyl analogs clandestinely synthesized for recreational use and contributing to the fentanyl and opioid crisis. A method has been developed and validated for the analysis of furanyl fentanyl and furanyl norfentanyl in urine specimens from pain management programs. Approximately 10% of samples from a set of 500 presumptive heroin-positive urine specimens were found to contain furanyl fentanyl, with an average concentration of 33.8 ng/mL, and ranging from 0.26 to 390 ng/mL. Little to no furanyl norfentanyl was observed; therefore, the furanyl fentanyl specimens were further analyzed by untargeted high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify other metabolites. Multiple metabolites, including a dihydrodiol metabolite, 4-anilino-N-phenethyl-piperidine (4-ANPP) and a sulfate metabolite were identified. The aim of the presented study was to identify the major metabolite(s) of furanyl fentanyl and estimate their concentrations for the purpose of toxicological monitoring. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Deletion of the signalling molecule synthase ScbA has pleiotropic effects on secondary metabolite biosynthesis, morphological differentiation and primary metabolism in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D'Alia, Davide; Eggle, D.; Nieselt, K.; Hu, W.-S.; Breitling, R.; Takano, E.

    2011-01-01

    Streptomycetes have high biotechnological relevance as producers of diverse metabolites widely used in medical and agricultural applications. The biosynthesis of these metabolites is controlled by signalling molecules, gamma-butyrolactones, that act as bacterial hormones. In Streptomyces coelicolor,

  5. Identification of differential metabolites in liquid diet fermented with Bacillus subtilis using gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuyong He

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Growth and health responses of pigs fed fermented liquid diet are not always consistent and causes for this issue are still not very clear. Metabolites produced at different fermentation time points should be one of the most important contributors. However, currently no literatures about differential metabolites of fermented liquid diet are reported. The aim of this experiment was to explore the difference of metabolites in a fermented liquid diet between different fermentation time intervals. A total of eighteen samples that collected from Bacillus subtilis fermented liquid diet on days 7, 21 and 35 respectively were used for the identification of metabolites by gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS. Fifteen differential metabolites including melibiose, sortitol, ribose, cellobiose, maltotriose, sorbose, isomaltose, maltose, fructose, d-glycerol-1-phosphate, 4-aminobutyric acid, beta-alanine, tyrosine, pyruvic acid and pantothenic acid were identified between 7-d samples and 21-d samples. The relative level of melibiose, ribose, maltotriose, d-glycerol-1-phosphate, tyrosine and pyruvic acid in samples collected on day 21 was significantly higher than that in samples collected on day 7 (P < 0.01, respectively. Eight differential metabolites including ribose, sorbose, galactinol, cellobiose, pyruvic acid, galactonic acid, pantothenic acid and guanosine were found between 21-d samples and 35-d samples. Samples collected on day 35 had a higher relative level of ribose than that in samples collected on day 21 (P < 0.01. In conclusion, many differential metabolites which have important effects on the growth and health of pigs are identified and findings contribute to explain the difference in feeding response of fermented liquid diet.

  6. Biodegradation of clofibric acid and identification of its metabolites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salgado, R. [REQUIMTE/CQFB, Chemistry Department, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); ESTS-IPS, Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Setubal do Instituto Politecnico de Setubal, Rua Vale de Chaves, Campus do IPS, Estefanilha, 2910-761 Setubal (Portugal); Oehmen, A. [REQUIMTE/CQFB, Chemistry Department, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); Carvalho, G. [REQUIMTE/CQFB, Chemistry Department, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnologica (IBET), Av. da Republica (EAN), 2784-505 Oeiras (Portugal); Noronha, J.P. [REQUIMTE/CQFB, Chemistry Department, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); Reis, M.A.M., E-mail: amr@fct.unl.pt [REQUIMTE/CQFB, Chemistry Department, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal)

    2012-11-30

    Graphical abstract: Metabolites produced during clofibric acid biodegradation. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Clofibric acid is biodegradable. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Mainly heterotrophic bacteria degraded the clofibric acid. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Metabolites of clofibric acid biodegradation were identified. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The metabolic pathway of clofibric acid biodegradation is proposed. - Abstract: Clofibric acid (CLF) is the pharmaceutically active metabolite of lipid regulators clofibrate, etofibrate and etofyllinclofibrate, and it is considered both environmentally persistent and refractory. This work studied the biotransformation of CLF in aerobic sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with mixed microbial cultures, monitoring the efficiency of biotransformation of CLF and the production of metabolites. The maximum removal achieved was 51% biodegradation (initial CLF concentration = 2 mg L{sup -1}), where adsorption and abiotic removal mechanisms were shown to be negligible, showing that CLF is indeed biodegradable. Tests showed that the observed CLF biodegradation was mainly carried out by heterotrophic bacteria. Three main metabolites were identified, including {alpha}-hydroxyisobutyric acid, lactic acid and 4-chlorophenol. The latter is known to exhibit higher toxicity than the parent compound, but it did not accumulate in the SBRs. {alpha}-Hydroxyisobutyric acid and lactic acid accumulated for a period, where nitrite accumulation may have been responsible for inhibiting their degradation. A metabolic pathway for the biodegradation of CLF is proposed in this study.

  7. Contact-Free Heartbeat Signal for Human Identification and Forensics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nasrollahi, Kamal; Haque, Mohammad Ahsanul; Irani, Ramin

    2017-01-01

    on the subject’s body. Though it might be possible to use touch-based sensors in applications like patient monitoring, it won’t be that easy to use them in identification and forensics applications, espe- cially if subjects are not cooperative. To deal with this problem, recently computer vision techniques have......The heartbeat signal, which is one of the physiological signals, is of great importance in many real-world applications, for example, in patient monitoring and biometric recognition. The traditional methods for measuring such this signal use contact-based sensors that need to be installed...

  8. Identification of Urinary Polyphenol Metabolite Patterns Associated with Polyphenol-Rich Food Intake in Adults from Four European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hwayoung Noh

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available We identified urinary polyphenol metabolite patterns by a novel algorithm that combines dimension reduction and variable selection methods to explain polyphenol-rich food intake, and compared their respective performance with that of single biomarkers in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC study. The study included 475 adults from four European countries (Germany, France, Italy, and Greece. Dietary intakes were assessed with 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR and dietary questionnaires (DQ. Thirty-four polyphenols were measured by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS-MS in 24-h urine. Reduced rank regression-based variable importance in projection (RRR-VIP and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO methods were used to select polyphenol metabolites. Reduced rank regression (RRR was then used to identify patterns in these metabolites, maximizing the explained variability in intake of pre-selected polyphenol-rich foods. The performance of RRR models was evaluated using internal cross-validation to control for over-optimistic findings from over-fitting. High performance was observed for explaining recent intake (24-HDR of red wine (r = 0.65; AUC = 89.1%, coffee (r = 0.51; AUC = 89.1%, and olives (r = 0.35; AUC = 82.2%. These metabolite patterns performed better or equally well compared to single polyphenol biomarkers. Neither metabolite patterns nor single biomarkers performed well in explaining habitual intake (as reported in the DQ of polyphenol-rich foods. This proposed strategy of biomarker pattern identification has the potential of expanding the currently still limited list of available dietary intake biomarkers.

  9. Identification and quantitation of signal molecule-dependent protein phosphorylation

    KAUST Repository

    Groen, Arnoud J.; Thomas, Ludivine; Lilley, Kathryn S.; Marondedze, Claudius

    2013-01-01

    in combination with phosphopeptide enrichment by titanium dioxide (TiO2) and their identification by MS is described. This workflow can be used to gain insights into the role of signalling molecules such as cyclic nucleotides on regulatory networks through

  10. A Decade in the MIST: Learnings from Investigations of Drug Metabolites in Drug Development under the "Metabolites in Safety Testing" Regulatory Guidance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schadt, Simone; Bister, Bojan; Chowdhury, Swapan K; Funk, Christoph; Hop, Cornelis E C A; Humphreys, W Griffith; Igarashi, Fumihiko; James, Alexander D; Kagan, Mark; Khojasteh, S Cyrus; Nedderman, Angus N R; Prakash, Chandra; Runge, Frank; Scheible, Holger; Spracklin, Douglas K; Swart, Piet; Tse, Susanna; Yuan, Josh; Obach, R Scott

    2018-06-01

    Since the introduction of metabolites in safety testing (MIST) guidance by the Food and Drug Administration in 2008, major changes have occurred in the experimental methods for the identification and quantification of metabolites, ways to evaluate coverage of metabolites, and the timing of critical clinical and nonclinical studies to generate this information. In this cross-industry review, we discuss how the increased focus on human drug metabolites and their potential contribution to safety and drug-drug interactions has influenced the approaches taken by industry for the identification and quantitation of human drug metabolites. Before the MIST guidance was issued, the method of choice for generating comprehensive metabolite profile was radio chromatography. The MIST guidance increased the focus on human drug metabolites and their potential contribution to safety and drug-drug interactions and led to changes in the practices of drug metabolism scientists. In addition, the guidance suggested that human metabolism studies should also be accelerated, which has led to more frequent determination of human metabolite profiles from multiple ascending-dose clinical studies. Generating a comprehensive and quantitative profile of human metabolites has become a more urgent task. Together with technological advances, these events have led to a general shift of focus toward earlier human metabolism studies using high-resolution mass spectrometry and to a reduction in animal radiolabel absorption/distribution/metabolism/excretion studies. The changes induced by the MIST guidance are highlighted by six case studies included herein, reflecting different stages of implementation of the MIST guidance within the pharmaceutical industry. Copyright © 2018 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

  11. Identification and characterization of vilazodone metabolites in rats and microsomes by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavan, Balasaheb B; Kalariya, Pradipbhai D; Tiwari, Shristy; Nimbalkar, Rakesh D; Garg, Prabha; Srinivas, R; Talluri, M V N Kumar

    2017-12-15

    Vilazodone is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). An extensive literature search found few reports on the in vivo and in vitro metabolism of vilazodone. Therefore, we report a comprehensive in vivo and in vitro metabolic identification and structural characterization of vilazodone using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF/MS/MS) and in silico toxicity study of the metabolites. To identify in vivo metabolites of vilazodone, blood, urine and faeces samples were collected at different time intervals starting from 0 h to 48 h after oral administration of vilazodone to Sprague-Dawley rats. The in vitro metabolism study was conducted with human liver microsomes (HLM) and rat liver microsomes (RLM). The samples were prepared using an optimized sample preparation approach involving protein precipitation followed by solid-phase extraction. The metabolites have been identified and characterized by using LC/ESI-MS/MS. A total of 12 metabolites (M1-M12) were identified in in vivo and in vitro matrices and characterized by LC/ESI-MS/MS. The majority of the metabolites were observed in urine, while a few metabolites were present in faeces and plasma. Two metabolites were observed in the in vitro study. A semi-quantitative study based on percentage counts shows that metabolites M11, M6 and M8 were observed in higher amounts in urine, faeces and plasma, respectively. The structures of all the 12 metabolites were elucidated by using LC/ESI-MS/MS. The study suggests that vilazodone was metabolized via hydroxylation, dihydroxylation, glucuronidation, oxidative deamination, dealkylation, dehydrogenation and dioxidation. All the metabolites were screened for toxicity using an in silico tool. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  12. Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for Identification of In Vitro and In Vivo Metabolites of Bornyl Gallate in Rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Lan

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Bornyl gallate (BG is a potential drug candidate synthesized by the reaction of two natural products, gallic acid and borneol. Previous studies have strongly suggested that BG is worthy of further investigation due to antioxidant, antiatherosclerosis activities, and obvious activity of stimulating intersegmental vessel growth in zebrafish. This work was designed to elucidate the metabolic profile of BG through analyzing its metabolites in vitro and in vivo by a chromatographic separation coupled with a mass spectrometry. The metabolites of BG were characterized from the rat liver microsome incubation solution, as well as rat urine and plasma after oral administration. Chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent TC-C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm with gradient elution using methanol and water containing 0.2% (V : V formic acid as the mobile phase. Metabolites identification involved analyzing the retention behaviors, changes of molecular weights and MS/MS fragment patterns of BG and the metabolites. Five compounds were identified as isomers of hydroxylated BG metabolites in vitro. The major metabolites of BG in rat urine and plasma proved to be BG-O-glucuronide and O-methyl BG-O-glucuronide. The proposed method confirmed to be a reliable and sensitive alternative for characterizing metabolic pathways of BG.

  13. Biotransformation of cannabidiol in mice. Identification of new acid metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, B R; Harvey, D J; Paton, W D

    1977-01-01

    The in vivo metabolism of cannabidiol (CBD) was investigated in mice. Following the ip administration of CBD to mice, livers were removed and metabolites were extracted with ethyl acetate prior to partial purification on Sephadex LH-20 columns. Fractions from the columns were converted into trimethylsilyl, d9-trimethylsilyl, and methylester-trimethylsilyl derivatives for analysis by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. In addition, metabolites containing carboxylic acid and ketone functional groups were reduced to alcohols with lithium aluminum deuteride before trimethylsilation. A total of 22 metabolites were characterized, 14 of which had not been reported previously. The metabolites could be categorized as follows: monohydroxylated (N=2), dihydroxylated (N=3), CBD-7-oic acid, side chain hydroxy-GBD-7-oic acids (N=3), side-chain acids (N=3), 7-hydroxy-side-chain acids (N=4), 6-oxo-side-chain acids (N=3) and glucuronide conjugates (N=3). The most significant biotransformations were glucuronide conjugation and, to a lesser extent, formation of CBD-7-oic acid.

  14. Identification of a new metabolite of GHB

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Ida Nymann; Tortzen, Christian; Kristensen, Jesper Langgaard

    2013-01-01

    Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is an important analyte in clinical and forensic toxicology with a narrow detection window of 3-6 h. In the search of improved detection methods, the existence in vivo of a glucuronated GHB metabolite (GHB-GLUC) was hypothesized. Chemically pure standards of GHB...

  15. Systems and methods for remote long standoff biometric identification using microwave cardiac signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGrath, William R. (Inventor); Talukder, Ashit (Inventor)

    2012-01-01

    Systems and methods for remote, long standoff biometric identification using microwave cardiac signals are provided. In one embodiment, the invention relates to a method for remote biometric identification using microwave cardiac signals, the method including generating and directing first microwave energy in a direction of a person, receiving microwave energy reflected from the person, the reflected microwave energy indicative of cardiac characteristics of the person, segmenting a signal indicative of the reflected microwave energy into a waveform including a plurality of heart beats, identifying patterns in the microwave heart beats waveform, and identifying the person based on the identified patterns and a stored microwave heart beats waveform.

  16. Identification of Volatile Secondary Metabolites from an Endophytic Microfungus Aspergillus Nomius KUB105

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lateef Adebola Azeez; Lateef Adebola Azeez; Sepiah Muid; Bolhassan Mohamad Hasnul

    2016-01-01

    Microfungi are a highly diverse group of micro-organisms and important components of the ecosystem with great potential for diverse metabolite production. During a survey of microfungi on leaves in a National Park in Sarawak, an uncommon endophytic microfungus Aspergillus nomius was encountered. The metabolite production of this microfungus was investigated by growing it in a liquid basal medium for 2 weeks. Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) profiling of the secondary metabolites produced by this microfungus in the liquid medium revealed the presence of 46 different secondary metabolites. The metabolites include saturated hydrocarbons, alkyl halides, alcohols and an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Majority of the metabolites produced were saturated hydrocarbons. Tetracosane, Icosane and 10-Methylicosane were the most abundant metabolites identified while heptadecane and 2,4-dimethylundecane were the least abundant respectively. This study is the first GC-MS and FTIR report of secondary metabolites from A. nomius. The results from this study confirm the ability of microfungi to produce diverse metabolites, including saturated hydrocarbons. (author)

  17. Human metabolites of brevetoxin PbTx-2: Identification and confirmation of structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Fujiang; An, Tianying; Rein, Kathleen S.

    2010-01-01

    Four metabolites were identified upon incubation of brevetoxin (PbTx-2) with human liver microsomes. Chemical transformation of PbTx-2 confirmed the structures of three known metabolites BTX-B5, PbTx-9 and 41, 43-dihydro-BTX-B5 and a previously unknown metabolite, 41, 43-dihydro-PbTx-2. These metabolites were also observed upon incubation of PbTx-2 with nine human recombinant cytochrome P450s (1A1, 1A2, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, 3A4 and 3A5). Cytochrome P450 3A4 produced oxidized metabolites while other CYPs generated the reduced products. PMID:20600229

  18. Transportable hyperpolarized metabolites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Xiao; Bornet, Aurélien; Vuichoud, Basile; Milani, Jonas; Gajan, David; Rossini, Aaron J.; Emsley, Lyndon; Bodenhausen, Geoffrey; Jannin, Sami

    2017-01-01

    Nuclear spin hyperpolarization of 13C-labelled metabolites by dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization can enhance the NMR signals of metabolites by several orders of magnitude, which has enabled in vivo metabolic imaging by MRI. However, because of the short lifetime of the hyperpolarized magnetization (typically <1 min), the polarization process must be carried out close to the point of use. Here we introduce a concept that markedly extends hyperpolarization lifetimes and enables the transportation of hyperpolarized metabolites. The hyperpolarized sample can thus be removed from the polarizer and stored or transported for use at remote MRI or NMR sites. We show that hyperpolarization in alanine and glycine survives 16 h storage and transport, maintaining overall polarization enhancements of up to three orders of magnitude. PMID:28072398

  19. Yeast synthetic biology for high-value metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Zhubo; Liu, Yi; Guo, Juan; Huang, Luqi; Zhang, Xueli

    2015-02-01

    Traditionally, high-value metabolites have been produced through direct extraction from natural biological sources which are inefficient, given the low abundance of these compounds. On the other hand, these high-value metabolites are usually difficult to be synthesized chemically, due to their complex structures. In the last few years, the discovery of genes involved in the synthetic pathways of these metabolites, combined with advances in synthetic biology tools, has allowed the construction of increasing numbers of yeast cell factories for production of these metabolites from renewable biomass. This review summarizes recent advances in synthetic biology in terms of the use of yeasts as microbial hosts for the identification of the pathways involved in the synthesis, as well as for the production of high-value metabolites. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.

  20. Biodegradation of clofibric acid and identification of its metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salgado, R; Oehmen, A; Carvalho, G; Noronha, J P; Reis, M A M

    2012-11-30

    Clofibric acid (CLF) is the pharmaceutically active metabolite of lipid regulators clofibrate, etofibrate and etofyllinclofibrate, and it is considered both environmentally persistent and refractory. This work studied the biotransformation of CLF in aerobic sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with mixed microbial cultures, monitoring the efficiency of biotransformation of CLF and the production of metabolites. The maximum removal achieved was 51% biodegradation (initial CLF concentration=2 mg L(-1)), where adsorption and abiotic removal mechanisms were shown to be negligible, showing that CLF is indeed biodegradable. Tests showed that the observed CLF biodegradation was mainly carried out by heterotrophic bacteria. Three main metabolites were identified, including α-hydroxyisobutyric acid, lactic acid and 4-chlorophenol. The latter is known to exhibit higher toxicity than the parent compound, but it did not accumulate in the SBRs. α-Hydroxyisobutyric acid and lactic acid accumulated for a period, where nitrite accumulation may have been responsible for inhibiting their degradation. A metabolic pathway for the biodegradation of CLF is proposed in this study. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Fast Metabolite Identification in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Metabolomic Studies: Statistical Peak Sorting and Peak Overlap Detection for More Reliable Database Queries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoijemberg, Pablo A; Pelczer, István

    2018-01-05

    A lot of time is spent by researchers in the identification of metabolites in NMR-based metabolomic studies. The usual metabolite identification starts employing public or commercial databases to match chemical shifts thought to belong to a given compound. Statistical total correlation spectroscopy (STOCSY), in use for more than a decade, speeds the process by finding statistical correlations among peaks, being able to create a better peak list as input for the database query. However, the (normally not automated) analysis becomes challenging due to the intrinsic issue of peak overlap, where correlations of more than one compound appear in the STOCSY trace. Here we present a fully automated methodology that analyzes all STOCSY traces at once (every peak is chosen as driver peak) and overcomes the peak overlap obstacle. Peak overlap detection by clustering analysis and sorting of traces (POD-CAST) first creates an overlap matrix from the STOCSY traces, then clusters the overlap traces based on their similarity and finally calculates a cumulative overlap index (COI) to account for both strong and intermediate correlations. This information is gathered in one plot to help the user identify the groups of peaks that would belong to a single molecule and perform a more reliable database query. The simultaneous examination of all traces reduces the time of analysis, compared to viewing STOCSY traces by pairs or small groups, and condenses the redundant information in the 2D STOCSY matrix into bands containing similar traces. The COI helps in the detection of overlapping peaks, which can be added to the peak list from another cross-correlated band. POD-CAST overcomes the generally overlooked and underestimated presence of overlapping peaks and it detects them to include them in the search of all compounds contributing to the peak overlap, enabling the user to accelerate the metabolite identification process with more successful database queries and searching all tentative

  2. Characterization and identification of in vitro metabolites of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    trap orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitap MS). Results: Nine metabolites of (-)-epicatechin were characterized on the basis of high resolution mass measurement, MS spectra and literature data. Based on their structures, the major ...

  3. Identification of Bearing Failure Using Signal Vibrations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yani, Irsyadi; Resti, Yulia; Burlian, Firmansyah

    2018-04-01

    Vibration analysis can be used to identify damage to mechanical systems such as journal bearings. Identification of failure can be done by observing the resulting vibration spectrum by measuring the vibration signal occurring in a mechanical system Bearing is one of the engine elements commonly used in mechanical systems. The main purpose of this research is to monitor the bearing condition and to identify bearing failure on a mechanical system by observing the resulting vibration. Data collection techniques based on recordings of sound caused by the vibration of the mechanical system were used in this study, then created a database system based bearing failure due to vibration signal recording sounds on a mechanical system The next step is to group the bearing damage by type based on the databases obtained. The results show the percentage of success in identifying bearing damage is 98 %.

  4. Secondary metabolites from marine microorganisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelecom, Alphonse

    2002-03-01

    After 40 years of intensive research, chemistry of marine natural products has become a mature field. Since 1995, there are signals of decreased interest in the search of new metabolites from traditional sources such as macroalgae and octocorals, and the number of annual reports on marine sponges stabilized. On the contrary, metabolites from microorganisms is a rapidly growing field, due, at least in part, to the suspicion that a number of metabolites obtained from algae and invertebrates may be produced by associated microorganisms. Studies are concerned with bacteria and fungi, isolated from seawater, sediments, algae, fish and mainly from marine invertebrates such as sponges, mollusks, tunicates, coelenterates and crustaceans. Although it is still to early to define tendencies, it may be stated that the metabolites from microorganisms are in most cases quite different from those produced by the invertebrate hosts. Nitrogenated metabolites predominate over acetate derivatives, and terpenes are uncommon. Among the latter, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and carotenes have been isolated; among nitrogenated metabolites, amides, cyclic peptides and indole alkaloids predominate.

  5. Secondary metabolites from marine microorganisms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    KELECOM ALPHONSE

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available After 40 years of intensive research, chemistry of marine natural products has become a mature field. Since 1995, there are signals of decreased interest in the search of new metabolites from traditional sources such as macroalgae and octocorals, and the number of annual reports on marine sponges stabilized. On the contrary, metabolites from microorganisms is a rapidly growing field, due, at least in part, to the suspicion that a number of metabolites obtained from algae and invertebrates may be produced by associated microorganisms. Studies are concerned with bacteria and fungi, isolated from seawater, sediments, algae, fish and mainly from marine invertebrates such as sponges, mollusks, tunicates, coelenterates and crustaceans. Although it is still to early to define tendencies, it may be stated that the metabolites from microorganisms are in most cases quite different from those produced by the invertebrate hosts. Nitrogenated metabolites predominate over acetate derivatives, and terpenes are uncommon. Among the latter, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and carotenes have been isolated; among nitrogenated metabolites, amides, cyclic peptides and indole alkaloids predominate.

  6. Krebs cycle metabolite profiling for identification and stratification of pheochromocytomas/paragangliomas due to succinate dehydrogenase deficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richter, Susan; Peitzsch, Mirko; Rapizzi, Elena; Lenders, Jacques W; Qin, Nan; de Cubas, Aguirre A; Schiavi, Francesca; Rao, Jyotsna U; Beuschlein, Felix; Quinkler, Marcus; Timmers, Henri J; Opocher, Giuseppe; Mannelli, Massimo; Pacak, Karel; Robledo, Mercedes; Eisenhofer, Graeme

    2014-10-01

    Mutations of succinate dehydrogenase A/B/C/D genes (SDHx) increase susceptibility to development of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs), with particularly high rates of malignancy associated with SDHB mutations. We assessed whether altered succinate dehydrogenase product-precursor relationships, manifested by differences in tumor ratios of succinate to fumarate or other metabolites, might aid in identifying and stratifying patients with SDHx mutations. PPGL tumor specimens from 233 patients, including 45 with SDHx mutations, were provided from eight tertiary referral centers for mass spectrometric analyses of Krebs cycle metabolites. Diagnostic performance of the succinate:fumarate ratio for identification of pathogenic SDHx mutations. SDH-deficient PPGLs were characterized by 25-fold higher succinate and 80% lower fumarate, cis-aconitate, and isocitrate tissue levels than PPGLs without SDHx mutations. Receiver-operating characteristic curves for use of ratios of succinate to fumarate or to cis-aconitate and isocitrate to identify SDHx mutations indicated areas under curves of 0.94 to 0.96; an optimal cut-off of 97.7 for the succinate:fumarate ratio provided a diagnostic sensitivity of 93% at a specificity of 97% to identify SDHX-mutated PPGLs. Succinate:fumarate ratios were higher in both SDHB-mutated and metastatic tumors than in those due to SDHD/C mutations or without metastases. Mass spectrometric-based measurements of ratios of succinate:fumarate and other metabolites in PPGLs offer a useful method to identify patients for testing of SDHx mutations, with additional utility to quantitatively assess functionality of mutations and metabolic factors responsible for malignant risk.

  7. Processing of Natural Signals like EMG for Person Identification using NUFB-GMM

    OpenAIRE

    Suresh M; P G Krishnamohan; Mallikarjun S Holi

    2014-01-01

    Physiological signals like Electrocardiogram(ECG) and Electroencephalogram(EEG), including deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA) are person specific and distinct for different persons. The motor unit firing pattern, motor unit recruitment order and characteristics of muscle changing from person to person, and therefore Electromyogram (EMG) can be used for person identification. EMG records obtained from a single channel data acquisition system are used to develop person identification system. Non-unifor...

  8. Identification and characterization of novel long-term metabolites of oxymesterone and mesterolone in human urine by application of selected reaction monitoring GC-CI-MS/MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polet, Michael; Van Gansbeke, Wim; Geldof, Lore; Deventer, Koen; Van Eenoo, Peter

    2017-11-01

    The search for metabolites with longer detection times remains an important task in, for example, toxicology and doping control. The impact of these long-term metabolites is highlighted by the high number of positive cases after reanalysis of samples that were stored for several years, e.g. samples of previous Olympic Games. A substantial number of previously alleged negative samples have now been declared positive due to the detection of various long-term steroid metabolites the existence of which was unknown during the Olympic Games of 2008 and 2012. In this work, the metabolism of oxymesterone and mesterolone, two anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), was investigated by application of a selected reaction monitoring gas chromatography-chemical ionization-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-CI-MS/MS) protocol for metabolite detection and identification. Correlations between AAS structure and GC-CI-MS/MS fragmentation behaviour enabled the search for previously unknown but expected AAS metabolites by selection of theoretical transitions for expected metabolites. Use of different hydrolysis protocols allowed for evaluation of the detection window of both phase I and phase II metabolites. For oxymesterone, a new metabolite, 18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl-17α-methyl-4-hydroxy-androst-4,13-diene-3-one, was identified. It was detectable up to 46 days by using GC-CI-MS/MS, whereas with a traditional screening (detection of metabolite 17-epioxymesterone with electron ionization GC-MS/MS) oxymesterone administration was only detectable for 3.5 days. A new metabolite was also found for mesterolone. It was identified as 1α-methyl-5α-androstan-3,6,16-triol-17-one and its sulfate form after hydrolysis with Helix pomatia resulted in a prolonged detection time (up to 15 days) for mesterolone abuse. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Identification of metabolites during biodegradation of pendimethalin in bioslurry reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramakrishna, M.; Venkata Mohan, S.; Shailaja, S.; Narashima, R.; Sarma, P.N.

    2008-01-01

    Bioslurry phase reactor was used for the degradation of pendimethalin, a pre-emergence herbicide in the contaminated soil under aerobic environment. More than 91% degradation of pendimethalin was observed for 5 days of reactor operation augmented with sewage from effluent treatment plant (ETP). The performance of the reactor was monitored regularly by measuring pH and colony forming units (CFU). The metabolites of pendimethalin formed during degradation were identified using various analytical techniques, viz., thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS). Four metabolites were formed and identified as N-(1-ethylpropyl)-3,4-dicarboxy 2,6-dinitrobenzenamine-N-oxide, N-(1-ethylpropyl)-3,4-dimethoxy-2,6-dinitrobenzenamine and benezimadazole-7-carboxyaldehyde. The reactions involved were monohydrolysis of 2-methyl groups followed by dihydrolysis. Further oxidation of amine groups and hydroxylation of propyl groups produced the above said metabolites. Degradation pathway of pendimethalin has been proposed in the bioslurry phase reactor

  10. Prioritizing Candidate Disease Metabolites Based on Global Functional Relationships between Metabolites in the Context of Metabolic Pathways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Haixiu; Xu, Yanjun; Han, Junwei; Li, Jing; Su, Fei; Zhang, Yunpeng; Zhang, Chunlong; Li, Dongguo; Li, Xia

    2014-01-01

    Identification of key metabolites for complex diseases is a challenging task in today's medicine and biology. A special disease is usually caused by the alteration of a series of functional related metabolites having a global influence on the metabolic network. Moreover, the metabolites in the same metabolic pathway are often associated with the same or similar disease. Based on these functional relationships between metabolites in the context of metabolic pathways, we here presented a pathway-based random walk method called PROFANCY for prioritization of candidate disease metabolites. Our strategy not only takes advantage of the global functional relationships between metabolites but also sufficiently exploits the functionally modular nature of metabolic networks. Our approach proved successful in prioritizing known metabolites for 71 diseases with an AUC value of 0.895. We also assessed the performance of PROFANCY on 16 disease classes and found that 4 classes achieved an AUC value over 0.95. To investigate the robustness of the PROFANCY, we repeated all the analyses in two metabolic networks and obtained similar results. Then we applied our approach to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and found that a top ranked candidate was potentially related to AD but had not been reported previously. Furthermore, our method was applicable to prioritize the metabolites from metabolomic profiles of prostate cancer. The PROFANCY could identify prostate cancer related-metabolites that are supported by literatures but not considered to be significantly differential by traditional differential analysis. We also developed a freely accessible web-based and R-based tool at http://bioinfo.hrbmu.edu.cn/PROFANCY. PMID:25153931

  11. Electrosynthesis methods and approaches for the preparative production of metabolites from parent drugs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gül, Turan; Bischoff, Rainer; Permentier, Hjalmar

    2015-01-01

    Identification of potentially toxic metabolites is important for drug discovery and development. Synthesis of drug metabolites is typically performed by organic synthesis or enzymatic methods, but is not always straightforward. Electrochemical (EC) methods are increasingly used to study drug

  12. Profiling the metabolic signals involved in chemical communication between microbes using imaging mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stasulli, Nikolas M; Shank, Elizabeth A

    2016-11-01

    The ability of microbes to secrete bioactive chemical signals into their environment has been known for over a century. However, it is only in the last decade that imaging mass spectrometry has provided us with the ability to directly visualize the spatial distributions of these microbial metabolites. This technology involves collecting mass spectra from multiple discrete locations across a biological sample, yielding chemical ‘maps’ that simultaneously reveal the distributions of hundreds of metabolites in two dimensions. Advances in microbial imaging mass spectrometry summarized here have included the identification of novel strain- or coculture-specific compounds, the visualization of biotransformation events (where one metabolite is converted into another by a neighboring microbe), and the implementation of a method to reconstruct the 3D subsurface distributions of metabolites, among others. Here we review the recent literature and discuss how imaging mass spectrometry has spurred novel insights regarding the chemical consequences of microbial interactions.

  13. Identification and quantitation of signal molecule-dependent protein phosphorylation

    KAUST Repository

    Groen, Arnoud J.

    2013-09-03

    Phosphoproteomics is a fast-growing field that aims at characterizing phosphorylated proteins in a cell or a tissue at a given time. Phosphorylation of proteins is an important regulatory mechanism in many cellular processes. Gel-free phosphoproteome technique involving enrichment of phosphopeptide coupled with mass spectrometry has proven to be invaluable to detect and characterize phosphorylated proteins. In this chapter, a gel-free quantitative approach involving 15N metabolic labelling in combination with phosphopeptide enrichment by titanium dioxide (TiO2) and their identification by MS is described. This workflow can be used to gain insights into the role of signalling molecules such as cyclic nucleotides on regulatory networks through the identification and quantification of responsive phospho(proteins). © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013.

  14. Identification of Anisomerous Motor Imagery EEG Signals Based on Complex Algorithms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Rensong; Zhang, Zhiwen; Duan, Feng; Zhou, Xin; Meng, Zixuan

    2017-01-01

    Motor imagery (MI) electroencephalograph (EEG) signals are widely applied in brain-computer interface (BCI). However, classified MI states are limited, and their classification accuracy rates are low because of the characteristics of nonlinearity and nonstationarity. This study proposes a novel MI pattern recognition system that is based on complex algorithms for classifying MI EEG signals. In electrooculogram (EOG) artifact preprocessing, band-pass filtering is performed to obtain the frequency band of MI-related signals, and then, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) combined with wavelet threshold denoising (WTD) is used for EOG artifact preprocessing. We propose a regularized common spatial pattern (R-CSP) algorithm for EEG feature extraction by incorporating the principle of generic learning. A new classifier combining the K -nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) approaches is used to classify four anisomerous states, namely, imaginary movements with the left hand, right foot, and right shoulder and the resting state. The highest classification accuracy rate is 92.5%, and the average classification accuracy rate is 87%. The proposed complex algorithm identification method can significantly improve the identification rate of the minority samples and the overall classification performance.

  15. Identification of Anisomerous Motor Imagery EEG Signals Based on Complex Algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhiwen; Duan, Feng; Zhou, Xin; Meng, Zixuan

    2017-01-01

    Motor imagery (MI) electroencephalograph (EEG) signals are widely applied in brain-computer interface (BCI). However, classified MI states are limited, and their classification accuracy rates are low because of the characteristics of nonlinearity and nonstationarity. This study proposes a novel MI pattern recognition system that is based on complex algorithms for classifying MI EEG signals. In electrooculogram (EOG) artifact preprocessing, band-pass filtering is performed to obtain the frequency band of MI-related signals, and then, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) combined with wavelet threshold denoising (WTD) is used for EOG artifact preprocessing. We propose a regularized common spatial pattern (R-CSP) algorithm for EEG feature extraction by incorporating the principle of generic learning. A new classifier combining the K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) approaches is used to classify four anisomerous states, namely, imaginary movements with the left hand, right foot, and right shoulder and the resting state. The highest classification accuracy rate is 92.5%, and the average classification accuracy rate is 87%. The proposed complex algorithm identification method can significantly improve the identification rate of the minority samples and the overall classification performance. PMID:28874909

  16. Blind identification and separation of complex-valued signals

    CERN Document Server

    Moreau, Eric

    2013-01-01

    Blind identification consists of estimating a multi-dimensional system only through the use of its output, and source separation, the blind estimation of the inverse of the system. Estimation is generally carried out using different statistics of the output. The authors of this book consider the blind identification and source separation problem in the complex-domain, where the available statistical properties are richer and include non-circularity of the sources - underlying components. They define identifiability conditions and present state-of-the-art algorithms that are based on algebraic methods as well as iterative algorithms based on maximum likelihood theory. Contents 1. Mathematical Preliminaries. 2. Estimation by Joint Diagonalization. 3. Maximum Likelihood ICA. About the Authors Eric Moreau is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Toulon, France. His research interests concern statistical signal processing, high order statistics and matrix/tensor decompositions with applic...

  17. The use of stable isotopes and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in the identification of steroid metabolites in the equine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Houghton, E.; Dumasia, M.C.; Teale, P.; Smith, S.J.; Cox, J.; Marshall, D.; Gower, D.B.

    1990-01-01

    Stable isotope gas chromatography/mass spectrometry has been used successfully in the elucidation of structures of urinary steroid metabolites in the horse and in the identification of metabolites isolated from in vivo perfusion and in vitro incubation studies using equine tissue preparations. Deuterium-labeled steroids, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and 5-androstene-3 beta,17 beta-diol have been synthesized by base-catalyzed isotope exchange methods and the products characterized by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. [16,16(-2)H2]Dehydroepiandrosterone (plus radiolabeled dehydroepiandrosterone) was perfused into a testicular artery of a pony stallion and was shown to be metabolized into 2H2-labeled testosterone, 4-androstenedione, isomers of 5-androstene-3,17-diol, 19-hydroxytestosterone, and 19-hydroxy-4-androstenedione. In further studies, equine testicular minces have been incubated with 2H2-labeled and radiolabeled dehydroepiandrosterone and 5-androstene-3 beta, 17 beta-diol. The metabolites, whose identity was confirmed by stable isotope gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, proved the interconversion of the two substrates, as well as formation of testosterone and 4-androstenedione. The aromatization of dehydroepiandrosterone was also confirmed, together with the formation of an isomer of 5(10)-estrene-3,17-diol from both substrates showing 19-demethylation without concomitant aromatization. In studies of the feto-placental unit, the allantochorion was shown to aromatize [2H5]testosterone to [2H4]estradiol, the loss of one 2H from the substrate being consistent with aromatization of the A ring. The formation of 6-hydroxyestradiol was also confirmed in this study. The same technique has been valuable in determining the structure of two metabolites of nandrolone isolated from horse urine

  18. Secondary metabolites in fungus-plant interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pusztahelyi, Tünde; Holb, Imre J.; Pócsi, István

    2015-01-01

    Fungi and plants are rich sources of thousands of secondary metabolites. The genetically coded possibilities for secondary metabolite production, the stimuli of the production, and the special phytotoxins basically determine the microscopic fungi-host plant interactions and the pathogenic lifestyle of fungi. The review introduces plant secondary metabolites usually with antifungal effect as well as the importance of signaling molecules in induced systemic resistance and systemic acquired resistance processes. The review also concerns the mimicking of plant effector molecules like auxins, gibberellins and abscisic acid by fungal secondary metabolites that modulate plant growth or even can subvert the plant defense responses such as programmed cell death to gain nutrients for fungal growth and colonization. It also looks through the special secondary metabolite production and host selective toxins of some significant fungal pathogens and the plant response in form of phytoalexin production. New results coming from genome and transcriptional analyses in context of selected fungal pathogens and their hosts are also discussed. PMID:26300892

  19. Extraction and Identification of Secondary Metabolites Produced by Trichoderma atroviridae (6022 and Evaluating of their Antifungal Effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Shahiri Tabarestani

    2017-08-01

    capacity of Trichoderma species in crop protection and promoting vegetative growth, they are marketed as biopesticides, biofungicides and biofertilizers. The identification of molecules with such biological activities can support the development of new biopesticides and biofertilizers based on Trichoderma metabolites. The aim of this study was to investigate antifungal effects and chemical composition of secondary metabolites produced by Trichoderma atroviridae(6022 against Macrophomina phaseolina and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Materials and Methods: Antifungal effects of isolate 6022 against M. phaseolina and S. sclerotiorum were evaluated under invitro condition by dual culture technique, volatile (Dennis & Webster 1971 and non-volatile (Vinal 2006 metabolites. Volatile metabolites tests were done in 4 cases: Co-culture, 24, 48 and 72 hour cultures. For considering non-volatile metabolites of this isolate, different concentrations of culture filtrate and mycelial mass have been prepared in (autoclaved potato dextrose agar (PDA, individually. Secondary metabolites were extracted via 4 processes by using of organic solvents (Siddiquee 2012, Headspace technique (Stoppacher 2010 and soxhlet water bath distillation methods for mycelial mass (Dubey 2011 and identified by using the GC-MS device with nonpolar column (DB-5. Results and Discussion: In dual culture test, isolate 6022 inhibited the mycelial growth of the pathogen, then over ran and sporulated on the mycelia. The related results for the volatile test in 24, 48, 72h and Co-cultures, indicated that the antagonist inhibited the mycelial growth of the pathogen and production of sclerotia in culture media (PDA. Results of the non-volatile test (in different concentrations showed significant inhibitory effects on mycelial growth and production of sclerotia. After extraction and GC separation, the constituents of mixtures can be detected via mass spectrometry (MS by comparison of mass spectra with library spectra searching

  20. MetCCS predictor: a web server for predicting collision cross-section values of metabolites in ion mobility-mass spectrometry based metabolomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhiwei; Xiong, Xin; Zhu, Zheng-Jiang

    2017-07-15

    In metabolomics, rigorous structural identification of metabolites presents a challenge for bioinformatics. The use of collision cross-section (CCS) values of metabolites derived from ion mobility-mass spectrometry effectively increases the confidence of metabolite identification, but this technique suffers from the limit number of available CCS values. Currently, there is no software available for rapidly generating the metabolites' CCS values. Here, we developed the first web server, namely, MetCCS Predictor, for predicting CCS values. It can predict the CCS values of metabolites using molecular descriptors within a few seconds. Common users with limited background on bioinformatics can benefit from this software and effectively improve the metabolite identification in metabolomics. The web server is freely available at: http://www.metabolomics-shanghai.org/MetCCS/ . jiangzhu@sioc.ac.cn. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  1. CYP450 phenotyping and accurate mass identification of metabolites of the 8-aminoquinoline, anti-malarial drug primaquine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pybus Brandon S

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The 8-aminoquinoline (8AQ drug primaquine (PQ is currently the only approved drug effective against the persistent liver stage of the hypnozoite forming strains Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale as well as Stage V gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum. To date, several groups have investigated the toxicity observed in the 8AQ class, however, exact mechanisms and/or metabolic species responsible for PQ’s haemotoxic and anti-malarial properties are not fully understood. Methods In the present study, the metabolism of PQ was evaluated using in vitro recombinant metabolic enzymes from the cytochrome P450 (CYP and mono-amine oxidase (MAO families. Based on this information, metabolite identification experiments were performed using nominal and accurate mass measurements. Results Relative activity factor (RAF-weighted intrinsic clearance values show the relative role of each enzyme to be MAO-A, 2C19, 3A4, and 2D6, with 76.1, 17.0, 5.2, and 1.7% contributions to PQ metabolism, respectively. CYP 2D6 was shown to produce at least six different oxidative metabolites along with demethylations, while MAO-A products derived from the PQ aldehyde, a pre-cursor to carboxy PQ. CYPs 2C19 and 3A4 produced only trace levels of hydroxylated species. Conclusions As a result of this work, CYP 2D6 and MAO-A have been implicated as the key enzymes associated with PQ metabolism, and metabolites previously identified as potentially playing a role in efficacy and haemolytic toxicity have been attributed to production via CYP 2D6 mediated pathways.

  2. Preclinical pharmacokinetic evaluation and metabolites identification of methyl salicylate-2-O-β-d-lactoside in rats using LC-MS/MS and Q-TOF-MS methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Dan; Huang, Chao; Xin, Wenyu; Ma, Xiaowei; Zhang, Weiku; Zhang, Tiantai; Du, Guanhua

    2015-05-10

    Methyl salicylate-2-O-β-d-lactoside (MSL) is a natural salicylate derivative from the traditional Chinese medicine of Gaultheria yunnanensis (Franch.) Rehder (G. yunnanensis). As a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), MSL exerts a significant anti-arthritis effect but hardly has any gastrointestinal toxicity. In this paper, the pharmacokinetics, distribution, excretion and identification of MSL and its metabolites are described following rat oral and intravenous administration. The biological samples were quantified by UPLC-MS/MS and the metabolites in urine and feces were identified by using Q-TOF-MS. These results will support future investigations leading to clinical development of this drug. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Organic metabolites produced by Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Identification and action of several antibacterial metabolites produced by a fish pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain An3 from marine ecosystem of Goa has been demonstrated. Antibacterial activity of the crude cell extract of the test bacterium has been evaluated against indicator pathogenic bacterial strains such as ...

  4. Optimization of metabolite basis sets prior to quantitation in magnetic resonance spectroscopy: an approach based on quantum mechanics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lazariev, A; Graveron-Demilly, D; Allouche, A-R; Aubert-Frécon, M; Fauvelle, F; Piotto, M; Elbayed, K; Namer, I-J; Van Ormondt, D

    2011-01-01

    High-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is playing an increasingly important role for diagnosis. This technique enables setting up metabolite profiles of ex vivo pathological and healthy tissue. The need to monitor diseases and pharmaceutical follow-up requires an automatic quantitation of HRMAS 1 H signals. However, for several metabolites, the values of chemical shifts of proton groups may slightly differ according to the micro-environment in the tissue or cells, in particular to its pH. This hampers the accurate estimation of the metabolite concentrations mainly when using quantitation algorithms based on a metabolite basis set: the metabolite fingerprints are not correct anymore. In this work, we propose an accurate method coupling quantum mechanical simulations and quantitation algorithms to handle basis-set changes. The proposed algorithm automatically corrects mismatches between the signals of the simulated basis set and the signal under analysis by maximizing the normalized cross-correlation between the mentioned signals. Optimized chemical shift values of the metabolites are obtained. This method, QM-QUEST, provides more robust fitting while limiting user involvement and respects the correct fingerprints of metabolites. Its efficiency is demonstrated by accurately quantitating 33 signals from tissue samples of human brains with oligodendroglioma, obtained at 11.7 tesla. The corresponding chemical shift changes of several metabolites within the series are also analyzed

  5. Optimization of metabolite basis sets prior to quantitation in magnetic resonance spectroscopy: an approach based on quantum mechanics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazariev, A.; Allouche, A.-R.; Aubert-Frécon, M.; Fauvelle, F.; Piotto, M.; Elbayed, K.; Namer, I.-J.; van Ormondt, D.; Graveron-Demilly, D.

    2011-11-01

    High-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is playing an increasingly important role for diagnosis. This technique enables setting up metabolite profiles of ex vivo pathological and healthy tissue. The need to monitor diseases and pharmaceutical follow-up requires an automatic quantitation of HRMAS 1H signals. However, for several metabolites, the values of chemical shifts of proton groups may slightly differ according to the micro-environment in the tissue or cells, in particular to its pH. This hampers the accurate estimation of the metabolite concentrations mainly when using quantitation algorithms based on a metabolite basis set: the metabolite fingerprints are not correct anymore. In this work, we propose an accurate method coupling quantum mechanical simulations and quantitation algorithms to handle basis-set changes. The proposed algorithm automatically corrects mismatches between the signals of the simulated basis set and the signal under analysis by maximizing the normalized cross-correlation between the mentioned signals. Optimized chemical shift values of the metabolites are obtained. This method, QM-QUEST, provides more robust fitting while limiting user involvement and respects the correct fingerprints of metabolites. Its efficiency is demonstrated by accurately quantitating 33 signals from tissue samples of human brains with oligodendroglioma, obtained at 11.7 tesla. The corresponding chemical shift changes of several metabolites within the series are also analyzed.

  6. Long-chain fatty acid combustion rate is associated with unique metabolite profiles in skeletal muscle mitochondria.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erin L Seifert

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Incomplete or limited long-chain fatty acid (LCFA combustion in skeletal muscle has been associated with insulin resistance. Signals that are responsive to shifts in LCFA beta-oxidation rate or degree of intramitochondrial catabolism are hypothesized to regulate second messenger systems downstream of the insulin receptor. Recent evidence supports a causal link between mitochondrial LCFA combustion in skeletal muscle and insulin resistance. We have used unbiased metabolite profiling of mouse muscle mitochondria with the aim of identifying candidate metabolites within or effluxed from mitochondria and that are shifted with LCFA combustion rate.Large-scale unbiased metabolomics analysis was performed using GC/TOF-MS on buffer and mitochondrial matrix fractions obtained prior to and after 20 min of palmitate catabolism (n = 7 mice/condition. Three palmitate concentrations (2, 9 and 19 microM; corresponding to low, intermediate and high oxidation rates and 9 microM palmitate plus tricarboxylic acid (TCA cycle and electron transport chain inhibitors were each tested and compared to zero palmitate control incubations. Paired comparisons of the 0 and 20 min samples were made by Student's t-test. False discovery rate were estimated and Type I error rates assigned. Major metabolite groups were organic acids, amines and amino acids, free fatty acids and sugar phosphates. Palmitate oxidation was associated with unique profiles of metabolites, a subset of which correlated to palmitate oxidation rate. In particular, palmitate oxidation rate was associated with distinct changes in the levels of TCA cycle intermediates within and effluxed from mitochondria.This proof-of-principle study establishes that large-scale metabolomics methods can be applied to organelle-level models to discover metabolite patterns reflective of LCFA combustion, which may lead to identification of molecules linking muscle fat metabolism and insulin signaling. Our results suggest that

  7. A New Position Location System Using DTV Transmitter Identification Watermark Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chouinard Jean-Yves

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available A new position location technique using the transmitter identification (TxID RF watermark in the digital TV (DTV signals is proposed in this paper. Conventional global positioning system (GPS usually does not work well inside buildings due to the high frequency and weak field strength of the signal. In contrast to the GPS, the DTV signals are received from transmitters at relatively short distance, while the broadcast transmitters operate at levels up to the megawatts effective radiated power (ERP. Also the RF frequency of the DTV signal is much lower than the GPS, which makes it easier for the signal to penetrate buildings and other objects. The proposed position location system based on DTV TxID signal is presented in this paper. Practical receiver implementation issues including nonideal correlation and synchronization are analyzed and discussed. Performance of the proposed technique is evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations and compared with other existing position location systems. Possible ways to improve the accuracy of the new position location system is discussed.

  8. Bio-inspired digital signal processing for fast radionuclide mixture identification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thevenin, M.; Bichler, O.; Thiam, C.; Bobin, C.; Lourenço, V.

    2015-05-01

    Countries are trying to equip their public transportation infrastructure with fixed radiation portals and detectors to detect radiological threat. Current works usually focus on neutron detection, which could be useless in the case of dirty bomb that would not use fissile material. Another approach, such as gamma dose rate variation monitoring is a good indication of the presence of radionuclide. However, some legitimate products emit large quantities of natural gamma rays; environment also emits gamma rays naturally. They can lead to false detections. Moreover, such radio-activity could be used to hide a threat such as material to make a dirty bomb. Consequently, radionuclide identification is a requirement and is traditionally performed by gamma spectrometry using unique spectral signature of each radionuclide. These approaches require high-resolution detectors, sufficient integration time to get enough statistics and large computing capacities for data analysis. High-resolution detectors are fragile and costly, making them bad candidates for large scale homeland security applications. Plastic scintillator and NaI detectors fit with such applications but their resolution makes identification difficult, especially radionuclides mixes. This paper proposes an original signal processing strategy based on artificial spiking neural networks to enable fast radionuclide identification at low count rate and for mixture. It presents results obtained for different challenging mixtures of radionuclides using a NaI scintillator. Results show that a correct identification is performed with less than hundred counts and no false identification is reported, enabling quick identification of a moving threat in a public transportation. Further work will focus on using plastic scintillators.

  9. Bioanalytical methods for determination of tamoxifen and its phase I metabolites: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teunissen, S.F.; Rosing, H.; Schinkel, A.H.; Schellens, J.H.M.; Beijnen, J.H.

    2010-01-01

    The selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen is used in the treatment of early and advanced breast cancer and in selected cases for breast cancer prevention in high-risk subjects. The cytochrome P450 enzyme system and flavin-containing monooxygenase are responsible for the extensive metabolism of tamoxifen into several phase I metabolites that vary in toxicity and potencies towards estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and ER beta. An extensive overview of publications on the determination of tamoxifen and its phase I metabolites in biological samples is presented. In these publications techniques were used such as capillary electrophoresis, liquid, gas and thin layer chromatography coupled with various detection techniques (mass spectrometry, ultraviolet or fluorescence detection, liquid scintillation counting and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy). A trend is seen towards the use of liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). State-of-the-art LC-MS equipment allowed for identification of unknown metabolites and quantification of known metabolites reaching lower limit of quantification levels in the sub pg mL -1 range. Although tamoxifen is also metabolized into phase II metabolites, the number of publications reporting on phase II metabolism of tamoxifen is scarce. Therefore the focus of this review is on phase I metabolites of tamoxifen. We conclude that in the past decades tamoxifen metabolism has been studied extensively and numerous metabolites have been identified. Assays have been developed for both the identification and quantification of tamoxifen and its metabolites in an array of biological samples. This review can be used as a resource for method transfer and development of analytical methods used to support pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of tamoxifen and its phase I metabolites.

  10. Prediction of Clinically Relevant Safety Signals of Nephrotoxicity through Plasma Metabolite Profiling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. B. Mattes

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Addressing safety concerns such as drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI early in the drug pharmaceutical development process ensures both patient safety and efficient clinical development. We describe a unique adjunct to standard safety assessment wherein the metabolite profile of treated animals is compared with the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database in order to predict the potential for a wide variety of adverse events, including DIKI. To examine this approach, a study of five compounds (phenytoin, cyclosporin A, doxorubicin, captopril, and lisinopril was initiated by the Technology Evaluation Consortium under the auspices of the Drug Safety Executive Council (DSEC. The metabolite profiles for rats treated with these compounds matched established reference patterns in the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database indicative of each compound’s well-described clinical toxicities. For example, the DIKI associated with cyclosporine A and doxorubicin was correctly predicted by metabolite profiling, while no evidence for DIKI was found for phenytoin, consistent with its clinical picture. In some cases the clinical toxicity (hepatotoxicity, not generally seen in animal studies, was detected with MetaMap Tox. Thus metabolite profiling coupled with the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database offers a unique and powerful approach for augmenting safety assessment and avoiding clinical adverse events such as DIKI.

  11. Oxidative metabolites of lycopene and their biological functions

    Science.gov (United States)

    To gain a better understanding of the beneficial biological activities of lycopene on cancer prevention, a greater knowledge of the metabolism of lycopene is needed. In particular, the identification of lycopene metabolites and oxidation products in vivo; the importance of tissue specific lycopene c...

  12. Identification of three new phase II metabolites of a designer drug methylone formed in rats by N-demethylation followed by conjugation with dicarboxylic acids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Židková, Monika; Linhart, Igor; Balíková, Marie; Himl, Michal; Dvořáčková, Veronika; Lhotková, Eva; Páleníček, Tomáš

    2018-06-01

    1. Methylone (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylcathinone, MDMC), which appeared on the illicit drug market in 2004, is a frequently abused synthetic cathinone derivative. Known metabolic pathways of MDMC include N-demethylation to normethylone (3,4-methylenedioxycathinone, MDC), aliphatic chain hydroxylation and oxidative demethylenation followed by monomethylation and conjugation with glucuronic acid and/or sulphate. 2. Three new phase II metabolites, amidic conjugates of MDC with succinic, glutaric and adipic acid, were identified in the urine of rats dosed subcutaneously with MDMC.HCl (20 mg/kg body weight) by LC-ESI-HRMS using synthetic reference standards to support identification. 3. The main portion of administered MDMC was excreted unchanged. Normethylone, was a major urinary metabolite, of which a minor part was conjugated with dicarboxylic acids. 4. Previously identified ring-opened metabolites 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethcathinone (4-OH-3-MeO-MC), 3-hydroxy-4-methoxymeth-cathinone (3-OH-4-MeO-MC) and 3,4-dihydroxymethcathinone (3,4-di-OH-MC) mostly in conjugated form with glucuronic and/or sulphuric acids were also detected. 5. Also, ring-opened metabolites derived from MDC, namely, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycathinone (4-OH-3-MeO-C), 3-hydroxy-4-methoxycathinone (3-OH-4-MeO-C) and 3,4-dihydroxycathinone (3,4-di-OH-C) were identified for the first time in vivo.

  13. Identification of phase I and II metabolites of the new designer drug α-pyrrolidinohexiophenone (α-PHP) in human urine by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Michael; Bleicher, Sergej; Guber, Susanne; Ippisch, Josef; Polettini, Aldo; Schultis, Wolfgang

    2015-11-01

    Pyrrolidinophenones represent one emerging class of newly encountered drugs of abuse, also known as 'new psychoactive substances', with stimulating psychoactive effects. In this work, we report on the detection of the new designer drug α-pyrrolidinohexiophenone (α-PHP) and its phase I and II metabolites in a human urine sample of a drug abuser. Determination and structural elucidation of these metabolites have been achieved by liquid chromatography electrospray ionisation quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS). By tentative identification, the exact and approximate structures of 19 phase I metabolites and nine phase II glucuronides were elucidated. Major metabolic pathways revealed the reduction of the ß-keto moieties to their corresponding alcohols, didesalkylation of the pyrrolidine ring, hydroxylation and oxidation of the aliphatic side chain leading to n-hydroxy, aldehyde and carboxylate metabolites, and oxidation of the pyrrolidine ring to its lactam followed by ring cleavage and additional hydroxylation, reduction and oxidation steps and combinations thereof. The most abundant phase II metabolites were glucuronidated ß-keto-reduced alcohols. Besides the great number of metabolites detected in this sample, α-PHP is still one of the most abundant ions together with its ß-keto-reduced alcoholic dihydro metabolite. Monitoring of these metabolites in clinical and forensic toxicology may unambiguously prove the abuse of the new designer drug α-PHP. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  14. Analysis of Phenolic and Cyclic Compounds in Plants Using Derivatization Techniques in Combination with GC-MS-Based Metabolite Profiling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jens Rohloff

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Metabolite profiling has been established as a modern technology platform for the description of complex chemical matrices and compound identification in biological samples. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS in particular is a fast and accurate method widely applied in diagnostics, functional genomics and for screening purposes. Following solvent extraction and derivatization, hundreds of metabolites from different chemical groups can be characterized in one analytical run. Besides sugars, acids, and polyols, diverse phenolic and other cyclic metabolites can be efficiently detected by metabolite profiling. The review describes own results from plant research to exemplify the applicability of GC-MS profiling and concurrent detection and identification of phenolics and other cyclic structures.

  15. Multiplexed detection of metabolites of narcotic drugs from a single latent fingermark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazarika, Pompi; Jickells, Sue M; Wolff, Kim; Russell, David A

    2010-11-15

    An immunoassay based technique is used for the detection of psychoactive substances in the sweat deposited within fingermarks of a narcotic drug user. Magnetic particles functionalized with antimorphine and antibenzoylecgonine antibodies were used for the detection of a metabolite of heroin (morphine) and a metabolite of cocaine (benzoylecgonine), respectively. The drug metabolites were detected individually as well as simultaneously from a single fingermark. The images of the fingermarks obtained using brightfield and fluorescence microscopy were of high evidential quality with resolution to enable identification of an individual in addition to providing information on drug usage.

  16. Accurate determination of brain metabolite concentrations using ERETIC as external reference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoelch, Niklaus; Hock, Andreas; Heinzer-Schweizer, Susanne; Avdievitch, Nikolai; Henning, Anke

    2017-08-01

    Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) can provide in vivo metabolite concentrations in standard concentration units if a reliable reference signal is available. For 1 H MRS in the human brain, typically the signal from the tissue water is used as the (internal) reference signal. However, a concentration determination based on the tissue water signal most often requires a reliable estimate of the water concentration present in the investigated tissue. Especially in clinically interesting cases, this estimation might be difficult. To avoid assumptions about the water in the investigated tissue, the Electric REference To access In vivo Concentrations (ERETIC) method has been proposed. In this approach, the metabolite signal is compared with a reference signal acquired in a phantom and potential coil-loading differences are corrected using a synthetic reference signal. The aim of this study, conducted with a transceiver quadrature head coil, was to increase the accuracy of the ERETIC method by correcting the influence of spatial B 1 inhomogeneities and to simplify the quantification with ERETIC by incorporating an automatic phase correction for the ERETIC signal. Transmit field ( B1+) differences are minimized with a volume-selective power optimization, whereas reception sensitivity changes are corrected using contrast-minimized images of the brain and by adapting the voxel location in the phantom measurement closely to the position measured in vivo. By applying the proposed B 1 correction scheme, the mean metabolite concentrations determined with ERETIC in 21 healthy subjects at three different positions agree with concentrations derived with the tissue water signal as reference. In addition, brain water concentrations determined with ERETIC were in agreement with estimations derived using tissue segmentation and literature values for relative water densities. Based on the results, the ERETIC method presented here is a valid tool to derive in vivo metabolite

  17. Quantitative profiling of polar metabolites in herbal medicine injections for multivariate statistical evaluation based on independence principal component analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miaomiao Jiang

    Full Text Available Botanical primary metabolites extensively exist in herbal medicine injections (HMIs, but often were ignored to control. With the limitation of bias towards hydrophilic substances, the primary metabolites with strong polarity, such as saccharides, amino acids and organic acids, are usually difficult to detect by the routinely applied reversed-phase chromatographic fingerprint technology. In this study, a proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR profiling method was developed for efficient identification and quantification of small polar molecules, mostly primary metabolites in HMIs. A commonly used medicine, Danhong injection (DHI, was employed as a model. With the developed method, 23 primary metabolites together with 7 polyphenolic acids were simultaneously identified, of which 13 metabolites with fully separated proton signals were quantified and employed for further multivariate quality control assay. The quantitative 1H NMR method was validated with good linearity, precision, repeatability, stability and accuracy. Based on independence principal component analysis (IPCA, the contents of 13 metabolites were characterized and dimensionally reduced into the first two independence principal components (IPCs. IPC1 and IPC2 were then used to calculate the upper control limits (with 99% confidence ellipsoids of χ2 and Hotelling T2 control charts. Through the constructed upper control limits, the proposed method was successfully applied to 36 batches of DHI to examine the out-of control sample with the perturbed levels of succinate, malonate, glucose, fructose, salvianic acid and protocatechuic aldehyde. The integrated strategy has provided a reliable approach to identify and quantify multiple polar metabolites of DHI in one fingerprinting spectrum, and it has also assisted in the establishment of IPCA models for the multivariate statistical evaluation of HMIs.

  18. Molecular formula and METLIN Personal Metabolite Database matching applied to the identification of compounds generated by LC/TOF-MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sana, Theodore R; Roark, Joseph C; Li, Xiangdong; Waddell, Keith; Fischer, Steven M

    2008-09-01

    In an effort to simplify and streamline compound identification from metabolomics data generated by liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we have created software for constructing Personalized Metabolite Databases with content from over 15,000 compounds pulled from the public METLIN database (http://metlin.scripps.edu/). Moreover, we have added extra functionalities to the database that (a) permit the addition of user-defined retention times as an orthogonal searchable parameter to complement accurate mass data; and (b) allow interfacing to separate software, a Molecular Formula Generator (MFG), that facilitates reliable interpretation of any database matches from the accurate mass spectral data. To test the utility of this identification strategy, we added retention times to a subset of masses in this database, representing a mixture of 78 synthetic urine standards. The synthetic mixture was analyzed and screened against this METLIN urine database, resulting in 46 accurate mass and retention time matches. Human urine samples were subsequently analyzed under the same analytical conditions and screened against this database. A total of 1387 ions were detected in human urine; 16 of these ions matched both accurate mass and retention time parameters for the 78 urine standards in the database. Another 374 had only an accurate mass match to the database, with 163 of those masses also having the highest MFG score. Furthermore, MFG calculated a formula for a further 849 ions that had no match to the database. Taken together, these results suggest that the METLIN Personal Metabolite database and MFG software offer a robust strategy for confirming the formula of database matches. In the event of no database match, it also suggests possible formulas that may be helpful in interpreting the experimental results.

  19. Secondary metabolite profiling of Alternaria dauci, A. porri, A. solani, and A. tomatophila

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Birgitte; Dongo, Anita; Pryor, Barry M.

    2008-01-01

    Chemotaxonomy (secondary metabolite profiling) has been shown to be of great value in the classification and differentiation in Ascomycota. However, few studies have investigated the use of metabolite production for classification and identification purposes of plant pathogenic Alternaria species....... The purpose of the present study was to describe the methodology behind metabolite profiling in chemotaxonomy using A. dauci, A. porri, A. solani, and A. tomatophila strains as examples of the group. The results confirmed that A. dauci, A. solani, and A. tomatophila are three distinct species each...

  20. Profiling and Identification of the Metabolites of Evodiamine in Rats ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    (UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap) coupled with electrospray ionization source (ESI) in negative mode. Results: A total of 7 ... experiment, all rats were fasted for 12 h and fed with water. Evodiamine was .... potential metabolites, M5 and M6 were tentatively ...

  1. LC-MS Untargeted Metabolomics To Explain the Signal Metabolites Inducing Browning in Fresh-Cut Lettuce.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García, Carlos J; García-Villalba, Rocío; Gil, María I; Tomas-Barberan, Francisco A

    2017-06-07

    Enzymatic browning is one of the main causes of quality loss in lettuce as a prepared and ready-to-eat cut salad. An untargeted metabolomics approach using UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS was performed to explain the wound response of lettuce after cutting and to identify the metabolites responsible of browning. Two cultivars of Romaine lettuce with different browning susceptibilities were studied at short time intervals after cutting. From the total 5975 entities obtained from the raw data after alignment, filtration reduced the number of features to 2959, and the statistical analysis found that only 1132 entities were significantly different. Principal component analysis (PCA) clearly showed that these samples grouped according to cultivar and time after cutting. From those, only 15 metabolites belonging to lysophospholipids, oxylipin/jasmonate metabolites, and phenolic compounds were able to explain the browning process. These selected metabolites showed different trends after cutting; some decreased rapidly, others increased but decreased thereafter, whereas others increased during the whole period of storage. In general, the fast-browning cultivar showed a faster wound response and a higher raw intensity of some key metabolites than the slow-browning one. Just after cutting, the fast-browning cultivar contained 11 of the 15 browning-associated metabolites, whereas the slow-browning cultivar only had 5 of them. These metabolites could be used as biomarkers in breeding programs for the selection of lettuce cultivars with lower browning potential for fresh-cut applications.

  2. NMR-Based Identification of Metabolites in Polar and Non-Polar Extracts of Avian Liver.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fathi, Fariba; Brun, Antonio; Rott, Katherine H; Falco Cobra, Paulo; Tonelli, Marco; Eghbalnia, Hamid R; Caviedes-Vidal, Enrique; Karasov, William H; Markley, John L

    2017-11-16

    Metabolites present in liver provide important clues regarding the physiological state of an organism. The aim of this work was to evaluate a protocol for high-throughput NMR-based analysis of polar and non-polar metabolites from a small quantity of liver tissue. We extracted the tissue with a methanol/chloroform/water mixture and isolated the polar metabolites from the methanol/water layer and the non-polar metabolites from the chloroform layer. Following drying, we re-solubilized the fractions for analysis with a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with a 1.7 mm cryogenic probe. In order to evaluate the feasibility of this protocol for metabolomics studies, we analyzed the metabolic profile of livers from house sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) nestlings raised on two different diets: livers from 10 nestlings raised on a high protein diet (HP) for 4 d and livers from 12 nestlings raised on the HP diet for 3 d and then switched to a high carbohydrate diet (HC) for 1 d. The protocol enabled the detection of 52 polar and nine non-polar metabolites in ¹H NMR spectra of the extracts. We analyzed the lipophilic metabolites by one-way ANOVA to assess statistically significant concentration differences between the two groups. The results of our studies demonstrate that the protocol described here can be exploited for high-throughput screening of small quantities of liver tissue (approx. 100 mg wet mass) obtainable from small animals.

  3. Metabolite-Sensing G Protein-Coupled Receptors-Facilitators of Diet-Related Immune Regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Jian K; McKenzie, Craig; Mariño, Eliana; Macia, Laurence; Mackay, Charles R

    2017-04-26

    Nutrition and the gut microbiome regulate many systems, including the immune, metabolic, and nervous systems. We propose that the host responds to deficiency (or sufficiency) of dietary and bacterial metabolites in a dynamic way, to optimize responses and survival. A family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) termed the metabolite-sensing GPCRs bind to various metabolites and transmit signals that are important for proper immune and metabolic functions. Members of this family include GPR43, GPR41, GPR109A, GPR120, GPR40, GPR84, GPR35, and GPR91. In addition, bile acid receptors such as GPR131 (TGR5) and proton-sensing receptors such as GPR65 show similar features. A consistent feature of this family of GPCRs is that they provide anti-inflammatory signals; many also regulate metabolism and gut homeostasis. These receptors represent one of the main mechanisms whereby the gut microbiome affects vertebrate physiology, and they also provide a link between the immune and metabolic systems. Insufficient signaling through one or more of these metabolite-sensing GPCRs likely contributes to human diseases such as asthma, food allergies, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, hepatic steatosis, cardiovascular disease, and inflammatory bowel diseases.

  4. In silico fragmentation for computer assisted identification of metabolite mass spectra

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Müller-Hannemann Matthias

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Mass spectrometry has become the analytical method of choice in metabolomics research. The identification of unknown compounds is the main bottleneck. In addition to the precursor mass, tandem MS spectra carry informative fragment peaks, but the coverage of spectral libraries of measured reference compounds are far from covering the complete chemical space. Compound libraries such as PubChem or KEGG describe a larger number of compounds, which can be used to compare their in silico fragmentation with spectra of unknown metabolites. Results We created the MetFrag suite to obtain a candidate list from compound libraries based on the precursor mass, subsequently ranked by the agreement between measured and in silico fragments. In the evaluation MetFrag was able to rank most of the correct compounds within the top 3 candidates returned by an exact mass query in KEGG. Compared to a previously published study, MetFrag obtained better results than the commercial MassFrontier software. Especially for large compound libraries, the candidates with a good score show a high structural similarity or just different stereochemistry, a subsequent clustering based on chemical distances reduces this redundancy. The in silico fragmentation requires less than a second to process a molecule, and MetFrag performs a search in KEGG or PubChem on average within 30 to 300 seconds, respectively, on an average desktop PC. Conclusions We presented a method that is able to identify small molecules from tandem MS measurements, even without spectral reference data or a large set of fragmentation rules. With today's massive general purpose compound libraries we obtain dozens of very similar candidates, which still allows a confident estimate of the correct compound class. Our tool MetFrag improves the identification of unknown substances from tandem MS spectra and delivers better results than comparable commercial software. MetFrag is available through a web

  5. Identification of prokaryotic and eukaryotic signal peptides and prediction of their cleavage sites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Henrik; Engelbrecht, Jacob; Brunak, Søren

    1997-01-01

    We have developed a new method for the identification of signal peptides and their cleavage based on neural networks trained on separate sets of prokaryotic and eukaryotic sequence. The method performs significantly better than previous prediction schemes and can easily be applied on genome...

  6. Secondary Metabolites from Higher Fungi: Discovery, Bioactivity, and Bioproduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Jian-Jiang; Xiao, Jian-Hui

    Medicinal higher fungi such as Cordyceps sinensis and Ganoderma lucidum have been used as an alternative medicine remedy to promote health and longevity for people in China and other regions of the world since ancient times. Nowadays there is an increasing public interest in the secondary metabolites of those higher fungi for discovering new drugs or lead compounds. Current research in drug discovery from medicinal higher fungi involves a multifaceted approach combining mycological, biochemical, pharmacological, metabolic, biosynthetic and molecular techniques. In recent years, many new secondary metabolites from higher fungi have been isolated and are more likely to provide lead compounds for new drug discovery, which may include chemopreventive agents possessing the bioactivity of immunomodulatory, anticancer, etc. However, numerous challenges of secondary metabolites from higher fungi are encountered including bioseparation, identification, biosynthetic metabolism, and screening model issues, etc. Commercial production of secondary metabolites from medicinal mushrooms is still limited mainly due to less information about secondary metabolism and its regulation. Strategies for enhancing secondary metabolite production by medicinal mushroom fermentation include two-stage cultivation combining liquid fermentation and static culture, two-stage dissolved oxygen control, etc. Purification of bioactive secondary metabolites, such as ganoderic acids from G. lucidum, is also very important to pharmacological study and future pharmaceutical application. This review outlines typical examples of the discovery, bioactivity, and bioproduction of secondary metabolites of higher fungi origin.

  7. A signal-detection analysis of eyewitness identification across the adult lifespan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colloff, Melissa F; Wade, Kimberley A; Wixted, John T; Maylor, Elizabeth A

    2017-05-01

    Middle-aged and older adults are frequently victims and witnesses of crime, but knowledge of how identification performance changes over the adult life span is sparse. The authors asked young (18-30 years), middle-aged (31-59 years), and older (60-95 years) adults (N = 2,670) to watch a video of a mock crime and to attempt to identify the culprit from a fair lineup (in which all of the lineup members matched the appearance of the suspect) or an unfair lineup (in which the suspect stood out). They also asked subjects to provide confidence ratings for their identification decisions. To examine identification performance, the authors used a standard response-type analysis, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and signal-detection process modeling. The results revealed that, in fair lineups, aging was associated with a genuine decline in recognition ability-discriminability-and not an increased willingness to choose. Perhaps most strikingly, middle-aged and older adults were generally effective at regulating their confidence judgments to reflect the likely accuracy of their suspect identification decisions. Model-fitting confirmed that the older adults spread their decision criteria such that identifications made with high confidence were likely to be highly accurate, despite the substantial decline in discriminability with age. In unfair lineups, ability to discriminate between innocent and guilty suspects was poor in all age groups. The research enhances theoretical understanding of the ways in which identification behavior changes with age, and has important practical implications for how legal decision-makers should interpret identifications made by middle-aged and older eyewitnesses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. From genetics to functional genomics: Improvement in drought signaling and tolerance in wheat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hikmet eBudak

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Drought being a yield limiting factor has become a major threat to international food security. It is a complex trait and drought tolerance response is carried out by various genes, transcription factors (TFs, microRNAs (miRNAs, hormones, proteins, co-factors, ions and metabolites. This complexity has limited the development of wheat cultivars for drought tolerance by classical breeding. However, attempts have been made to fill the lost genetic diversity by crossing wheat with wild wheat relatives. In recent years, several molecular markers including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and quantitative trait loci (QTLs associated with genes for drought signaling pathways have been reported. Screening of large wheat collections by marker assisted selection (MAS and transformation of wheat with different genes/TFs has improved drought signaling pathways and tolerance. Several miRNAs also provide drought tolerance to wheat by regulating various TFs/genes. Emergence of OMICS techniques including transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and ionomics has helped to identify and characterize the genes, proteins, metabolites and ions involved in drought signaling pathways. Together, all these efforts helped in understanding the complex drought tolerance mechanism. Here, we have reviewed the advances in wide hybridization, MAS, QTL mapping, miRNAs, transgenic technique, genome editing system and above mentioned functional genomics tools for identification and utility of signaling molecules for improvement in wheat drought tolerance

  9. OPTIMAL REPRESENTATION OF MER SIGNALS APPLIED TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF BRAIN STRUCTURES DURING DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hernán Darío Vargas Cardona

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Identification of brain signals from microelectrode recordings (MER is a key procedure during deep brain stimulation (DBS applied in Parkinson’s disease patients. The main purpose of this research work is to identify with high accuracy a brain structure called subthalamic nucleus (STN, since it is the target structure where the DBS achieves the best therapeutic results. To do this, we present an approach for optimal representation of MER signals through method of frames. We obtain coefficients that minimize the Euclidean norm of order two. From optimal coefficients, we extract some features from signals combining the wavelet packet and cosine dictionaries. For a comparison frame with the state of the art, we also process the signals using the discrete wavelet transform (DWT with several mother functions. We validate the proposed methodology in a real data base. We employ simple supervised machine learning algorithms, as the K-Nearest Neighbors classifier (K-NN, a linear Bayesian classifier (LDC and a quadratic Bayesian classifier (QDC. Classification results obtained with the proposed method improves significantly the performance of the DWT. We achieve a positive identification of the STN superior to 97,6%. Identification outcomes achieved by the MOF are highly accurate, as we can potentially get a false positive rate of less than 2% during the DBS.

  10. The profiling of the metabolites of hirsutine in rat by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap Orbitrap mass spectrometry: An improved strategy for the systematic screening and identification of metabolites in multi-samples in vivo.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jianwei; Qi, Peng; Hou, Jinjun; Shen, Yao; Yang, Min; Bi, Qirui; Deng, Yanping; Shi, Xiaojian; Feng, Ruihong; Feng, Zijin; Wu, Wanying; Guo, Dean

    2017-02-05

    Drug metabolites identification and construction of metabolic profile are meaningful work for the drug discovery and development. The great challenge during this process is the work of the structural clarification of possible metabolites in the complicated biological matrix, which often resulting in a huge amount data sets, especially in multi-samples in vivo. Analyzing these complex data manually is time-consuming and laborious. The object of this study was to develop a practical strategy for screening and identifying of metabolites from multiple biological samples efficiently. Using hirsutine (HTI), an active components of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Gouteng in Chinese) as a model and its plasma, urine, bile, feces and various tissues were analyzed with data processing software (Metwork), data mining tool (Progenesis QI), and HR-MS n data by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/linear ion trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (U-HPLC/LTQ-Orbitrap-MS). A total of 67 metabolites of HTI in rat biological samples were tentatively identified with established library, and to our knowledge most of which were reported for the first time. The possible metabolic pathways were subsequently proposed, hydroxylation, dehydrogenation, oxidation, N-oxidation, hydrolysis, reduction and glucuronide conjugation were mainly involved according to metabolic profile. The result proved application of this improved strategy was efficient, rapid, and reliable for metabolic profiling of components in multiple biological samples and could significantly expand our understanding of metabolic situation of TCM in vivo. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. A combined genetic and multi medium approach revels new secondary metabolites in Aspergillus nidulans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klejnstrup, Marie Louise; Nielsen, Morten Thrane; Frisvad, Jens Christian

    Secondary metabolites are a diverse group of metabolites which serve as important natural sources of drugs for treating diseases. The availability of full genome sequences of several filamentous fungi has revealed a large genetic potential for production of secondary metabolites that are not obse......Secondary metabolites are a diverse group of metabolites which serve as important natural sources of drugs for treating diseases. The availability of full genome sequences of several filamentous fungi has revealed a large genetic potential for production of secondary metabolites...... that are not observed under standard laboratory conditions. Genetic approaches have proven a fruitfull strategy towards the production and identification of these unknown metabolites. Examples include deletion of the cclA1 and laeA2 genes in A. nidulans which affects the expression of secondary metabolites including...... monodictyphenone and terrequinone A respectively. We have deleted the cclA gene in A. nidulans and grown the mutants on several complex media to provoke the production of secondary metabolites. This resulted in the production of several metabolites not previously reported from A. nidulans. Some of these have been...

  12. Method for simultaneous imaging of endogenous low molecular weight metabolites in mouse brain using TiO2 nanoparticles in nanoparticle-assisted laser desorption/ionization-imaging mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrivas, Kamlesh; Hayasaka, Takahiro; Sugiura, Yuki; Setou, Mitsutoshi

    2011-10-01

    We report the detection of a group of endogenous low molecular weight metabolites (LMWM) in mouse brain (80-500 Da) using TiO(2) nanoparticles (NPs) in nanoparticle-assisted laser desorption/ionization-imaging mass spectrometry (Nano-PALDI-IMS) without any washing and separation step prior to MS analysis. The identification of metabolites using TiO(2) NPs was compared with a conventional organic matrix 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) where signals of 179 molecules were specific to TiO(2) NPs, 4 were specific to DHB, and 21 were common to both TiO(2) NPs and DHB. The use of TiO(2) NPs enabled the detection of a higher number of LMWM as compared to DHB and gold NPs as a matrix. This approach is a simple, inexpensive, washing, and separation free for imaging and identification of LMWM in mouse brain. We believe that the biochemical information from distinct regions of the brain using a Nano-PALDI-IMS will be helpful in elucidating the imbalances linked with diseases in biomedical samples.

  13. Functional Analysis of the Nitrogen Metabolite Repression Regulator Gene nmrA in Aspergillus flavus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoyun Han

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In Aspergillus nidulans, the nitrogen metabolite repression regulator NmrA plays a major role in regulating the activity of the GATA transcription factor AreA during nitrogen metabolism. However, the function of nmrA in Aspergillus flavus has notbeen previously studied. Here, we report the identification and functional analysis of nmrA in A. flavus. Our work showed that the amino acid sequences of NmrA are highly conserved among Aspergillus species and that A. flavus NmrA protein contains a canonical Rossmann fold motif. Deletion of nmrA slowed the growth of A. flavus but significantly increased conidiation and sclerotia production. Moreover, seed infection experiments indicated that nmrA is required for the invasive virulence of A. flavus. In addition, the ΔnmrA mutant showed increased sensitivity to rapamycin and methyl methanesulfonate, suggesting that nmrA could be responsive to target of rapamycin signaling and DNA damage. Furthermore, quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis suggested that nmrA might interact with other nitrogen regulatory and catabolic genes. Our study provides a better understanding of nitrogen metabolite repression and the nitrogen metabolism network in fungi.

  14. Various extraction and analytical techniques for isolation and identification of secondary metabolites from Nigella sativa seeds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, X; Abd El-Aty, A M; Shim, J-H

    2011-10-01

    Nigella sativa L. (black cumin), commonly known as black seed, is a member of the Ranunculaceae family. This seed is used as a natural remedy in many Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries. Extracts prepared from N. sativa have, for centuries, been used for medical purposes. Thus far, the organic compounds in N. sativa, including alkaloids, steroids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, fatty acids, etc. have been fairly well characterized. Herein, we summarize some new extraction techniques, including microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical extraction techniques (SFE), in addition to the classical method of hydrodistillation (HD), which have been employed for isolation and various analytical techniques used for the identification of secondary metabolites in black seed. We believe that some compounds contained in N. sativa remain to be identified, and that high-throughput screening could help to identify new compounds. A study addressing environmentally-friendly techniques that have minimal or no environmental effects is currently underway in our laboratory.

  15. Acoustic Signals Processing at the Realization of Contact-Difference Method for Person Identification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. N. Golubinskiy

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available The questions of speech and acoustic (registered on a human body at pronouncing by him of sounds signals processing are examined. The measure of a distinguish ability for identification at parameterization of a biometric image by an amplitude-frequency response of a human body is developed.

  16. Identification of Auditory Object-Specific Attention from Single-Trial Electroencephalogram Signals via Entropy Measures and Machine Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yun Lu

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Existing research has revealed that auditory attention can be tracked from ongoing electroencephalography (EEG signals. The aim of this novel study was to investigate the identification of peoples’ attention to a specific auditory object from single-trial EEG signals via entropy measures and machine learning. Approximate entropy (ApEn, sample entropy (SampEn, composite multiscale entropy (CmpMSE and fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn were used to extract the informative features of EEG signals under three kinds of auditory object-specific attention (Rest, Auditory Object1 Attention (AOA1 and Auditory Object2 Attention (AOA2. The linear discriminant analysis and support vector machine (SVM, were used to construct two auditory attention classifiers. The statistical results of entropy measures indicated that there were significant differences in the values of ApEn, SampEn, CmpMSE and FuzzyEn between Rest, AOA1 and AOA2. For the SVM-based auditory attention classifier, the auditory object-specific attention of Rest, AOA1 and AOA2 could be identified from EEG signals using ApEn, SampEn, CmpMSE and FuzzyEn as features and the identification rates were significantly different from chance level. The optimal identification was achieved by the SVM-based auditory attention classifier using CmpMSE with the scale factor τ = 10. This study demonstrated a novel solution to identify the auditory object-specific attention from single-trial EEG signals without the need to access the auditory stimulus.

  17. Modulation of Ras signaling alters the toxicity of hydroquinone, a benzene metabolite and component of cigarette smoke

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    North, Matthew; Shuga, Joe; Fromowitz, Michele; Loguinov, Alexandre; Shannon, Kevin; Zhang, Luoping; Smith, Martyn T; Vulpe, Chris D

    2014-01-01

    Benzene is an established human leukemogen, with a ubiquitous environmental presence leading to significant population exposure. In a genome-wide functional screen in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, inactivation of IRA2, a yeast ortholog of the human tumor suppressor gene NF1 (Neurofibromin), enhanced sensitivity to hydroquinone, an important benzene metabolite. Increased Ras signaling is implicated as a causal factor in the increased pre-disposition to leukemia of individuals with mutations in NF1. Growth inhibition of yeast by hydroquinone was assessed in mutant strains exhibiting varying levels of Ras activity. Subsequently, effects of hydroquinone on both genotoxicity (measured by micronucleus formation) and proliferation of WT and Nf1 null murine hematopoietic precursors were assessed. Here we show that the Ras status of both yeast and mammalian cells modulates hydroquinone toxicity, indicating potential synergy between Ras signaling and benzene toxicity. Specifically, enhanced Ras signaling increases both hydroquinone-mediated growth inhibition in yeast and genotoxicity in mammalian hematopoetic precursors as measured by an in vitro erythroid micronucleus assay. Hydroquinone also increases proliferation of CFU-GM progenitor cells in mice with Nf1 null bone marrow relative to WT, the same cell type associated with benzene-associated leukemia. Together our findings show that hydroquinone toxicity is modulated by Ras signaling. Individuals with abnormal Ras signaling could be more vulnerable to developing myeloid diseases after exposure to benzene. We note that hydroquinone is used cosmetically as a skin-bleaching agent, including by individuals with cafe-au-lait spots (which may be present in individuals with neurofibromatosis who have a mutation in NF1), which could be unadvisable given our findings

  18. A MATLAB-based graphical user interface for the identification of muscular activations from surface electromyography signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mengarelli, Alessandro; Cardarelli, Stefano; Verdini, Federica; Burattini, Laura; Fioretti, Sandro; Di Nardo, Francesco

    2016-08-01

    In this paper a graphical user interface (GUI) built in MATLAB® environment is presented. This interactive tool has been developed for the analysis of superficial electromyography (sEMG) signals and in particular for the assessment of the muscle activation time intervals. After the signal import, the tool performs a first analysis in a totally user independent way, providing a reliable computation of the muscular activation sequences. Furthermore, the user has the opportunity to modify each parameter of the on/off identification algorithm implemented in the presented tool. The presence of an user-friendly GUI allows the immediate evaluation of the effects that the modification of every single parameter has on the activation intervals recognition, through the real-time updating and visualization of the muscular activation/deactivation sequences. The possibility to accept the initial signal analysis or to modify the on/off identification with respect to each considered signal, with a real-time visual feedback, makes this GUI-based tool a valuable instrument in clinical, research applications and also in an educational perspective.

  19. Identification of a tripartite import signal in the Ewing Sarcoma protein (EWS)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shaw, Debra J.; Morse, Robert; Todd, Adrian G.; Eggleton, Paul; Lorson, Christian L.; Young, Philip J.

    2009-01-01

    The Ewing Sarcoma (EWS) protein is a ubiquitously expressed RNA processing factor that localises predominantly to the nucleus. However, the mechanism through which EWS enters the nucleus remains unclear, with differing reports identifying three separate import signals within the EWS protein. Here we have utilized a panel of truncated EWS proteins to clarify the reported nuclear localisation signals. We describe three C-terminal domains that are important for efficient EWS nuclear localization: (1) the third RGG-motif; (2) the last 10 amino acids (known as the PY-import motif); and (3) the zinc-finger motif. Although these three domains are involved in nuclear import, they are not independently capable of driving the efficient import of a GFP-moiety. However, collectively they form a complex tripartite signal that efficiently drives GFP-import into the nucleus. This study helps clarify the EWS import signal, and the identification of the involvement of both the RGG- and zinc-finger motifs has wide reaching implications.

  20. Identification of a tripartite import signal in the Ewing Sarcoma protein (EWS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shaw, Debra J.; Morse, Robert; Todd, Adrian G. [Clinical Neurobiology, IBCS, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter EX1 2LU (United Kingdom); Eggleton, Paul [Inflammation and Musculoskeletal Disease, IBCS, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter EX1 2LU (United Kingdom); MRC Immunochemistry Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QU (United Kingdom); Lorson, Christian L. [Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Bond Life Sciences Center, 1201 Rollins Road, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 (United States); Young, Philip J., E-mail: philip.young@pms.ac.uk [Clinical Neurobiology, IBCS, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter EX1 2LU (United Kingdom)

    2009-12-25

    The Ewing Sarcoma (EWS) protein is a ubiquitously expressed RNA processing factor that localises predominantly to the nucleus. However, the mechanism through which EWS enters the nucleus remains unclear, with differing reports identifying three separate import signals within the EWS protein. Here we have utilized a panel of truncated EWS proteins to clarify the reported nuclear localisation signals. We describe three C-terminal domains that are important for efficient EWS nuclear localization: (1) the third RGG-motif; (2) the last 10 amino acids (known as the PY-import motif); and (3) the zinc-finger motif. Although these three domains are involved in nuclear import, they are not independently capable of driving the efficient import of a GFP-moiety. However, collectively they form a complex tripartite signal that efficiently drives GFP-import into the nucleus. This study helps clarify the EWS import signal, and the identification of the involvement of both the RGG- and zinc-finger motifs has wide reaching implications.

  1. Identification of the principal biliary metabolite of 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide in rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shoemaker, D.D.; Cysyk, R.L.; Padmanabhan, S.; Bhat, H.B.; Malspeis, L.

    1982-01-01

    m-AMSA [4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide] labeled in either the acridine or anilino portion was used to investigate the disposition of this antitumor agent in rats. The principal biliary metabolite, which accounts for approximately 80% of the total biliary radioactivity for 90 min after administration and greater than 50% of the administered dose by 180 min after administration, had both the acridine and the anilino portions intact. Isolation and purification of the principal metabolite was achieved by preparative thin-layer chromatography on silica gel and column chromatography on Amberlite XAD-2 resin. A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum of the CID salt in D 2 O showed that the metabolite is the m-AMSA-glutathione conjugate in which the thioether linkage occurs at the 5'-position of the anilino ring. Synthesis of the metabolite was achieved by oxidizing m-AMSA with active MnO 2 to -methanesulfonyl - - (9-acridinyl)-3'-methoxy - 2',5' - cyclohexadiene-1',4'-diimine (m-AQDI) followed by reaction of m-AQDI with glutathione. The 1 H-NMR spectrum of the synthetic product proved identical with that of the isolated metabolite. The demonstration that the principal biliary metabolite on m-AMSA involves glutathione bound to the 9-anilino ring suggests that m-AMSA may be bioactivated in vivo to the quinoidal diimine, m-AQDI

  2. Secondary metabolite profiling of Alternaria dauci, A. porri, A. solani, and A. tomatophila.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andersen, Birgitte; Dongo, Anita; Pryor, Barry M

    2008-02-01

    Chemotaxonomy (secondary metabolite profiling) has been shown to be of great value in the classification and differentiation in Ascomycota. However, few studies have investigated the use of metabolite production for classification and identification purposes of plant pathogenic Alternaria species. The purpose of the present study was to describe the methodology behind metabolite profiling in chemotaxonomy using A. dauci, A. porri, A. solani, and A. tomatophila strains as examples of the group. The results confirmed that A. dauci, A. solani, and A. tomatophila are three distinct species each with their own specific metabolite profiles, and that A. solani and A. tomatophila both produce altersolanol A, altertoxin I, and macrosporin. By using automated chemical image analysis and other multivariate statistic analyses, three sets of species-specific metabolites could be selected, one each for A. dauci, A. solani, and A. tomatophila.

  3. Identification of a new reactive metabolite of pyrrolizidine alkaloid retrorsine: (3H-pyrrolizin-7-yl)methanol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fashe, Muluneh M; Juvonen, Risto O; Petsalo, Aleksanteri; Rahnasto-Rilla, Minna; Auriola, Seppo; Soininen, Pasi; Vepsäläinen, Jouko; Pasanen, Markku

    2014-11-17

    Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) such as retrorsine are common food contaminants that are known to be bioactivated by cytochrome P450 enzymes to putative hepatotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic metabolites known as dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloids (DHPs). We compared how both electrochemical (EC) and human liver microsomal (HLM) oxidation of retrorsine could produce short-lived intermediate metabolites; we also characterized a toxicologically important metabolite, (3H-pyrrolizin-7-yl)methanol. The EC cell was coupled online or offline to a liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer (LC/MS), whereas the HLM oxidation was performed in 100 mM potassium phosphate (pH 7.4) in the presence of NADPH at 37 °C. The EC cell oxidation of retrorsine produced 12 metabolites, including dehydroretrorsine (m/z 350, [M + H(+)]), which was degraded to a new reactive metabolite at m/z 136 ([M + H(+)]). The molecular structure of this small metabolite was determined using high-resolution mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy followed by chemical synthesis. In addition, we also identified another minor but reactive metabolite at m/z 136, an isomer of (3H-pyrrolizin-7-yl)methanol. Both (3H-pyrrolizin-7-yl)methanol and its minor isomer were also observed after HLM oxidation of retrorsine and other hepatotoxic PAs such as lasiocarpine and senkirkin. In the presence of reduced glutathione (GSH), each isomer formed identical GSH conjugates at m/z 441 and m/z 730 in the negative ESI-MS. Because (3H-pyrrolizine-7-yl)methanol) and its minor isomer subsequently reacted with GSH, it is concluded that (3H-pyrrolizin-7-yl)methanol may be a common toxic metabolite arising from PAs.

  4. Jasmonates: biosynthesis, perception, signal transduction and action in plant stress response, growth and development. An update to the 2007 review in Annals of Botany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wasternack, C; Hause, B

    2013-06-01

    Jasmonates are important regulators in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses as well as in development. Synthesized from lipid-constituents, the initially formed jasmonic acid is converted to different metabolites including the conjugate with isoleucine. Important new components of jasmonate signalling including its receptor were identified, providing deeper insight into the role of jasmonate signalling pathways in stress responses and development. The present review is an update of the review on jasmonates published in this journal in 2007. New data of the last five years are described with emphasis on metabolites of jasmonates, on jasmonate perception and signalling, on cross-talk to other plant hormones and on jasmonate signalling in response to herbivores and pathogens, in symbiotic interactions, in flower development, in root growth and in light perception. The last few years have seen breakthroughs in the identification of JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN (JAZ) proteins and their interactors such as transcription factors and co-repressors, and the crystallization of the jasmonate receptor as well as of the enzyme conjugating jasmonate to amino acids. Now, the complex nature of networks of jasmonate signalling in stress responses and development including hormone cross-talk can be addressed.

  5. NIK and IKKbeta interdependence in NF-kappaB signalling--flux analysis of regulation through metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hong-Bum; Evans, Iona; Smallwood, Rod; Holcombe, Mike; Qwarnstrom, Eva E

    2010-02-01

    Activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB is central to control of immune and inflammatory responses. Cytokine induced activation through the classical or canonical pathway relies on degradation of the inhibitor, IkappaBalpha and regulation by the IKKbeta kinase. In addition, the NF-kappaB is activated through the NF-kappaB-inducing kinase, NIK. Analysis of the IKK/NIK inter-relationship and its impact on NF-kappaB control, were analysed by mathematical modelling, using matrix formalism and stoichiometrically balanced reactions. The analysis considered a range of bio-reactions and core metabolites and their role in relation to kinase activation and in control of specific steps of the NF-kappaB pathway. The model predicts a growth-rate and time-dependent transfer of the primary kinase activity from IKKbeta to NIK. In addition, it suggests that NIK/IKKbeta interdependence is controlled by intermediates of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) within the glycolysis pathway, and thus, identifies a link between specific metabolic events and kinase activation in inflammatory signal transduction. Subsequent in vitro experiments, carried out to validate the impact of IKK/NIK interdependence, confirmed signal amplification at the level of the NF-kappaB/IkappaBalpha complex control in the presence of both kinases. Further, they demonstrate that the induced potentiation is due to synergistic enhancement of relA-dependent activation. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Identification of metabolites, clinical chemistry markers and transcripts associated with hepatotoxicity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Buness

    Full Text Available Early and accurate pre-clinical and clinical biomarkers of hepatotoxicity facilitate the drug development process and the safety monitoring in clinical studies. We selected eight known model compounds to be administered to male Wistar rats to identify biomarkers of drug induced liver injury (DILI using transcriptomics, metabolite profiling (metabolomics and conventional endpoints. We specifically explored early biomarkers in serum and liver tissue associated with histopathologically evident acute hepatotoxicity. A tailored data analysis strategy was implemented to better differentiate animals with no treatment-related findings in the liver from animals showing evident hepatotoxicity as assessed by histopathological analysis. From the large number of assessed parameters, our data analysis strategy allowed us to identify five metabolites in serum and five in liver tissue, 58 transcripts in liver tissue and seven clinical chemistry markers in serum that were significantly associated with acute hepatotoxicity. The identified markers comprised metabolites such as taurocholic acid and putrescine (measured as sum parameter together with agmatine, classical clinical chemistry markers like AST (aspartate aminotransferase, ALT (alanine aminotransferase, and bilirubin, as well as gene transcripts like Igfbp1 (insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 and Egr1 (early growth response protein 1. The response pattern of the identified biomarkers was concordant across all types of parameters and sample matrices. Our results suggest that a combination of several of these biomarkers could significantly improve the robustness and accuracy of an early diagnosis of hepatotoxicity.

  7. Identification of fentanyl metabolites in rat urine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with stable-isotope tracers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goromaru, T.; Matsuura, H.; Furuta, T.; Baba, S.; Yoshimura, N.; Miyawaki, T.; Sameshima, T.

    The metabolites of fentanyl (l), which has been widely used as a neuroleptic analgesic agent, were identified in urine of rats by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with a stable-isotope tracer technique. After the oral administration of an equimolar mixture of l and deuterium-labeled l (l/l-d5), the urinary metabolites were extracted with chloroform at pH 9.0. Extracts were derivatized and analyzed by GC/MS. Metabolites were identified by the presence of doublet ion peaks separated by 5 amu, and chemical structures were established from analyses of fragmentation pathways. The metabolites were identified as 4-N-(N-propionylanilino)-piperidine, 4-N-(N-hydroxypropionylanilino)piperidine, 4-N-(N-propionylanilino) hydroxypiperidine, 1-(2-phenethyl)-4-N-(N-hydroxypropionylanilino)piperidine and 1-(2-phenethyl)-4-N-(N-propionylanilino)hydroxypiperidine. These metabolites, together with unchanged l, were also detected in urine of rats receiving l/l-d5 intravenously, by selected-ion monitoring of the specific cluster ions.

  8. Biotransformation of the citrus flavone tangeretin in rats. Identification of metabolites with intact flavane nucleus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, S.E.; Breinholt, V.; Cornett, C.

    2000-01-01

    were separated and identified by HPLC and the structures elucidated by LC/MS and H-1 NMR. Ten new, major metabolites with intact flavonoid structure were identified. The metabolites identified were either demethylated or hydroxylated derivatives of the parent compound and metabolic changes were found...

  9. Sulindac metabolites inhibit epidermal growth factor receptor activation and expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahnen Dennis

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs is associated with a decreased mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC. NSAIDs induce apoptotic cell death in colon cancer cells in vitro and inhibit growth of neoplastic colonic mucosa in vivo however, the biochemical mechanisms required for these growth inhibitory effects are not well defined. We previously reported that metabolites of the NSAID sulindac downregulate extracellular-signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2 signaling and that this effect is both necessary and sufficient for the apoptotic effects of these drugs. The goal of this project was to specifically test the hypothesis that sulindac metabolites block activation and/or expression of the epidermal growth factor (EGF receptor (EGFR. Methods HT29 human colon cancer cells were treated with EGF, alone, or in the presence of sulindac sulfide or sulindac sulfone. Cells lysates were assayed by immunoblotting for phosphorylated EGFR (pEGFR, pY1068, total EGFR, phosphorylated ERK1/2 (pERK1/2, total ERK1/2, activated caspase-3, and α-tubulin. Results EGF treatment rapidly induced phosphorylation of both EGFR and ERK1/2 in HT29 colon cancer cells. Pretreatment with sulindac metabolites for 24 h blocked EGF-induced phosphorylation of both EGFR and ERK1/2 and decreased total EGFR protein expression. Under basal conditions, downregulation of pEGFR and total EGFR was detected as early as 12 h following sulindac sulfide treatment and persisted through at least 48 h. Sulindac sulfone induced downregulation of pEGFR and total EGFR was detected as early as 1 h and 24 h, respectively, following drug treatment, and persisted through at least 72 h. EGFR downregulation by sulindac metabolites was observed in three different CRC cell lines, occurred prior to the observed downregulation of pERK1/2 and induction of apoptosis by these drugs, and was not dependent of caspase activation. Conclusion These results suggest that

  10. Identification, quantification, and relative concentrations of carotenoids and their metabolites in human milk and serum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khachik, F; Spangler, C J; Smith, J C; Canfield, L M; Steck, A; Pfander, H

    1997-05-15

    Thirty-four carotenoids, including 13 geometrical isomers and eight metabolites, in breast milk and serum of three lactating mothers have been separated, identified, quantified, and compared by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-photodiode array (PDA) detection-mass spectrometry (MS). Among the metabolites were two oxidation products of lycopene and four of lutein/ zeaxanthin. In addition, two metabolites of lutein, formed as a result of dehydration of this dihydroxycarotenoid under acidic conditions similar to those of the stomach, have also been identified in plasma and breast milk. The oxidative metabolites of lycopene with a novel five-membered-ring end group have been identified as epimeric 2,6-cyclolycopene-1,5-diols by comparison of their HPLC-UV/visible-MS profiles with those of fully characterized (1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy) synthetic compounds. The HPLC procedures employed also detected vitamin A, two forms of vitamin E (gamma- and alpha-tocopherol), and two non-carotenoid food components, i.e., piperine and caffeine, in serum and breast milk.

  11. Global Prioritization of Disease Candidate Metabolites Based on a Multi-omics Composite Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Qianlan; Xu, Yanjun; Yang, Haixiu; Shang, Desi; Zhang, Chunlong; Zhang, Yunpeng; Sun, Zeguo; Shi, Xinrui; Feng, Li; Han, Junwei; Su, Fei; Li, Chunquan; Li, Xia

    2015-01-01

    The identification of disease-related metabolites is important for a better understanding of metabolite pathological processes in order to improve human medicine. Metabolites, which are the terminal products of cellular regulatory process, can be affected by multi-omic processes. In this work, we propose a powerful method, MetPriCNet, to predict and prioritize disease candidate metabolites based on integrated multi-omics information. MetPriCNet prioritized candidate metabolites based on their global distance similarity with seed nodes in a composite network, which integrated multi-omics information from the genome, phenome, metabolome and interactome. After performing cross-validation on 87 phenotypes with a total of 602 metabolites, MetPriCNet achieved a high AUC value of up to 0.918. We also assessed the performance of MetPriCNet on 18 disease classes and found that 4 disease classes achieved an AUC value over 0.95. Notably, MetPriCNet can also predict disease metabolites without known disease metabolite knowledge. Some new high-risk metabolites of breast cancer were predicted, although there is a lack of known disease metabolite information. A predicted disease metabolic landscape was constructed and analyzed based on the results of MetPriCNet for 87 phenotypes to help us understand the genetic and metabolic mechanism of disease from a global view. PMID:26598063

  12. Prediction of metabolites of epoxidation reaction in MetaTox.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudik, A V; Dmitriev, A V; Bezhentsev, V M; Lagunin, A A; Filimonov, D A; Poroikov, V V

    2017-10-01

    Biotransformation is a process of the chemical modifications which may lead to the reactive metabolites, in particular the epoxides. Epoxide reactive metabolites may cause the toxic effects. The prediction of such metabolites is important for drug development and ecotoxicology studies. Epoxides are formed by some oxidation reactions, usually catalysed by cytochromes P450, and represent a large class of three-membered cyclic ethers. Identification of molecules, which may be epoxidized, and indication of the specific location of epoxide functional group (which is called SOE - site of epoxidation) are important for prediction of epoxide metabolites. Datasets from 355 molecules and 615 reactions were created for training and validation. The prediction of SOE is based on a combination of LMNA (Labelled Multilevel Neighbourhood of Atom) descriptors and Bayesian-like algorithm implemented in PASS software and MetaTox web-service. The average invariant accuracy of prediction (AUC) calculated in leave-one-out and 20-fold cross-validation procedures is 0.9. Prediction of epoxide formation based on the created SAR model is included as the component of MetaTox web-service ( http://www.way2drug.com/mg ).

  13. Metabolite Damage and Metabolite Damage Control in Plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanson, Andrew D. [Horticultural Sciences Department and; Henry, Christopher S. [Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, email:; Computation Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637; Fiehn, Oliver [Genome Center, University of California, Davis, California 95616, email:; de Crécy-Lagard, Valérie [Microbiology and Cell Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, email: ,

    2016-04-29

    It is increasingly clear that (a) many metabolites undergo spontaneous or enzyme-catalyzed side reactions in vivo, (b) the damaged metabolites formed by these reactions can be harmful, and (c) organisms have biochemical systems that limit the buildup of damaged metabolites. These damage-control systems either return a damaged molecule to its pristine state (metabolite repair) or convert harmful molecules to harmless ones (damage preemption). Because all organisms share a core set of metabolites that suffer the same chemical and enzymatic damage reactions, certain damage-control systems are widely conserved across the kingdoms of life. Relatively few damage reactions and damage-control systems are well known. Uncovering new damage reactions and identifying the corresponding damaged metabolites, damage-control genes, and enzymes demands a coordinated mix of chemistry, metabolomics, cheminformatics, biochemistry, and comparative genomics. This review illustrates the above points using examples from plants, which are at least as prone to metabolite damage as other organisms.

  14. Circulating prostacyclin metabolites in the dog

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taylor, B.M.; Shebuski, R.J.; Sun, F.F.

    1983-01-01

    The present study was designed to determine the concentration of prostacyclin (PGI2) metabolites in the blood of the dog. After a bolus i.v. dose of [11 beta- 3 H]PGI2 (5 micrograms/kg) into each of five dogs, blood samples were withdrawn at 0.33, 0.67, 1, 3, 5, 20, 30, 60 and 120 min postdrug administration. Plasma samples were extracted and the radioactive components were analyzed by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography with autoradiofluorography and radio-high-performance liquid chromatography. The compounds were identified by comparing their mobility with synthetic standards; only parallel responses observed in both tests constituted positive identification. Seven metabolites were identified by these two techniques: 6-keto-prostaglandin (PG)F1 alpha; 6-keto-PGE1; 2,3-dinor-6-keto-PGF 1 alpha; 2,3-dinor-13,14-dihydro-6,15-diketo-20-carboxyl PGF 1 alpha; and 2,3,18,19-tetranor-13,14-dihydro-6,15-diketo-20-carboxyl PGF 1 alpha. Several additional compounds, both polar and nonpolar in nature, which did not co-chromatograph with any of our standards were also detected. Early samples consisted predominantly of 6-keto-PGF 1 alpha and other 20-carbon metabolites. By 30 min, the predominant metabolites were the 16- and 18-carbon dicarboxylic acids. By 60 min, 85% of the radioactivity was associated with two unidentified polar compounds. The evidence suggests that 6-keto-PGF 1 alpha probably reflects only the transient levels of freshly entering PGI2 in the circulation, whereas levels of the most polar metabolites (e.g., dihydro-diketo-carboxyl tetranor-PGF 2 alpha) may be a better measure of the overall PGI2 presence due to its longer half-life in circulation

  15. Optimal fault signal estimation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stoorvogel, Antonie Arij; Niemann, H.H.; Saberi, A.; Sannuti, P.

    2002-01-01

    We consider here both fault identification and fault signal estimation. Regarding fault identification, we seek either exact or almost fault identification. On the other hand, regarding fault signal estimation, we seek either $H_2$ optimal, $H_2$ suboptimal or Hinfinity suboptimal estimation. By

  16. Bunch identification module

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, J.D.

    1981-01-01

    This module provides bunch identification and timing signals for the PEP Interaction areas. Timing information is referenced to the PEP master oscillator, and adjusted in phase as a function of region. Identification signals are generated in a manner that allows observers in all interaction regions to agree on an unambiguous bunch identity. The module provides bunch identification signals via NIM level logic, upon CAMAC command, and through LED indicators. A front panel ''region select'' switch allows the same module to be used in all regions. The module has two modes of operation: a bunch identification mode and a calibration mode. In the identification mode, signals indicate which of the three bunches of electrons and positrons are interacting, and timing information about beam crossing is provided. The calibration mode is provided to assist experimenters making time of flight measurements. In the calibration mode, three distinct gating signals are referenced to a selected bunch, allowing three timing systems to be calibrated against a common standard. Physically, the bunch identifier is constructed as a single width CAMAC module. 2 figs., 1 tab

  17. Identification of a tryptanthrin metabolite in rat liver microsomes by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sang Kyu; Kim, Ghee Hwan; Kim, Dong Hyeon; Kim, Dong Hyun; Jahng, Yurngdong; Jeong, Tae Cheon

    2007-10-01

    Tryptanthrin originally isolated from Isatis tinctoria L. has been characterized to have anti-inflammatory activities through the dual inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 and 5-lipoxygenase mediated prostaglandin and leukotriene syntheses. To characterize phase I metabolite(s), tryptanthrin was incubated with rat liver microsomes in the presence of NADPH-generating system. One metabolite was identified by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. M1 could be identified as a metabolite mono-hydroxylated on the aromatic ring of indole moiety from the MS(2) spectra of protonated tryptanthrin and M1. The structure of metabolite was confirmed as 8-hydroxytryptanthrin with a chemically synthesized authentic standard. The formation of M1 was NADPH-dependent and was inhibited by SKF-525A, a general CYP-inhibitor, indicating the cytochrome P450 (CYP)-mediated reaction. In addition, it was proposed that M1 might be formed by CYP 1A in rat liver microsomes from the experiments with enriched rat liver microsomes.

  18. Understanding the magnitude of emergent contaminant releases through target screening and metabolite identification using high resolution mass spectrometry: Illicit drugs in raw sewage influents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heuett, Nubia V; Batchu, Sudha Rani; Gardinali, Piero R

    2015-01-23

    A QExactive Orbitrap was used for the identification of phase I and II transformation products (TPs) of illicit drugs in raw sewage influents. Two operating modes (targeted MS(2) and Data-dependent screening) were used for data acquisition. Even though, data-dependent scan is a faster route towards the potential identification of metabolites, it suffered from its limitation to provide enough data points across the chromatographic peak during the MS(2) cycle in contrast to targeted MS(2). Therefore, the later technique was implemented as the method of choice in this study for the positive confirmation and quantitation of TPs (n=54). The vast majority of the identified TPs were products of phase I transformation reactions, with the latter being more prevalent in the nature. Estimated mole fractions showed that for a large number of the analytes, TPs must also be monitored in order to fully understand their environmental fate and calculate potential consumption. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Use of liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry to study the degradation pathways of terbuthylazine (TER) by Typha latifolia in constructed wetlands: identification of a new TER metabolite.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gikas, Evagelos; Papadopoulos, Nikolaos G; Bazoti, Fotini N; Zalidis, Georgios; Tsarbopoulos, Anthony

    2012-01-30

    S-Triazines are used worldwide as herbicides for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes. Although terbuthylazine (TER) is the second most frequently used S-triazine, there is limited information on its metabolism. For this reason, an analytical method based on liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI MS/MS) has been developed aiming at the identification of TER and its five major metabolites (desisopropyl-hydroxy-atrazine, desethyl-hydroxy-terbuthylazine, desisopropyl-atrazine, hydroxy-terbuthylazine and desethyl-terbuthylazine) in constructed wetland water samples. The separation of TER and its major metabolites was performed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a C(8) column using a gradient elution of aqueous acetic acid 1% (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B), followed by MS/MS analysis on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The data-depended analysis (DDA) scan approach has been employed and the main degradation pathways of both hydroxyl and chloro (dealkylated and alkylated) metabolites are elucidated through the tandem mass spectral (MS/MS) interpretation of triazine fragments under CID conditions. In addition, another major metabolite of TER, namely N2-tert-butyl-N4-ethyl-6-methoxy-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine, has been identified. This methodology can be further employed in biodegradation studies of TER, thus assisting the assessment of its environmental impact. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  20. A Proteomic Approach to Investigating Gene Cluster Expression and Secondary Metabolite Functionality in Aspergillus fumigatus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owens, Rebecca A.; Hammel, Stephen; Sheridan, Kevin J.; Jones, Gary W.; Doyle, Sean

    2014-01-01

    A combined proteomics and metabolomics approach was utilised to advance the identification and characterisation of secondary metabolites in Aspergillus fumigatus. Here, implementation of a shotgun proteomic strategy led to the identification of non-redundant mycelial proteins (n = 414) from A. fumigatus including proteins typically under-represented in 2-D proteome maps: proteins with multiple transmembrane regions, hydrophobic proteins and proteins with extremes of molecular mass and pI. Indirect identification of secondary metabolite cluster expression was also achieved, with proteins (n = 18) from LaeA-regulated clusters detected, including GliT encoded within the gliotoxin biosynthetic cluster. Biochemical analysis then revealed that gliotoxin significantly attenuates H2O2-induced oxidative stress in A. fumigatus (p>0.0001), confirming observations from proteomics data. A complementary 2-D/LC-MS/MS approach further elucidated significantly increased abundance (pproteome and experimental strategies, plus mechanistic data pertaining to gliotoxin functionality in the organism. PMID:25198175

  1. Identification of fipronil metabolites by time-of-flight mass spectrometry for application in a human exposure study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahen, Rebecca L; Strynar, Mark J; Dagnino, Sonia; Herr, David W; Moser, Virginia C; Garantziotis, Stavros; Andersen, Erik M; Freeborn, Danielle L; McMillan, Larry; Lindstrom, Andrew B

    2015-05-01

    Fipronil is a phenylpyrazole insecticide commonly used in residential and agricultural applications. To understand more about the potential risks for human exposure associated with fipronil, urine and serum from dosed Long Evans adult rats (5 and 10mg/kg bw) were analyzed to identify metabolites as potential biomarkers for use in human biomonitoring studies. Urine from treated rats was found to contain seven unique metabolites, two of which had not been previously reported-M4 and M7 which were putatively identified as a nitroso compound and an imine, respectively. Fipronil sulfone was confirmed to be the primary metabolite in rat serum. The fipronil metabolites identified in the respective matrices were then evaluated in matched human urine (n=84) and serum (n=96) samples from volunteers with no known pesticide exposures. Although no fipronil or metabolites were detected in human urine, fipronil sulfone was present in the serum of approximately 25% of the individuals at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 4ng/mL. These results indicate that many fipronil metabolites are produced following exposures in rats and that fipronil sulfone is a useful biomarker in human serum. Furthermore, human exposure to fipronil may occur regularly and require more extensive characterization. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  2. Absolute Quantification of Human Liver Phosphorus-Containing Metabolites In Vivo Using an Inhomogeneous Spoiling Magnetic Field Gradient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bashir, Adil; Gropler, Robert; Ackerman, Joseph

    2015-01-01

    Purpose Absolute concentrations of high-energy phosphorus (31P) metabolites in liver provide more important insight into physiologic status of liver disease compared to resonance integral ratios. A simple method for measuring absolute concentrations of 31P metabolites in human liver is described. The approach uses surface spoiling inhomogeneous magnetic field gradient to select signal from liver tissue. The technique avoids issues caused by respiratory motion, chemical shift dispersion associated with linear magnetic field gradients, and increased tissue heat deposition due to radiofrequency absorption, especially at high field strength. Methods A method to localize signal from liver was demonstrated using superficial and highly non-uniform magnetic field gradients, which eliminate signal(s) from surface tissue(s) located between the liver and RF coil. A double standard method was implemented to determine absolute 31P metabolite concentrations in vivo. 8 healthy individuals were examined in a 3 T MR scanner. Results Concentrations of metabolites measured in eight healthy individuals are: γ-adenosine triphosphate (ATP) = 2.44 ± 0.21 (mean ± sd) mmol/l of wet tissue volume, α-ATP = 3.2 ± 0.63 mmol/l, β-ATP = 2.98 ± 0.45 mmol/l, inorganic phosphates (Pi) = 1.87 ± 0.25 mmol/l, phosphodiesters (PDE) = 10.62 ± 2.20 mmol/l and phosphomonoesters (PME) = 2.12 ± 0.51 mmol/l. All are in good agreement with literature values. Conclusions The technique offers robust and fast means to localize signal from liver tissue, allows absolute metabolite concentration determination, and avoids problems associated with constant field gradient (linear field variation) localization methods. PMID:26633549

  3. Regulation of specialised metabolites in Actinobacteria – expanding the paradigms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoskisson, Paul A.

    2018-01-01

    Summary The increase in availability of actinobacterial whole genome sequences has revealed huge numbers of specialised metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, encoding a range of bioactive molecules such as antibiotics, antifungals, immunosuppressives and anticancer agents. Yet the majority of these clusters are not expressed under standard laboratory conditions in rich media. Emerging data from studies of specialised metabolite biosynthesis suggest that the diversity of regulatory mechanisms is greater than previously thought and these act at multiple levels, through a range of signals such as nutrient limitation, intercellular signalling and competition with other organisms. Understanding the regulation and environmental cues that lead to the production of these compounds allows us to identify the role that these compounds play in their natural habitat as well as provide tools to exploit this untapped source of specialised metabolites for therapeutic uses. Here, we provide an overview of novel regulatory mechanisms that act in physiological, global and cluster‐specific regulatory manners on biosynthetic pathways in Actinobacteria and consider these alongside their ecological and evolutionary implications. PMID:29457705

  4. Regulation of specialised metabolites in Actinobacteria - expanding the paradigms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoskisson, Paul A; Fernández-Martínez, Lorena T

    2018-06-01

    The increase in availability of actinobacterial whole genome sequences has revealed huge numbers of specialised metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, encoding a range of bioactive molecules such as antibiotics, antifungals, immunosuppressives and anticancer agents. Yet the majority of these clusters are not expressed under standard laboratory conditions in rich media. Emerging data from studies of specialised metabolite biosynthesis suggest that the diversity of regulatory mechanisms is greater than previously thought and these act at multiple levels, through a range of signals such as nutrient limitation, intercellular signalling and competition with other organisms. Understanding the regulation and environmental cues that lead to the production of these compounds allows us to identify the role that these compounds play in their natural habitat as well as provide tools to exploit this untapped source of specialised metabolites for therapeutic uses. Here, we provide an overview of novel regulatory mechanisms that act in physiological, global and cluster-specific regulatory manners on biosynthetic pathways in Actinobacteria and consider these alongside their ecological and evolutionary implications. © 2018 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Society for Applied Microbiology and JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. EEG signal classification using PSO trained RBF neural network for epilepsy identification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandeep Kumar Satapathy

    Full Text Available The electroencephalogram (EEG is a low amplitude signal generated in the brain, as a result of information flow during the communication of several neurons. Hence, careful analysis of these signals could be useful in understanding many human brain disorder diseases. One such disease topic is epileptic seizure identification, which can be identified via a classification process of the EEG signal after preprocessing with the discrete wavelet transform (DWT. To classify the EEG signal, we used a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN. As shown herein, the network can be trained to optimize the mean square error (MSE by using a modified particle swarm optimization (PSO algorithm. The key idea behind the modification of PSO is to introduce a method to overcome the problem of slow searching in and around the global optimum solution. The effectiveness of this procedure was verified by an experimental analysis on a benchmark dataset which is publicly available. The result of our experimental analysis revealed that the improvement in the algorithm is significant with respect to RBF trained by gradient descent and canonical PSO. Here, two classes of EEG signals were considered: the first being an epileptic and the other being non-epileptic. The proposed method produced a maximum accuracy of 99% as compared to the other techniques. Keywords: Electroencephalography, Radial basis function neural network, Particle swarm optimization, Discrete wavelet transform, Machine learning

  6. Identification of serum metabolites associated with risk of type 2 diabetes using a targeted metabolomic approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Floegel, Anna; Stefan, Norbert; Yu, Zhonghao; Mühlenbruch, Kristin; Drogan, Dagmar; Joost, Hans-Georg; Fritsche, Andreas; Häring, Hans-Ulrich; Hrabě de Angelis, Martin; Peters, Annette; Roden, Michael; Prehn, Cornelia; Wang-Sattler, Rui; Illig, Thomas; Schulze, Matthias B; Adamski, Jerzy; Boeing, Heiner; Pischon, Tobias

    2013-02-01

    Metabolomic discovery of biomarkers of type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk may reveal etiological pathways and help to identify individuals at risk for disease. We prospectively investigated the association between serum metabolites measured by targeted metabolomics and risk of T2D in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam (27,548 adults) among all incident cases of T2D (n = 800, mean follow-up 7 years) and a randomly drawn subcohort (n = 2,282). Flow injection analysis tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify 163 metabolites, including acylcarnitines, amino acids, hexose, and phospholipids, in baseline serum samples. Serum hexose; phenylalanine; and diacyl-phosphatidylcholines C32:1, C36:1, C38:3, and C40:5 were independently associated with increased risk of T2D and serum glycine; sphingomyelin C16:1; acyl-alkyl-phosphatidylcholines C34:3, C40:6, C42:5, C44:4, and C44:5; and lysophosphatidylcholine C18:2 with decreased risk. Variance of the metabolites was largely explained by two metabolite factors with opposing risk associations (factor 1 relative risk in extreme quintiles 0.31 [95% CI 0.21-0.44], factor 2 3.82 [2.64-5.52]). The metabolites significantly improved T2D prediction compared with established risk factors. They were further linked to insulin sensitivity and secretion in the Tübingen Family study and were partly replicated in the independent KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) cohort. The data indicate that metabolic alterations, including sugar metabolites, amino acids, and choline-containing phospholipids, are associated early on with a higher risk of T2D.

  7. Structural elucidation of in vitro and in vivo metabolites of emodin in rats by LC -ESI-MS/MS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, D.; Zhu, Q.; Chen, G.; Liu, B.; Chen, L.

    2013-01-01

    Emodin is a widely occurring natural product and has been studied extensively for its varieties of pharmacological activity. In attempt to know more deeply about its metabolism, this paper investigated the metabolites of emodin in rats, including its in vitro conversion product by intestinal microflora and urinary metabolites. The detection of emodin metabolites was performed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) with negative ion mode. By comparing the changes of metabolites in molecular masses (delta M), product ions and retention times with those of the parent drug, six metabolites (8-O-methylemodin, omega-hydroxyemodin, x-hydroxyemodin, emodin glucuronide, hydroxyemodin glucuronide and emodin sulfate) were observed,and what is more, the metabolite hydroxyemodin glucuronide was first reported in this article. For some metabolites, identification of their precise structure needs to be confirmed by other techniques such as the 1H and 13C NMR. (author)

  8. Structure Elucidation of Unknown Metabolites in Metabolomics by Combined NMR and MS/MS Prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boiteau, Rene M; Hoyt, David W; Nicora, Carrie D; Kinmonth-Schultz, Hannah A; Ward, Joy K; Bingol, Kerem

    2018-01-17

    We introduce a cheminformatics approach that combines highly selective and orthogonal structure elucidation parameters; accurate mass, MS/MS (MS²), and NMR into a single analysis platform to accurately identify unknown metabolites in untargeted studies. The approach starts with an unknown LC-MS feature, and then combines the experimental MS/MS and NMR information of the unknown to effectively filter out the false positive candidate structures based on their predicted MS/MS and NMR spectra. We demonstrate the approach on a model mixture, and then we identify an uncatalogued secondary metabolite in Arabidopsis thaliana . The NMR/MS² approach is well suited to the discovery of new metabolites in plant extracts, microbes, soils, dissolved organic matter, food extracts, biofuels, and biomedical samples, facilitating the identification of metabolites that are not present in experimental NMR and MS metabolomics databases.

  9. Characterization of metabolites from a strain of Aspergillus flavus accumulating aflatoxin B2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutton, M.F.

    1985-01-01

    A number of aflatoxins and anthraquinone pigments were isolated from a strain of Aspergillus flavus, several of which were fully characterized. The major metabolites isolated were aflatoxin B 2 and versicolorin C, which are normally only found as minor products from species of the genus Aspergillus. The identification of these products supports the proposal that aflatoxin B 2 can arise independently of aflatoxin B 1 and that, in this case, the branch in the pathway occurs at the versicolorins. Other metabolites charaterized were aflatoxin M 2 , norsolorinic acid, and averufin

  10. Amplified and in situ detection of redox-active metabolite using a biobased redox capacitor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eunkyoung; Gordonov, Tanya; Bentley, William E; Payne, Gregory F

    2013-02-19

    Redox cycling provides a mechanism to amplify electrochemical signals for analyte detection. Previous studies have shown that diverse mediators/shuttles can engage in redox-cycling reactions with a biobased redox capacitor that is fabricated by grafting redox-active catechols onto a chitosan film. Here, we report that redox cycling with this catechol-chitosan redox capacitor can amplify electrochemical signals for detecting a redox-active bacterial metabolite. Specifically, we studied the redox-active bacterial metabolite pyocyanin that is reported to be a virulence factor and signaling molecule for the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa. We demonstrate that redox cycling can amplify outputs from various electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry, chronocoulometry, and differential pulse voltammetry) and can lower the detection limit of pyocyanin to 50 nM. Further, the compatibility of this biobased redox capacitor allows the in situ monitoring of the production of redox-active metabolites (e.g., pyocyanin) during the course of P. aeruginosa cultivation. We anticipate that the amplified output of redox-active virulence factors should permit an earlier detection of life-threatening infections by the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa while the "bio-compatibility" of this measurement approach should facilitate in situ study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of bacterial redox signaling.

  11. Metabolite Identification Using Automated Comparison of High-Resolution Multistage Mass Spectral Trees

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rojas-Cherto, M.; Peironcely, J.E.; Kasper, P.T.; Hooft, van der J.J.J.; Vos, de R.C.H.; Vreeken, R.; Hankemeier, T.; Reijmers, T.

    2012-01-01

    Multistage mass spectrometry (MSn) generating so-called spectral trees is a powerful tool in the annotation and structural elucidation of metabolites and is increasingly used in the area of accurate mass LC/MS-based metabolomics to identify unknown, but biologically relevant, compounds. As a

  12. A Computational Drug Metabolite Detection Using the Stable Isotopic Mass-Shift Filtering with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry in Pioglitazone and Flurbiprofen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yohei Miyamoto

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The identification of metabolites in drug discovery is important. At present, radioisotopes and mass spectrometry are both widely used. However, rapid and comprehensive identification is still laborious and difficult. In this study, we developed new analytical software and employed a stable isotope as a tool to identify drug metabolites using mass spectrometry. A deuterium-labeled compound and non-labeled compound were both metabolized in human liver microsomes and analyzed by liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS. We computationally aligned two different MS data sets and filtered ions having a specific mass-shift equal to masses of labeled isotopes between those data using our own software. For pioglitazone and flurbiprofen, eight and four metabolites, respectively, were identified with calculations of mass and formulas and chemical structural fragmentation analysis. With high resolution MS, the approach became more accurate. The approach detected two unexpected metabolites in pioglitazone, i.e., the hydroxypropanamide form and the aldehyde hydrolysis form, which other approaches such as metabolite-biotransformation list matching and mass defect filtering could not detect. We demonstrated that the approach using computational alignment and stable isotopic mass-shift filtering has the ability to identify drug metabolites and is useful in drug discovery.

  13. Identifikasi Metabolit Sekunder Ekstrak Etil Asetat Biji Alpukat (Persea americana Mill. dan Uji Toksisitas Terhadap Larva Udang Artemia salina Leach.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nurdia Asdar

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Identification of metabolite compound in acetone Extract from Fruits Avocado seed (Percea americana Mill and toxicity test against Artemia salina Leach. Aim of this research is to identify the secondary metabolite compound in aceton extract from fruits Avocado seed (Percea americana Mill and to determine the potential of secondary metabolites from an avocado extract as anticancer. The compound was obtained from Identification process in several stages, namely extraction, fractination, purification and identification. The identification process was color test, TLC, spectroscopy IR. The toxicity test by Brine Shrimp Lethality Test (BSLT to Artemia salina Leach. The compound obtained from this research was yellow-white crystalline needle-shaped, the purity test with TLC analysis showed a stain in three eluen system on the stain test on three eluent systems with Rf proportions as follows; 0,15 from chloroform:ethyl acetat (6:4, 0,33 from methanol:chloroform (1:9, 0,75 for acetone:ethyl acetat, and positively to the reagent Wagner and gave brown precipitate for indicate as alcaloid group. This result is supported by spectroscopy from compound.While toxicity tests showed condensed acetone extracts  and pure compounds are toxic with LC50 value of each is 20.61 mg/mL and 39,81 mg/mL.

  14. Detection of tamoxifen metabolites by GC-MSD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Báez, H; Camargo, C; Osorio, H; Umpiérrez, F

    2004-01-01

    Tamoxifen is an antiestrogen used in the adjuvant endocrine therapy of early breast cancer and malignant breast disorders. It is also used in women with anovulatory infertility caused by its stimulating effect on the secretion of the pituitary gonadotrophic hormones. In males it could increase the endogenous production of androgens. Because of these properties tamoxifen may be misused in some sports to treat the androgens suppression caused by the extensive abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids. A method for identification and confirmation of tamoxifen metabolites is described. Hydroxymetoxytamoxifen is detected in urine by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry in a selective ion monitoring method followed by the routine postrun in the screening of anabolic steroids. Once the hydroxymetoxytamoxifen is detected, confirmation of reported metabolites could be performed with a 5973 mass selective detector in the scan mode after solid-phase extraction by cationic exchange. This study also reports an excretion profile for a single dose of tamoxifen equivalent to 40 mg administrated orally to two males volunteers.

  15. Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometric (LC/ESI-MS/MS) Study for the Identification and Characterization of In Vivo Metabolites of Cisplatin in Rat Kidney Cancer Tissues: Online Hydrogen/Deuterium (H/D) Exchange Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandu, Raju; Ahn, Hyun Soo; Lee, Joon Won; Kim, Yong Woo; Choi, Seon Hee; Kim, Hak Jin; Kim, Kwang Pyo

    2015-01-01

    In vivo rat kidney tissue metabolites of an anticancer drug, cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum [II]) (CP) which is used for the treatment of testicular, ovarian, bladder, cervical, esophageal, small cell lung, head and neck cancers, have been identified and characterized by using liquid chromatography positive ion electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS) in combination with on line hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) experiments. To identify in vivo metabolites, kidney tissues were collected after intravenous administration of CP to adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 3 per group). The tissue samples were homogenized and extracted using newly optimized metabolite extraction procedure which involves liquid extraction with phosphate buffer containing ethyl acetate and protein precipitation with mixed solvents of methanol-water-chloroform followed by solid-phase clean-up procedure on Oasis HLB 3cc cartridges and then subjected to LC/ESI-HRMS analysis. A total of thirty one unknown in vivo metabolites have been identified and the structures of metabolites were elucidated using LC-MS/MS experiments combined with accurate mass measurements. Online HDX experiments have been used to further support the structural characterization of metabolites. The results showed that CP undergoes a series of ligand exchange biotransformation reactions with water and other nucleophiles like thio groups of methionine, cysteine, acetylcysteine, glutathione and thioether. This is the first research approach focused on the structure elucidation of biotransformation products of CP in rats, and the identification of metabolites provides essential information for further pharmacological and clinical studies of CP, and may also be useful to develop various effective new anticancer agents.

  16. Metabolites in Blood for Prediction of Bacteremic Sepsis in the Emergency Room.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna M Kauppi

    Full Text Available A metabolomics approach for prediction of bacteremic sepsis in patients in the emergency room (ER was investigated. In a prospective study, whole blood samples from 65 patients with bacteremic sepsis and 49 ER controls were compared. The blood samples were analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Multivariate and logistic regression modeling using metabolites identified by chromatography or using conventional laboratory parameters and clinical scores of infection were employed. A predictive model of bacteremic sepsis with 107 metabolites was developed and validated. The number of metabolites was reduced stepwise until identifying a set of 6 predictive metabolites. A 6-metabolite predictive logistic regression model showed a sensitivity of 0.91(95% CI 0.69-0.99 and a specificity 0.84 (95% CI 0.58-0.94 with an AUC of 0.93 (95% CI 0.89-1.01. Myristic acid was the single most predictive metabolite, with a sensitivity of 1.00 (95% CI 0.85-1.00 and specificity of 0.95 (95% CI 0.74-0.99, and performed better than various combinations of conventional laboratory and clinical parameters. We found that a metabolomics approach for analysis of acute blood samples was useful for identification of patients with bacteremic sepsis. Metabolomics should be further evaluated as a new tool for infection diagnostics.

  17. Isolasi dan Identifikasi Senyawa Metabolit Sekunder Ekstrak n-Heksan dari Umbi Lobak (Raphanus Sativus Lamk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ummi Zahra

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Isolation and identification of secondary metabolite compound in extract of n-Hexane in Umbi Lobak (Raphanus sativus Lamk have been carried out. The purpose of this research is to know secondary metabolite compound which is contained in Umbi Lobak (Raphanus sativus Lamk which obtained from Gowa. The compound was obtained by isolation process that consists of several steps including extraction, fractination, purification, and identification. Extraction was carried out using maceration with n- hexane. The identification has done by phytochemistry test, melting point, solubility, TLC, and IR spectroscopy. The result of research found out that the obtained compound was the steroid compound, with melt point 133-133,5 oC and had positive  reaction toward Lieberman Burchad reagents, where the Lieberman Burchad reagent resulting is green which perfectly solved in n-hexane, bit solved in methanol, and could not be solved in aceton. TLC analysis showed a stain in three scales different solvent and the result of elucidation structure in IR spectrophotometer showed that compound which get is β sitosterol.

  18. Comparison of expression of secondary metabolite biosynthesis cluster genes in Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, and A. oryzae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehrlich, Kenneth C; Mack, Brian M

    2014-06-23

    Fifty six secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene clusters are predicted to be in the Aspergillus flavus genome. In spite of this, the biosyntheses of only seven metabolites, including the aflatoxins, kojic acid, cyclopiazonic acid and aflatrem, have been assigned to a particular gene cluster. We used RNA-seq to compare expression of secondary metabolite genes in gene clusters for the closely related fungi A. parasiticus, A. oryzae, and A. flavus S and L sclerotial morphotypes. The data help to refine the identification of probable functional gene clusters within these species. Our results suggest that A. flavus, a prevalent contaminant of maize, cottonseed, peanuts and tree nuts, is capable of producing metabolites which, besides aflatoxin, could be an underappreciated contributor to its toxicity.

  19. Encryption and validation of multiple signals for optical identification systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez-Cabre, E; Millan, M S; Javidi, B

    2007-01-01

    Multifactor encryption-authentication technique reinforces optical security by allowing the simultaneous A N D-verification of more than one primary image. Instead of basing the identification on a unique signature or piece of information, our goal is to authenticate a given person, object, vehicle by the simultaneous recognition of several factors. Some of them are intrinsic to the person and object or vehicle under control. Other factors, act as keys of the authentication step. Such a system is proposed for situations such as the access control to restricted areas, where the demand of security is high. The multifactor identification method involves double random-phase encoding, fully phase-based encryption and a combined nonlinear joint transform correlator and a classical 4f-correlator for simultaneous recognition and authentication of multiple images. The encoded signal fulfils the general requirements of invisible content, extreme difficulty in counterfeiting and real-time automatic verification. Four reference double-phase encoded images are compared with the retrieved input images obtained in situ from the person or the vehicle whose authentication is wanted and from a database. A recognition step based on the correlation between the signatures and the stored references determines the authentication or rejection of the person and object under surveillance

  20. Encryption and validation of multiple signals for optical identification systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perez-Cabre, E [Universitat PoliteGcnica de Catalunya, Department Optica i Optometria, Violinista Vellsola 37, 08222 Terrassa (Spain); Millan, M S [Universitat PoliteGcnica de Catalunya, Department Optica i Optometria, Violinista Vellsola 37, 08222 Terrassa (Spain); Javidi, B [University of Connecticut, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, 371 Fairfield Road, CT 06269 Storrs (United States)

    2007-07-15

    Multifactor encryption-authentication technique reinforces optical security by allowing the simultaneous A N D-verification of more than one primary image. Instead of basing the identification on a unique signature or piece of information, our goal is to authenticate a given person, object, vehicle by the simultaneous recognition of several factors. Some of them are intrinsic to the person and object or vehicle under control. Other factors, act as keys of the authentication step. Such a system is proposed for situations such as the access control to restricted areas, where the demand of security is high. The multifactor identification method involves double random-phase encoding, fully phase-based encryption and a combined nonlinear joint transform correlator and a classical 4f-correlator for simultaneous recognition and authentication of multiple images. The encoded signal fulfils the general requirements of invisible content, extreme difficulty in counterfeiting and real-time automatic verification. Four reference double-phase encoded images are compared with the retrieved input images obtained in situ from the person or the vehicle whose authentication is wanted and from a database. A recognition step based on the correlation between the signatures and the stored references determines the authentication or rejection of the person and object under surveillance.

  1. A proteomic approach to investigating gene cluster expression and secondary metabolite functionality in Aspergillus fumigatus.

    OpenAIRE

    Owens, RA; Hammel, S; Sheridan, KJ; Jones, GW; Doyle, S

    2014-01-01

    A combined proteomics and metabolomics approach was utilised to advance the identification and characterisation of secondary metabolites in Aspergillus fumigatus. Here, implementation of a shotgun proteomic strategy led to the identification of non-redundant mycelial proteins (n = 414) from A. fumigatus including proteins typically under-represented in 2-D proteome maps: proteins with multiple transmembrane regions, hydrophobic proteins and proteins with extremes of molecular mass and pI. Ind...

  2. antiSMASH 2.0-a versatile platform for genome mining of secondary metabolite producers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blin, Kai; Medema, Marnix H.; Kazempour, Daniyal; Fischbach, Michael A.; Breitling, Rainer; Takano, Eriko; Weber, Tilmann

    Microbial secondary metabolites are a potent source of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. Genome mining of their biosynthetic gene clusters has become a key method to accelerate their identification and characterization. In 2011, we developed antiSMASH, a web-based analysis platform that

  3. Pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution and identification of putative metabolites of JI-101 - a novel triple kinase inhibitor in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurav, S D; Gilibili, R R; Jeniffer, S; Mohd, Z; Giri, S; Govindarajan, R; Srinivas, N R; Mullangi, R

    2012-01-01

    JI-101, chemically 1-[1-(2-amino-pyridin-4-ylmethyl)-1H-indol-4-yl]-3-(5-bromo-2-methoxy-phenyl)-urea hydrochloride, is a novel orally active kinase inhibitor, which has shown potent in vitro and in vivo anticancer activity against a variety of cancer cell lines and xenografts. It is currently entering Phase II clinical development for the treatment of solid tumors. The aim of the study is to assess the metabolic stability of JI-101 in various pre-clinical and human liver microsomes, to identify the major CYPs (cytochrome β450) involved in the metabolism of JI-101 and identification of putative metabolites. We have also studied the pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution and excretion of JI-101 in Sprague Dawley rats. JI-101 was found to be stable in various liver microsomes tested. JI-101 is highly permeable and not a substrate for P-gp (permeability glycoprotein). JI-101 excreted through bile along with its mono- and di-hydroxy metabolites. Following oral administration, JI-101 was rapidly absorbed, reaching Cmax within 2 h. The t½ of JI-101 with intravenous and oral route was found to be 1.75 ± 0.79 and 2.66 ± 0.13 h, respectively. The Cl and Vd by intravenous route for JI-101 were found to be 13.0 ± 2.62 mL/min/kg and 2.11 ± 1.42 L/kg, respectively. The tissue distribution of JI-101 was extensive with rapid and preferred uptake into lung tissue. Overall, the oral bioavailability of JI-101 is 55% and the primary route of elimination for JI-101 is feces. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  4. Proposal of 5-methoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine consumption biomarkers through identification of in vivo metabolites from mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fabregat-Safont, D; Barneo-Muñoz, M; Martinez-Garcia, F; Sancho, J V; Hernández, F; Ibáñez, M

    2017-07-28

    New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a new breed of synthetically produced substances designed to mimic the effects of traditional illegal drugs. Synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones are the two most common groups, which try to mimic the effects of the natural compounds 9 Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol and cathinone, respectively. Similarly, synthetic tryptamines are designer compounds which are based on the compounds psilocin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine found in some mushrooms. One of the most important tryptamine compounds found in seizures is 5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine, which has been placed as controlled substance in USA and some European countries. The control of this compound has promoted the rising of another tryptamine, the 5-methoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine, which at the time of writing this article has not been banned yet. So, it is undeniable that this new substance should be monitored. 5-methoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine has been reported by the Spanish Early Warning System and detected in our laboratory in two pill samples purchased in a local smart shop. This has promoted the need of stablishing consumption markers for this compound in consumers' urine. In the present work, the metabolism and pharmacokinetic of 5-methoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine has been studied by an in vivo approach, using adult male mice of the inbred strain C57BLJ/6. The use of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry allowed the identification of four metabolites. After the pharmacokinetic study in serum and urine, the O-demethylated metabolite and the non-metabolised parent compound are proposed as consumption markers in hydrolysed urine. Data reported in this work will help hospitals and forensic laboratories to monitor the consumption and potential intoxication cases related to this tryptamine. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Identification of metabolites of Helicid in vivo using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diao, Xinpeng; Liao, Man; Cheng, Xiaoye; Liang, Caijuan; Sun, Yupeng; Zhang, Xia; Zhang, Lantong

    2018-04-18

    Helicid is an active natural aromatic phenolic glycoside ingredient originating from well-known traditional Chinese herb medicine and has the significant effects of sedative hypnosis, anti-inflammatory analgesia and antidepressant. In this study, we analyzed the potential metabolites of Helicid in rats by multiple mass defect filter (MMDF)and dynamic background subtraction (DBS)in ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS). Moreover, we used a novel data processing method 'key product ions (KPIs)' to rapidly detect and identifymetabolites as an assistant tool. MetabolitePilot TM 2.0 software and PeakView TM 2.2 software were used for analyzing metabolites. Twenty metabolites of Helicid (including 15 phase I metabolites and 5 phase II metabolites) were detected by comparing with the blank samples, respectively. Thebiotransformationroute of Helicid was identified as demethylation, oxidation, dehydroxylation, hydrogenation, decarbonylation,glucuronide conjugation and methylation.This is the first study of simultaneously detecting and identifying Helicid metabolism in rats by employing UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS technology. This experiment not only proposed a method for rapidly detecting and identifying metabolites, but also provided useful information for further study of the pharmacology and mechanism of Helicid in vivo. Furthermore, it provided an effective method for the analysis of other aromatic phenolic glycosides metabolic components in vivo. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  6. Secondary metabolites of Antarctic fungi antagonistic to aquatic pathogenic bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Huibin

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Polar microbial derived antibiotics have potential as alternatives to traditional antibiotics in treating fish against pathogenic bacteria. In this paper, 23 strains of polar fungi were fermented to detect bacteriostatic products on three aquatic pathogenic bacteria, subsequently the active fungus was identified. It was indicated that secondary metabolites of 23 strains weredistinct; of these, the extract of strain B-7 (belonging to Bjerkandera according to molecular identification demonstrated a strong antibacterial activity to Streptococcus agalactiae, Vibrio anguillarum and Aeromonas hydrophila ATCC7966 by Kirby-Bauerpaper strip method. During one fermentation cycle, the pH curve of the fermentation liquor became lowest (4.0 on the 4th day and rose back to 7.6 finally after 5 days, The residual sugar curve was decreased before stablising on the 6th day. It is presumed that a large amount of alkaline secondary metabolites might have been produced during fermentation. This study focuses on antagonism between aquatic pathogenic bacteria and fermentation metabolites from Antarctic fungi for the first time, which may provide data on research of antibiotics against aquatic pathogenic bacteria.

  7. Metabolite profiling of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) plants transformed with an antisense chalcone synthase gene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Le Gall, G.; Metzdorff, Stine Broeng; Pedersen, Jan W.

    2005-01-01

    A metabolite profiling study has been carried out on Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. ecotype Wassilewskija and a series of transgenic lines of the ecotype transformed with a CHS (chalcone synthase) antisense construct. Compound identifications by LC/MS and H-1 NMR are discussed. The glucosinolate...

  8. Multi-level RF identification system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steele, Kerry D.; Anderson, Gordon A.; Gilbert, Ronald W.

    2004-07-20

    A radio frequency identification system having a radio frequency transceiver for generating a continuous wave RF interrogation signal that impinges upon an RF identification tag. An oscillation circuit in the RF identification tag modulates the interrogation signal with a subcarrier of a predetermined frequency and modulates the frequency-modulated signal back to the transmitting interrogator. The interrogator recovers and analyzes the subcarrier signal and determines its frequency. The interrogator generates an output indicative of the frequency of the subcarrier frequency, thereby identifying the responding RFID tag as one of a "class" of RFID tags configured to respond with a subcarrier signal of a predetermined frequency.

  9. The principles of quantification applied to in vivo proton MR spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Helms, Gunther

    2008-01-01

    Following the identification of metabolite signals in the in vivo MR spectrum, quantification is the procedure to estimate numerical values of their concentrations. The two essential steps are discussed in detail: analysis by fitting a model of prior knowledge, that is, the decomposition of the spectrum into the signals of singular metabolites; then, normalization of these signals to yield concentration estimates. Special attention is given to using the in vivo water signal as internal reference

  10. Identification Of The Epileptogenic Zone From Stereo-EEG Signals: A Connectivity-Graph Theory Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ferruccio ePanzica

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In the context of focal drug-resistant epilepsies, the surgical resection of the epileptogenic zone (EZ, the cortical region responsible for the onset, early seizures organization and propagation, may be the only therapeutic option for reducing or suppressing seizures. The rather high rate of failure in epilepsy surgery of extra-temporal epilepsies highlights that the precise identification of the EZ, mandatory objective to achieve seizure freedom, is still an unsolved problem that requires more sophisticated methods of investigation.Despite the wide range of non-invasive investigations, intracranial stereo-EEG (SEEG recordings still represent, in many patients, the gold standard for the EZ identification. In this contest, the EZ localization is still based on visual analysis of SEEG, inevitably affected by the drawback of subjectivity and strongly time-consuming. Over the last years, considerable efforts have been made to develop advanced signal analysis techniques able to improve the identification of the EZ. Particular attention has been paid to those methods aimed at quantifying and characterising the interactions and causal relationships between neuronal populations, since is nowadays well assumed that epileptic phenomena are associated with abnormal changes in brain synchronisation mechanisms, and initial evidence has shown the suitability of this approach for the EZ localisation. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the different EEG signal processing methods applied to study connectivity between distinct brain cortical regions, namely in focal epilepsies. In addition, with the aim of localizing the EZ, the approach based on graph theory will be described, since the study of the topological properties of the networks has strongly improved the study of brain connectivity mechanisms.

  11. Some Metabolites Act as Second Messengers in Yeast Chronological Aging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karamat Mohammad

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The concentrations of some key metabolic intermediates play essential roles in regulating the longevity of the chronologically aging yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These key metabolites are detected by certain ligand-specific protein sensors that respond to concentration changes of the key metabolites by altering the efficiencies of longevity-defining cellular processes. The concentrations of the key metabolites that affect yeast chronological aging are controlled spatially and temporally. Here, we analyze mechanisms through which the spatiotemporal dynamics of changes in the concentrations of the key metabolites influence yeast chronological lifespan. Our analysis indicates that a distinct set of metabolites can act as second messengers that define the pace of yeast chronological aging. Molecules that can operate both as intermediates of yeast metabolism and as second messengers of yeast chronological aging include reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH, glycerol, trehalose, hydrogen peroxide, amino acids, sphingolipids, spermidine, hydrogen sulfide, acetic acid, ethanol, free fatty acids, and diacylglycerol. We discuss several properties that these second messengers of yeast chronological aging have in common with second messengers of signal transduction. We outline how these second messengers of yeast chronological aging elicit changes in cell functionality and viability in response to changes in the nutrient, energy, stress, and proliferation status of the cell.

  12. Identification, quantification, spatiotemporal distribution and genetic variation of major latex secondary metabolites in the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale agg.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, Meret; Triebwasser-Freese, Daniella; Reichelt, Michael; Heiling, Sven; Paetz, Christian; Chandran, Jima N; Bartram, Stefan; Schneider, Bernd; Gershenzon, Jonathan; Erb, Matthias

    2015-07-01

    The secondary metabolites in the roots, leaves and flowers of the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale agg.) have been studied in detail. However, little is known about the specific constituents of the plant's highly specialized laticifer cells. Using a combination of liquid and gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, we identified and quantified the major secondary metabolites in the latex of different organs across different growth stages in three genotypes, and tested the activity of the metabolites against the generalist root herbivore Diabrotica balteata. We found that common dandelion latex is dominated by three classes of secondary metabolites: phenolic inositol esters (PIEs), triterpene acetates (TritAc) and the sesquiterpene lactone taraxinic acid β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (TA-G). Purification and absolute quantification revealed concentrations in the upper mgg(-1) range for all compound classes with up to 6% PIEs, 5% TritAc and 7% TA-G per gram latex fresh weight. Contrary to typical secondary metabolite patterns, concentrations of all three classes increased with plant age. The highest concentrations were measured in the main root. PIE profiles differed both quantitatively and qualitatively between plant genotypes, whereas TritAc and TA-G differed only quantitatively. Metabolite concentrations were positively correlated within and between the different compound classes, indicating tight biosynthetic co-regulation. Latex metabolite extracts strongly repelled D. balteata larvae, suggesting that the latex constituents are biologically active. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Power of isotopic fine structure for unambiguous determination of metabolite elemental compositions: In silico evaluation and metabolomic application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagao, Tatsuhiko; Yukihira, Daichi; Fujimura, Yoshinori; Saito, Kazunori; Takahashi, Katsutoshi; Miura, Daisuke; Wariishi, Hiroyuki

    2014-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • We developed a method to determine elemental composition of metabolites. • The method was based on mass spectral data and empirical constraints. • In the validation study, the method succeeded for 70% of detected peaks. - Abstract: In mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics studies, reference-free identification of metabolites is still a challenging issue. Previously, we demonstrated that the elemental composition (EC) of metabolites could be unambiguously determined using isotopic fine structure, observed by ultrahigh resolution MS, which provided the relative isotopic abundance (RIA) of 13 C, 15 N, 18 O, and 34 S. Herein, we evaluated the efficacy of the RIA for determining ECs based on the MS peaks of 20,258 known metabolites. The metabolites were simulated with a ≤25% error in the isotopic peak area to investigate how the error size effect affected the rate of unambiguous determination of the ECs. The simulation indicated that, in combination with reported constraint rules, the RIA led to unambiguous determination of the ECs for more than 90% of the tested metabolites. It was noteworthy that, in positive ion mode, the process could distinguish alkali metal-adduct ions ([M + Na] + and [M + K] + ). However, a significant degradation of the EC determination performance was observed when the method was applied to real metabolomic data (mouse liver extracts analyzed by infusion ESI), because of the influence of noise and bias on the RIA. To achieve ideal performance, as indicated in the simulation, we developed an additional method to compensate for bias on the measured ion intensities. The method improved the performance of the calculation, permitting determination of ECs for 72% of the observed peaks. The proposed method is considered a useful starting point for high-throughput identification of metabolites in metabolomic research

  14. In vivo metabolite-specific imaging in tumor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hurd, R.E.; Freeman, D.M.

    1988-01-01

    The authors have developed a practical method using proton MR imaging to map the level and distribution of metabolites in vivo. Of particular interest to the biochemist and the clinician is the presence of excess lactic acid in tissues, indicating hypoxia such as is found in certain solid tumors, or in ischemia that would occur during cardiac infarct or stroke. A two-dimensional double quantum coherence technique has been optimized to greatly reduce signal intensity from biologic water and to provide unambiguous editing of the lactic acid resonance from interfering lipid resonances. The method was tested using a General Electric 2.0-T CSI instrument fitted with actively shielded gradients. Two-dimensional double quantum coherence lactic acid edited images were obtained from an implanted RIF-1 tumor in C3H mice, showing heterogeneous distribution of lactic acid within the tumor. Very little lipid signal with respect to the lactic acid methyl resonance was observed. The lactic acid concentration of the tumor was determined to be 10 μmol/g wet by enzymatic assay. Metabolite-specific imaging using double quantum coherence transfer promises to yield noninvasive information about lactic acid levels and distribution in vivo at low field, relatively quickly, with low radio frequency power disposition and without the need for complex presaturation pulses

  15. Terpene metabolic engineering via nuclear or chloroplast genomes profoundly and globally impacts off-target pathways through metabolite signalling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasoreck, Elise K; Su, Jin; Silverman, Ian M; Gosai, Sager J; Gregory, Brian D; Yuan, Joshua S; Daniell, Henry

    2016-09-01

    The impact of metabolic engineering on nontarget pathways and outcomes of metabolic engineering from different genomes are poorly understood questions. Therefore, squalene biosynthesis genes FARNESYL DIPHOSPHATE SYNTHASE (FPS) and SQUALENE SYNTHASE (SQS) were engineered via the Nicotiana tabacum chloroplast (C), nuclear (N) or both (CN) genomes to promote squalene biosynthesis. SQS levels were ~4300-fold higher in C and CN lines than in N, but all accumulated ~150-fold higher squalene due to substrate or storage limitations. Abnormal leaf and flower phenotypes, including lower pollen production and reduced fertility, were observed regardless of the compartment or level of transgene expression. Substantial changes in metabolomes of all lines were observed: levels of 65-120 unrelated metabolites, including the toxic alkaloid nicotine, changed by as much as 32-fold. Profound effects of transgenesis on nontarget gene expression included changes in the abundance of 19 076 transcripts by up to 2000-fold in CN; 7784 transcripts by up to 1400-fold in N; and 5224 transcripts by as much as 2200-fold in C. Transporter-related transcripts were induced, and cell cycle-associated transcripts were disproportionally repressed in all three lines. Transcriptome changes were validated by qRT-PCR. The mechanism underlying these large changes likely involves metabolite-mediated anterograde and/or retrograde signalling irrespective of the level of transgene expression or end product, due to imbalance of metabolic pools, offering new insight into both anticipated and unanticipated consequences of metabolic engineering. © 2016 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. A simple iterative independent component analysis algorithm for vibration source signal identification of complex structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dong-Sup Lee

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Independent Component Analysis (ICA, one of the blind source separation methods, can be applied for extracting unknown source signals only from received signals. This is accomplished by finding statistical independence of signal mixtures and has been successfully applied to myriad fields such as medical science, image processing, and numerous others. Nevertheless, there are inherent problems that have been reported when using this technique: insta- bility and invalid ordering of separated signals, particularly when using a conventional ICA technique in vibratory source signal identification of complex structures. In this study, a simple iterative algorithm of the conventional ICA has been proposed to mitigate these problems. The proposed method to extract more stable source signals having valid order includes an iterative and reordering process of extracted mixing matrix to reconstruct finally converged source signals, referring to the magnitudes of correlation coefficients between the intermediately separated signals and the signals measured on or nearby sources. In order to review the problems of the conventional ICA technique and to vali- date the proposed method, numerical analyses have been carried out for a virtual response model and a 30 m class submarine model. Moreover, in order to investigate applicability of the proposed method to real problem of complex structure, an experiment has been carried out for a scaled submarine mockup. The results show that the proposed method could resolve the inherent problems of a conventional ICA technique.

  17. Identification of quinone imine containing glutathione conjugates of diclofenac in rat bile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldon, Daniel J; Teffera, Yohannes; Colletti, Adria E; Liu, Jingzhou; Zurcher, Danielle; Copeland, Katrina W; Zhao, Zhiyang

    2010-12-20

    High-resolution accurate MS with an LTQ-Orbitrap was used to identify quinone imine metabolites derived from the 5-hydroxy (5-OH) and 4 prime-hydroxy (4'-OH) glutathione conjugates of diclofenac in rat bile. The initial quinone imine metabolites formed by oxidation of diclofenac have been postulated to be reactive intermediates potentially involved in diclofenac-mediated hepatotoxicity; while these metabolites could be formed using in vitro systems, they have never been detected in vivo. This report describes the identification of secondary quinone imine metabolites derived from 5-OH and 4'-OH diclofenac glutathione conjugates in rat bile. To verify the proposed structures, the diclofenac quinone imine GSH conjugate standards were prepared synthetically and enzymatically. The novel metabolite peaks displayed the identical retention times, accurate mass MS/MS spectra, and the fragmentation patterns as the corresponding authentic standards. The formation of these secondary quinone metabolites occurs only under conditions where bile salt homeostasis was experimentally altered. Standard practice in biliary excretion experiments using bile duct-cannulated rats includes infusion of taurocholic acid and/or other bile acids to replace those lost due to continuous collection of bile; for this experiment, the rats received no replacement bile acid infusion. High-resolution accurate mass spectrometry data and comparison with chemically and enzymatically prepared quinone imines of diclofenac glutathione conjugates support the identification of these metabolites. A mechanism for the formation of these reactive quinone imine containing glutathione conjugates of diclofenac is proposed.

  18. Allosteric modulation of endogenous metabolites as an avenue for drug discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wootten, Denise; Savage, Emilia E; Valant, Celine; May, Lauren T; Sloop, Kyle W; Ficorilli, James; Showalter, Aaron D; Willard, Francis S; Christopoulos, Arthur; Sexton, Patrick M

    2012-08-01

    G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the largest family of cell surface receptors and a key drug target class. Recently, allosteric drugs that can co-bind with and modulate the activity of the endogenous ligand(s) for the receptor have become a major focus of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for the development of novel GPCR therapeutic agents. This class of drugs has distinct properties compared with drugs targeting the endogenous (orthosteric) ligand-binding site that include the ability to sculpt cellular signaling and to respond differently in the presence of discrete orthosteric ligands, a behavior termed "probe dependence." Here, using cell signaling assays combined with ex vivo and in vivo studies of insulin secretion, we demonstrate that allosteric ligands can cause marked potentiation of previously "inert" metabolic products of neurotransmitters and peptide hormones, a novel consequence of the phenomenon of probe dependence. Indeed, at the muscarinic M(2) receptor and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor, allosteric potentiation of the metabolites, choline and GLP-1(9-36)NH(2), respectively, was ~100-fold and up to 200-fold greater than that seen with the physiological signaling molecules acetylcholine and GLP-1(7-36)NH(2). Modulation of GLP-1(9-36)NH(2) was also demonstrated in ex vivo and in vivo assays of insulin secretion. This work opens up new avenues for allosteric drug discovery by directly targeting modulation of metabolites, but it also identifies a behavior that could contribute to unexpected clinical outcomes if interaction of allosteric drugs with metabolites is not part of their preclinical assessment.

  19. Differential responses of human dendritic cells to metabolites from the oral/airway microbiome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteson, K; Agrawal, S; Agrawal, A

    2017-06-01

    Small molecule metabolites that are produced or altered by host-associated microbial communities are emerging as significant immune response modifiers. However, there is a key gap in our knowledge of how oral microbial metabolites affect the immune response. Here, we examined the effects of metabolites from five bacterial strains found commonly in the oral/airway microbial communities of humans. The five strains, each isolated from cystic fibrosis patient sputum, were Pseudomonas aeruginosa FLR01 non-mucoid (P1) and FLR02 mucoid (P2) forms, Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp), S. salivarius (Ss) and Rothia mucilaginosa (Rm). The effect of bacterial metabolites on dendritic cell (DC) activation, T cell priming and cytokine secretion was determined by exposing DCs to bacterial supernatants and individual metabolites of interest. Supernatants from P1 and P2 induced high levels of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-6 from DCs and primed T cells to secrete interferon (IFN)-γ, IL-22 compared to supernatants from Sp, Ss and Rm. Investigations into the composition of supernatants using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) revealed signature metabolites for each of the strains. Supernatants from P1 and P2 contained high levels of putrescine and glucose, while Sp and Ss contained high levels of 2,3-butanediol. The individual metabolites replicated the results of whole supernatants, although the magnitudes of their effects were reduced significantly. Altogether, our data demonstrate for the first time that the signature metabolites produced by different bacteria have different effects on DC functions. The identification of signature metabolites and their effects on the host immune system can provide mechanistic insights into diseases and may also be developed as biomarkers. © 2017 British Society for Immunology.

  20. Identification of liver protein targets modified by tienilic acid metabolites using a two-dimensional Western blot-mass spectrometry approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Methogo, Ruth Menque; Dansette, Patrick M.; Klarskov, Klaus

    2007-12-01

    A combined approach based on two-dimensional electrophoresis-immuno-blotting and nanoliquid chromatography coupled on-line with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS) was used to identify proteins modified by a reactive intermediate of tienilic acid (TA). Liver homogenates from rats exposed to TA were fractionated using ultra centrifugation; four fractions were obtained and subjected to 2D electrophoresis. Following transfer to PVDF membranes, modified proteins were visualized after India ink staining, using an anti-serum raised against TA and ECL detection. Immuno-reactive spots were localized on the PVDF membrane by superposition of the ECL image, protein spots of interest were excised, digested on the membrane with trypsin followed by nLC-MS/MS analysis and protein identification. A total of 15 proteins were identified as likely targets modified by a TA reactive metabolite. These include selenium binding protein 2, senescence marker protein SMP-30, adenosine kinase, Acy1 protein, adenosylhomocysteinase, capping protein (actin filament), protein disulfide isomerase, fumarylacetoacetase, arginase chain A, ketohexokinase, proteasome endopeptidase complex, triosephosphate isomerase, superoxide dismutase, dna-type molecular chaperone hsc73 and malate dehydrogenase.

  1. A Genetic Programming Method for the Identification of Signal Peptides and Prediction of Their Cleavage Sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Lennartsson

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available A novel approach to signal peptide identification is presented. We use an evolutionary algorithm for automatic evolution of classification programs, so-called programmatic motifs. The variant of evolutionary algorithm used is called genetic programming where a population of solution candidates in the form of full computer programs is evolved, based on training examples consisting of signal peptide sequences. The method is compared with a previous work using artificial neural network (ANN approaches. Some advantages compared to ANNs are noted. The programmatic motif can perform computational tasks beyond that of feed-forward neural networks and has also other advantages such as readability. The best motif evolved was analyzed and shown to detect the h-region of the signal peptide. A powerful parallel computer cluster was used for the experiment.

  2. Untargeted metabolomic profiling plasma samples of patients with lung cancer for searching significant metabolites by HPLC-MS method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dementeva, N.; Ivanova, K.; Kokova, D.; Kurzina, I.; Ponomaryova, A.; Kzhyshkowska, J.

    2017-09-01

    Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer leading to death. Consequently, the search and the identification of the metabolites associated with the risk of developing cancer are very valuable. For the purpose, untargeted metabolic profiling of the plasma samples collected from the patients with lung cancer (n = 100) and the control group (n = 100) was conducted. After sample preparation, the plasma samples were analyzed using LC-MS method. Biostatistics methods were applied to pre-process the data for elicitation of dominating metabolites which responded to the difference between the case and the control groups. At least seven significant metabolites were evaluated and annotated. The most part of identified metabolites are connected with lipid metabolism and their combination could be useful for follow-up studies of lung cancer pathogenesis.

  3. Metabolite profiling of carbamazepine and ibuprofen in Solea senegalensis bile using high-resolution mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aceña, Jaume; Pérez, Sandra; Eichhorn, Peter; Solé, Montserrat; Barceló, Damià

    2017-09-01

    The widespread occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment has raised concerns about potential adverse effects on exposed wildlife. Very little is currently known on exposure levels and clearance mechanisms of drugs in marine fish. Within this context, our research was focused on the identification of main metabolic reactions, generated metabolites, and caused effects after exposure of fish to carbamazepine (CBZ) and ibuprofen (IBU). To this end, juveniles of Solea senegalensis acclimated to two temperature regimes of 15 and 20 °C for 60 days received a single intraperitoneal dose of these drugs. A control group was administered the vehicle (sunflower oil). Bile samples were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry on a Q Exactive (Orbitrap) system, allowing to propose plausible identities for 11 metabolites of CBZ and 13 metabolites of IBU in fish bile. In case of CBZ metabolites originated from aromatic and benzylic hydroxylation, epoxidation, and ensuing O-glucuronidation, O-methylation of a catechol-like metabolite was also postulated. Ibuprofen, in turn, formed multiple hydroxyl metabolites, O-glucuronides, and (hydroxyl)-acyl glucuronides, in addition to several taurine conjugates. Enzymatic responses after drug exposures revealed a water temperature-dependent induction of microsomal carboxylesterases. The metabolite profiling in fish bile provides an important tool for pharmaceutical exposure assessment. Graphical abstract Studies of metabolism of carbamazepine and ibuprofen in fish.

  4. Are greenhouse gas signals of Northern Hemisphere winter extra-tropical cyclone activity dependent on the identification and tracking algorithm?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ulbrich, Uwe; Grieger, Jens [Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany). Inst. of Meteorology; Leckebusch, Gregor C. [Birmingham Univ. (United Kingdom). School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences] [and others

    2013-02-15

    For Northern Hemisphere extra-tropical cyclone activity, the dependency of a potential anthropogenic climate change signal on the identification method applied is analysed. This study investigates the impact of the used algorithm on the changing signal, not the robustness of the climate change signal itself. Using one single transient AOGCM simulation as standard input for eleven state-of-the-art identification methods, the patterns of model simulated present day climatologies are found to be close to those computed from re-analysis, independent of the method applied. Although differences in the total number of cyclones identified exist, the climate change signals (IPCC SRES A1B) in the model run considered are largely similar between methods for all cyclones. Taking into account all tracks, decreasing numbers are found in the Mediterranean, the Arctic in the Barents and Greenland Seas, the mid-latitude Pacific and North America. Changing patterns are even more similar, if only the most severe systems are considered: the methods reveal a coherent statistically significant increase in frequency over the eastern North Atlantic and North Pacific. We found that the differences between the methods considered are largely due to the different role of weaker systems in the specific methods. (orig.)

  5. An intelligent signal processing and pattern recognition technique for defect identification using an active sensor network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Zhongqing; Ye, Lin

    2004-08-01

    The practical utilization of elastic waves, e.g. Rayleigh-Lamb waves, in high-performance structural health monitoring techniques is somewhat impeded due to the complicated wave dispersion phenomena, the existence of multiple wave modes, the high susceptibility to diverse interferences, the bulky sampled data and the difficulty in signal interpretation. An intelligent signal processing and pattern recognition (ISPPR) approach using the wavelet transform and artificial neural network algorithms was developed; this was actualized in a signal processing package (SPP). The ISPPR technique comprehensively functions as signal filtration, data compression, characteristic extraction, information mapping and pattern recognition, capable of extracting essential yet concise features from acquired raw wave signals and further assisting in structural health evaluation. For validation, the SPP was applied to the prediction of crack growth in an alloy structural beam and construction of a damage parameter database for defect identification in CF/EP composite structures. It was clearly apparent that the elastic wave propagation-based damage assessment could be dramatically streamlined by introduction of the ISPPR technique.

  6. Retinoic Acid Signaling in Thymic Epithelial Cells Regulates Thymopoiesis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wendland, Kerstin; Niss, Kristoffer; Kotarsky, Knut

    2018-01-01

    Despite the essential role of thymic epithelial cells (TEC) in T cell development, the signals regulating TEC differentiation and homeostasis remain incompletely understood. In this study, we show a key in vivo role for the vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid (RA), in TEC homeostasis. In the abse......Despite the essential role of thymic epithelial cells (TEC) in T cell development, the signals regulating TEC differentiation and homeostasis remain incompletely understood. In this study, we show a key in vivo role for the vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid (RA), in TEC homeostasis...

  7. Identification of di- and tri-substituted hydroxy and ketone metabolites of delta1-tetrahydrocannabinol in mouse liver.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, D J; Martin, B R; Paton, W D

    1977-08-01

    In vivo liver metabolites of delta1-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta1-THC) were examined with a gas chromatograph--mass spectrometer--computer system as trimethylsilyl (TMS), [2H9]TMS and methyloxime-TMS derivatives. In addition to the reported monohydroxy, acid, and hydroxyacid metabolites, the following multiply substituted metabolites were identified: 2'',7-, 3'', 7-, and 6beta,7-dihydroxy-delta1-THC; 2'',6alpha,7-, and 3'',6alpha,7-trihydroxy-delta1-THC; 2''-, 3''-, and 7-hydroxy-6-oxo-delta1-THC, and 2'',7- and 3'',7-dihydroxy-6-oxo-delta1-THC. The ketones and hydroxyacids were reduced to common alcohols with lithium aluminium deuteride and the number of deuterium atoms in the product was used to distinguish the metabolic alcohols from those produced by reduction.

  8. System identification by methods from the statistical signal theory, history and state of the art

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christensen, Palle; Gundersen, Vidar B.

    1999-01-01

    Condition monitoring is an important area in which the OECD Halden Reactor Project has developed several tools. This paper presents a general overview of methods utilised in diagnosis systems, signal validation systems and process optimisation systems such as EFD, Mocom, Aladdin and PEANO. An overview of lessons learned on diagnosis of technical systems with special reference to system identification is reported. The analysis of input-output behaviour by special, suitable methods may be used as a tool for diagnosis. An overview of methods for empirical modelling and data analysis and their major differences is presented. It is explained how system identification methods and transforms may be used to build models based on observed data from a system. According to the Webster dictionary diagnosis is 'Investigation or analysis of the cause or nature of a condition, situation or a problem.' By examining data collected from a process the aim is to detect abnormal conditions and if possible understand what has been the cause of the observed problem. Section 1 gives a retrospective view at the development in the field of system identification. Section 2 presents a classification of the methods, while section 3 provides some practical advice on how diagnosis can be carried out by means of system identification methods (author) (ml)

  9. Optimization of metabolite detection by quantum mechanics simulations in magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gambarota, Giulio

    2017-07-15

    Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a well established modality for investigating tissue metabolism in vivo. In recent years, many efforts by the scientific community have been directed towards the improvement of metabolite detection and quantitation. Quantum mechanics simulations allow for investigations of the MR signal behaviour of metabolites; thus, they provide an essential tool in the optimization of metabolite detection. In this review, we will examine quantum mechanics simulations based on the density matrix formalism. The density matrix was introduced by von Neumann in 1927 to take into account statistical effects within the theory of quantum mechanics. We will discuss the main steps of the density matrix simulation of an arbitrary spin system and show some examples for the strongly coupled two spin system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Identification of berberrubine metabolites in rats by using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Kun; Qiao, Miao; Chai, Liwei; Cao, Shijie; Feng, Xinchi; Ding, Liqin; Qiu, Feng

    2018-01-01

    Berberrubine, an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from many medicinal plants, possesses diverse pharmacological activities, including glucose-lowering, lipid-lowering, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor effects. This study aimed to investigate the metabolic profile of berberrubine in vivo. Therefore, a rapid and reliable method using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) and metabolynx™ software with mass defect filter (MDF) technique was developed. Plasma, bile, urine and feces samples were collected from rats after oral administration of berberrubine with a dose of 30.0mg/kg and analyzed to characterize the metabolites of berberrubine in vivo for the first time. A total of 57 metabolites were identified, including 54 metabolites in urine, 39 metabolites in plasma, 28 metabolites in bile and 18 metabolites in feces. The results indicated that demethylenation, reduction, hydroxylation, demethylation, glucuronidation, and sulfation were the major metabolic pathways of berberrubine in vivo. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. NMR-based metabolite profiling of human milk: A pilot study of methods for investigating compositional changes during lactation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Junfang; Domellöf, Magnus; Zivkovic, Angela M.; Larsson, Göran; Öhman, Anders; Nording, Malin L.

    2016-01-01

    Low-molecular-weight metabolites in human milk are gaining increasing interest in studies of infant nutrition. In the present study, the milk metabolome from a single mother was explored at different stages of lactation. Metabolites were extracted from sample aliquots using either methanol/water (MeOH/H_2O) extraction or ultrafiltration. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used for metabolite identification and quantification, and multi- and univariate statistical data analyses were used to detect changes over time of lactation. Compared to MeOH/H_2O extraction, ultrafiltration more efficiently reduced the interference from lipid and protein resonances, thereby enabling the identification and quantification of 36 metabolites. The human milk metabolomes at the early (9–24 days after delivery) and late (31–87 days after delivery) stages of lactation were distinctly different according to multi- and univariate statistics. The late lactation stage was characterized by significantly elevated concentrations of lactose, choline, alanine, glutamate, and glutamine, as well as by reduced levels of citrate, phosphocholine, glycerophosphocholine, and N-acetylglucosamine. Our results indicate that there are significant compositional changes of the human milk metabolome also in different phases of the matured lactation stage. These findings complement temporal studies on the colostrum and transitional metabolome in providing a better understanding of the nutritional variations received by an infant. - Highlights: • 36 metabolites were simultaneously quantified in human milk by NMR. • Ultrafiltration more efficiently reduces interferences than MeOH/H_2O extraction. • Compositional changes of the human milk exist during the matured lactation stage.

  12. NMR-based metabolite profiling of human milk: A pilot study of methods for investigating compositional changes during lactation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Junfang [Department of Chemistry, Umeå University (Sweden); Domellöf, Magnus [Department of Clinical Sciences, Pediatrics, Umeå University (Sweden); Zivkovic, Angela M. [Foods for Health Institute, University of California, Davis, CA (United States); Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA (United States); Larsson, Göran [Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Unit of Research, Education and Development-Östersund, Umeå University (Sweden); Öhman, Anders, E-mail: anders.ohman01@umu.se [Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Neuroscience, Umeå University (Sweden); Nording, Malin L., E-mail: malin.nording@umu.se [Department of Chemistry, Umeå University (Sweden)

    2016-01-15

    Low-molecular-weight metabolites in human milk are gaining increasing interest in studies of infant nutrition. In the present study, the milk metabolome from a single mother was explored at different stages of lactation. Metabolites were extracted from sample aliquots using either methanol/water (MeOH/H{sub 2}O) extraction or ultrafiltration. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used for metabolite identification and quantification, and multi- and univariate statistical data analyses were used to detect changes over time of lactation. Compared to MeOH/H{sub 2}O extraction, ultrafiltration more efficiently reduced the interference from lipid and protein resonances, thereby enabling the identification and quantification of 36 metabolites. The human milk metabolomes at the early (9–24 days after delivery) and late (31–87 days after delivery) stages of lactation were distinctly different according to multi- and univariate statistics. The late lactation stage was characterized by significantly elevated concentrations of lactose, choline, alanine, glutamate, and glutamine, as well as by reduced levels of citrate, phosphocholine, glycerophosphocholine, and N-acetylglucosamine. Our results indicate that there are significant compositional changes of the human milk metabolome also in different phases of the matured lactation stage. These findings complement temporal studies on the colostrum and transitional metabolome in providing a better understanding of the nutritional variations received by an infant. - Highlights: • 36 metabolites were simultaneously quantified in human milk by NMR. • Ultrafiltration more efficiently reduces interferences than MeOH/H{sub 2}O extraction. • Compositional changes of the human milk exist during the matured lactation stage.

  13. Correlation dynamics and enhanced signals for the identification of serial biomolecules and DNA bases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahmed, Towfiq; Haraldsen, Jason T; Balatsky, Alexander V; Rehr, John J; Di Ventra, Massimiliano; Schuller, Ivan

    2014-01-01

    Nanopore-based sequencing has demonstrated a significant potential for the development of fast, accurate, and cost-efficient fingerprinting techniques for next generation molecular detection and sequencing. We propose a specific multilayered graphene-based nanopore device architecture for the recognition of single biomolecules. Molecular detection and analysis can be accomplished through the detection of transverse currents as the molecule or DNA base translocates through the nanopore. To increase the overall signal-to-noise ratio and the accuracy, we implement a new ‘multi-point cross-correlation’ technique for identification of DNA bases or other molecules on the single molecular level. We demonstrate that the cross-correlations between each nanopore will greatly enhance the transverse current signal for each molecule. We implement first-principles transport calculations for DNA bases surveyed across a multilayered graphene nanopore system to illustrate the advantages of the proposed geometry. A time-series analysis of the cross-correlation functions illustrates the potential of this method for enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio. This work constitutes a significant step forward in facilitating fingerprinting of single biomolecules using solid state technology. (paper)

  14. Correlation dynamics and enhanced signals for the identification of serial biomolecules and DNA bases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Towfiq; Haraldsen, Jason T.; Rehr, John J.; Di Ventra, Massimiliano; Schuller, Ivan; Balatsky, Alexander V.

    2014-03-01

    Nanopore-based sequencing has demonstrated a significant potential for the development of fast, accurate, and cost-efficient fingerprinting techniques for next generation molecular detection and sequencing. We propose a specific multilayered graphene-based nanopore device architecture for the recognition of single biomolecules. Molecular detection and analysis can be accomplished through the detection of transverse currents as the molecule or DNA base translocates through the nanopore. To increase the overall signal-to-noise ratio and the accuracy, we implement a new ‘multi-point cross-correlation’ technique for identification of DNA bases or other molecules on the single molecular level. We demonstrate that the cross-correlations between each nanopore will greatly enhance the transverse current signal for each molecule. We implement first-principles transport calculations for DNA bases surveyed across a multilayered graphene nanopore system to illustrate the advantages of the proposed geometry. A time-series analysis of the cross-correlation functions illustrates the potential of this method for enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio. This work constitutes a significant step forward in facilitating fingerprinting of single biomolecules using solid state technology.

  15. Increasing carbon availability stimulates growth and secondary metabolites via modulation of phytohormones in winter wheat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichelt, Michael; Chowdhury, Somak; Hammerbacher, Almuth; Hartmann, Henrik

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Phytohormones play important roles in plant acclimation to changes in environmental conditions. However, their role in whole-plant regulation of growth and secondary metabolite production under increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]) is uncertain but crucially important for understanding plant responses to abiotic stresses. We grew winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) under three [CO2] (170, 390, and 680 ppm) over 10 weeks, and measured gas exchange, relative growth rate (RGR), soluble sugars, secondary metabolites, and phytohormones including abscisic acid (ABA), auxin (IAA), jasmonic acid (JA), and salicylic acid (SA) at the whole-plant level. Our results show that, at the whole-plant level, RGR positively correlated with IAA but not ABA, and secondary metabolites positively correlated with JA and JA-Ile but not SA. Moreover, soluble sugars positively correlated with IAA and JA but not ABA and SA. We conclude that increasing carbon availability stimulates growth and production of secondary metabolites via up-regulation of auxin and jasmonate levels, probably in response to sugar-mediated signalling. Future low [CO2] studies should address the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in leaf ABA and SA biosynthesis, and at the transcriptional level should focus on biosynthetic and, in particular, on responsive genes involved in [CO2]-induced hormonal signalling pathways. PMID:28159987

  16. Secondary Metabolites Produced during the Germination of Streptomyces coelicolor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matouš Čihák

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Spore awakening is a series of actions that starts with purely physical processes and continues via the launching of gene expression and metabolic activities, eventually achieving a vegetative phase of growth. In spore-forming microorganisms, the germination process is controlled by intra- and inter-species communication. However, in the Streptomyces clade, which is capable of developing a plethora of valuable compounds, the chemical signals produced during germination have not been systematically studied before. Our previously published data revealed that several secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes are expressed during germination. Therefore, we focus here on the secondary metabolite production during this developmental stage. Using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we found that the sesquiterpenoid antibiotic albaflavenone, the polyketide germicidin A, and chalcone are produced during germination of the model streptomycete, S. coelicolor. Interestingly, the last two compounds revealed an inhibitory effect on the germination process. The secondary metabolites originating from the early stage of microbial growth may coordinate the development of the producer (quorum sensing and/or play a role in competitive microflora repression (quorum quenching in their nature environments.

  17. Identification of an Epoxide Metabolite of Lycopene in Human Plasma Using 13C-Labeling and QTOF-MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cichon, Morgan J; Moran, Nancy E; Riedl, Ken M; Schwartz, Steven J; Clinton, Steven K

    2018-03-20

    The carotenoid lycopene is a bioactive component of tomatoes and is hypothesized to reduce risk of several chronic diseases, such as prostate cancer. The metabolism of lycopene is only beginning to be understood and some studies suggest that metabolites of lycopene may be partially responsible for bioactivity associated with the parent compound. The detection and characterization of these compounds in vivo is an important step in understanding lycopene bioactivity. The metabolism of lycopene likely involves both chemical and enzymatic oxidation. While numerous lycopene metabolites have been proposed, few have actually been identified in vivo following lycopene intake. Here, LC-QTOF-MS was used along with 13 C-labeling to investigate the post-prandial oxidative metabolism of lycopene in human plasma. Previously reported aldehyde cleavage products were not detected, but a lycopene 1,2-epoxide was identified as a new candidate oxidative metabolite.

  18. Metabolite ratios in 1H MR spectroscopic imaging of the prostate

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kobus, T.; Wright, A.J.; Weiland, E.; Heerschap, A.; Scheenen, T.W.J.

    2015-01-01

    In (1)H MR spectroscopic imaging ((1)H-MRSI) of the prostate the spatial distribution of the signal levels of the metabolites choline, creatine, polyamines, and citrate are assessed. The ratio of choline (plus spermine as the main polyamine) plus creatine over citrate [(Cho+(Spm+)Cr)/Cit] is derived

  19. Automatic identification of epileptic seizures from EEG signals using linear programming boosting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassan, Ahnaf Rashik; Subasi, Abdulhamit

    2016-11-01

    Computerized epileptic seizure detection is essential for expediting epilepsy diagnosis and research and for assisting medical professionals. Moreover, the implementation of an epilepsy monitoring device that has low power and is portable requires a reliable and successful seizure detection scheme. In this work, the problem of automated epilepsy seizure detection using singe-channel EEG signals has been addressed. At first, segments of EEG signals are decomposed using a newly proposed signal processing scheme, namely complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN). Six spectral moments are extracted from the CEEMDAN mode functions and train and test matrices are formed afterward. These matrices are fed into the classifier to identify epileptic seizures from EEG signal segments. In this work, we implement an ensemble learning based machine learning algorithm, namely linear programming boosting (LPBoost) to perform classification. The efficacy of spectral features in the CEEMDAN domain is validated by graphical and statistical analyses. The performance of CEEMDAN is compared to those of its predecessors to further inspect its suitability. The effectiveness and the appropriateness of LPBoost are demonstrated as opposed to the commonly used classification models. Resubstitution and 10 fold cross-validation error analyses confirm the superior algorithm performance of the proposed scheme. The algorithmic performance of our epilepsy seizure identification scheme is also evaluated against state-of-the-art works in the literature. Experimental outcomes manifest that the proposed seizure detection scheme performs better than the existing works in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and Cohen's Kappa coefficient. It can be anticipated that owing to its use of only one channel of EEG signal, the proposed method will be suitable for device implementation, eliminate the onus of clinicians for analyzing a large bulk of data manually, and

  20. Opposite Regulation of Ghrelin and Glucagon-like Peptide-1 by Metabolite G-Protein-Coupled Receptors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Engelstoft, M S; Schwartz, T W

    2016-01-01

    Gut hormones send information about incoming nutrients to the rest of the body and thereby control many aspects of metabolism. The secretion of ghrelin and glucagon-like protein (GLP)-1, two hormones with opposite secretory patterns and opposite actions on multiple targets, is controlled by a lim......Gut hormones send information about incoming nutrients to the rest of the body and thereby control many aspects of metabolism. The secretion of ghrelin and glucagon-like protein (GLP)-1, two hormones with opposite secretory patterns and opposite actions on multiple targets, is controlled...... by a limited number of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs); half of which recognize and bind dietary nutrient metabolites, metabolites generated by gut microbiota, and metabolites of the host's intermediary metabolism. Most metabolite GPCRs controlling ghrelin secretion are inhibitory, whereas all metabolite...... receptors controlling GLP-1 secretion are stimulatory. This dichotomy in metabolite sensor function, which is obtained through a combination of differential expression and cell-dependent signaling bias, offers pharmacological targets to stimulate GLP-1 and inhibit ghrelin through the same mechanism....

  1. Penicillium arizonense, a new, genome sequenced fungal species, reveals a high chemical diversity in secreted metabolites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grijseels, Sietske; Nielsen, Jens Christian; Randelovic, Milica; Nielsen, Jens; Nielsen, Kristian Fog; Workman, Mhairi; Frisvad, Jens Christian

    2016-01-01

    A new soil-borne species belonging to the Penicillium section Canescentia is described, Penicillium arizonense sp. nov. (type strain CBS 141311T = IBT 12289T). The genome was sequenced and assembled into 33.7 Mb containing 12,502 predicted genes. A phylogenetic assessment based on marker genes confirmed the grouping of P. arizonense within section Canescentia. Compared to related species, P. arizonense proved to encode a high number of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, in particular hemicellulases. Mining the genome for genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis resulted in the identification of 62 putative biosynthetic gene clusters. Extracts of P. arizonense were analysed for secondary metabolites and austalides, pyripyropenes, tryptoquivalines, fumagillin, pseurotin A, curvulinic acid and xanthoepocin were detected. A comparative analysis against known pathways enabled the proposal of biosynthetic gene clusters in P. arizonense responsible for the synthesis of all detected compounds except curvulinic acid. The capacity to produce biomass degrading enzymes and the identification of a high chemical diversity in secreted bioactive secondary metabolites, offers a broad range of potential industrial applications for the new species P. arizonense. The description and availability of the genome sequence of P. arizonense, further provides the basis for biotechnological exploitation of this species. PMID:27739446

  2. Faster metabolite (1H transverse relaxation in the elder human brain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Małgorzata Marjańska

    Full Text Available (1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS is unique among imaging modalities because signals from several metabolites are measured during a single examination period. Each metabolite reflects a distinct intracellular process. Furthermore transverse (T2 relaxation times probe the viability of the cell microenvironment, e.g., the viscosity of the cellular fluids, the microscopic susceptibility distribution within the cells, and the iron content. In this study, T2s of brain metabolites were measured in the occipital lobe of eighteen young and fourteen elderly subjects at a field strength of 4 tesla. The T2s of N-acetylaspartate, total creatine, and total choline were 23%, 16% and 10% shorter in elderly than in young subjects. The findings of this study suggest that noninvasive detection of T2 provides useful biological information on changes in the cellular microenvironment that take place during aging.

  3. NMR detected metabolites in complex natural fluids. Quinic acid in apple juice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ailiesei Gabriela Liliana

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Different types of 1D and 2D NMR experiments were used to completely characterize quinic acid and demonstrate its presence in complex mixtures. The identification of quinic acid in apple juice was done without any separation step. The NMR experiments presented in this study can be used to analyze other metabolites in different complex natural fluids, of vegetal or biological origin.

  4. A practical strategy for the characterization of ponicidin metabolites in vivo and in vitro by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS based on nontargeted SWATH data acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Weiwei; Jin, Yiran; Hou, Ludan; Ma, Yinghua; Xu, Huijun; Zhang, Kerong; Zhang, Lantong; Du, Yingfeng

    2017-10-25

    Ponicidin is an active natural ent-kaurane diterpenoid ingredient originating from many Isondon herbs and is expected to become a new anticancer agent. In this study, a practical strategy was developed for the identification of ponicidin metabolites in vivo and in vitro utilizing ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS). The analytical strategy was as follows: potential ponicidin metabolites were detected by a novel on-line data acquisition approach, i.e., sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment-ion spectra (SWATH™). Compared to the traditional information-dependent acquisition (IDA) method, SWATH™ significantly improved the hit rate of low-level or trace metabolites because it could obtain all MS/MS spectra. Moreover, many data post-processing methods were used to deduce the metabolites structures. As a result, a total of 20 metabolites were characterized in vivo and in vitro. The results showed that ponicidin could undergo general metabolic reactions, such as oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, methylation and glucuronidation. Furthermore, there was an obvious difference in the ponicidin metabolites among four species in vitro. This is the first time that the SWATH™ data acquisition mode has been used to characterize ponicidin metabolites in trace amounts or in a biological matrix. These results not only provided a better understanding of the safety and efficacy of ponicidin but also showed a valuable methodology for the identification of other ent-kaurane diterpenoid metabolites. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. In vitro characterization of potential CYP- and UGT-derived metabolites of the psychoactive drug 25B-NBOMe using LC-high resolution MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boumrah, Yacine; Humbert, Luc; Phanithavong, Melodie; Khimeche, Kamel; Dahmani, Abdallah; Allorge, Delphine

    2016-02-01

    One of the main challenges posed by the emergence of new psychoactive substances is their identification in human biological samples. Trying to detect the parent drug could lead to false-negative results when the delay between consumption and sampling has been too long. The identification of their metabolites could then improve their detection window in biological matrices. Oxidative metabolism by cytochromes P450 and glucuronidation are two major detoxification pathways in humans. In order to characterize possible CYP- and UGT-dependent metabolites of the 2-(4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxy-phenyl)-N-[(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine (25B-NBOMe), a synthetic psychoactive drug, analyses of human liver microsome (HLM) incubates were performed using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography system coupled with a quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry detector (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS). On-line analyses were performed using a Waters OASIS HLB column (30 x 2.1 mm, 20 µm) for the automatic sample loading and a Waters ACQUITY HSS C18 column (150 x 2 mm, 1.8 µm) for the chromatographic separation. Twenty-one metabolites, consisting of 12 CYP-derived and 9 UGT-derived metabolites, were identified. O-Desmethyl metabolites were the most abundant compounds after the phase I process, which appears to be in accordance with data from previously published NBOMe-intoxication case reports. Although other important metabolic transformations, such as sulfation, acetylation, methylation or glutathione conjugation, were not studied and artefactual metabolites might have been produced during the HLM incubation process, the record of all the metabolite MS spectra in our library should enable us to characterize relevant metabolites of 25B-NBOMe and allow us to detect 25B-MBOMe users. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Promising Metabolite Profiles in the Plasma and CSF of Early Clinical Parkinson's Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Stoessel

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Parkinson's disease (PD shows high heterogeneity with regard to the underlying molecular pathogenesis involving multiple pathways and mechanisms. Diagnosis is still challenging and rests entirely on clinical features. Thus, there is an urgent need for robust diagnostic biofluid markers. Untargeted metabolomics allows establishing low-molecular compound biomarkers in a wide range of complex diseases by the measurement of various molecular classes in biofluids such as blood plasma, serum, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF. Here, we applied untargeted high-resolution mass spectrometry to determine plasma and CSF metabolite profiles. We semiquantitatively determined small-molecule levels (≤1.5 kDa in the plasma and CSF from early PD patients (disease duration 0–4 years; n = 80 and 40, respectively, and sex- and age-matched controls (n = 76 and 38, respectively. We performed statistical analyses utilizing partial least square and random forest analysis with a 70/30 training and testing split approach, leading to the identification of 20 promising plasma and 14 CSF metabolites. These metabolites differentiated the test set with an AUC of 0.8 (plasma and 0.9 (CSF. Characteristics of the metabolites indicate perturbations in the glycerophospholipid, sphingolipid, and amino acid metabolism in PD, which underscores the high power of metabolomic approaches. Further studies will enable to develop a potential metabolite-based biomarker panel specific for PD.

  7. Lateralisation with magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy: an evaluation of visual and region-of-interest analysis of metabolite concentration images

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vikhoff-Baaz, B. [Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goeteborg (Sweden); Div. of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden); Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Radiation Physics; Malmgren, K. [Dept. of Neurology, Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden); Joensson, L.; Ekholm, S. [Dept. of Radiology, Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden); Starck, G. [Div. of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden); Ljungberg, M.; Forssell-Aronsson, E. [Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Radiation Physics; Uvebrant, P. [Dept. of Paediatrics, Goeteborg Univ. (Sweden)

    2001-09-01

    We carried out spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) on nine consecutive patients with temporal lobe epilepsy being assessed for epilepsy surgery, and nine neurologically healthy, age-matched volunteers. A volume of interest (VOI) was angled along the temporal horns on axial and sagittal images, and symmetrically over the temporal lobes on coronal images. Images showing the concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and of choline-containing compounds plus creatine and phosphocreatine (Cho + Cr) were used for lateralisation. We compared assessment by visual inspection and by signal analysis from regions of interest (ROI) in different positions, where side-to-side differences in NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratio were used for lateralisation. The NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratio from the different ROI was also compared with that in the brain stem to assess if the latter could be used as an internal reference, e. g., for identification of bilateral changes. The metabolite concentration images were found useful for lateralisation of temporal lobe abnormalities related to epilepsy. Visual analysis can, with high accuracy, be used routinely. ROI analysis is useful for quantifying changes, giving more quantitative information about spatial distribution and the degree of signal loss. There was a large variation in NAA/(Cho + Cr) values in both patients and volunteers. The brain stem may be used as a reference for identification of bilateral changes. (orig.)

  8. Lateralisation with magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy: an evaluation of visual and region-of-interest analysis of metabolite concentration images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vikhoff-Baaz, B.; Joensson, L.; Ekholm, S.; Starck, G.

    2001-01-01

    We carried out spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) on nine consecutive patients with temporal lobe epilepsy being assessed for epilepsy surgery, and nine neurologically healthy, age-matched volunteers. A volume of interest (VOI) was angled along the temporal horns on axial and sagittal images, and symmetrically over the temporal lobes on coronal images. Images showing the concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and of choline-containing compounds plus creatine and phosphocreatine (Cho + Cr) were used for lateralisation. We compared assessment by visual inspection and by signal analysis from regions of interest (ROI) in different positions, where side-to-side differences in NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratio were used for lateralisation. The NAA/(Cho + Cr) ratio from the different ROI was also compared with that in the brain stem to assess if the latter could be used as an internal reference, e. g., for identification of bilateral changes. The metabolite concentration images were found useful for lateralisation of temporal lobe abnormalities related to epilepsy. Visual analysis can, with high accuracy, be used routinely. ROI analysis is useful for quantifying changes, giving more quantitative information about spatial distribution and the degree of signal loss. There was a large variation in NAA/(Cho + Cr) values in both patients and volunteers. The brain stem may be used as a reference for identification of bilateral changes. (orig.)

  9. Identification of an Epoxide Metabolite of Lycopene in Human Plasma Using 13C-Labeling and QTOF-MS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morgan J. Cichon

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The carotenoid lycopene is a bioactive component of tomatoes and is hypothesized to reduce risk of several chronic diseases, such as prostate cancer. The metabolism of lycopene is only beginning to be understood and some studies suggest that metabolites of lycopene may be partially responsible for bioactivity associated with the parent compound. The detection and characterization of these compounds in vivo is an important step in understanding lycopene bioactivity. The metabolism of lycopene likely involves both chemical and enzymatic oxidation. While numerous lycopene metabolites have been proposed, few have actually been identified in vivo following lycopene intake. Here, LC-QTOF-MS was used along with 13C-labeling to investigate the post-prandial oxidative metabolism of lycopene in human plasma. Previously reported aldehyde cleavage products were not detected, but a lycopene 1,2-epoxide was identified as a new candidate oxidative metabolite.

  10. In vivo biochemistry: quantifying ion and metabolite levels in individual cells or cultures of yeast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bermejo, Clara; Ewald, Jennifer C; Lanquar, Viviane; Jones, Alexander M; Frommer, Wolf B

    2011-08-15

    Over the past decade, we have learned that cellular processes, including signalling and metabolism, are highly compartmentalized, and that relevant changes in metabolic state can occur at sub-second timescales. Moreover, we have learned that individual cells in populations, or as part of a tissue, exist in different states. If we want to understand metabolic processes and signalling better, it will be necessary to measure biochemical and biophysical responses of individual cells with high temporal and spatial resolution. Fluorescence imaging has revolutionized all aspects of biology since it has the potential to provide information on the cellular and subcellular distribution of ions and metabolites with sub-second time resolution. In the present review we summarize recent progress in quantifying ions and metabolites in populations of yeast cells as well as in individual yeast cells with the help of quantitative fluorescent indicators, namely FRET metabolite sensors. We discuss the opportunities and potential pitfalls and the controls that help preclude misinterpretation. © The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 Biochemical Society

  11. Mangiferin Improves Hepatic Lipid Metabolism Mainly Through Its Metabolite-Norathyriol by Modulating SIRT-1/AMPK/SREBP-1c Signaling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Li

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Mangiferin (MGF is a natural xanthone, with regulation effect on lipid metabolism. However, the molecular mechanism remains unclear. We purposed after oral administration, MGF is converted to its active metabolite(s, which contributes to the effects on lipid metabolism.Methods: KK-Ay mice were used to validate the effects of MGF on lipid metabolic disorders. Liver biochemical indices and gene expressions were determined. MGF metabolites were isolated from MGF administrated rat urine. Mechanism studies were carried out using HepG2 cells treated by MGF and its metabolite with or without inhibitors or small interfering RNA (siRNA. Western blot and immunoprecipitation methods were used to determine the lipid metabolism related gene expression. AMP/ATP ratios were measured by HPLC. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK activation were identified by homogeneous time resolved fluorescence (HTRF assays.Results: MGF significantly decreased liver triglyceride and free fatty acid levels, increased sirtuin-1 (SIRT-1 and AMPK phosphorylation in KK-Ay mice. HTRF studies indicated that MGF and its metabolites were not direct AMPK activators. Norathyriol, one of MGF’s metabolite, possess stronger regulating effect on hepatic lipid metabolism than MGF. The mechanism was mediated by activation of SIRT-1, liver kinase B1, and increasing the intracellular AMP level and AMP/ATP ratio, followed by AMPK phosphorylation, lead to increased phosphorylation level of sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c.Conclusion: These results provided new insight into the molecular mechanisms of MGF in protecting against hepatic lipid metabolic disorders via regulating SIRT-1/AMPK pathway. Norathyriol showed potential therapeutic in treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

  12. Lipidomic Analysis of Endocannabinoid Signaling: Targeted Metabolite Identification and Quantification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jantana Keereetaweep

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The endocannabinoids N-arachidonoylethanolamide (or anandamide, AEA and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG belong to the larger groups of N-acylethanolamines (NAEs and monoacylglycerol (MAG lipid classes, respectively. They are biologically active lipid molecules that activate G-protein-coupled cannabinoid receptors found in various organisms. After AEA and 2-AG were discovered in the 1990s, they have been extensively documented to have a broad range of physiological functions. Along with AEA, several NAEs, for example, N-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA, N-stearoylethanolamine (SEA, and N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA are also present in tissues, usually at much larger concentrations than AEA. Any perturbation that involves the endocannabinoid pathway may subsequently alter basal level or metabolism of these lipid mediators. Further, the altered levels of these molecules often reflect pathological conditions associated with tissue damage. Robust and sensitive methodologies to analyze these lipid mediators are essential to understanding how they act as endocannabinoids. The recent advances in mass spectrometry allow researchers to develop lipidomics approaches and several methodologies have been proposed to quantify endocannabinoids in various biological systems.

  13. Focused Metabolite Profiling for Dissecting Cellular and Molecular Processes of Living Organisms in Space Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-01-01

    Regulatory control in biological systems is exerted at all levels within the central dogma of biology. Metabolites are the end products of all cellular regulatory processes and reflect the ultimate outcome of potential changes suggested by genomics and proteomics caused by an environmental stimulus or genetic modification. Following on the heels of genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, metabolomics has become an inevitable part of complete-system biology because none of the lower "-omics" alone provide direct information about how changes in mRNA or protein are coupled to changes in biological function. The challenges are much greater than those encountered in genomics because of the greater number of metabolites and the greater diversity of their chemical structures and properties. To meet these challenges, much developmental work is needed, including (1) methodologies for unbiased extraction of metabolites and subsequent quantification, (2) algorithms for systematic identification of metabolites, (3) expertise and competency in handling a large amount of information (data set), and (4) integration of metabolomics with other "omics" and data mining (implication of the information). This article reviews the project accomplishments.

  14. Fast mapping of the T2 relaxation time of cerebral metabolites using proton echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Shang-Yueh; Posse, Stefan; Lin, Yi-Ru; Ko, Cheng-Wen; Otazo, Ricardo; Chung, Hsiao-Wen; Lin, Fa-Hsuan

    2007-05-01

    Metabolite T2 is necessary for accurate quantification of the absolute concentration of metabolites using long-echo-time (TE) acquisition schemes. However, lengthy data acquisition times pose a major challenge to mapping metabolite T2. In this study we used proton echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) at 3T to obtain fast T2 maps of three major cerebral metabolites: N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), creatine (Cre), and choline (Cho). We showed that PEPSI spectra matched T2 values obtained using single-voxel spectroscopy (SVS). Data acquisition for 2D metabolite maps with a voxel volume of 0.95 ml (32 x 32 image matrix) can be completed in 25 min using five TEs and eight averages. A sufficient spectral signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for T2 estimation was validated by high Pearson's correlation coefficients between logarithmic MR signals and TEs (R2 = 0.98, 0.97, and 0.95 for NAA, Cre, and Cho, respectively). In agreement with previous studies, we found that the T2 values of NAA, but not Cre and Cho, were significantly different between gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM; P PEPSI and SVS scans was less than 9%. Consistent spatial distributions of T2 were found in six healthy subjects, and disagreement among subjects was less than 10%. In summary, the PEPSI technique is a robust method to obtain fast mapping of metabolite T2. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  15. Differentiation of clobenzorex use from amphetamine abuse using the metabolite 4-hydroxyclobenzorex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valtier, S; Cody, J T

    2000-10-01

    Clobenzorex (Asenlix) is an anorectic drug metabolized by the body to amphetamine, thus causing difficulty in the interpretation of amphetamine-positive drug tests. Previous studies have shown the parent drug and several metabolites are excreted in urine. Clobenzorex itself has been detected for as long as 29 h postdose using a detection limit of 1 ng/mL. Despite this fact, several amphetamine-positive samples (> or = 500 ng/mL) contained no detectable clobenzorex. Thus, the absence of clobenzorex in the urine does not exclude the possibility of its use. To more definitively assess the possibility of clobenzorex use, evaluation of another metabolite was considered. One study reported the presence of unidentified hydroxy metabolites of clobenzorex for as long as amphetamine was detected in some subjects. To assess the viability of using a hydroxy metabolite to confirm the use of clobenzorex in samples containing amphetamine, 4-hydroxyclobenzorex was synthesized for this study. This metabolite proved to be easily detected and was typically found at levels higher than amphetamine in amphetamine-positive urines, long after clobenzorex itself was no longer detected. Samples obtained from a controlled single-dose study involving the administration of clobenzorex (30 mg) were analyzed for the presence of the 4-hydroxy metabolite. The analytical procedure used acid hydrolysis followed by liquid-liquid extraction and analysis with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry by monitoring ions at m/z 125, 330, and 364. 4-Hydroxyclobenzorex and its 3-Cl regioisomer were used in the identification and quantitation of the metabolite. Peak concentrations of 4-hydroxyclobenzorex were found at approximately 1:30-5:00 h postdose and ranged from approximately 5705 to 88,410 ng/mL. Most importantly, however, all samples that contained amphetamine at > or = 500 ng/mL also contained detectable amounts of this hydroxy metabolite (LOD 10 ng/mL), making it a valuable tool in differentiating use

  16. Numerical Signal Analysis of Thermo-Cyclically Operated MOG Gas Sensor Arrays for Early Identification of Emissions from Overloaded Electric Cables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rolf Seifert

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available A thermo-cyclically operated multi metal oxide gas sensor (MOG array is introduced together with a novel signal analysis approach (SimSens for identifying the emissions from overheated isolation cable materials thereby detecting the fires originated in electrical cabinets at early stages. The MOG array can yield specific conductance signatures appropriate to specifically identify gases. The obtained results bear good capability for detection and identification of pyrolysis gas emissions at relatively low sample heating temperatures even before a visible color-change of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC-isolation material. The dynamic conductance signals were evaluated using SimSens, a numerical analysis tool designed for simultaneous evaluation of conductance profiles. The results show promising pyrolysis gas identification and concentration determination capabilities in relation to the conductance profile shapes of model gases like carbon monoxide (CO and propene.

  17. R-Limonene metabolism in humans and metabolite kinetics after oral administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Lukas; Göen, Thomas

    2017-03-01

    We studied the R-limonene (LMN) metabolism and elimination kinetics in a human in vivo study. Four volunteers were orally exposed to a single LMN dose of 100-130 µg kg -1 bw. In each case, one pre-exposure and subsequently all 24 h post-exposure urine samples were collected. From two subjects, blood samples were drawn up to 5 h after exposure. The parent compound was analysed in blood using headspace GC-MS. The metabolites cis- and trans-carveol (cCAR), perillyl alcohol (POH), perillic acid (PA), limonene-1,2-diol (LMN-1,2-OH), and limonene-8,9-diol (LMN-8,9-OH) were quantified in both blood and urine using GC-PCI-MS/MS. Moreover, GC-PCI-MS full-scan experiments were applied for identification of unknown metabolites in urine. In both matrices, metabolites reached maximum concentrations 1-2 h post-exposure followed by rapid elimination with half-lives of 0.7-2.5 h. In relation to the other metabolites, LMN-1,2-OH was eliminated slowest. Nonetheless, overall renal metabolite elimination was completed within the 24-h observation period. The metabolite amounts excreted via urine corresponded to 0.2 % (cCAR), 0.2 % (tCAR), <0.1 % (POH), 2.0 % (PA), 4.3 % (LMN-1,2-OH), and 32 % (LMN-8,9-OH) of the orally administered dose. GC-PCI-MS full-scan analyses revealed dihydroperillic acid (DHPA) as an additional LMN metabolite. DHPA was estimated to account for 5 % of the orally administered dose. The study revealed that human LMN metabolism proceeds fast and is characterised by oxidation mainly of the exo-cyclic double bond but also of the endo-cyclic double bond and of the methyl side chain. The study results may support the prediction of the metabolism of other terpenes or comparable chemical structures.

  18. ECG signal processing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    2009-01-01

    A system extracts an ECG signal from a composite signal (308) representing an electric measurement of a living subject. Identification means (304) identify a plurality of temporal segments (309) of the composite signal corresponding to a plurality of predetermined segments (202,204,206) of an ECG

  19. Digital signal processing applied to crystal identification in Positron Emission Tomography dedicated to small animals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fontaine, Rejean; Viscogliosi, Nicolas; Semmaoui, Hicham; Belanger, Francois; Lemieux, Francois; Tetrault, Marc-Andre; Michaud, Jean-Baptiste; Berard, Philippe; Cadorette, Jules; Pepin, Catherine M.; Lecomte, Roger

    2007-01-01

    The recent introduction of all-digital electronic architecture in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners, enables new paradigms to be explored for extracting relevant information from the detector signals, such as energy, time and crystal identification. The LabPET TM small animal scanner, which implements free-running 45-MHz sampling directly at the output of the charge sensitive preamplifiers, provides an excellent platform to test such advanced digital algorithms. A real-time identification method, based on an Auto-Regressive Moving-Average (ARMA) scheme, was tested for discriminating between LYSO (t r ∼40 ns) and LGSO (t r ∼65 ns) scintillators in phoswich detectors, coupled to a single Avalanche Photodiode (APD). Even with a low energy threshold of 250 keV applied individually, error rates 10%, typically with conventional analog pulse shape discrimination techniques. Such digital crystal identification techniques can be readily implemented with phoswich detectors for improving spatial resolution in PET, either by increasing crystal pixellization or by mitigating parallax errors through depth-of-interaction determination. It also allows to reduce the event rate presented to the real-time coincidence engine by applying a low energy limit at the crystal granularity and rejecting more Compton photons

  20. Identification of rotundic acid metabolites after oral administration to rats and comparison with the biotransformation by Syncephalastrum racemosum AS 3.264.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Hui; Yang, Bao; Cao, Di; Zhou, Lian; Wang, Qing; Rong, Li; Zhou, Xinghong; Jin, Jing; Zhao, Zhongxiang

    2018-02-20

    The objective of this study was to identify the metabolites of rotundic acid after oral administration to rats and compare the similarities with its biotransformation by Syncephalastrum racemosum AS 3.264 using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry. A total of fourteen metabolites were determined based on the mass spectrometry and chromatographic behaviors, among which eleven (M1-M3, M7-M14) and six (M2, M4-M8) metabolites were identified in rats and S. racemosum, respectively. Three identical metabolites (M2, M7 and M8) were found in rats and S. racemosum, indicating that there were metabolic similarities. Moreover, to confirm the results of mass spectrometry, three (M2, M4 and M7) metabolites were obtained by the means of amplifying incubation and their structures were determined by various spectroscopic analyses, and M4 was proved to be a previously undescribed compound. This results showed that in vitro assisted preparation by microbial transformation is a feasible and effective method of obtaining metabolites which are in low amounts and difficult to be prepared in vivo. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Metabolic fate of dietary carnitine in human adults: Identification and quantification of urinary and fecal metabolites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rebouche, C.J.; Chenard, C.A.

    1991-01-01

    Results of kinetic and pharmacokinetic studies have suggested that dietary carnitine is not totally absorbed and is in part degraded in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. To determine the metabolic fate of dietary carnitine in humans, we administered orally a tracer dose of methyl- 3 H L-carnitine with a meal to subjects who had been adapted to a low-carnitine diet or a high-carnitine diet. Urinary and fecal excretion of radiolabeled carnitine and metabolites was monitored for 5 to 11 d following administration of the test dose. Total radioactive metabolites excreted ranged from 13 to 34% (low carnitine diet) and 27 to 46% (high carnitine diet) of the ingested tracer. Major metabolites found were [ 3 H]trimethylamine N-oxide (8 to 39% of the administered dose; excreted primarily in urine) and [ 3 H]gamma-butyrobetaine (0.09 to 8% of the administered dose; excreted primarily in feces). Urinary excretion of total carnitine was 42 to 95% (high carnitine diet) and 190 to 364% (low carnitine diet) of intake. These results indicate that oral carnitine is 54 to 87% bioavailable from normal Western diets; the percentage of intake absorbed is related to the quantity ingested

  2. Identification of metabolites in human and rat urine after oral administration of Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang granule using ultra high performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Lei; Zhang, Qiang; Qi, Wen; Yan, Shuai; Qu, Jialin; Makino, Toshiaki; Yuan, Dan

    2017-09-01

    Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang is a traditional Chinese formula used for the treatment of cold syndrome, bronchitis, and nasal allergies for thousands of years. However, the in vivo integrated metabolism of its multiple components and the active chemical constituents of Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang remain unknown. In this study, a method using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry was established for the detection and identification of the metabolites in human and rat urine after oral administration of Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang. A total of 19 compounds were detected or tentatively identified in human urine samples, including eight prototypes and 11 metabolites. Also, a total of 50 compounds were detected or tentatively identified in rat urine samples, including 15 prototypes and 35 metabolites detected with either a highly sensitive extracted ion chromatogram method or the MS E determination using Mass Fragment software. Our results indicated that phase Ⅱ reactions (e.g. glucuronidation and sulfation) were the main metabolic pathways of flavones, while phase I reactions (e.g. demethylation and hydroxylation) were the major metabolic reaction for alkaloids, lignans, and ginger essential oil. This investigation provided important structural information on the metabolism of Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang and provided evidence to obtain a more comprehensive metabolic profile. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Mass Spectra-Based Framework for Automated Structural Elucidation of Metabolome Data to Explore Phytochemical Diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsuda, Fumio; Nakabayashi, Ryo; Sawada, Yuji; Suzuki, Makoto; Hirai, Masami Y.; Kanaya, Shigehiko; Saito, Kazuki

    2011-01-01

    A novel framework for automated elucidation of metabolite structures in liquid chromatography–mass spectrometer metabolome data was constructed by integrating databases. High-resolution tandem mass spectra data automatically acquired from each metabolite signal were used for database searches. Three distinct databases, KNApSAcK, ReSpect, and the PRIMe standard compound database, were employed for the structural elucidation. The outputs were retrieved using the CAS metabolite identifier for identification and putative annotation. A simple metabolite ontology system was also introduced to attain putative characterization of the metabolite signals. The automated method was applied for the metabolome data sets obtained from the rosette leaves of 20 Arabidopsis accessions. Phenotypic variations in novel Arabidopsis metabolites among these accessions could be investigated using this method. PMID:22645535

  4. Mass spectra-based framework for automated structural elucidation of metabolome data to explore phytochemical diversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fumio eMatsuda

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available A novel framework for automated elucidation of metabolite structures in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer (LC-MS metabolome data was constructed by integrating databases. High-resolution tandem mass spectra data automatically acquired from each metabolite signal were used for database searches. Three distinct databases, KNApSAcK, ReSpect, and the PRIMe standard compound database, were employed for the structural elucidation. The outputs were retrieved using the CAS metabolite identifier for identification and putative annotation. A simple metabolite ontology system was also introduced to attain putative characterization of the metabolite signals. The automated method was applied for the metabolome data sets obtained from the rosette leaves of 20 Arabidopsis accessions. Phenotypic variations in novel Arabidopsis metabolites among these accessions could be investigated using this method.

  5. Non-invasive quantitation of phosphorus metabolites in human brain and brain tumors by magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naruse, Shoji; Higuchi, Toshihiro; Horikawa, Yoshiharu; Tanaka, Chuzo; Roth, K.; Hubesch, B.; Meyerhoff, D.J.; Weiner, M.W.

    1989-01-01

    In obtaining localized magnetic resonance spectra in the clinical setting, the exact determination of volume of interest (VOI), the relative sensitivity of detection within the VOI, the inhomogeneity of B 1 field, the Q factor of the coil, and saturation factors should be considered. Taking these items into account, a quantitative method for calculating the absolute amount of phosphorus metabolites was developed. Using this method, phosphorus metabolites in the brain were determined in 15 patients with brain tumors - meningioma (8) and astrocytoma (7), and 10 normal volunteers. The integrals for metabolite signals were determined by using the curve-fitting software. The concentrations for ATP, PCr, PDE, inorganic orthophosphate (Pi), and phosphomonosters (PME) were 2.5, 4.9, 11.3, 1.9 and 3.9 mM, respectively, in the normal brain. For the brain tumors, phosphorus metabolites were decreased, except for Pi and PME. These results encourage the clinical use of this method in the quantitative analysis of metabolites of the diseased brain. (Namekawa, K)

  6. PageRank-based identification of signaling crosstalk from transcriptomics data: the case of Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omranian, Nooshin; Mueller-Roeber, Bernd; Nikoloski, Zoran

    2012-04-01

    The levels of cellular organization, from gene transcription to translation to protein-protein interaction and metabolism, operate via tightly regulated mutual interactions, facilitating organismal adaptability and various stress responses. Characterizing the mutual interactions between genes, transcription factors, and proteins involved in signaling, termed crosstalk, is therefore crucial for understanding and controlling cells' functionality. We aim at using high-throughput transcriptomics data to discover previously unknown links between signaling networks. We propose and analyze a novel method for crosstalk identification which relies on transcriptomics data and overcomes the lack of complete information for signaling pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our method first employs a network-based transformation of the results from the statistical analysis of differential gene expression in given groups of experiments under different signal-inducing conditions. The stationary distribution of a random walk (similar to the PageRank algorithm) on the constructed network is then used to determine the putative transcripts interrelating different signaling pathways. With the help of the proposed method, we analyze a transcriptomics data set including experiments from four different stresses/signals: nitrate, sulfur, iron, and hormones. We identified promising gene candidates, downstream of the transcription factors (TFs), associated to signaling crosstalk, which were validated through literature mining. In addition, we conduct a comparative analysis with the only other available method in this field which used a biclustering-based approach. Surprisingly, the biclustering-based approach fails to robustly identify any candidate genes involved in the crosstalk of the analyzed signals. We demonstrate that our proposed method is more robust in identifying gene candidates involved downstream of the signaling crosstalk for species for which large transcriptomics data sets

  7. Advances in methods for identification and characterization of plant transporter function

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Bo; Xu, Deyang; Halkier, Barbara Ann

    2017-01-01

    Transport proteins are crucial for cellular function at all levels. Numerous importers and exporters facilitate transport of a diverse array of metabolites and ions intra- and intercellularly. Identification of transporter function is essential for understanding biological processes at both......-based approaches. In this review, we highlight examples that illustrate how new technology and tools have advanced identification and characterization of plant transporter functions....

  8. Complicating factors in safety testing of drug metabolites: Kinetic differences between generated and preformed metabolites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prueksaritanont, Thomayant; Lin, Jiunn H.; Baillie, Thomas A.

    2006-01-01

    This paper aims to provide a scientifically based perspective on issues surrounding the proposed toxicology testing of synthetic drug metabolites as a means of ensuring adequate nonclinical safety evaluation of drug candidates that generate metabolites considered either to be unique to humans or are present at much higher levels in humans than in preclinical species. We put forward a number of theoretical considerations and present several specific examples where the kinetic behavior of a preformed metabolite given to animals or humans differs from that of the corresponding metabolite generated endogenously from its parent. The potential ramifications of this phenomenon are that the results of toxicity testing of the preformed metabolite may be misleading and fail to characterize the true toxicological contribution of the metabolite when formed from the parent. It is anticipated that such complications would be evident in situations where (a) differences exist in the accumulation of the preformed versus generated metabolites in specific tissues, and (b) the metabolite undergoes sequential metabolism to a downstream product that is toxic, leading to differences in tissue-specific toxicity. Owing to the complex nature of this subject, there is a need to treat drug metabolite issues in safety assessment on a case-by-case basis, in which a knowledge of metabolite kinetics is employed to validate experimental paradigms that entail administration of preformed metabolites to animal models

  9. Identification of near surface events using athermal phonon signals in low temperature Ge bolometers for the EDELWEISS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marnieros, S.; Juillard, A.; Berge, L.; Collin, S.; Dumoulin, L.

    2004-01-01

    We present a study of a 100 g low temperature Ge detector, allowing identification of surface events down to the energy threshold. The bolometer is fitted with segmented electrodes and two NbSi Anderson insulator thermometric layers. Analysis of the athermal signals amplitudes allows us to identify and reject all events occurring in the first millimeter under the electrodes

  10. Identification of near surface events using athermal phonon signals in low temperature Ge bolometers for the EDELWEISS experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marnieros, S. E-mail: marniero@csnsm.in2p3.fr; Juillard, A.; Berge, L.; Collin, S.; Dumoulin, L

    2004-03-11

    We present a study of a 100 g low temperature Ge detector, allowing identification of surface events down to the energy threshold. The bolometer is fitted with segmented electrodes and two NbSi Anderson insulator thermometric layers. Analysis of the athermal signals amplitudes allows us to identify and reject all events occurring in the first millimeter under the electrodes.

  11. An Interspecies Signaling System Mediated by Fusaric Acid Has Parallel Effects on Antifungal Metabolite Production by Pseudomonas protegens Strain Pf-5 and Antibiosis of Fusarium spp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quecine, Maria Carolina; Kidarsa, Teresa A.; Goebel, Neal C.; Shaffer, Brenda T.; Henkels, Marcella D.; Zabriskie, T. Mark

    2015-01-01

    Pseudomonas protegens strain Pf-5 is a rhizosphere bacterium that suppresses soilborne plant diseases and produces at least seven different secondary metabolites with antifungal properties. We derived mutants of Pf-5 with single and multiple mutations in biosynthesis genes for seven antifungal metabolites: 2,4-diacetylphoroglucinol (DAPG), pyrrolnitrin, pyoluteorin, hydrogen cyanide, rhizoxin, orfamide A, and toxoflavin. These mutants were tested for inhibition of the pathogens Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi. Rhizoxin, pyrrolnitrin, and DAPG were found to be primarily responsible for fungal antagonism by Pf-5. Previously, other workers showed that the mycotoxin fusaric acid, which is produced by many Fusarium species, including F. verticillioides, inhibited the production of DAPG by Pseudomonas spp. In this study, amendment of culture media with fusaric acid decreased DAPG production, increased pyoluteorin production, and had no consistent influence on pyrrolnitrin or orfamide A production by Pf-5. Fusaric acid also altered the transcription of biosynthetic genes, indicating that the mycotoxin influenced antibiotic production by Pf-5 at the transcriptional level. Addition of fusaric acid to the culture medium reduced antibiosis of F. verticillioides by Pf-5 and derivative strains that produce DAPG but had no effect on antibiosis by Pf-5 derivatives that suppressed F. verticillioides due to pyrrolnitrin or rhizoxin production. Our results demonstrated the importance of three compounds, rhizoxin, pyrrolnitrin, and DAPG, in suppression of Fusarium spp. by Pf-5 and confirmed that an interspecies signaling system mediated by fusaric acid had parallel effects on antifungal metabolite production and antibiosis by the bacterial biological control organism. PMID:26655755

  12. UV-B Irradiation Changes Specifically the Secondary Metabolite Profile in Broccoli Sprouts: Induced Signaling Overlaps with Defense Response to Biotic Stressors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mewis, Inga; Schreiner, Monika; Nguyen, Chau Nhi; Krumbein, Angelika; Ulrichs, Christian; Lohse, Marc; Zrenner, Rita

    2012-01-01

    Only a few environmental factors have such a pronounced effect on plant growth and development as ultraviolet light (UV). Concerns have arisen due to increased UV-B radiation reaching the Earth’s surface as a result of stratospheric ozone depletion. Ecologically relevant low to moderate UV-B doses (0.3–1 kJ m–2 d–1) were applied to sprouts of the important vegetable crop Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli), and eco-physiological responses such as accumulation of non-volatile secondary metabolites were related to transcriptional responses with Agilent One-Color Gene Expression Microarray analysis using the 2×204 k format Brassica microarray. UV-B radiation effects have usually been linked to increases in phenolic compounds. As expected, the flavonoids kaempferol and quercetin accumulated in broccoli sprouts (the aerial part of the seedlings) 24 h after UV-B treatment. A new finding is the specific UV-B-mediated induction of glucosinolates (GS), especially of 4-methylsulfinylbutyl GS and 4-methoxy-indol-3-ylmethyl GS, while carotenoids and Chl levels remained unaffected. Accumulation of defensive GS metabolites was accompanied by increased expression of genes associated with salicylate and jasmonic acid signaling defense pathways and up-regulation of genes responsive to fungal and bacterial pathogens. Concomitantly, plant pre-exposure to moderate UV-B doses had negative effects on the performance of the caterpillar Pieris brassicae (L.) and on the population growth of the aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer). Moreover, insect-specific induction of GS in broccoli sprouts was affected by UV-B pre-treatment. PMID:22773681

  13. Bile Acid Metabolism and Signaling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, John Y. L.

    2015-01-01

    Bile acids are important physiological agents for intestinal nutrient absorption and biliary secretion of lipids, toxic metabolites, and xenobiotics. Bile acids also are signaling molecules and metabolic regulators that activate nuclear receptors and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling to regulate hepatic lipid, glucose, and energy homeostasis and maintain metabolic homeostasis. Conversion of cholesterol to bile acids is critical for maintaining cholesterol homeostasis and preventing accumulation of cholesterol, triglycerides, and toxic metabolites, and injury in the liver and other organs. Enterohepatic circulation of bile acids from the liver to intestine and back to the liver plays a central role in nutrient absorption and distribution, and metabolic regulation and homeostasis. This physiological process is regulated by a complex membrane transport system in the liver and intestine regulated by nuclear receptors. Toxic bile acids may cause inflammation, apoptosis, and cell death. On the other hand, bile acid-activated nuclear and GPCR signaling protects against inflammation in liver, intestine, and macrophages. Disorders in bile acid metabolism cause cholestatic liver diseases, dyslipidemia, fatty liver diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes. Bile acids, bile acid derivatives, and bile acid sequestrants are therapeutic agents for treating chronic liver diseases, obesity, and diabetes in humans. PMID:23897684

  14. Metabolites from roots of Colubrina greggii var. yucatanensis and evaluation of their antiprotozoan, cytotoxic and antiproliferative activities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dominguez-Carmona, Dafne B.; Escalante-Erosa, Fabiola; Garcia-Sosa, Karlina; Pena-Rodriguez, Luis M.

    2011-01-01

    Purification of the root extract of Colubrina greggii var. yucatanensis resulted in the isolation and identification of 3-O-acetyl ceanothic acid as a new natural ceanothane triterpene, together with the known metabolites ceanothic acid, cenothenic acid, betulinic acid, discarine B and chrysophanein. The natural products and the semisynthetic esters acetyl dimethyl ceanothate, dimethyl ceanothate and chrysophanein peracetate showed moderate to low leishmanicidal and trypanocidal activities. None of the metabolites showed cytotoxic or antiproliferative effects. The results also suggested that betulinic acid contributes to the antiplasmodial activity originally detected in the crude root extract of C. greggii var. yucatanensis. (author)

  15. Metabolites from roots of Colubrina greggii var. yucatanensis and evaluation of their antiprotozoan, cytotoxic and antiproliferative activities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dominguez-Carmona, Dafne B.; Escalante-Erosa, Fabiola; Garcia-Sosa, Karlina; Pena-Rodriguez, Luis M., E-mail: lmanuel@cicy.m [Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan (Mexico). Unidad de Biotecnologia; Ruiz-Pinell, Grace; Gutierrez-Yapu, David; Gimenez-Turba, Alberto [Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz (Bolivia, Plurinational State of). Inst. de Investigaciones Farmaco-Bioquimicas; Chan-Bacab, Manuel J. [Universidad Autonoma de Campeche (Mexico). Dept. de Microbiologia Ambiental y Biotecnologia; Moo-Puc, Rosa E. [Centro Medico Ignacio Garcia Tellez, Col. Industrial, Merida, Yucatan (Mexico). Unidad de Investigacion Medica Yucatan y Unidad Medica de Alta Especialidad; Veitch, Nigel C. [Jodrell Laboratory, Richmond, Surrey (United Kingdom)

    2011-07-01

    Purification of the root extract of Colubrina greggii var. yucatanensis resulted in the isolation and identification of 3-O-acetyl ceanothic acid as a new natural ceanothane triterpene, together with the known metabolites ceanothic acid, cenothenic acid, betulinic acid, discarine B and chrysophanein. The natural products and the semisynthetic esters acetyl dimethyl ceanothate, dimethyl ceanothate and chrysophanein peracetate showed moderate to low leishmanicidal and trypanocidal activities. None of the metabolites showed cytotoxic or antiproliferative effects. The results also suggested that betulinic acid contributes to the antiplasmodial activity originally detected in the crude root extract of C. greggii var. yucatanensis. (author)

  16. Identification of a novel immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif-containing molecule, STAM2, by mass spectrometry and its involvement in growth factor and cytokine receptor signaling pathways

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pandey, A; Fernandez, M M; Steen, H

    2000-01-01

    In an effort to clone novel tyrosine-phosphorylated substrates of the epidermal growth factor receptor, we have initiated an approach coupling affinity purification using anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies to mass spectrometry-based identification. Here, we report the identification of a signaling m...

  17. Characterization of forsythoside A metabolites in rats by a combination of UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer with multiple data processing techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fei; Cao, Guang-Shang; Li, Yun; Xu, Lu-Lu; Wang, Zhi-Bin; Liu, Ying; Lu, Jian-Qiu; Zhang, Jia-Yu

    2018-05-01

    Forsythoside A (FTA), the main active constituent isolated from Fructus Forsythiae, has various biological functions including anti-oxidant, anti-viral and anti-microbial activities. However, while research on FTA has been mainly focused on the treatment of diseases on a material basis, FTA metabolites in vivo have not been comprehensively evaluated. Here, a rapid and sensitive method using a UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer with multiple data processing techniques including high-resolution extracted ion chromatograms, multiple mass defect filters and diagnostic product ions was developed for the screening and identification of FTA metabolites in rats. As the result, a total of 43 metabolites were identified in biological samples including 42 metabolites in urine, 22 metabolites in plasma and 15 metabolites in feces. These results demonstrated that FTA underwent a series of in vivo metabolic reactions including methylation, dimethylation, sulfation, glucuronidation, diglucuronidation, cysteine conjugation and their composite reactions. The research enhanced our understanding of FTA metabolism and built a foundation for further toxicity and safety studies. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. The role of arachidonic acid metabolites in signal transduction in an identified neural network mediating presynaptic inhibition in Aplysia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shapiro, E.; Piomelli, D.; Feinmark, S.; Vogel, S.; Chin, G.; Schwartz, J.H.

    1988-01-01

    Neuromodulation is a form of signal transduction that results in the biochemical control of neuronal excitability. Many neurotransmitters act through second messengers, and the examination of biochemical cascades initiated by neurotransmitter-receptor interaction has advanced the understanding of how information is acquired and stored in the nervous system. For example, 5-HT and other facilitory transmitters increase cAMP in sensory neurons of Aplysia, which enhances excitability and facilitates transmitter output. The authors have examined the role of arachidonic acid metabolites in a neuronal circuit mediating presynaptic inhibition. L32 cells are a cluster of putative histaminergic neurons that each make dual-action synaptic potentials onto two follower neurons, L10 and L14. The synaptic connections, biophysical properties, and roles in behavior of the L10 and L14 follower cells have been well studied. The types of ion channels causing each component of the L32-L10 and L32-L14 dual actions have been characterized and application of histamine mimics the effects of stimulating L32 in both L10 and L14

  19. Metabolism of albendazole, ricobendazole and flubendazole in Haemonchus contortus adults: Sex differences, resistance-related differences and the identification of new metabolites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucie Raisová Stuchlíková

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Haemonchus contortus (family Trichostrongylidae, Nematoda, a hematophagous gastrointestinal parasite found in small ruminants, has a great ability to develop resistance to anthelmintic drugs. We studied the biotransformation of the three benzimidazole anthelmintics: albendazole (ABZ, ricobendazole (albendazole S-oxide; RCB and flubendazole (FLU in females and males of H. contortus in both a susceptible ISE strain and resistant IRE strain. The ex vivo cultivation of living nematodes in culture medium with or without the anthelmintics was used. Ultrasensitive UHPLC/MS/MS analysis revealed 9, 7 and 12 metabolites of ABZ, RCB and FLU, respectively, with most of these metabolites now described in the present study for the first time in H. contortus. The structure of certain metabolites shows the presence of biotransformation reactions not previously reported in nematodes. There were significant qualitative and semi-quantitative differences in the metabolites formed by male and female worms. In most cases, females metabolized drugs more extensively than males. Adults of the IRE strain were able to form many more metabolites of all the drugs than adults of the ISE strain. Some metabolites were even found only in adults of the IRE strain. These findings suggest that increased drug metabolism may play a role in resistance to benzimidazole drugs in H. contortus. Keywords: Drug resistance, Drug metabolism, Anthelmintics, Benzimidazole, Nematode

  20. Synthetic signal injection using inductive coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marro, Kenneth I.; Lee, Donghoon; Shankland, Eric G.; Mathis, Clinton M.; Hayes, Cecil E.; Amara, Catherine E.; Kushmerick, Martin J.

    2008-09-01

    Conversion of MR signals into units of metabolite concentration requires a very high level of diligence to account for the numerous parameters and transformations that affect the proportionality between the quantity of excited nuclei in the acquisition volume and the integrated area of the corresponding peak in the spectrum. We describe a method that eases this burden with respect to the transformations that occur during and following data acquisition. The conceptual approach is similar to the ERETIC method, which uses a pre-calibrated, artificial reference signal as a calibration factor to accomplish the conversion. The distinguishing feature of our method is that the artificial signal is introduced strictly via induction, rather than radiation. We tested a prototype probe that includes a second RF coil rigidly positioned close to the receive coil so that there was constant mutual inductance between them. The artificial signal was transmitted through the second RF coil and acquired by the receive coil in parallel with the real signal. Our results demonstrate that the calibration factor is immune to changes in sample resistance. This is a key advantage because it removes the cumbersome requirement that coil loading conditions be the same for the calibration sample as for experimental samples. The method should be adaptable to human studies and could allow more practical and accurate quantification of metabolite content.

  1. Mutagenic azide metabolite is azidoalanine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Owais, W.M.; Rosichan, J.L.; Ronald, R.C.; Kleinhofs, A.; Nilan, R.A.

    1981-01-01

    Sodium axide produces high mutation rates in a number of species. Azide mutagenicity is mediated through a metabolite in barley and bacteria. Many studies showed that azide affects the L-cysteine biosynthesis pathway. Cell-free extracts of Salmonella typhimurium convert azide and O-acetylserine to the mutagenic metabolite. O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase was identified as the enzyme responsible for the metabolite biosynthesis. To confirm the conclusion that the azide metabolite is formed through the β-substitution pathway of L-cysteine, we radioactively labeled the azide metabolite using 14 C-labeled precursors. Moreover, the mutagenic azide metabolite was purified and identified as azidoalanine based on mass spectroscopy and elemental analysis. 26 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

  2. Digital signal processing applied to crystal identification in Positron Emission Tomography dedicated to small animals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fontaine, Rejean [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada)]. E-mail: Rejean.Fontaine@Usherbrooke.ca; Viscogliosi, Nicolas [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Semmaoui, Hicham [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Belanger, Francois [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Lemieux, Francois [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Tetrault, Marc-Andre [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Michaud, Jean-Baptiste [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Berard, Philippe [Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Cadorette, Jules [Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Pepin, Catherine M. [Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada); Lecomte, Roger [Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Universite de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. Universite, Sherbrooke, Que., J1 K 2R1 (Canada)

    2007-02-01

    The recent introduction of all-digital electronic architecture in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners, enables new paradigms to be explored for extracting relevant information from the detector signals, such as energy, time and crystal identification. The LabPET{sup TM} small animal scanner, which implements free-running 45-MHz sampling directly at the output of the charge sensitive preamplifiers, provides an excellent platform to test such advanced digital algorithms. A real-time identification method, based on an Auto-Regressive Moving-Average (ARMA) scheme, was tested for discriminating between LYSO (t{sub r}{approx}40 ns) and LGSO (t{sub r}{approx}65 ns) scintillators in phoswich detectors, coupled to a single Avalanche Photodiode (APD). Even with a low energy threshold of 250 keV applied individually, error rates<4% can be achieved, as compared to >10%, typically with conventional analog pulse shape discrimination techniques. Such digital crystal identification techniques can be readily implemented with phoswich detectors for improving spatial resolution in PET, either by increasing crystal pixellization or by mitigating parallax errors through depth-of-interaction determination. It also allows to reduce the event rate presented to the real-time coincidence engine by applying a low energy limit at the crystal granularity and rejecting more Compton photons.

  3. Metabolites of the 1',2'-dimethylheptyl analogue of delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol in the mouse and their identification by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, D J; Brown, N K

    1990-10-01

    Metabolism of the 1,2-dimethylheptyl analogue of delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-DMHP) was studied in vitro using mouse hepatic microsomes and in vivo in mouse liver. Metabolites were extracted with ethyl acetate, concentrated by chromatography on Sephadex LH-20 and examined by low-resolution mass spectrometry as trimethylsilyl (TMS), (2H9)TMS and methyl ester/TMS derivatives. Reduction of metabolites with lithium aluminium deuteride also provided structural information. The electron-impact-induced mass spectrum of the TMS derivative of DMHP differed from that of its unbranched side-chain analogues in that prominent ions were produced by fragmentation of the side-chain at the expense of the retro-Diels-Alder fragmentation that was prominent in the spectra of the latter compounds. This, however, was found to reduce the relative abundance of ions diagnostic of side-chain hydroxy substitution in the spectra of the metabolites. In vitro, the only significant metabolite was 11-hydroxy-delta-8-DMHP. This is in contrast with metabolism of the corresponding delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC, n-C5-side-chain) where a number of other monohydroxy metabolites are produced. Fifteen metabolites were found in vivo, of which nine were identified. Mass spectral information was not sufficient to determine the position of one of the hydroxy groups in the other six metabolites. The major site of hydroxylation was at C-11 and the resulting hydroxy metabolite was oxidized to delta-8-DMHP-11-oic acid. In this respect metabolism paralleled that of delta-8-THC. Dihydroxylation of the double bond also occurred, presumably via the epoxide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  4. Receptor structure-based discovery of non-metabolite agonists for the succinate receptor GPR91

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trauelsen, Mette; Rexen Ulven, Elisabeth; Hjorth, Siv A

    2017-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Besides functioning as an intracellular metabolite, succinate acts as a stress-induced extracellular signal through activation of GPR91 (SUCNR1) for which we lack suitable pharmacological tools. METHODS AND RESULTS: Here we first determined that the cis conformation of the succinate...

  5. Comprehensive analysis of yeast metabolite GC x GC-TOFMS data: combining discovery-mode and deconvolution chemometric software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohler, Rachel E; Dombek, Kenneth M; Hoggard, Jamin C; Pierce, Karisa M; Young, Elton T; Synovec, Robert E

    2007-08-01

    The first extensive study of yeast metabolite GC x GC-TOFMS data from cells grown under fermenting, R, and respiring, DR, conditions is reported. In this study, recently developed chemometric software for use with three-dimensional instrumentation data was implemented, using a statistically-based Fisher ratio method. The Fisher ratio method is fully automated and will rapidly reduce the data to pinpoint two-dimensional chromatographic peaks differentiating sample types while utilizing all the mass channels. The effect of lowering the Fisher ratio threshold on peak identification was studied. At the lowest threshold (just above the noise level), 73 metabolite peaks were identified, nearly three-fold greater than the number of previously reported metabolite peaks identified (26). In addition to the 73 identified metabolites, 81 unknown metabolites were also located. A Parallel Factor Analysis graphical user interface (PARAFAC GUI) was applied to selected mass channels to obtain a concentration ratio, for each metabolite under the two growth conditions. Of the 73 known metabolites identified by the Fisher ratio method, 54 were statistically changing to the 95% confidence limit between the DR and R conditions according to the rigorous Student's t-test. PARAFAC determined the concentration ratio and provided a fully-deconvoluted (i.e. mathematically resolved) mass spectrum for each of the metabolites. The combination of the Fisher ratio method with the PARAFAC GUI provides high-throughput software for discovery-based metabolomics research, and is novel for GC x GC-TOFMS data due to the use of the entire data set in the analysis (640 MB x 70 runs, double precision floating point).

  6. Channel identification machines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazar, Aurel A; Slutskiy, Yevgeniy B

    2012-01-01

    We present a formal methodology for identifying a channel in a system consisting of a communication channel in cascade with an asynchronous sampler. The channel is modeled as a multidimensional filter, while models of asynchronous samplers are taken from neuroscience and communications and include integrate-and-fire neurons, asynchronous sigma/delta modulators and general oscillators in cascade with zero-crossing detectors. We devise channel identification algorithms that recover a projection of the filter(s) onto a space of input signals loss-free for both scalar and vector-valued test signals. The test signals are modeled as elements of a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) with a Dirichlet kernel. Under appropriate limiting conditions on the bandwidth and the order of the test signal space, the filter projection converges to the impulse response of the filter. We show that our results hold for a wide class of RKHSs, including the space of finite-energy bandlimited signals. We also extend our channel identification results to noisy circuits.

  7. Channel Identification Machines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurel A. Lazar

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a formal methodology for identifying a channel in a system consisting of a communication channel in cascade with an asynchronous sampler. The channel is modeled as a multidimensional filter, while models of asynchronous samplers are taken from neuroscience and communications and include integrate-and-fire neurons, asynchronous sigma/delta modulators and general oscillators in cascade with zero-crossing detectors. We devise channel identification algorithms that recover a projection of the filter(s onto a space of input signals loss-free for both scalar and vector-valued test signals. The test signals are modeled as elements of a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS with a Dirichlet kernel. Under appropriate limiting conditions on the bandwidth and the order of the test signal space, the filter projection converges to the impulse response of the filter. We show that our results hold for a wide class of RKHSs, including the space of finite-energy bandlimited signals. We also extend our channel identification results to noisy circuits.

  8. The depletion of protein signals in metabonomics analysis with the WET-CPMG pulse sequence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van, Que N.; Chmurny, Gwendolyn N.; Veenstra, Timothy D.

    2003-01-01

    Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful analytical tool capable of providing a comprehensive metabolic profile of biofluids such as urine, plasma, and serum. Unfortunately, when measuring serum and plasma, the high protein concentration can obscure the signals originating from low molecular weight metabolites. We evaluated the use of different parameters within the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) pulse train of fast spin-echoes to remove the macromolecular signal contribution in one-dimensional proton ( 1 H) NMR spectra. Experimental parameters such as the refocusing delay in the CPMG pulse train, pulse miscalibration, and recycle time were examined to assess the ability to remove the protein signals from the spectrum without causing a deleterious effect on the signals originating from free, low molecular weight metabolites. The 1 H-NMR spectra of a variety of serum samples spiked with 2 ' -deoxyadenosine were acquired using various acquisition parameters. Our results show that the delay used in the CPMG spin-echo and the combination of the acquisition pulse flip angle and recycle time are the two major factors affecting the observed metabolite signal amplitudes in the resulting 1 H-NMR spectrum

  9. Protein and metabolite composition of xylem sap from field-grown soybeans (Glycine max).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krishnan, Hari B; Natarajan, Savithiry S; Bennett, John O; Sicher, Richard C

    2011-05-01

    The xylem, in addition to transporting water, nutrients and metabolites, is also involved in long-distance signaling in response to pathogens, symbionts and environmental stresses. Xylem sap has been shown to contain a number of proteins including metabolic enzymes, stress-related proteins, signal transduction proteins and putative transcription factors. Previous studies on xylem sap have mostly utilized plants grown in controlled environmental chambers. However, plants in the field are subjected to high light and to environmental stress that is not normally found in growth chambers. In this study, we have examined the protein and metabolite composition of xylem sap from field-grown cultivated soybean plants. One-dimensional gel electrophoresis of xylem sap from determinate, indeterminate, nodulating and non-nodulating soybean cultivars revealed similar protein profiles consisting of about 8-10 prominent polypeptides. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of soybean xylem sap resulted in the visualization of about 60 distinct protein spots. A total of 38 protein spots were identified using MALDI-TOF MS and LC-MS/MS. The most abundant proteins present in the xylem sap were identified as 31 and 28 kDa vegetative storage proteins. In addition, several proteins that are conserved among different plant species were also identified. Diurnal changes in the metabolite profile of xylem sap collected during a 24-h cycle revealed that asparagine and aspartate were the two predominant amino acids irrespective of the time collected. Pinitol (D-3-O-methyl-chiro-inositol) was the most abundant carbohydrate present. The possible roles of xylem sap proteins and metabolites as nutrient reserves for sink tissue and as an indicator of biotic stress are also discussed.

  10. New Metabolites of Coumarin Detected in Human Urine Using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole-Time-of-Flight Tandem Mass Spectrometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Letícia Paula Leonart

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Coumarin (1,2-benzopyrone is a natural compound whose metabolism in humans was established in the 1970s. However, a new metabolite was recently identified in human plasma, indicating that the metabolism of coumarin has not been completely elucidated. To complement the knowledge of its metabolism, a rapid and sensitive method using UPLC-QTOF-MS was developed. A total of 12 metabolites was identified using MetaboLynxTM software, including eight metabolites not previously reported in human urine. The identified biotransformation included hydroxylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, methylation, and conjugation with N-acetylcysteine. The present work demonstrates that the metabolism study of coumarin was incomplete, possibly due to limitations of old techniques. The identification of eight inedited metabolites of such a simple molecule suggests that the information regarding the metabolism of other drugs may also be incomplete, and therefore, new investigations are necessary.

  11. Identification of Minor Secondary Metabolites from the Latex of Croton lechleri (Muell-Arg and Evaluation of Their Antioxidant Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Iorizzi

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Dragon’s blood (Sangre de drago, a viscous red sap derived from Croton lechleri Muell-Arg (Euphorbiaceae, is extensively used by indigenous cultures of the Amazonian basin for its wound healing properties. The aim of this study was to identify the minor secondary metabolites and test the antioxidant activity of this sustance. A bioguided fractionation of the n-hexane, chloroform, n-butanol, and aqueous extracts led to the isolation of 15 compounds: three megastigmanes, four flavan-3-ols, three phenylpropanoids, three lignans, a clerodane, and the alkaloid taspine. In addition to these known molecules, six compounds were isolated and identified for the first time in the latex: blumenol B, blumenol C, 4,5-dihydroblumenol A, erythro-guaiacyl-glyceryl-β-O-4’- dihydroconiferyl ether, 2-[4-(3-hydroxypropyl-2-methoxyphenoxy]-propane-1,3-diol and floribundic acid glucoside. Combinations of spectroscopic methods (1H-, 13C- NMR and 2D-NMR experiments, ESI-MS, and literature comparisons were used for compound identification. In vitro antioxidant activities were assessed by DPPH, total antioxidant capacity and lipid peroxidation assays. Flavan-3-ols derivatives (as major phenolic compounds in the latex exhibited the highest antioxidant activity.

  12. A Metabolomic Strategy to Screen the Prototype Components and Metabolites of Shuang-Huang-Lian Injection in Human Serum by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingxing Guo

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Shuang-huang-lian injection (SHLI is a famous Chinese patent medicine, which has been wildly used in clinic to treat acute respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, influenza, and so forth. Despite the widespread clinical application, the prototype components and metabolites of SHLI have not been fully elucidated, especially in human body. To discover and screen the constituents or metabolites of Chinese medicine in biofluids tends to be more and more difficult due to the complexity of chemical compositions, metabolic reactions and matrix effects. In this work, a metabolomic strategy to comprehensively elucidate the prototype components and metabolites of SHLI in human serum conducted by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS was developed. Orthogonal partial least squared discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA was applied to distinguish the exogenous, namely, drug-induced constituents, from endogenous in human serum. In the S-plot, 35 drug-induced constituents were found, including 23 prototype compounds and 12 metabolites which indicated that SHLI in human body mainly caused phase II metabolite reactions. It was concluded that the metabolomic strategy for identification of herbal constituents and metabolites in biological samples was successfully developed. This identification and structural elucidation of the chemical compounds provided essential data for further pharmacological and pharmacokinetics study of SHLI.

  13. An Interspecies Signaling System Mediated by Fusaric Acid Has Parallel Effects on Antifungal Metabolite Production by Pseudomonas protegens Strain Pf-5 and Antibiosis of Fusarium spp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quecine, Maria Carolina; Kidarsa, Teresa A; Goebel, Neal C; Shaffer, Brenda T; Henkels, Marcella D; Zabriskie, T Mark; Loper, Joyce E

    2015-12-11

    Pseudomonas protegens strain Pf-5 is a rhizosphere bacterium that suppresses soilborne plant diseases and produces at least seven different secondary metabolites with antifungal properties. We derived mutants of Pf-5 with single and multiple mutations in biosynthesis genes for seven antifungal metabolites: 2,4-diacetylphoroglucinol (DAPG), pyrrolnitrin, pyoluteorin, hydrogen cyanide, rhizoxin, orfamide A, and toxoflavin. These mutants were tested for inhibition of the pathogens Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi. Rhizoxin, pyrrolnitrin, and DAPG were found to be primarily responsible for fungal antagonism by Pf-5. Previously, other workers showed that the mycotoxin fusaric acid, which is produced by many Fusarium species, including F. verticillioides, inhibited the production of DAPG by Pseudomonas spp. In this study, amendment of culture media with fusaric acid decreased DAPG production, increased pyoluteorin production, and had no consistent influence on pyrrolnitrin or orfamide A production by Pf-5. Fusaric acid also altered the transcription of biosynthetic genes, indicating that the mycotoxin influenced antibiotic production by Pf-5 at the transcriptional level. Addition of fusaric acid to the culture medium reduced antibiosis of F. verticillioides by Pf-5 and derivative strains that produce DAPG but had no effect on antibiosis by Pf-5 derivatives that suppressed F. verticillioides due to pyrrolnitrin or rhizoxin production. Our results demonstrated the importance of three compounds, rhizoxin, pyrrolnitrin, and DAPG, in suppression of Fusarium spp. by Pf-5 and confirmed that an interspecies signaling system mediated by fusaric acid had parallel effects on antifungal metabolite production and antibiosis by the bacterial biological control organism. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  14. Application of Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to metabolic profiling and metabolite identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Daisaku; Kanaya, Shigehiko; Suzuki, Hideyuki

    2010-02-01

    Metabolomics, as an essential part of genomics studies, intends holistic understanding of metabolic networks through simultaneous analysis of a myriad of both known and unknown metabolites occurring in living organisms. The initial stage of metabolomics was designed for the reproducible analyses of known metabolites based on their comparison to available authentic compounds. Such metabolomics platforms were mostly based on mass spectrometry (MS) technologies enabled by a combination of different ionization methods together with a variety of separation steps including LC, GC, and CE. Among these, Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance MS (FT-ICR/MS) is distinguished from other MS technologies by its ultrahigh resolution power in mass to charge ratio (m/z). The potential of FT-ICR/MS as a distinctive metabolomics tool has been demonstrated in nontargeted metabolic profiling and functional characterization of novel genes. Here, we discuss both the advantages and difficulties encountered in the FT-ICR/MS metabolomics studies.

  15. Metabolite coupling in genome-scale metabolic networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Palsson Bernhard Ø

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Biochemically detailed stoichiometric matrices have now been reconstructed for various bacteria, yeast, and for the human cardiac mitochondrion based on genomic and proteomic data. These networks have been manually curated based on legacy data and elementally and charge balanced. Comparative analysis of these well curated networks is now possible. Pairs of metabolites often appear together in several network reactions, linking them topologically. This co-occurrence of pairs of metabolites in metabolic reactions is termed herein "metabolite coupling." These metabolite pairs can be directly computed from the stoichiometric matrix, S. Metabolite coupling is derived from the matrix ŜŜT, whose off-diagonal elements indicate the number of reactions in which any two metabolites participate together, where Ŝ is the binary form of S. Results Metabolite coupling in the studied networks was found to be dominated by a relatively small group of highly interacting pairs of metabolites. As would be expected, metabolites with high individual metabolite connectivity also tended to be those with the highest metabolite coupling, as the most connected metabolites couple more often. For metabolite pairs that are not highly coupled, we show that the number of reactions a pair of metabolites shares across a metabolic network closely approximates a line on a log-log scale. We also show that the preferential coupling of two metabolites with each other is spread across the spectrum of metabolites and is not unique to the most connected metabolites. We provide a measure for determining which metabolite pairs couple more often than would be expected based on their individual connectivity in the network and show that these metabolites often derive their principal biological functions from existing in pairs. Thus, analysis of metabolite coupling provides information beyond that which is found from studying the individual connectivity of individual

  16. “Twin peaks”: Searching for 4-hydroxynonenal urinary metabolites after oral administration in rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Keller

    2015-04-01

    Radioactivity distribution revealed that 48% of the administered radioactivity was excreted into urine and 15% into feces after 24 h, while 3% were measured in intestinal contents and 2% in major organs, mostly in the liver. Urinary radio-HPLC profiles revealed 22 major peaks accounting for 88% of the urinary radioactivity. For identification purpose, HNE and its stable isotope [1,2-13C]-HNE were given at equimolar dose to be able to univocally identify HNE metabolites by tracking twin peaks on HPLC–HRMS spectra. The major peak was identified as 9-hydroxy-nonenoic acid (27% of the urinary radioactivity followed by classical HNE mercapturic acid derivatives (the mercapturic acid conjugate of di-hydroxynonane (DHN-MA, the mercapturic acid conjugate of 4-hydroxynonenoic acid (HNA-MA in its opened and lactone form and by metabolites that are oxidized in the terminal position. New urinary metabolites as thiomethyl and glucuronide conjugates were also evidenced. Some analyses were also performed on feces and gastro-intestinal contents, revealing the presence of tritiated water that could originate from beta-oxidation reactions.

  17. Engineering Microbial Metabolite Dynamics and Heterogeneity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitz, Alexander C; Hartline, Christopher J; Zhang, Fuzhong

    2017-10-01

    As yields for biological chemical production in microorganisms approach their theoretical maximum, metabolic engineering requires new tools, and approaches for improvements beyond what traditional strategies can achieve. Engineering metabolite dynamics and metabolite heterogeneity is necessary to achieve further improvements in product titers, productivities, and yields. Metabolite dynamics, the ensemble change in metabolite concentration over time, arise from the need for microbes to adapt their metabolism in response to the extracellular environment and are important for controlling growth and productivity in industrial fermentations. Metabolite heterogeneity, the cell-to-cell variation in a metabolite concentration in an isoclonal population, has a significant impact on ensemble productivity. Recent advances in single cell analysis enable a more complete understanding of the processes driving metabolite heterogeneity and reveal metabolic engineering targets. The authors present an overview of the mechanistic origins of metabolite dynamics and heterogeneity, why they are important, their potential effects in chemical production processes, and tools and strategies for engineering metabolite dynamics and heterogeneity. The authors emphasize that the ability to control metabolite dynamics and heterogeneity will bring new avenues of engineering to increase productivity of microbial strains. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  18. Plasma metabolite score correlates with Hypoxia time in a newly born piglet model for asphyxia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Kuligowski

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE secondary to perinatal asphyxia is a leading cause of mortality and acquired long-term neurologic co-morbidities in the neonate. The most successful intervention for the treatment of moderate to severe HIE is moderate whole body hypothermia initiated within 6 h from birth. The objective and prompt identification of infants who are at risk of developing moderate to severe HIE in the critical first hours still remains a challenge. This work proposes a metabolite score calculated based on the relative intensities of three metabolites (choline, 6,8-dihydroxypurine and hypoxanthine that showed maximum correlation with hypoxia time in a consolidated piglet model for neonatal hypoxia-ischemia. The metabolite score's performance as a biomarker for perinatal hypoxia and its usefulness for clinical grading and decision making have been assessed and compared to the performance of lactate which is currently considered the gold standard. For plasma samples withdrawn before and directly after a hypoxic insult, the metabolite score performed similar to lactate. However, it provided an enhanced predictive capacity at 2 h after resuscitation. The present study evidences the usefulness of the metabolite score for improving the early assessment of the severity of the hypoxic insult based on serial determinations in a minimally invasive biofluid. The applicability of the metabolite score for clinical diagnosis and patient stratification for hypothermia treatment has to be confirmed in multicenter trials involving newborns suffering from HIE. Keywords: Hypoxia, Perinatal asphyxia, Newborn, Metabolic biomarker, Neonatal piglet model, Liquid Chromatography – Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS

  19. Separation, purification and identification of the major selenium metabolite from human urine by multi-dimensional HPLC-ICP-MS and APCI-MS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammelgaard, Bente; Madsen, K.G.; Bjerrum, J.

    2003-01-01

    volunteers were collected and analysed by ion-pair chromatography with ICP-MS detection for this major selenium metabolite. Samples containing the metabolite were pooled and solid phase extracted to remove ionic substances. The extracted pool was purified and preconcentrated twice by preparative reversed...

  20. Production of secondary metabolites by some terverticillate penicillia on carbohydrate-rich and meat substrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Núñez, Félix; Westphal, Carmen D; Bermúdez, Elena; Asensio, Miguel A

    2007-12-01

    Most terverticillate penicillia isolated from dry-cured meat products are toxigenic, but their ability to produce hazardous metabolites on meat-based substrates is not well known. The production of extrolites by selected terverticillate penicillia isolated from dry-cured ham has been studied on carbohydrate-rich media (malt extract agar, Czapek yeast autolysate agar, rice extract agar, and rice), meat extract triolein salt agar, and ham slices. Chloroform extracts from the selected strains grown on malt extract agar were toxic for the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) larvae and VERO cells at a concentration of 2 mg/ml, but 0.02 mg/ml produced no toxic effect. Analysis by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with photodiode array detection (DAD) or with mass spectrometry (MS) and an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source revealed different biologically active metabolites: cyclopiazonic acid and rugulovasine A from Penicillium commune; verrucosidin, anacine, puberuline, verrucofortine, and viridicatols from Penicillium polonicum; arisugacin and viridicatols from Penicillium echinulatum; and compactin and viridicatols from Penicillium solitum. Most of these metabolites, including the amino acid-derived compounds, were produced in the media containing high levels of carbohydrates. High concentrations of nitrogen compounds in the medium does not imply a greater production of the metabolites studied, not even those derived from the amino acids. However, molds growing on dry-cured ham are able to synthesize limited amounts of some secondary metabolites, a fact not previously reported. The combination of HPLC coupled with DAD and MS-APCI was useful for identification of closely related terverticillate Penicillium species from dry-cured ham. These techniques could be used to characterize the risk associated with the potential production of secondary metabolites in cured meats.

  1. Signal peptide discrimination and cleavage site identification using SVM and NN.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazemian, H B; Yusuf, S A; White, K

    2014-02-01

    About 15% of all proteins in a genome contain a signal peptide (SP) sequence, at the N-terminus, that targets the protein to intracellular secretory pathways. Once the protein is targeted correctly in the cell, the SP is cleaved, releasing the mature protein. Accurate prediction of the presence of these short amino-acid SP chains is crucial for modelling the topology of membrane proteins, since SP sequences can be confused with transmembrane domains due to similar composition of hydrophobic amino acids. This paper presents a cascaded Support Vector Machine (SVM)-Neural Network (NN) classification methodology for SP discrimination and cleavage site identification. The proposed method utilises a dual phase classification approach using SVM as a primary classifier to discriminate SP sequences from Non-SP. The methodology further employs NNs to predict the most suitable cleavage site candidates. In phase one, a SVM classification utilises hydrophobic propensities as a primary feature vector extraction using symmetric sliding window amino-acid sequence analysis for discrimination of SP and Non-SP. In phase two, a NN classification uses asymmetric sliding window sequence analysis for prediction of cleavage site identification. The proposed SVM-NN method was tested using Uni-Prot non-redundant datasets of eukaryotic and prokaryotic proteins with SP and Non-SP N-termini. Computer simulation results demonstrate an overall accuracy of 0.90 for SP and Non-SP discrimination based on Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) tests using SVM. For SP cleavage site prediction, the overall accuracy is 91.5% based on cross-validation tests using the novel SVM-NN model. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  2. The dopamine metabolite 3-methoxytyramine is a neuromodulator.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatyana D Sotnikova

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Dopamine (3-hydroxytyramine is a well-known catecholamine neurotransmitter involved in multiple physiological functions including movement control. Here we report that the major extracellular metabolite of dopamine, 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT, can induce behavioral effects in a dopamine-independent manner and these effects are partially mediated by the trace amine associated receptor 1 (TAAR1. Unbiased in vivo screening of putative trace amine receptor ligands for potential effects on the movement control revealed that 3-MT infused in the brain is able to induce a complex set of abnormal involuntary movements in mice acutely depleted of dopamine. In normal mice, the central administration of 3-MT caused a temporary mild hyperactivity with a concomitant set of abnormal movements. Furthermore, 3-MT induced significant ERK and CREB phosphorylation in the mouse striatum, signaling events generally related to PKA-mediated cAMP accumulation. In mice lacking TAAR1, both behavioral and signaling effects of 3-MT were partially attenuated, consistent with the ability of 3-MT to activate TAAR1 receptors and cause cAMP accumulation as well as ERK and CREB phosphorylation in cellular assays. Thus, 3-MT is not just an inactive metabolite of DA, but a novel neuromodulator that in certain situations may be involved in movement control. Further characterization of the physiological functions mediated by 3-MT may advance understanding of the pathophysiology and pharmacology of brain disorders involving abnormal dopaminergic transmission, such as Parkinson's disease, dyskinesia and schizophrenia.

  3. Insights into the Anaerobic Biodegradation Pathway of n-Alkanes in Oil Reservoirs by Detection of Signature Metabolites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bian, Xin-Yu; Maurice Mbadinga, Serge; Liu, Yi-Fan; Yang, Shi-Zhong; Liu, Jin-Feng; Ye, Ru-Qiang; Gu, Ji-Dong; Mu, Bo-Zhong

    2015-01-01

    Anaerobic degradation of alkanes in hydrocarbon-rich environments has been documented and different degradation strategies proposed, of which the most encountered one is fumarate addition mechanism, generating alkylsuccinates as specific biomarkers. However, little is known about the mechanisms of anaerobic degradation of alkanes in oil reservoirs, due to low concentrations of signature metabolites and lack of mass spectral characteristics to allow identification. In this work, we used a multidisciplinary approach combining metabolite profiling and selective gene assays to establish the biodegradation mechanism of alkanes in oil reservoirs. A total of twelve production fluids from three different oil reservoirs were collected and treated with alkali; organic acids were extracted, derivatized with ethanol to form ethyl esters and determined using GC-MS analysis. Collectively, signature metabolite alkylsuccinates of parent compounds from C1 to C8 together with their (putative) downstream metabolites were detected from these samples. Additionally, metabolites indicative of the anaerobic degradation of mono- and poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (2-benzylsuccinate, naphthoate, 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-naphthoate) were also observed. The detection of alkylsuccinates and genes encoding for alkylsuccinate synthase shows that anaerobic degradation of alkanes via fumarate addition occurs in oil reservoirs. This work provides strong evidence on the in situ anaerobic biodegradation mechanisms of hydrocarbons by fumarate addition. PMID:25966798

  4. Profiling and identification of (-)-epicatechin metabolites in rats using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shang, Zhanpeng; Wang, Fei; Dai, Shengyun; Lu, Jianqiu; Wu, Xiaodan; Zhang, Jiayu

    2017-08-01

    (-)-Epicatechin (EC), an optical antipode of (+)-catechin (C), possesses many potential significant health benefits. However, the in vivo metabolic pathway of EC has not been clarified yet. In this study, an efficient strategy based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a linear ion trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometer was developed to profile and characterize EC metabolites in rat urine, faeces, plasma, and various tissues. Meanwhile, post-acquisition data-mining methods including high-resolution extracted ion chromatogram (HREIC), multiple mass defect filters (MMDFs), and diagnostic product ions (DPIs) were utilized to screen and identify EC metabolites from HR-ESI-MS 1 to ESI-MS n stage. Finally, a total of 67 metabolites (including parent drug) were tentatively identified based on standard substances, chromatographic retention times, accurate mass measurement, and relevant drug biotransformation knowledge. The results demonstrated that EC underwent multiple in vivo metabolic reactions including methylation, dehydration, hydrogenation, glucosylation, sulfonation, glucuronidation, ring-cleavage, and their composite reactions. Among them, methylation, dehydration, glucosylation, and their composite reactions were observed only occurring on EC when compared with C. Meanwhile, the distribution of these detected metabolites in various tissues including heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and brain were respectively studied. The results demonstrated that liver and kidney were the most important organs for EC and its metabolites elimination. In conclusion, the newly discovered EC metabolites significantly expanded the understanding on its pharmacological effects and built the foundation for further toxicity and safety studies. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Expanded separation technique for chlorophyll metabolites in Oriental tobacco leaf using non aqueous reversed phase chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishida, Naoyuki

    2011-08-26

    An improved separation method for chlorophyll metabolites in Oriental tobacco leaf was developed. While Oriental leaf still gives the green color even after the curing process, little attention has been paid to the detailed composition of the remaining green pigments. This study aimed to identify the green pigments using non aqueous reversed phase chromatography (NARPC). To this end, liquid chromatograph (LC) equipped with a photo diode array detector (DAD) and an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization/mass spectrometer (APCI/MSD) was selected, because it is useful for detecting low polar non-volatile compounds giving green color such as pheophytin a. Identification was based on the wavelength spectrum, mass spectrum and retention time, comparing the analytes in Oriental leaf with the commercially available and synthesized components. Consequently, several chlorophyll metabolites such as hydroxypheophytin a, solanesyl pheophorbide a and solanesyl hydroxypheophorbide a were newly identified, in addition to typical green pigments such as chlorophyll a and pheophytin a. Chlorophyll metabolites bound to solanesol were considered the tobacco specific components. NARPC expanded the number of detectable low polar chlorophyll metabolites in Oriental tobacco leaf. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Bayesian deconvolution and quantification of metabolites in complex 1D NMR spectra using BATMAN.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Jie; Liebeke, Manuel; Astle, William; De Iorio, Maria; Bundy, Jacob G; Ebbels, Timothy M D

    2014-01-01

    Data processing for 1D NMR spectra is a key bottleneck for metabolomic and other complex-mixture studies, particularly where quantitative data on individual metabolites are required. We present a protocol for automated metabolite deconvolution and quantification from complex NMR spectra by using the Bayesian automated metabolite analyzer for NMR (BATMAN) R package. BATMAN models resonances on the basis of a user-controllable set of templates, each of which specifies the chemical shifts, J-couplings and relative peak intensities for a single metabolite. Peaks are allowed to shift position slightly between spectra, and peak widths are allowed to vary by user-specified amounts. NMR signals not captured by the templates are modeled non-parametrically by using wavelets. The protocol covers setting up user template libraries, optimizing algorithmic input parameters, improving prior information on peak positions, quality control and evaluation of outputs. The outputs include relative concentration estimates for named metabolites together with associated Bayesian uncertainty estimates, as well as the fit of the remainder of the spectrum using wavelets. Graphical diagnostics allow the user to examine the quality of the fit for multiple spectra simultaneously. This approach offers a workflow to analyze large numbers of spectra and is expected to be useful in a wide range of metabolomics studies.

  7. Production of human metabolites by gastrointestinal bacteria as a potential source of post-mortem alteration of antemortem drug/metabolite concentrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martindale, Stephanie M; Powers, Robert H; Bell, Suzanne C

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies have demonstrated that bacterial species are capable of transforming complex chemical substances. Several of these species, native to the human gastrointestinal tract, are active in postmortem decomposition. They have potential to cause biotransformations affecting compound-to-metabolite ratios within the human body, especially after death. Investigation of postmortem effects could supply valuable information, especially concerning compound identification and confirmation. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of Escherichia coli, Bacteroides fragilis, and Clostridium perfringens on diazepam and flunitrazepam in Reinforced Clostridial Medium, and to compare bacterial biotransformation products to those of human metabolism. A decrease in diazepam concentration between pre- and post-incubation was observed for samples inoculated with Escherichia coli (14.7-20.2%) as well as Bacteroides fragilis (13.9-25.7%); however there was no corresponding increase in concentration for the monitored human metabolites. Flunitrazepam demonstrated a greater concentration loss when incubated with individual bacterial species as well as mixed culture (79.2-100.0%). Samples incubated with Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium perfringens, and mixed culture resulted in nearly complete conversion of flunitrazepam. Increased 7-aminoflunitrazepam concentrations accounted for the majority of the conversion; however discrepancies in the mass balance of the reaction suggested the possibility of a minor metabolite that was not monitored in the current analysis. These experiments served as a pilot study and proof of concept that can be adapted and applied to a realm of possibilities. Ultimately, this methodology would be ideal to study compounds that are too toxic or lethal for animal and human metabolic investigations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Metabolomic method: UPLC-q-ToF polar and non-polar metabolites in the healthy rat cerebellum using an in-vial dual extraction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amera A Ebshiana

    Full Text Available Unbiased metabolomic analysis of biological samples is a powerful and increasingly commonly utilised tool, especially for the analysis of bio-fluids to identify candidate biomarkers. To date however only a small number of metabolomic studies have been applied to studying the metabolite composition of tissue samples, this is due, in part to a number of technical challenges including scarcity of material and difficulty in extracting metabolites. The aim of this study was to develop a method for maximising the biological information obtained from small tissue samples by optimising sample preparation, LC-MS analysis and metabolite identification. Here we describe an in-vial dual extraction (IVDE method, with reversed phase and hydrophilic liquid interaction chromatography (HILIC which reproducibly measured over 4,000 metabolite features from as little as 3mg of brain tissue. The aqueous phase was analysed in positive and negative modes following HILIC separation in which 2,838 metabolite features were consistently measured including amino acids, sugars and purine bases. The non-aqueous phase was also analysed in positive and negative modes following reversed phase separation gradients respectively from which 1,183 metabolite features were consistently measured representing metabolites such as phosphatidylcholines, sphingolipids and triacylglycerides. The described metabolomics method includes a database for 200 metabolites, retention time, mass and relative intensity, and presents the basal metabolite composition for brain tissue in the healthy rat cerebellum.

  9. Swelling and eicosanoid metabolites differentially gate TRPV4 channels in retinal neurons and glia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ryskamp, Daniel A; Jo, Andrew O; Frye, Amber M

    2014-01-01

    that were inhibited by TRPV4 antagonists and absent in TRPV4(-/-) Müller cells. Glial TRPV4 signals were phospholipase A2- and cytochrome P450-dependent, characterized by slow-onset and Ca(2+) waves, and, in excess, were sufficient to induce reactive gliosis. In contrast, neurons responded to TRPV4 agonists...... and swelling with fast, inactivating Ca(2+) signals that were independent of phospholipase A2. Our results support a model whereby swelling and proinflammatory signals associated with arachidonic acid metabolites differentially gate TRPV4 in retinal neurons and glia, with potentially significant consequences...

  10. Identification and Partial Structural Characterization of Mass Isolated Valsartan and Its Metabolite with Messenger Tagging Vibrational Spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorlova, Olga; Colvin, Sean M.; Brathwaite, Antonio; Menges, Fabian S.; Craig, Stephanie M.; Miller, Scott J.; Johnson, Mark A.

    2017-08-01

    Recent advances in the coupling of vibrational spectroscopy with mass spectrometry create new opportunities for the structural characterization of metabolites with great sensitivity. Previous studies have demonstrated this scheme on 300 K ions using very high power free electron lasers in the fingerprint region of the infrared. Here we extend the scope of this approach to a single investigator scale as well as extend the spectral range to include the OH stretching fundamentals. This is accomplished by detecting the IR absorptions in a linear action regime by photodissociation of weakly bound N2 molecules, which are attached to the target ions in a cryogenically cooled, rf ion trap. We consider the specific case of the widely used drug Valsartan and two isomeric forms of its metabolite. Advantages and challenges of the cold ion approach are discussed, including disentangling the role of conformers and the strategic choices involved in the selection of the charging mechanism that optimize spectral differentiation among candidate structural isomers. In this case, the Na+ complexes are observed to yield sharp resonances in the high frequency NH and OH stretching regions, which can be used to easily differentiate between two isomers of the metabolite. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

  11. Medicinal Plants: A Source of Anti-Parasitic Secondary Metabolites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Wink

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available This review summarizes human infections caused by endoparasites, including protozoa, nematodes, trematodes, and cestodes, which affect more than 30% of the human population, and medicinal plants of potential use in their treatment. Because vaccinations do not work in most instances and the parasites have sometimes become resistant to the available synthetic therapeutics, it is important to search for alternative sources of anti-parasitic drugs. Plants produce a high diversity of secondary metabolites with interesting biological activities, such as cytotoxic, anti-parasitic and anti-microbial properties. These drugs often interfere with central targets in parasites, such as DNA (intercalation, alkylation, membrane integrity, microtubules and neuronal signal transduction. Plant extracts and isolated secondary metabolites which can inhibit protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, Leishmania, Trichomonas and intestinal worms are discussed. The identified plants and compounds offer a chance to develop new drugs against parasitic diseases. Most of them need to be tested in more detail, especially in animal models and if successful, in clinical trials.

  12. Long-distance signalling in plant defence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heil, Martin; Ton, Jurriaan

    2008-06-01

    Plants use inducible defence mechanisms to fend off harmful organisms. Resistance that is induced in response to local attack is often expressed systemically, that is, in organs that are not yet damaged. In the search for translocated defence signals, biochemical studies follow the physical movement of putative signals, and grafting experiments use mutants that are impaired in the production or perception of these signals. Long-distance signals can directly activate defence or can prime for the stronger and faster induction of defence. Historically, research has focused on the vascular transport of signalling metabolites, but volatiles can play a crucial role as well. We compare the advantages and constraints of vascular and airborne signals for the plant, and discuss how they can act in synergy to achieve optimised resistance in distal plant parts.

  13. Gamma irradiation of medicinally important plants and the enhancement of secondary metabolite production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vardhan, P Vivek; Shukla, Lata I

    2017-09-01

    metabolites in response to various biotic and abiotic stresses is compared with ionizing radiation. A ∼5- to 20-fold increase is noted with ∼20 Gy irradiation dose. It increases the yield of secondary metabolites by enhancing the activity of certain key biosynthetic enzymes. Identification of the optimum dose is the important step in the large-scale production of secondary metabolites at industrial level.

  14. Identification of Cell Type-Specific Differences in Erythropoietin Receptor Signaling in Primary Erythroid and Lung Cancer Cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruth Merkle

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Lung cancer, with its most prevalent form non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC, is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and is commonly treated with chemotherapeutic drugs such as cisplatin. Lung cancer patients frequently suffer from chemotherapy-induced anemia, which can be treated with erythropoietin (EPO. However, studies have indicated that EPO not only promotes erythropoiesis in hematopoietic cells, but may also enhance survival of NSCLC cells. Here, we verified that the NSCLC cell line H838 expresses functional erythropoietin receptors (EPOR and that treatment with EPO reduces cisplatin-induced apoptosis. To pinpoint differences in EPO-induced survival signaling in erythroid progenitor cells (CFU-E, colony forming unit-erythroid and H838 cells, we combined mathematical modeling with a method for feature selection, the L1 regularization. Utilizing an example model and simulated data, we demonstrated that this approach enables the accurate identification and quantification of cell type-specific parameters. We applied our strategy to quantitative time-resolved data of EPO-induced JAK/STAT signaling generated by quantitative immunoblotting, mass spectrometry and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR in CFU-E and H838 cells as well as H838 cells overexpressing human EPOR (H838-HA-hEPOR. The established parsimonious mathematical model was able to simultaneously describe the data sets of CFU-E, H838 and H838-HA-hEPOR cells. Seven cell type-specific parameters were identified that included for example parameters for nuclear translocation of STAT5 and target gene induction. Cell type-specific differences in target gene induction were experimentally validated by qRT-PCR experiments. The systematic identification of pathway differences and sensitivities of EPOR signaling in CFU-E and H838 cells revealed potential targets for intervention to selectively inhibit EPO-induced signaling in the tumor cells but leave the responses in

  15. Metabolite quantitation in breast cancer by in vivo MR spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jagananthan, Naranamangalam R.

    2014-01-01

    A large number of biochemical and imaging investigations are available for the diagnosis of cancer but detection is still a challenging task. Various magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods are used for the detection of tumors that gives morphological and functional details. On the other hand, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides metabolites or biochemicals at the molecular level. With technological advancement in MR, it is possible to detect in vivo metabolites from normal and pathological tissues that are present in millimolar concentrations and there are several localization methods available for the same. The commonest cancer in women is the breast cancer and is a leading cause of death among the female population worldwide. The in vivo localized proton MR spectroscopy of normal breast tissues is dominated by a huge lipid with little contribution from water while malignant breast tissues contain high water content. By suppressing the water and fat contribution, it is possible to detect choline containing compounds (tCho) in malignant breast tissues. The parameters obtained from in vivo proton MRS of breast tissues are water-to-fat (W-F) ratio and detection of tCho. tCho has been documented by many workers as a potential marker of breast malignancy. Recently, quantitative assessment of tCho concentration has been reported. There are two methods that are used for quantification of tCho: (a) semi-quantitative method that calculates the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the choline signal; and (b) determination of the absolute concentration of tCho using water as an internal and external reference. Both W-F ratio and tCho concentration have been evaluated as markers for assessment of tumor response to therapy. This talk would cover various MRS methods used for the diagnosis of breast cancer together with the details of the determination of the absolute and relative concentrations of metabolites. (author)

  16. Identification and characterization of lbpA, an indigoidine biosynthetic gene in the γ-butyrolactone signaling system of Streptomyces lavendulae FRI-5.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pait, Ivy Grace Umadhay; Kitani, Shigeru; Kurniawan, Yohanes Novi; Asa, Maeda; Iwai, Takashi; Ikeda, Haruo; Nihira, Takuya

    2017-10-01

    Streptomyces lavendulae FRI-5 produces the blue pigment indigoidine and other secondary metabolites (d-cycloserine and nucleoside antibiotics). The production of these useful compounds is controlled by a signaling cascade mediated by the γ-butyrolactone autoregulator IM-2. Previously we revealed that the far regulatory island includes the IM-2 receptor, the IM-2 biosynthetic enzyme, and several transcriptional regulators, and that it contributes to the regulation of indigoidine production in response to the signaling molecule. Here, we found that the vicinity of the far regulatory island includes the putative gene cluster for the biosynthesis of indigoidine and unidentified compounds, and demonstrated that the expression of the gene cluster is under the control of the IM-2 regulatory system. Heterologous expression of lbpA, encoding a plausible nonribosomal peptide synthetase, in the versatile model host Streptomyces avermitilis SUKA22 led to indigoidine production, which was enhanced dramatically by feeding of the indigoidine precursor l-glutamine. These results confirmed that LbpA is an indigoidine biosynthetic enzyme in the IM-2 signaling cascade. Copyright © 2017 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Adaptive autoregressive identification with spectral power decomposition for studying movement-related activity in scalp EEG signals and basal ganglia local field potentials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foffani, Guglielmo; Bianchi, Anna M.; Priori, Alberto; Baselli, Giuseppe

    2004-09-01

    We propose a method that combines adaptive autoregressive (AAR) identification and spectral power decomposition for the study of movement-related spectral changes in scalp EEG signals and basal ganglia local field potentials (LFPs). This approach introduces the concept of movement-related poles, allowing one to study not only the classical event-related desynchronizations (ERD) and synchronizations (ERS), which correspond to modulations of power, but also event-related modulations of frequency. We applied the method to analyze movement-related EEG signals and LFPs contemporarily recorded from the sensorimotor cortex, the globus pallidus internus (GPi) and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in a patient with Parkinson's disease who underwent stereotactic neurosurgery for the implant of deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes. In the AAR identification we compared the whale and the exponential forgetting factors, showing that the whale forgetting provides a better disturbance rejection and it is therefore more suitable to investigate movement-related brain activity. Movement-related power modulations were consistent with previous studies. In addition, movement-related frequency modulations were observed from both scalp EEG signals and basal ganglia LFPs. The method therefore represents an effective approach to the study of movement-related brain activity.

  18. Identification and characterization of metabolites of ASP015K, a novel oral Janus kinase inhibitor, in rats, chimeric mice with humanized liver, and humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakada, Naoyuki; Oda, Kazuo

    2015-01-01

    1. Here, we elucidated the structure of metabolites of novel oral Janus kinase inhibitor ASP015K in rats and humans and evaluated the predictability of human metabolites using chimeric mice with humanized liver (PXB mice). 2. Rat biological samples collected after oral dosing of (14)C-labelled ASP015K were examined using a liquid chromatography-radiometric detector and mass spectrometer (LC-RAD/MS). The molecular weight of metabolites in human and the liver chimeric mouse biological samples collected after oral dosing of non-labelled ASP015K was also investigated via LC-MS. Metabolites were also isolated from rat bile samples and analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance. 3. Metabolic pathways of ASP015K in rats and humans were found to be glucuronide conjugation, methyl conjugation, sulfate conjugation, glutathione conjugation, hydroxylation of the adamantane ring and N-oxidation of the 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine ring. The main metabolite of ASP015K in rats was the glucuronide conjugate, while the main metabolite in humans was the sulfate conjugate. Given that human metabolites were produced by human hepatocytes in chimeric mice with humanized liver, this human model mouse was believed to be useful in predicting the human metabolic profile of various drug candidates.

  19. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy-Based Identification of Yeast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Himmelreich, Uwe; Sorrell, Tania C; Daniel, Heide-Marie

    2017-01-01

    Rapid and robust high-throughput identification of environmental, industrial, or clinical yeast isolates is important whenever relatively large numbers of samples need to be processed in a cost-efficient way. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy generates complex data based on metabolite profiles, chemical composition and possibly on medium consumption, which can not only be used for the assessment of metabolic pathways but also for accurate identification of yeast down to the subspecies level. Initial results on NMR based yeast identification where comparable with conventional and DNA-based identification. Potential advantages of NMR spectroscopy in mycological laboratories include not only accurate identification but also the potential of automated sample delivery, automated analysis using computer-based methods, rapid turnaround time, high throughput, and low running costs.We describe here the sample preparation, data acquisition and analysis for NMR-based yeast identification. In addition, a roadmap for the development of classification strategies is given that will result in the acquisition of a database and analysis algorithms for yeast identification in different environments.

  20. Metabolite Profiling and Classification of DNA-Authenticated Licorice Botanicals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmler, Charlotte; Anderson, Jeffrey R.; Gauthier, Laura; Lankin, David C.; McAlpine, James B.; Chen, Shao-Nong; Pauli, Guido F.

    2015-01-01

    Raw licorice roots represent heterogeneous materials obtained from mainly three Glycyrrhiza species. G. glabra, G. uralensis, and G. inflata exhibit marked metabolite differences in terms of flavanones (Fs), chalcones (Cs), and other phenolic constituents. The principal objective of this work was to develop complementary chemometric models for the metabolite profiling, classification, and quality control of authenticated licorice. A total of 51 commercial and macroscopically verified samples were DNA authenticated. Principal component analysis and canonical discriminant analysis were performed on 1H NMR spectra and area under the curve values obtained from UHPLC-UV chromatograms, respectively. The developed chemometric models enable the identification and classification of Glycyrrhiza species according to their composition in major Fs, Cs, and species specific phenolic compounds. Further key outcomes demonstrated that DNA authentication combined with chemometric analyses enabled the characterization of mixtures, hybrids, and species outliers. This study provides a new foundation for the botanical and chemical authentication, classification, and metabolomic characterization of crude licorice botanicals and derived materials. Collectively, the proposed methods offer a comprehensive approach for the quality control of licorice as one of the most widely used botanical dietary supplements. PMID:26244884

  1. Non-invasive determination of metabolite concentrations in human transplanted kidney in vivo by 31P MR spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kugel, H.; Wittsack, H.J.; Wenzel, F.; Heindel, W.; Lackner, K.; Stippel, D.

    2000-01-01

    To investigate concentrations of phosphorus-containing metabolites in human transplanted kidney in vivo by quantitative 31 P MR spectroscopy (MRS) using surface coils and to compare the obtained values with previous data. Material and Methods: In 5 patients with well-functioning transplanted kidneys, 31 P spectra were obtained with the three-dimensional localization image-selected in vivo spectroscopy technique applying a protocol for quantitative spectroscopy using surface coils. Relaxation corrected signal intensities determined by time domain fitting were used to derive absolute molar concentrations for phosphate-containing metabolites. Results: Little or no phosphocreatine in all spectra verified the absence of muscle contamination, confirming proper volume localization. The mean concentrations in the transplanted kidneys were as follows: ATP 1.60±0.26 mmol/l, PDE 2.14±0.91 mmol/l, Pi 0.66±0.25 mmol/l, PME 2.32±0.50 mmol/l. These values are consistent with previously reported values determined by other techniques. Conclusion: The non-invasive determination of absolute metabolite concentrations in human kidney using MRS supplements the use of signal intensity ratios to detect pathologic changes in the energy metabolism of transplanted kidneys

  2. Metabolite Profiling of Red Sea Corals

    KAUST Repository

    Ortega, Jovhana Alejandra

    2016-12-01

    Looking at the metabolite profile of an organism provides insights into the metabolomic state of a cell and hence also into pathways employed. Little is known about the metabolites produced by corals and their algal symbionts. In particular, corals from the central Red Sea are understudied, but interesting study objects, as they live in one of the warmest and most saline environments and can provide clues as to the adjustment of corals to environmental change. In this study, we applied gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC–MS) metabolite profiling to analyze the metabolic profile of four coral species and their associated symbionts: Fungia granulosa, Acropora hemprichii, Porites lutea, and Pocillopora verrucosa. We identified and quantified 102 compounds among primary and secondary metabolites across all samples. F. granulosa and its symbiont showed a total of 59 metabolites which were similar to the 51 displayed by P. verrucosa. P. lutea and A. hemprichii both harbored 40 compounds in conjunction with their respective isolated algae. Comparing across species, 28 metabolites were exclusively present in algae, while 38 were exclusive to corals. A principal component and cluster analyses revealed that metabolite profiles clustered between corals and algae, but each species harbored a distinct catalog of metabolites. The major classes of compounds were carbohydrates and amino acids. Taken together, this study provides a first description of metabolites of Red Sea corals and their associated symbionts. As expected, the metabolites of coral hosts differ from their algal symbionts, but each host and algal species harbor a unique set of metabolites. This corroborates that host-symbiont species pairs display a fine-tuned complementary metabolism that provide insights into the specific nature of the symbiosis. Our analysis also revealed aquatic pollutants, which suggests that metabolite profiling might be used for monitoring pollution levels and assessing

  3. How a mycoparasite employs g-protein signaling: using the example of trichoderma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omann, Markus; Zeilinger, Susanne

    2010-01-01

    Mycoparasitic Trichoderma spp. act as potent biocontrol agents against a number of plant pathogenic fungi, whereupon the mycoparasitic attack includes host recognition followed by infection structure formation and secretion of lytic enzymes and antifungal metabolites leading to the host's death. Host-derived signals are suggested to be recognized by receptors located on the mycoparasite's cell surface eliciting an internal signal transduction cascade which results in the transcription of mycoparasitism-relevant genes. Heterotrimeric G proteins of fungi transmit signals originating from G-protein-coupled receptors mainly to the cAMP and the MAP kinase pathways resulting in regulation of downstream effectors. Components of the G-protein signaling machinery such as Gα subunits and G-protein-coupled receptors were recently shown to play crucial roles in Trichoderma mycoparasitism as they govern processes such as the production of extracellular cell wall lytic enzymes, the secretion of antifungal metabolites, and the formation of infection structures.

  4. Metabolomic Profiling for Identification of Novel Potential Biomarkers in Cardiovascular Diseases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria G. Barderas

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Metabolomics involves the identification and quantification of metabolites present in a biological system. Three different approaches can be used: metabolomic fingerprinting, metabolic profiling, and metabolic footprinting, in order to evaluate the clinical course of a disease, patient recovery, changes in response to surgical intervention or pharmacological treatment, as well as other associated features. Characteristic patterns of metabolites can be revealed that broaden our understanding of a particular disorder. In the present paper, common strategies and analytical techniques used in metabolomic studies are reviewed, particularly with reference to the cardiovascular field.

  5. Metabolite profiling and quantification of phytochemicals in potato extracts using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong, Esther Swee Lan; McGhie, Tony K; Heyes, Julian A; Stowell, Kathryn M

    2013-12-01

    Potatoes contain a diverse range of phytochemicals which have been suggested to have health benefits. Metabolite profiling and quantification were conducted on plant extracts made from a white potato cultivar and 'Urenika', a purple potato cultivar traditionally consumed by New Zealand Maori. There is limited published information regarding the metabolite profile of Solanum tuberosum cultivar 'Urenika'. Using ultra-high- performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS), a total of 31 compounds were identified and quantified in the potato extracts. The majority of the compounds were identified for the first time in 'Urenika'. These compounds include several types of anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acid (HCA) derivatives, and hydroxycinnamic amides (HCAA). Six classes of compounds, namely organic acids, amino acids, HCA, HCAA, flavonols and glycoalkaloids, were present in both extracts but quantities varied between the two extracts. The unknown plant metabolites in both potato extracts were assigned with molecular formulae and identified with high confidence. Quantification of the metabolites was achieved using a number of appropriate standards. High-resolution mass spectrometry data critical for accurate identification of unknown phytochemicals were achieved and could be added to potato or plant metabolomic database. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

  6. Comprehensive analyses of genomes, transcriptomes and metabolites of neem tree

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nagesh A. Kuravadi

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss is one of the most versatile tropical evergreen tree species known in India since the Vedic period (1500 BC–600 BC. Neem tree is a rich source of limonoids, having a wide spectrum of activity against insect pests and microbial pathogens. Complex tetranortriterpenoids such as azadirachtin, salanin and nimbin are the major active principles isolated from neem seed. Absolutely nothing is known about the biochemical pathways of these metabolites in neem tree. To identify genes and pathways in neem, we sequenced neem genomes and transcriptomes using next generation sequencing technologies. Assembly of Illumina and 454 sequencing reads resulted in 267 Mb, which accounts for 70% of estimated size of neem genome. We predicted 44,495 genes in the neem genome, of which 32,278 genes were expressed in neem tissues. Neem genome consists about 32.5% (87 Mb of repetitive DNA elements. Neem tree is phylogenetically related to citrus, Citrus sinensis. Comparative analysis anchored 62% (161 Mb of assembled neem genomic contigs onto citrus chromomes. Ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-selected reaction monitoring (UHPLC-MS/SRM method was used to quantify azadirachtin, nimbin, and salanin from neem tissues. Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WCGNA of expressed genes and metabolites resulted in identification of possible candidate genes involved in azadirachtin biosynthesis pathway. This study provides genomic, transcriptomic and quantity of top three neem metabolites resource, which will accelerate basic research in neem to understand biochemical pathways.

  7. Comprehensive analyses of genomes, transcriptomes and metabolites of neem tree

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangiah, Kannan; Mahesh, HB; Rajamani, Anantharamanan; Shirke, Meghana D.; Russiachand, Heikham; Loganathan, Ramya Malarini; Shankara Lingu, Chandana; Siddappa, Shilpa; Ramamurthy, Aishwarya; Sathyanarayana, BN

    2015-01-01

    Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) is one of the most versatile tropical evergreen tree species known in India since the Vedic period (1500 BC–600 BC). Neem tree is a rich source of limonoids, having a wide spectrum of activity against insect pests and microbial pathogens. Complex tetranortriterpenoids such as azadirachtin, salanin and nimbin are the major active principles isolated from neem seed. Absolutely nothing is known about the biochemical pathways of these metabolites in neem tree. To identify genes and pathways in neem, we sequenced neem genomes and transcriptomes using next generation sequencing technologies. Assembly of Illumina and 454 sequencing reads resulted in 267 Mb, which accounts for 70% of estimated size of neem genome. We predicted 44,495 genes in the neem genome, of which 32,278 genes were expressed in neem tissues. Neem genome consists about 32.5% (87 Mb) of repetitive DNA elements. Neem tree is phylogenetically related to citrus, Citrus sinensis. Comparative analysis anchored 62% (161 Mb) of assembled neem genomic contigs onto citrus chromomes. Ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-selected reaction monitoring (UHPLC-MS/SRM) method was used to quantify azadirachtin, nimbin, and salanin from neem tissues. Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WCGNA) of expressed genes and metabolites resulted in identification of possible candidate genes involved in azadirachtin biosynthesis pathway. This study provides genomic, transcriptomic and quantity of top three neem metabolites resource, which will accelerate basic research in neem to understand biochemical pathways. PMID:26290780

  8. Problems of the processing of nuclear magnetic logging signals (identification of fluid-containing strata from a number of measurements)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aliev, T.M.; Orlov, G.L.; Lof, V.M.; Mityushin, E.M.; Ragimova, E.K.

    1978-01-01

    Problems of the processing of nuclear magnetic logging signals to identification of fluid-containing strata from a number of measurements. Problems of application statistical decision theory to discovery of fluid-containing beds from a number of measurements are considered. Using the technique possibilities of nuclear magnetic logging method the necessary volume of samples is motivated, the rational algorithm for processing of sequential measurements is obtained

  9. Kynurenine pathway metabolites and enzymes involved in redox reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González Esquivel, D; Ramírez-Ortega, D; Pineda, B; Castro, N; Ríos, C; Pérez de la Cruz, V

    2017-01-01

    Oxido-reduction reactions are a fundamental part of the life due to support many vital biological processes as cellular respiration and glucose oxidation. In the redox reactions, one substance transfers one or more electrons to another substance. An important electron carrier is the coenzyme NAD + , which is involved in many metabolic pathways. De novo biosynthesis of NAD + is through the kynurenine pathway, the major route of tryptophan catabolism, which is sensitive to redox environment and produces metabolites with redox capacity, able to alter biological functions that are controlled by redox-responsive signaling pathways. Kynurenine pathway metabolites have been implicated in the physiology process and in the physiopathology of many diseases; processes that also share others factors as dysregulation of calcium homeostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation and cell death, which impact the redox environment. This review examines in detail the available evidence in which kynurenine pathway metabolites participate in redox reactions and their effect on cellular redox homeostasis, since the knowledge of the main factors and mechanisms that lead to cell death in many neurodegenative disorders and other pathologies, such as mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and kynurenines imbalance, will allow to develop therapies using them as targets. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'The Kynurenine Pathway in Health and Disease'. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Bioinformatic analysis of xenobiotic reactive metabolite target proteins and their interacting partners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanzlik Robert P

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein covalent binding by reactive metabolites of drugs, chemicals and natural products can lead to acute cytotoxicity. Recent rapid progress in reactive metabolite target protein identification has shown that adduction is surprisingly selective and inspired the hope that analysis of target proteins might reveal protein factors that differentiate target- vs. non-target proteins and illuminate mechanisms connecting covalent binding to cytotoxicity. Results Sorting 171 known reactive metabolite target proteins revealed a number of GO categories and KEGG pathways to be significantly enriched in targets, but in most cases the classes were too large, and the "percent coverage" too small, to allow meaningful conclusions about mechanisms of toxicity. However, a similar analysis of the directlyinteracting partners of 28 common targets of multiple reactive metabolites revealed highly significant enrichments in terms likely to be highly relevant to cytotoxicity (e.g., MAP kinase pathways, apoptosis, response to unfolded protein. Machine learning was used to rank the contribution of 211 computed protein features to determining protein susceptibility to adduction. Protein lysine (but not cysteine content and protein instability index (i.e., rate of turnover in vivo were among the features most important to determining susceptibility. Conclusion As yet there is no good explanation for why some low-abundance proteins become heavily adducted while some abundant proteins become only lightly adducted in vivo. Analyzing the directly interacting partners of target proteins appears to yield greater insight into mechanisms of toxicity than analyzing target proteins per se. The insights provided can readily be formulated as hypotheses to test in future experimental studies.

  11. Gamma-butyrolactone and furan signaling systems in Streptomyces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidda, John D; Corre, Christophe

    2012-01-01

    Streptomyces bacteria produce different classes of diffusible signaling molecules that trigger secondary metabolite production and/or morphological development within the cell population. The biosynthesis of gamma-butyrolactones (GBLs) and 2-alkyl-4-hydroxymethylfuran-3-carboxylic acids (AHFCAs) signaling molecules is related and involves an essential AfsA-like butenolide synthase. This chapter first describes the catalytic role of AfsA-like enzyme then provides details about methods for the discovery and characterization of potentially novel signaling molecules. In section 4, one approach for establishing the biological role of these signaling molecules is presented. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Vibrotactile Detection, Identification and Directional Perception of signal-Processed Sounds from Environmental Events: A Pilot Field Evaluation in Five Cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parivash Ranjbar

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Conducting field tests of a vibrotactile aid for deaf/deafblind persons for detection, identification and directional perception of environmental sounds. Methods: Five deaf (3F/2M, 22–36 years individuals tested the aid separately in a home environment (kitchen and in a traffic environment. Their eyes were blindfolded and they wore a headband and holding a vibrator for sound identification. In the headband, three microphones were mounted and two vibrators for signalling direction of the sound source. The sounds originated from events typical for the home environment and traffic. The subjects were inexperienced (events unknown and experienced (events known. They identified the events in a home and traffic environment, but perceived sound source direction only in traffic. Results: The detection scores were higher than 98% both in the home and in the traffic environment. In the home environment, identification scores varied between 25%-58% when the subjects were inexperienced and between 33%-83% when they were experienced. In traffic, identification scores varied between 20%-40% when the subjects were inexperienced and between 22%-56% when they were experienced. The directional perception scores varied between 30%-60% when inexperienced and between 61%-83% when experienced. Discussion: The vibratory aid consistently improved all participants’ detection, identification and directional perception ability.

  13. Selective detection of carbon-13, nitrogen-15, and deuterium labeled metabolites by capillary gas chromatography-chemical reaction interface/mass spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chace, D.H.; Abramson, F.P.

    1989-01-01

    We have applied a new chemical reaction interface/mass spectrometer technique (CRIMS) to the selective detection of 13C-, 15N-, and 2H-labeled phenytoin and its metabolites in urine following separation by capillary gas chromatography. The microwave-powered chemical reaction interface converts materials from their original forms into small molecules whose mass spectra serve to identify and quantify the nuclides that make up each analyte. The presence of each element is followed by monitoring the isotopic variants of CO2, NO, or H2 that are produced by the chemical reaction interface. Chromatograms showing only enriched 13C and 15N were produced by subtracting the abundance of naturally occurring isotopes from the observed M + 1 signal. A selective chromatogram of 2H (D) was obtained by measuring HD at m/z 3.0219 with a resolution of 2000. Metabolites representing less than 1.5% of the total labeled compounds could be identified in the chromatogram. Detection limits from urine of 380 pg/mL of a 15N-labeled metabolite, 7 ng/mL of a 13C-labeled metabolite, and 16 ng/mL of a deuterium labeled metabolite were determined at a signal to noise ratio of 2. Depending on the isotope examined, a linear dynamic range of 250-1000 was observed using CRIMS. To identify many of these labeled peaks (metabolites), the chromatographic analysis was repeated with the chemical reaction interface turned off and mass spectra obtained at the retention times found in the CRIMS experiment. CRIMS is a new analytical method that appears to be particularly useful for metabolism studies

  14. Identification of hepatic metabolites of two highly carcinogenic polycyclic aza-aromatic compounds, 7,9-dimethylbenz[c]acridine and 7,10-dimethylbenz[c]acridine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Y; Duke, C C; Holder, G M

    1995-03-01

    The hepatic microsomal metabolites of the highly carcinogenic dimethylbenzacridines, 7,9-dimethylbenz[c]acridine (7,9-DMBAC), and 7,10-dimethylbenz[c]acridine (7,10-DMBAC) were obtained with preparations from 3-methylcholanthrene-pretreated rats. Metabolites were separated by reversed-phase HPLC and characterized using UV spectral data and chemical ionization-mass spectrometry after trimethylsilylation and GC. Comparisons with products formed in the presence of the epoxide hydrolase inhibitor, 1,1,1-trichloropropane 2,3-oxide and with those formed from the three synthetic alcohol derivatives of each parent compound, aided the assignment of firm or tentative structures to 16 products from 7,9-DMBAC found in 22 reversed-phase chromatographic peaks, and for 17 products of 7,10-DMBAC found in 19 chromatographic peaks. The more abundant metabolites were derived from oxidation of the methyl groups. Other metabolites were dihydrodiols, epoxides, phenols and secondary metabolites. The 9-methyl group prevented dihydrodiol formation at the 8,9-position from 7,9-DMBAC, and for each carcinogen, the 3,4-dihydrodiol was formed. As well, 3,4-dihydrodiols of methyl oxidized compounds were found.

  15. Virtual quantification of metabolites by capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry: predicting ionization efficiency without chemical standards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chalcraft, Kenneth R; Lee, Richard; Mills, Casandra; Britz-McKibbin, Philip

    2009-04-01

    A major obstacle in metabolomics remains the identification and quantification of a large fraction of unknown metabolites in complex biological samples when purified standards are unavailable. Herein we introduce a multivariate strategy for de novo quantification of cationic/zwitterionic metabolites using capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (CE-ESI-MS) based on fundamental molecular, thermodynamic, and electrokinetic properties of an ion. Multivariate calibration was used to derive a quantitative relationship between the measured relative response factor (RRF) of polar metabolites with respect to four physicochemical properties associated with ion evaporation in ESI-MS, namely, molecular volume (MV), octanol-water distribution coefficient (log D), absolute mobility (mu(o)), and effective charge (z(eff)). Our studies revealed that a limited set of intrinsic solute properties can be used to predict the RRF of various classes of metabolites (e.g., amino acids, amines, peptides, acylcarnitines, nucleosides, etc.) with reasonable accuracy and robustness provided that an appropriate training set is validated and ion responses are normalized to an internal standard(s). The applicability of the multivariate model to quantify micromolar levels of metabolites spiked in red blood cell (RBC) lysates was also examined by CE-ESI-MS without significant matrix effects caused by involatile salts and/or major co-ion interferences. This work demonstrates the feasibility for virtual quantification of low-abundance metabolites and their isomers in real-world samples using physicochemical properties estimated by computer modeling, while providing deeper insight into the wide disparity of solute responses in ESI-MS. New strategies for predicting ionization efficiency in silico allow for rapid and semiquantitative analysis of newly discovered biomarkers and/or drug metabolites in metabolomics research when chemical standards do not exist.

  16. Orbitrap technology for comprehensive metabolite-based liquid chromatographic–high resolution-tandem mass spectrometric urine drug screening – Exemplified for cardiovascular drugs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Helfer, Andreas G.; Michely, Julian A.; Weber, Armin A.; Meyer, Markus R.; Maurer, Hans H.

    2015-01-01

    LC–high resolution (HR)-MS well established in proteomics has become more and more important in bioanalysis of small molecules over the last few years. Its high selectivity and specificity provide best prerequisites for its use in broad screening approaches. Therefore, Orbitrap technology was tested for developing a general metabolite-based LC–HR-MS/MS screening approach for urinalysis of drugs necessary in clinical and forensic toxicology. After simple urine precipitation, the drugs and their metabolites were separated within 10 min and detected by a Q-Exactive mass spectrometer in full scan with positive/negative switching, and subsequent data dependent acquisition (DDA) mode. Identification criteria were the presence of accurate precursor ions, isotopic patterns, five most intense fragment ions, and comparison with full HR-MS/MS library spectra. The current library contains over 1900 parent drugs and 1200 metabolites. The method was validated for typical drug representatives and metabolites concerning recovery, matrix effects, process efficiency, and limits showed acceptable results. The applicability was tested first for cardiovascular drugs, which should be screened for in poisoning cases and for medication adherence of hypertension patients. The novel LC–HR-MS/MS method allowed fast, simple, and robust urine screening, particularly for cardiovascular drugs showing the usefulness of Orbitrap technology for drug testing. - Highlights: • First study on the application of Orbitrap technology for comprehensive drug screening in clinical and forensic toxicology. • Simple workup, sufficient separation, and powerful screening and identification using modern high resolution MS. • Validation of the assay according to guidelines for qualitative approaches. • Elucidation of the power of new data evaluation software in combination with a new reference drug and metabolite library. • Great relevance for science and practice in clinical and forensic

  17. Orbitrap technology for comprehensive metabolite-based liquid chromatographic–high resolution-tandem mass spectrometric urine drug screening – Exemplified for cardiovascular drugs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Helfer, Andreas G.; Michely, Julian A.; Weber, Armin A.; Meyer, Markus R.; Maurer, Hans H., E-mail: hans.maurer@uks.eu

    2015-09-03

    LC–high resolution (HR)-MS well established in proteomics has become more and more important in bioanalysis of small molecules over the last few years. Its high selectivity and specificity provide best prerequisites for its use in broad screening approaches. Therefore, Orbitrap technology was tested for developing a general metabolite-based LC–HR-MS/MS screening approach for urinalysis of drugs necessary in clinical and forensic toxicology. After simple urine precipitation, the drugs and their metabolites were separated within 10 min and detected by a Q-Exactive mass spectrometer in full scan with positive/negative switching, and subsequent data dependent acquisition (DDA) mode. Identification criteria were the presence of accurate precursor ions, isotopic patterns, five most intense fragment ions, and comparison with full HR-MS/MS library spectra. The current library contains over 1900 parent drugs and 1200 metabolites. The method was validated for typical drug representatives and metabolites concerning recovery, matrix effects, process efficiency, and limits showed acceptable results. The applicability was tested first for cardiovascular drugs, which should be screened for in poisoning cases and for medication adherence of hypertension patients. The novel LC–HR-MS/MS method allowed fast, simple, and robust urine screening, particularly for cardiovascular drugs showing the usefulness of Orbitrap technology for drug testing. - Highlights: • First study on the application of Orbitrap technology for comprehensive drug screening in clinical and forensic toxicology. • Simple workup, sufficient separation, and powerful screening and identification using modern high resolution MS. • Validation of the assay according to guidelines for qualitative approaches. • Elucidation of the power of new data evaluation software in combination with a new reference drug and metabolite library. • Great relevance for science and practice in clinical and forensic

  18. Mass spectrometry techniques in the survey of steroid metabolites as potential disease biomarkers: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gouveia, Maria João; Brindley, Paul J; Santos, Lúcio Lara; Correia da Costa, José Manuel; Gomes, Paula; Vale, Nuno

    2013-09-01

    Mass spectrometric approaches have been fundamental to the identification of metabolites associated with steroid hormones, yet this topic has not been reviewed in depth in recent years. To this end, and given the increasing relevance of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) studies on steroid hormones and their metabolites, the present review addresses this subject. This review provides a timely summary of the use of various mass spectrometry-based analytical techniques during the evaluation of steroidal biomarkers in a range of human disease settings. The sensitivity and specificity of these technologies are clearly providing valuable new insights into breast cancer and cardiovascular disease. We aim to contribute to an enhanced understanding of steroid metabolism and how it can be profiled by LC-MS techniques. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Primary and secondary metabolites production in signal grass around the year under nitrogen fertilizer

    OpenAIRE

    Syeda Maryam Hussain

    2016-01-01

    Plants produce a number of substances and products and primary and secondary metabolites (SM) are amongst them with many benefits but limitation as well. Usually, the fodder are not considered toxic to animals or as a source having higher SM. The Brachiaria decumbens has a considerable nutritional value, but it is considered as a toxic grass for causing photosensitization in animals, if the grass is not harvested for more than 30 days or solely. The absence of detailed information in the lite...

  20. Dissipation, half-lives, and mass spectrometric identification of chlorpyrifos and its two metabolites on field-grown collard and kale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonious, George F; Turley, Eric T; Abubakari, Mutari; Snyder, John C

    2017-04-03

    The persistence and fate of chlorpyrifos and its two metabolites, chlorpyrifos-oxon and the 3, 5, 6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP) break-down product were investigated on kale and collard leaves under field conditions. A simultaneous extraction and quantification procedure was developed for chrorpyrifos and its two main metabolites. Residues of chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos oxon, and TCP were determined using a gas chromatograph (GC) equipped with an electron capture detector (GC/ECD). Chlorpyrifos metabolites were detectable up to 23 days following application. Residues were confirmed using a GC equipped with a mass selective detector (GC/MSD) in total ion mode. Initial residues of chlorpyrifos were greater on collard (14.5 µg g -1 ) than kale (8.2 µg g -1 ) corresponding to half-lives (T 1/2 ) values of 7.4 and 2.2 days, respectively. TCP, the hydrolysis product, was more persistent on collards with an estimated T 1/2 of 6.5 days compared to kale (T 1/2 of 1.9 days).

  1. Identification of a novel human deoxynivalenol metabolite enhancing proliferation of intestinal and urinary bladder cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warth, Benedikt; Del Favero, Giorgia; Wiesenberger, Gerlinde; Puntscher, Hannes; Woelflingseder, Lydia; Fruhmann, Philipp; Sarkanj, Bojan; Krska, Rudolf; Schuhmacher, Rainer; Adam, Gerhard; Marko, Doris

    2016-09-01

    The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is an abundant contaminant of cereal based food and a severe issue for global food safety. We report the discovery of DON-3-sulfate as a novel human metabolite and potential new biomarker of DON exposure. The conjugate was detectable in 70% of urine samples obtained from pregnant women in Croatia. For the measurement of urinary metabolites, a highly sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated. The method was also used to investigate samples from a duplicate diet survey for studying the toxicokinetics of DON-3-sulfate. To get a preliminary insight into the biological relevance of the newly discovered DON-sulfates, in vitroexperiments were performed. In contrast to DON, sulfate conjugates lacked potency to suppress protein translation. However, surprisingly we found that DON-sulfates enhanced proliferation of human HT-29 colon carcinoma cells, primary human colon epithelial cells (HCEC-1CT) and, to some extent, also T24 bladder cancer cells. A proliferative stimulus, especially in tumorigenic cells raises concern on the potential impact of DON-sulfates on consumer health. Thus, a further characterization of their toxicological relevance should be of high priority.

  2. Microsomal metabolism of trenbolone acetate metabolites ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trenbolone acetate (TBA) is a synthetic growth promoter widely used in animal agriculture, and its metabolites are suspected endocrine disrupting compounds in agriculturally impacted receiving waters. However, beyond the three widely recognized TBA metabolites (17-trenbolone, 17-trenbolone and trendione), little is known about other metabolites formed in vivo and subsequently discharged into the environment, with some evidence suggesting these unknown metabolites comprise a majority of the TBA mass dosed to the animal. Here, we explored the metabolism of the three known TBA metabolites using rat liver microsome studies. All TBA metabolites are transformed into a complex mixture of monohydroxylated products. Based on product characterization, the majority are more polar than the parent metabolites but maintain their characteristic trienone backbone. A minor degree of interconversion between known metabolites was also observed, as were higher order hydroxylated products with a greater extent of reaction. Notably, the distribution and yield of products were generally comparable across a series of variably induced rat liver microsomes, as well as during additional studies with human and bovine liver microsomes. Bioassays conducted with mixtures of these transformation products suggest that androgen receptor (AR) binding activity is diminished as a result of the microsomal treatment, suggesting that the transformation products are generally less potent than

  3. A retention-time-shift-tolerant background subtraction and noise reduction algorithm (BgS-NoRA) for extraction of drug metabolites in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry data from biological matrices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Peijuan; Ding, Wei; Tong, Wei; Ghosal, Anima; Alton, Kevin; Chowdhury, Swapan

    2009-06-01

    A retention-time-shift-tolerant background subtraction and noise reduction algorithm (BgS-NoRA) is implemented using the statistical programming language R to remove non-drug-related ion signals from accurate mass liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) data. The background-subtraction part of the algorithm is similar to a previously published procedure (Zhang H and Yang Y. J. Mass Spectrom. 2008, 43: 1181-1190). The noise reduction algorithm (NoRA) is an add-on feature to help further clean up the residual matrix ion noises after background subtraction. It functions by removing ion signals that are not consistent across many adjacent scans. The effectiveness of BgS-NoRA was examined in biological matrices by spiking blank plasma extract, bile and urine with diclofenac and ibuprofen that have been pre-metabolized by microsomal incubation. Efficient removal of background ions permitted the detection of drug-related ions in in vivo samples (plasma, bile, urine and feces) obtained from rats orally dosed with (14)C-loratadine with minimal interference. Results from these experiments demonstrate that BgS-NoRA is more effective in removing analyte-unrelated ions than background subtraction alone. NoRA is shown to be particularly effective in the early retention region for urine samples and middle retention region for bile samples, where the matrix ion signals still dominate the total ion chromatograms (TICs) after background subtraction. In most cases, the TICs after BgS-NoRA are in excellent qualitative correlation to the radiochromatograms. BgS-NoRA will be a very useful tool in metabolite detection and identification work, especially in first-in-human (FIH) studies and multiple dose toxicology studies where non-radio-labeled drugs are administered. Data from these types of studies are critical to meet the latest FDA guidance on Metabolite in Safety Testing (MIST). Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Secondary Metabolite Profiling of Species of the Genus Usnea by UHPLC-ESI-OT-MS-MS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Salgado

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Lichens are symbiotic associations of fungi with microalgae and/or cyanobacteria, which are considered among the slowest growing organisms, with strong tolerance to adverse environmental conditions. There are about 400 genera and 1600 species of lichens and those belonging to the Usnea genus comprise about 360 of these species. Usnea lichens have been used since ancient times as dyes, cosmetics, preservatives, deodorants and folk medicines. The phytochemistry of the Usnea genus includes more than 60 compounds which belong to the following classes: depsides, depsidones, depsones, lactones, quinones, phenolics, polysaccharides, fatty acids and dibenzofurans. Due to scarce knowledge of metabolomic profiles of Usnea species (U. barbata, U. antarctica, U. rubicunda and U. subfloridana, a study based on UHPLC-ESI-OT-MS-MS was performed for a comprehensive characterization of their secondary metabolites. From the methanolic extracts of these species a total of 73 metabolites were identified for the first time using this hyphenated technique, including 34 compounds in U. barbata, 21 in U. antarctica, 38 in U. rubicunda and 37 in U. subfloridana. Besides, a total of 13 metabolites were not identified and reported so far, and could be new according to our data analysis. This study showed that this hyphenated technique is rapid, effective and accurate for phytochemical identification of lichen metabolites and the data collected could be useful for chemotaxonomic studies.

  5. Isolation and screening of proangiogenic and antiangiogenic metabolites producing rare actinobacteria from soil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azarakhsh, Y; Mohammadipanah, F; Nassiri, S M; Siavashi, V; Hamedi, J

    2017-06-01

    Angiogenesis is a physiological process that has important impacts on the pathology and healing of various diseases, and its induction or inhibition by bioactive actinobacterial metabolites can help the treatment of some diseases. In this study, the effects of actinobacterial extract in the process of angiogenesis have been explored. In this research, proangiogenic and antiangiogenic metabolites producing actinobacteria were isolated from soil samples and their fermentation broth were extracted and after evaluation of their toxicity by MTT assay, antiangiogenic and proangiogenic activities were screened against human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by in vitro tube formation and migration assay. Isolated strains were identified through molecular techniques. The results showed that Nocardiopsis arvandica UTMC 103 and Nonomuraea sp. UTMC 2180 extracts had a high potential of anti-angiogenic activity on HUVECs. For the first time proangiogenic potency of a rare actinobacterium, Kribbella sp. UTMC 522, was reported, and N. arvandica UTMC 103 and Nonomuraea sp. UTMC 2180 extracts inhibits the proliferation, migration and angiogenesis activity of HUVECs with reasonable potency. Metabolites of the introduced rare actinobacteria are potent proangiogenic and angiogenic inhibitors. Identification of angiogenic-antiangiogenic mechanisms and purification of the extracts would be useful in therapeutic angiogenesis. © 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

  6. Identifying diseases-related metabolites using random walk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Yang; Zhao, Tianyi; Zhang, Ningyi; Zang, Tianyi; Zhang, Jun; Cheng, Liang

    2018-04-11

    Metabolites disrupted by abnormal state of human body are deemed as the effect of diseases. In comparison with the cause of diseases like genes, these markers are easier to be captured for the prevention and diagnosis of metabolic diseases. Currently, a large number of metabolic markers of diseases need to be explored, which drive us to do this work. The existing metabolite-disease associations were extracted from Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) using a text mining tool NCBO annotator as priori knowledge. Next we calculated the similarity of a pair-wise metabolites based on the similarity of disease sets of them. Then, all the similarities of metabolite pairs were utilized for constructing a weighted metabolite association network (WMAN). Subsequently, the network was utilized for predicting novel metabolic markers of diseases using random walk. Totally, 604 metabolites and 228 diseases were extracted from HMDB. From 604 metabolites, 453 metabolites are selected to construct the WMAN, where each metabolite is deemed as a node, and the similarity of two metabolites as the weight of the edge linking them. The performance of the network is validated using the leave one out method. As a result, the high area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) (0.7048) is achieved. The further case studies for identifying novel metabolites of diabetes mellitus were validated in the recent studies. In this paper, we presented a novel method for prioritizing metabolite-disease pairs. The superior performance validates its reliability for exploring novel metabolic markers of diseases.

  7. Network-based Type-2 Fuzzy System with Water Flow Like Algorithm for System Identification and Signal Processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Che-Ting Kuo

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces a network-based interval type-2 fuzzy inference system (NT2FIS with a dynamic solution agent algorithm water flow like algorithm (WFA, for nonlinear system identification and blind source separation (BSS problem. The NT2FIS consists of interval type-2 asymmetric fuzzy membership functions and TSK-type consequent parts to enhance the performance. The proposed scheme is optimized by a new heuristic learning algorithm, WFA, with dynamic solution agents. The proposed WFA is inspired by the natural behavior of water flow. Splitting, moving, merging, evaporation, and precipitation have all been introduced for optimization. Some modifications, including new moving strategies, such as the application of tabu searching and gradient-descent techniques, are proposed to enhance the performance of the WFA in training the NT2FIS systems. Simulation and comparison results for nonlinear system identification and blind signal separation are presented to illustrate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

  8. 24,25,28-Trihydroxyvitamin D2 and 24,25,26-trihydroxyvitamin D2: Novel metabolites of vitamin D2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reddy, G.S.; Tserng, K.

    1990-01-01

    Understanding of the inactivation pathways of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 2 and 24-hydroxyvitamin D 2 , the two physiologically significant monohydroxylated metabolites of vitamin D 2 , is of importance, especially during hypervitaminosis D 2 . At present, little information is available regarding the inactivation pathway of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 2 except its further metabolism into 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 2 . In our present study, the authors investigated the metabolic fate of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 2 in the isolated perfused rat kidney and demonstrated its conversion not only into 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 2 but also into two other new metabolites, namely, 24,25,28-trihydroxyvitamin D 2 and 24,25,26-trihydroxyvitamin D 2 . The structure identification of the new metabolites was established by the techniques of ultraviolet absorption spectrophotometry and mass spectrometry and by the characteristic nature of each new metabolite's susceptibility to sodium metaperiodate oxidation. In order to demonstrate the physiological significance of the two new trihydroxy metabolites of vitamin D 2 , induced hypervitaminosis D 2 in a rat using [3α- 3 H]vitamin D 2 and analyzed its plasma for the various [3α- 3 H]vitamin D 2 metabolites on two different high-pressure liquid chromatography systems. The results indicate that both 24,25,26-trihydroxyvitamin D 2 and 24,25,26-trihydroxyvitamin D 2 circulate in the vitamin D 2 intoxicated rat in significant amounts along with other previously identified monohydroxy and dihydroxy metabolites of vitamin D 2 , namely, 24-hydroxyvitamin D 2 , 25-hydroxyvitamin D 2 , and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 2

  9. Contact-Free Heartbeat Signal for Human Identification and Forensics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nasrollahi, Kamal; Haque, Mohammad Ahsanul; Irani, Ramin

    2017-01-01

    The heartbeat signal, which is one of the physiological signals, is of great importance in many real-world applications, for example, in patient monitoring and biometric recognition. The traditional methods for measuring such this signal use contact-based sensors that need to be installed...... been developed for contact-free extraction of the heartbeat signal. We have recently used the contact-free measured heartbeat signal, for bio- metric recognition, and have obtained promising results, indicating the importance of these signals for biometrics recognition and also for forensics...

  10. Study on Production of Useful Metabolites by Development of Advanced Cell Culture Techniques Using Radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung, Byung Yeoup; Kim, J. H.; Lee, S. S.; Shyamkumar, B.; An, B. C.; Moon, Y. R.; Lee, E. M.; Lee, M. H.

    2009-02-15

    The purpose of this project is improvement of investigation, materialization and evaluation techniques on effectiveness for functional natural compounds throughout development of tissue/cell culture techniques for mass production of useful metabolites using radiation. Research scope includes 1) Development of a technique for radiation tissue and cell culture, 2) Database construction for radiation response in plants and radiation effects, 3) Construction of general-purpose national based techniques of cell culture technique using radiation. Main results are as follow: Establishment of a tissue culture system (Rubus sp., Lithospermum erythrorhizon, and Rhodiola rosea); characterization of radiation activated gene expression from cultivated bokbunja (Rubus sp.) and Synechocystis sp., identification of gamma-ray induced color change in plants; identification of sensitivity to gamma-ray from Omija (Schisandra chinensis) extract; identification of the response of thylakoid proteins to gamma-ray in spinach and Arabidopsis; identification of gamma-ray induced gene relating to pigment metabolism; characterization of different NPQ changes to gamma-irradiated plants; verification of the effects of rare earth element including anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and as a growth enhancer; identification of changes in the growth of gamma-irradiated Synechocystis; and investigation of liquid cell culture conditions from Rhodiola rosea

  11. Study on Production of Useful Metabolites by Development of Advanced Cell Culture Techniques Using Radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, Byung Yeoup; Kim, J. H.; Lee, S. S.; Shyamkumar, B.; An, B. C.; Moon, Y. R.; Lee, E. M.; Lee, M. H.

    2009-02-01

    The purpose of this project is improvement of investigation, materialization and evaluation techniques on effectiveness for functional natural compounds throughout development of tissue/cell culture techniques for mass production of useful metabolites using radiation. Research scope includes 1) Development of a technique for radiation tissue and cell culture, 2) Database construction for radiation response in plants and radiation effects, 3) Construction of general-purpose national based techniques of cell culture technique using radiation. Main results are as follow: Establishment of a tissue culture system (Rubus sp., Lithospermum erythrorhizon, and Rhodiola rosea); characterization of radiation activated gene expression from cultivated bokbunja (Rubus sp.) and Synechocystis sp., identification of gamma-ray induced color change in plants; identification of sensitivity to gamma-ray from Omija (Schisandra chinensis) extract; identification of the response of thylakoid proteins to gamma-ray in spinach and Arabidopsis; identification of gamma-ray induced gene relating to pigment metabolism; characterization of different NPQ changes to gamma-irradiated plants; verification of the effects of rare earth element including anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and as a growth enhancer; identification of changes in the growth of gamma-irradiated Synechocystis; and investigation of liquid cell culture conditions from Rhodiola rosea

  12. Structure elucidation of metabolite x17299 by interpretation of mass spectrometric data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qibo; Ford, Lisa A; Evans, Anne M; Toal, Douglas R

    2017-01-01

    A major bottleneck in metabolomic studies is metabolite identification from accurate mass spectrometric data. Metabolite x17299 was identified in plasma as an unknown in a metabolomic study using a compound-centric approach where the associated ion features of the compound were used to determine the true molecular mass. The aim of this work is to elucidate the chemical structure of x17299, a new compound by de novo interpretation of mass spectrometric data. An Orbitrap Elite mass spectrometer was used for acquisition of mass spectra up to MS 4 at high resolution. Synthetic standards of N,N,N -trimethyl-l-alanyl-l-proline betaine (l,l-TMAP), a diastereomer, and an enantiomer were chemically prepared. The planar structure of x17299 was successfully proposed by de novo mechanistic interpretation of mass spectrometric data without any laborious purification and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis. The proposed structure was verified by deuterium exchanged mass spectrometric analysis and confirmed by comparison to a synthetic standard. Relative configuration of x17299 was determined by direct chromatographic comparison to a pair of synthetic diastereomers. Absolute configuration was assigned after derivatization of x17299 with a chiral auxiliary group followed by its chromatographic comparison to a pair of synthetic standards. The chemical structure of metabolite x17299 was determined to be l,l-TMAP.

  13. Climate change impact on the PAH photodegradation in soils: Characterization and metabolites identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marquès, Montse; Mari, Montse; Audí-Miró, Carme; Sierra, Jordi; Soler, Albert; Nadal, Martí; Domingo, José L

    2016-01-01

    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are airborne pollutants that are deposited on soils. As climate change is already altering temperature and solar radiation, the global warming is suggested to impact the environmental fate of PAHs. This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of climate change on the PAH photodegradation in soils. Samples of Mediterranean soils were subjected to different temperature and light radiation conditions in a climate chamber. Two climate scenarios were considered according to IPCC projections: 1) a base (B) scenario, being temperature and light intensity 20°C and 9.6W/m(2), respectively, and 2) a climate change (CC) scenario, working at 24°C and 24W/m(2), respectively. As expected, low molecular weight PAHs were rapidly volatilized when increasing both temperature and light intensity. In contrast, medium and high molecular weight PAHs presented different photodegradation rates in soils with different texture, which was likely related to the amount of photocatalysts contained in both soils. In turn, the hydrogen isotopic composition of some of the PAHs under study was also investigated to verify any degradation process. Hydrogen isotopes confirmed that benzo(a)pyrene is degraded in both B and CC scenarios, not only under light but also in the darkness, revealing unknown degradation processes occurring when light is lacking. Potential generation pathways of PAH photodegradation by-products were also suggested, being a higher number of metabolites formed in the CC scenario. Consequently, in a more or less near future, although humans might be less exposed to PAHs, they could be exposed to new metabolites of these pollutants, which might be even more toxic. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  14. A Support Vector Machine-Based Gender Identification Using Speech Signal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kye-Hwan; Kang, Sang-Ick; Kim, Deok-Hwan; Chang, Joon-Hyuk

    We propose an effective voice-based gender identification method using a support vector machine (SVM). The SVM is a binary classification algorithm that classifies two groups by finding the voluntary nonlinear boundary in a feature space and is known to yield high classification performance. In the present work, we compare the identification performance of the SVM with that of a Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based method using the mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC). A novel approach of incorporating a features fusion scheme based on a combination of the MFCC and the fundamental frequency is proposed with the aim of improving the performance of gender identification. Experimental results demonstrate that the gender identification performance using the SVM is significantly better than that of the GMM-based scheme. Moreover, the performance is substantially improved when the proposed features fusion technique is applied.

  15. Detection of Pesticides and Pesticide Metabolites Using the Cross Reactivity of Enzyme Immunoassays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thurman, E.M.; Aga, D.S.

    2001-01-01

    Enzyme immunoassay is an important environmental analysis method that may be used to identify many pesticide analytes in water samples. Because of similarities in chemical structure between various members of a pesticide class, there often may be an unwanted response that is characterized by a percentage of cross reactivity. Also, there may be cross reactivity caused by degradation products of the target analyte that may be present in the sample. In this paper, the concept of cross reactivity caused by degradation products or by nontarget analytes is explored as a tool for identification of metabolites or structurally similar compounds not previously known to be present in water samples. Two examples are examined in this paper from various water quality studies. They are alachlor and its metabolite, alachlor ethane sulfonic acid, and atrazine and its class members, prometryn and propazine. A method for using cross reactivity for the detection of these compounds is explained in this paper.

  16. Metabolite changes in nine different soybean varieties grown under field and greenhouse conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maria John, K M; Natarajan, Savithiry; Luthria, Devanand L

    2016-11-15

    Global food security remains a worldwide concern due to changing climate, increasing population, and reduced agriculture acreages. Greenhouse cultivation increases productivity by extending growing seasons, reducing pest infestations and providing protection against short term drastic weather fluctuations like frost, heat, rain, and wind. In the present study, we examined and compared the metabolic responses of nine soybean varieties grown under field and greenhouse conditions. Extracts were assayed by GC-FID, GC-MS, and LC-MS for the identification of 10 primary (amino acids, organic acids, and sugars) and 10 secondary (isoflavones, fatty acid methyl esters) metabolites. Sugar molecules (glucose, sucrose, and pinitol) and isoflavone aglycons were increased but the isoflavones glucoside content decreased in the greenhouse cultivated soybeans. The amino acids and organic acids varied between the varieties. The results show that clustering (PCA and PLS-DA) patterns of soybean metabolites were significantly influenced by the genetic variation and growing conditions. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  17. Multicomponent Analysis of the Differential Induction of Secondary Metabolite Profiles in Fungal Endophytes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Víctor González-Menéndez

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Small molecule histone deacetylase (HDAC and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT inhibitors are commonly used to perturb the production of fungal metabolites leading to the induction of the expression of silent biosynthetic pathways. Several reports have described the variable effects observed in natural product profiles in fungi treated with HDAC and DNMT inhibitors, such as enhanced chemical diversity and/or the induction of new molecules previously unknown to be produced by the strain. Fungal endophytes are known to produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites (SMs involved in their adaptation and survival within higher plants. The plant-microbe interaction may influence the expression of some biosynthetic pathways, otherwise cryptic in these fungi when grown in vitro. The aim of this study was to setup a systematic approach to evaluate and identify the possible effects of HDAC and DNMT inhibitors on the metabolic profiles of wild type fungal endophytes, including the chemical identification and characterization of the most significant SMs induced by these epigenetic modifiers.

  18. Penicillium arizonense, a new, genome sequenced fungal species, reveals a high chemical diversity in secreted metabolites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grijseels, Sietske; Nielsen, Jens Christian; Randelovic, Milica

    2016-01-01

    A new soil-borne species belonging to the Penicillium section Canescentia is described, Penicillium arizonense sp. nov. (type strain CBS 141311T = IBT 12289T). The genome was sequenced and assembled into 33.7 Mb containing 12,502 predicted genes. A phylogenetic assessment based on marker genes...... confirmed the grouping of P. arizonense within section Canescentia. Compared to related species, P. arizonense proved to encode a high number of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, in particular hemicellulases. Mining the genome for genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis resulted...... of biosynthetic gene clusters in P. arizonense responsible for the synthesis of all detected compounds except curvulinic acid. The capacity to produce biomass degrading enzymes and the identification of a high chemical diversity in secreted bioactive secondary metabolites, offers a broad range of potential...

  19. Bacterial Signaling to the Nervous System through Toxins and Metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Nicole J; Chiu, Isaac M

    2017-03-10

    Mammalian hosts interface intimately with commensal and pathogenic bacteria. It is increasingly clear that molecular interactions between the nervous system and microbes contribute to health and disease. Both commensal and pathogenic bacteria are capable of producing molecules that act on neurons and affect essential aspects of host physiology. Here we highlight several classes of physiologically important molecular interactions that occur between bacteria and the nervous system. First, clostridial neurotoxins block neurotransmission to or from neurons by targeting the SNARE complex, causing the characteristic paralyses of botulism and tetanus during bacterial infection. Second, peripheral sensory neurons-olfactory chemosensory neurons and nociceptor sensory neurons-detect bacterial toxins, formyl peptides, and lipopolysaccharides through distinct molecular mechanisms to elicit smell and pain. Bacteria also damage the central nervous system through toxins that target the brain during infection. Finally, the gut microbiota produces molecules that act on enteric neurons to influence gastrointestinal motility, and metabolites that stimulate the "gut-brain axis" to alter neural circuits, autonomic function, and higher-order brain function and behavior. Furthering the mechanistic and molecular understanding of how bacteria affect the nervous system may uncover potential strategies for modulating neural function and treating neurological diseases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Methylselenol, a selenium metabolite, induces cell cycle arrest in G1 phase and apoptosis via the extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 pathway and other cancer signaling genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Huawei; Wu, Min; Botnen, James H

    2009-09-01

    Methylselenol has been hypothesized to be a critical selenium (Se) metabolite for anticancer activity in vivo, and our previous study demonstrated that submicromolar methylselenol generated by incubating methionase with seleno-l-methionine inhibits the migration and invasive potential of HT1080 tumor cells. However, little is known about the association between cancer signal pathways and methylselenol's inhibition of tumor cell invasion. In this study, we demonstrated that methylselenol exposure inhibited cell growth and we used a cancer signal pathway-specific array containing 15 different signal transduction pathways involved in oncogenesis to study the effect of methylselenol on cellular signaling. Using real-time RT-PCR, we confirmed that cellular mRNA levels of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1C (CDKN1C), heme oxygenase 1, platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule, and PPARgamma genes were upregulated to 2.8- to 5.7-fold of the control. BCL2-related protein A1, hedgehog interacting protein, and p53 target zinc finger protein genes were downregulated to 26-52% of the control, because of methylselenol exposure. These genes are directly related to the regulation of cell cycle and apoptosis. Methylselenol increased apoptotic cells up to 3.4-fold of the control and inhibited the extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling and cellular myelocytomatosis oncogene (c-Myc) expression. Taken together, our studies identify 7 novel methylselenol responsive genes and demonstrate that methylselenol inhibits ERK1/2 pathway activation and c-Myc expression. The regulation of these genes is likely to play a key role in G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, which may contribute to the inhibition of tumor cell invasion.

  1. Development of high-spatial and high-mass resolution mass spectrometric imaging (MSI) and its application to the study of small metabolites and endogenous molecules of plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jun, Ji Hyun [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

    2012-01-01

    High-spatial and high-mass resolution laser desorption ionization (LDI) mass spectrometric (MS) imaging technology was developed for the attainment of MS images of higher quality containing more information on the relevant cellular and molecular biology in unprecedented depth. The distribution of plant metabolites is asymmetric throughout the cells and tissues, and therefore the increase in the spatial resolution was pursued to reveal the localization of plant metabolites at the cellular level by MS imaging. For achieving high-spatial resolution, the laser beam size was reduced by utilizing an optical fiber with small core diameter (25 μm) in a vacuum matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-linear ion trap (vMALDI-LTQ) mass spectrometer. Matrix application was greatly improved using oscillating capillary nebulizer. As a result, single cell level spatial resolution of ~ 12 μm was achieved. MS imaging at this high spatial resolution was directly applied to a whole Arabidopsis flower and the substructures of an anther and single pollen grains at the stigma and anther were successfully visualized. MS imaging of high spatial resolution was also demonstrated to the secondary roots of Arabidopsis thaliana and a high degree of localization of detected metabolites was successfully unveiled. This was the first MS imaging on the root for molecular species. MS imaging with high mass resolution was also achieved by utilizing the LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer for the direct identification of the surface metabolites on the Arabidopsis stem and root and differentiation of isobaric ions having the same nominal mass with no need of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). MS imaging at high-spatial and high-mass resolution was also applied to cer1 mutant of the model system Arabidopsis thaliana to demonstrate its usefulness in biological studies and reveal associated metabolite changes in terms of spatial distribution and/or abundances compared to those of wild-type. The spatial

  2. MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Visualizing In Situ Metabolism of Endogenous Metabolites and Dietary Phytochemicals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujimura, Yoshinori; Miura, Daisuke

    2014-01-01

    Understanding the spatial distribution of bioactive small molecules is indispensable for elucidating their biological or pharmaceutical roles. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables determination of the distribution of ionizable molecules present in tissue sections of whole-body or single heterogeneous organ samples by direct ionization and detection. This emerging technique is now widely used for in situ label-free molecular imaging of endogenous or exogenous small molecules. MSI allows the simultaneous visualization of many types of molecules including a parent molecule and its metabolites. Thus, MSI has received much attention as a potential tool for pathological analysis, understanding pharmaceutical mechanisms, and biomarker discovery. On the other hand, several issues regarding the technical limitations of MSI are as of yet still unresolved. In this review, we describe the capabilities of the latest matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-MSI technology for visualizing in situ metabolism of endogenous metabolites or dietary phytochemicals (food factors), and also discuss the technical problems and new challenges, including MALDI matrix selection and metabolite identification, that need to be addressed for effective and widespread application of MSI in the diverse fields of biological, biomedical, and nutraceutical (food functionality) research. PMID:24957029

  3. Characterization of Urinary Phthalate Metabolites Among Custodians

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavallari, Jennifer M.; Simcox, Nancy J.; Wakai, Sara; Lu, Chensheng; Garza, Jennifer L.; Cherniack, Martin

    2015-01-01

    Phthalates, a ubiquitous class of chemicals found in consumer, personal care, and cleaning products, have been linked to adverse health effects. Our goal was to characterize urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and to identify work and nonwork sources among custodians using traditional cleaning chemicals and ‘green’ or environmentally preferable products (EPP). Sixty-eight custodians provided four urine samples on a workday (first void, before shift, end of shift, and before bedtime) and trained observers recorded cleaning tasks and types of products used (traditional, EPP, or disinfectant) hourly over the work shifts. Questionnaires were used to assess personal care product use. Four different phthalate metabolites [monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monomethyl phthalate (MMP), mono (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), and monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP)] were quantified using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Geometric means (GM) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated for creatinine-adjusted urinary phthalate concentrations. Mixed effects univariate and multivariate modeling, using a random intercept for each individual, was performed to identify predictors of phthalate metabolites including demographics, workplace factors, and personal care product use. Creatinine-adjusted urinary concentrations [GM (95% CI)] of MEP, MMP, MEHP, and MBzP were 107 (91.0–126), 2.69 (2.18–3.30), 6.93 (6.00–7.99), 8.79 (7.84–9.86) µg g−1, respectively. An increasing trend in phthalate concentrations from before to after shift was not observed. Creatinine-adjusted urinary MEP was significantly associated with frequency of traditional cleaning chemical intensity in the multivariate model after adjusting for potential confounding by demographics, workplace factors, and personal care product use. While numerous demographics, workplace factors, and personal care products were statistically significant univariate predictors of MMP, MEHP, and MBzP, few

  4. Sparse Matrix for ECG Identification with Two-Lead Features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuo-Kun Tseng

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Electrocardiograph (ECG human identification has the potential to improve biometric security. However, improvements in ECG identification and feature extraction are required. Previous work has focused on single lead ECG signals. Our work proposes a new algorithm for human identification by mapping two-lead ECG signals onto a two-dimensional matrix then employing a sparse matrix method to process the matrix. And that is the first application of sparse matrix techniques for ECG identification. Moreover, the results of our experiments demonstrate the benefits of our approach over existing methods.

  5. Contribution to automatic speech recognition. Analysis of the direct acoustical signal. Recognition of isolated words and phoneme identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dupeyrat, Benoit

    1981-01-01

    This report deals with the acoustical-phonetic step of the automatic recognition of the speech. The parameters used are the extrema of the acoustical signal (coded in amplitude and duration). This coding method, the properties of which are described, is simple and well adapted to a digital processing. The quality and the intelligibility of the coded signal after reconstruction are particularly satisfactory. An experiment for the automatic recognition of isolated words has been carried using this coding system. We have designed a filtering algorithm operating on the parameters of the coding. Thus the characteristics of the formants can be derived under certain conditions which are discussed. Using these characteristics the identification of a large part of the phonemes for a given speaker was achieved. Carrying on the studies has required the development of a particular methodology of real time processing which allowed immediate evaluation of the improvement of the programs. Such processing on temporal coding of the acoustical signal is extremely powerful and could represent, used in connection with other methods an efficient tool for the automatic processing of the speech.(author) [fr

  6. GABAA receptor activity modulating piperine analogs: In vitro metabolic stability, metabolite identification, CYP450 reaction phenotyping, and protein binding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zabela, Volha; Hettich, Timm; Schlotterbeck, Götz; Wimmer, Laurin; Mihovilovic, Marko D; Guillet, Fabrice; Bouaita, Belkacem; Shevchenko, Bénédicte; Hamburger, Matthias; Oufir, Mouhssin

    2018-01-01

    In a screening of natural products for allosteric modulators of GABA A receptors (γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor), piperine was identified as a compound targeting a benzodiazepine-independent binding site. Given that piperine is also an activator of TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1) receptors involved in pain signaling and thermoregulation, a series of piperine analogs were prepared in several cycles of structural optimization, with the aim of separating GABA A and TRPV1 activating properties. We here investigated the metabolism of piperine and selected analogs in view of further cycles of lead optimization. Metabolic stability of the compounds was evaluated by incubation with pooled human liver microsomes, and metabolites were analyzed by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS. CYP450 isoenzymes involved in metabolism of compounds were identified by reaction phenotyping with Silensomes™. Unbound fraction in whole blood was determined by rapid equilibrium dialysis. Piperine was the metabolically most stable compound. Aliphatic hydroxylation, and N- and O-dealkylation were the major routes of oxidative metabolism. Piperine was exclusively metabolized by CYP1A2, whereas CYP2C9 contributed significantly in the oxidative metabolism of all analogs. Extensive binding to blood constituents was observed for all compounds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. The Daidzein Metabolite, 6,7,4'-Trihydroxyisoflavone, Is a Novel Inhibitor of PKCα in Suppressing Solar UV-Induced Matrix Metalloproteinase 1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tae-Gyu Lim

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Soy isoflavone is an attractive source of functional cosmetic materials with anti-wrinkle, whitening and skin hydration effects. After consumption, the majority of soy isoflavones are converted to their metabolites in the human gastrointestinal tract. To understand the physiological impact of soy isoflavone on the human body, it is necessary to evaluate and address the biological function of its metabolites. In this study, we investigated the effect of 6,7,4'-trihydroxyisoflavone (6,7,4'-THIF, a major metabolite of daidzein, against solar UV (sUV-induced matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs in normal human dermal fibroblasts. MMPs play a critical role in the degradation of collagen in skin, thereby accelerating the aging process of skin. The mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MKK3/6/p38 and MKK4/c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK signaling pathways are known to modulate MMP-1 function, and their activation by sUV was significantly reduced by 6,7,4'-THIF pretreatment. Our results also indicated that the enzyme activity of protein kinase C (PKCα, an upstream regulator of MKKs signaling, is suppressed by 6,7,4'-THIF using the in vitro kinase assay. Furthermore, the direct interaction between 6,7,4'-THIF and endogenous PKCα was confirmed using the pull-down assay. Not only sUV-induced MMP-1 expression, but also sUV-induced signaling pathway activation were decreased in PKCα knockdown cells. Overall, we elucidated the inhibitory effect of 6,7,4'-THIF on sUV-induced MMPs and suggest PKCα as its direct molecular target.

  8. LC-QTOF MS screening of more than 1,000 licit and illicit drugs and their metabolites in wastewater and surface waters from the area of Bogotá, Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernández, Félix; Ibáñez, María; Botero-Coy, Ana-María; Bade, Richard; Bustos-López, Martha Cristina; Rincón, Javier; Moncayo, Alejandro; Bijlsma, Lubertus

    2015-08-01

    A large screening of around 1,000 emerging contaminants, focused on licit and illicit drugs and their metabolites, has been made in urban wastewaters (both influent and effluent) and surface waters from the area of Bogotá, Colombia. After a simple generic solid-phase extraction (SPE) step with Oasis hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced (HLB) cartridges, analyses were made by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF MS) under MS(E) mode (sequential acquisition of mass spectra at low energy (LE) and high collision energy (HE)). Accurate mass measurements and the information provided by MS(E) on the presence of the (de)protonated molecule and fragment ions allowed the reliable identification of the compounds detected, even without reference standards being available in some cases (tentative identification). The compounds most frequently found were acetaminophen/paracetamol, carbamazepine and its dihydro-dihydroxylated metabolite, clarithromycin, diclofenac, ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, lincomycin, losartan, valsartan, the two metabolites of metamizole (4-acetamido-antipyrine and 4-formylamino-antipyrine), sucralose, and cocaine and its main metabolite benzoylecgonine. Caffeine, the sweetener saccharin, and two hydroxylated metabolites of losartan were tentatively identified in almost all samples analyzed. Pharmaceutical lidocaine was tentatively identified and subsequently confirmed with reference standard. For the first time, a general overview of the occurrence of drugs and their metabolites in the aquatic environment of Colombia has been reported. In the near future, target methodologies, typically based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), will need to be set up for accurate and sensitive quantification of the contaminants selected on the basis on the information provided in the present paper.

  9. In vivo quantification of brain metabolites by 1H-MRS using water as an internal standard

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, P; Henriksen, O; Stubgaard, M

    1993-01-01

    in quantification of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) concentration was about 1-2 mM (6-12%). Also in vivo a good linearity between water signal and selected voxel size was seen. The same was true for the studied metabolites, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr/PCr), and choline (Cho). Calculated average...... concentrations of NAA, Cr/PCr, and Cho in the occipital lobe of the brain in five healthy volunteers were (mean +/- 1 SD) 11.6 +/- 1.3 mM, 7.6 +/- 1.4 mM, and 1.7 +/- 0.5 mM. The results indicate that the method presented offers reasonable estimation of metabolite concentrations in the brain in vivo...

  10. Integrated Analysis of the Effects of Cold and Dehydration on Rice Metabolites, Phytohormones, and Gene Transcripts1[W][OPEN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maruyama, Kyonoshin; Urano, Kaoru; Yoshiwara, Kyouko; Morishita, Yoshihiko; Sakurai, Nozomu; Suzuki, Hideyuki; Kojima, Mikiko; Sakakibara, Hitoshi; Shibata, Daisuke; Saito, Kazuki; Shinozaki, Kazuo; Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, Kazuko

    2014-01-01

    Correlations between gene expression and metabolite/phytohormone levels under abiotic stress conditions have been reported for Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). However, little is known about these correlations in rice (Oryza sativa ‘Nipponbare’), despite its importance as a model monocot. We performed an integrated analysis to clarify the relationships among cold- and dehydration-responsive metabolites, phytohormones, and gene transcription in rice. An integrated analysis of metabolites and gene expression indicated that several genes encoding enzymes involved in starch degradation, sucrose metabolism, and the glyoxylate cycle are up-regulated in rice plants exposed to cold or dehydration and that these changes are correlated with the accumulation of glucose (Glc), fructose, and sucrose. In particular, high expression levels of genes encoding isocitrate lyase and malate synthase in the glyoxylate cycle correlate with increased Glc levels in rice, but not in Arabidopsis, under dehydration conditions, indicating that the regulation of the glyoxylate cycle may be involved in Glc accumulation under dehydration conditions in rice but not Arabidopsis. An integrated analysis of phytohormones and gene transcripts revealed an inverse relationship between abscisic acid (ABA) signaling and cytokinin (CK) signaling under cold and dehydration stresses; these stresses increase ABA signaling and decrease CK signaling. High levels of Oryza sativa 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase transcripts correlate with ABA accumulation, and low levels of Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 735A transcripts correlate with decreased levels of a CK precursor in rice. This reduced expression of CYP735As occurs in rice but not Arabidopsis. Therefore, transcriptional regulation of CYP735As might be involved in regulating CK levels under cold and dehydration conditions in rice but not Arabidopsis. PMID:24515831

  11. Formation and Change of Chloroplast-Located Plant Metabolites in Response to Light Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yiyong Chen

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Photosynthesis is the central energy conversion process for plant metabolism and occurs within mature chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are also the site of various metabolic reactions involving amino acids, lipids, starch, and sulfur, as well as where the production of some hormones takes place. Light is one of the most important environmental factors, acting as an essential energy source for plants, but also as an external signal influencing their growth and development. Plants experience large fluctuations in the intensity and spectral quality of light, and many attempts have been made to improve or modify plant metabolites by treating them with different light qualities (artificial lighting or intensities. In this review, we discuss how changes in light intensity and wavelength affect the formation of chloroplast-located metabolites in plants.

  12. Identification of a biomarker for propetamphos and development of a biological monitoring assay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    K Jones G Wang S J Garfitt J Cocker

    1999-01-01

    This paper describes the identification of a human metabolite of propetamphos ((E-O-2-isopropylcarbonyl-1-methylvinyl-O-methylethylphosphoramidothioate), formed by the hydrolytic cleavage of the enol-vinyl-phosphate bond, and the development of an analytical method suitable for biological monitoring of propetamphos exposure. The metabolite has been detected in the urine of exposed workers but not in that of control subjects. The analytical method involves azeotropic distillation of the urine with acetonitrile, followed by derivatization with pentafluorobenzyl bromide and analysis using gas chromatography with flame photometric detection.

  13. Performance of the linear ion trap Orbitrap mass analyzer for qualitative and quantitative analysis of drugs of abuse and relevant metabolites in sewage water

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bijlsma, L.; Emke, E.; Hernández, F.; de Voogt, P.

    2013-01-01

    This work illustrates the potential of liquid chromatography coupled to a hybrid linear ion trap Fourier Transform Orbitrap mass spectrometer for the simultaneous identification and quantification of 24 drugs of abuse and relevant metabolites in sewage water. The developed methodology consisted of

  14. DETERMINATION OF A BOUND MUSK XYLENE METABOLITE IN CARP HEMOGLOBIN AS A BIOMARKER OF EXPOSURE BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS SPECTROMETRY USING SELECTED ION MONITORING

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musk xylene (MX) is widely used as a fragrance ingredient in commercial toiletries. Identification and quantification of a bound 4-amino-MX (AMX) metabolite was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), with selected ion monitoring (SIM). Detection of AMX occur...

  15. Reconsidering the nature and mode of action of metabolite retrograde signals from the chloroplast

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalo Martín Estavillo

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Plant organelles produce retrograde signals to alter nuclear gene expression in order to coordinate their biogenesis, maintain homeostasis or optimize their performance under adverse conditions. Many signals of different chemical nature have been described in the past decades, including chlorophyll intermediates, reactive oxygen species and adenosine derivatives. While the effects of retrograde signalling on gene expression are well understood, the initiation and transport of the signals and their mode of action have either not been resolved, or are a matter of speculation. Moreover, retrograde signalling should be consider as part of a broader cellular network, instead of as separate pathways, required to adjust to changing physiologically relevant conditions. Here we summarize current plastid retrograde signalling models in plants, with a focus on new signalling pathways, SAL1-PAP, MEcPP and β- cyclocitral, and outline missing links or future areas of research that we believe need to be addressed to have a better understanding of plant intracellular signalling networks.

  16. Characterisation of the appearance of radioactive metabolites in monkey and human plasma from the 5-HT1A receptor radioligand, [carbonyl-11C]WAY-100635 - explanation of high signal contrast in PET and an aid to biomathematical modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osman, Safiye; Lundkvist, Camilla; Pike, Victor W.; Halldin, Christer; McCarron, Julie A.; Swahn, Carl-Gunnar; Farde, Lars; Ginovart, Nathalie; Luthra, Sajinder K.; Gunn, Roger N.; Bench, Christopher J.; Sargent, Peter A.; Grasby, Paul M.

    1998-01-01

    N-(2-(4-(2-Methoxy-phenyl)-1-piperazin-1-yl)ethyl)-N-(2-pyridyl) cyclohexanecarboxamide (WAY-100635), labelled in its amido carbonyl group with 11 C (t 1/2 = 20.4 min), is a promising radioligand for the study of brain 5-HT 1A receptors with positron emission tomography (PET). Thus, in PET experiments in six cynomolgus monkeys and seven healthy male volunteers, [carbonyl- 11 C]WAY-100635 was taken up avidly by brain. Radioactivity was retained in regions rich in 5-HT 1A receptors, such as occipital cortex, temporal cortex and raphe nuclei, but cleared rapidly from cerebellum, a region almost devoid of 5-HT 1A receptors. [Carbonyl- 11 C]WAY-100635 provides about 3- and 10-fold higher signal contrast (receptor-specific to nonspecific binding) than [O-methyl- 11 C]WAY-100635 in receptor-rich areas of monkey and human brain, respectively. To elucidate the effect of label position on radioligand behaviour and to aid in the future biomathematical interpretation of the kinetics of regional cerebral radioactivity uptake in terms of receptor-binding parameters, HPLC was used to measure [carbonyl- 11 C]WAY-100635 and its radioactive metabolites in plasma at various times after intravenous injection. Radioactivity cleared rapidly from monkey and human plasma. Parent radioligand represented 19% of the radioactivity in monkey plasma at 47 min and 8% of the radioactivity in human plasma at 40 min. [Carbonyl- 11 C]desmethyl-WAY-100635 was below detectable limits in monkey plasma and at most a very minor radioactive metabolite in human plasma. [ 11 C]Cyclohexanecarboxylic acid was identified as a significant radioactive metabolite. In human plasma this maximally represented 21% of the radioactivity at 10 min after radioligand injection. All other major radioactive metabolites in monkey and human plasma were even more polar. No-carrier-added [carbonyl- 11 C]cyclohexanecarboxylic acid was prepared in the laboratory and after intravenous administration into cynomolgus monkey was

  17. Quantification of in vivo 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy signals with baseline and lineshape estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osorio-Garcia, M I; Sima, D M; Van Huffel, S; Nielsen, F U; Dresselaers, T; Himmelreich, U; Van Leuven, F

    2011-01-01

    The in vivo quantification of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) signals is a method to estimate metabolite concentrations of living tissue. Obtaining reliable concentrations is still a challenge due to the experimental conditions affecting spectral quality. Additionally, lipids and macromolecules overlap with the metabolites of interest, affecting their reliable estimation. In this study, we propose to combine the self-deconvolution lineshape estimation method, which accounts for spectral shape distortions, with two different approaches for taking into account the macromolecular baseline contribution: (a) based on macromolecules and lipids measured in vivo using an inversion recovery technique, and (b) based on the simulation of macromolecular resonances using prior knowledge from a database of inversion recovery signals. The ultimate goal is to measure macromolecular and lipid data only once as described in (a) to create macromolecular and lipid profiles. These profiles then can be used as described in (b) for data measured under the same conditions. The method is evaluated on in vivo 1 H MRS signals at 9.4 T from mouse hippocampus. Results show that better metabolite fits are obtained when lineshape and baseline estimations are simultaneously performed and that baseline estimation based on prior knowledge from macromolecular measured signals can be reliably used to replace time-consuming individual macromolecular and lipid acquisitions

  18. Synthesis of Linezolid Metabolites PNU-142300 and PNU-142586 toward the Exploration of Metabolite-Related Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanaya, Kengo; Matsumoto, Kazuaki; Yokoyama, Yuta; Kizu, Junko; Shoji, Mitsuru; Sugai, Takeshi

    2017-01-01

    Linezolid (1) is an oxazolidinone antibiotic that is partially metabolized in vivo via ring cleavage of its morpholine moiety to mainly form two metabolites, PNU-142300 (2) and PNU-142586 (3). It is supposed that accumulation of 2 and 3 in patients with renal insufficiency may cause thrombocytopenia, one of the adverse effects of linezolid. However, the poor availability of 2 and 3 has hindered further investigation of the clinical significance of the accumulation of these metabolites. In this paper, we synthesized metabolites 2 and 3 via a common synthetic intermediate, 4; this will encourage further exploration of events related to these metabolites and lead to improved clinical use of linezolid.

  19. A proteomic approach to investigating gene cluster expression and secondary metabolite functionality in Aspergillus fumigatus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca A Owens

    Full Text Available A combined proteomics and metabolomics approach was utilised to advance the identification and characterisation of secondary metabolites in Aspergillus fumigatus. Here, implementation of a shotgun proteomic strategy led to the identification of non-redundant mycelial proteins (n = 414 from A. fumigatus including proteins typically under-represented in 2-D proteome maps: proteins with multiple transmembrane regions, hydrophobic proteins and proteins with extremes of molecular mass and pI. Indirect identification of secondary metabolite cluster expression was also achieved, with proteins (n = 18 from LaeA-regulated clusters detected, including GliT encoded within the gliotoxin biosynthetic cluster. Biochemical analysis then revealed that gliotoxin significantly attenuates H2O2-induced oxidative stress in A. fumigatus (p>0.0001, confirming observations from proteomics data. A complementary 2-D/LC-MS/MS approach further elucidated significantly increased abundance (p<0.05 of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA, NADH-quinone oxidoreductase and the gliotoxin oxidoreductase GliT, along with significantly attenuated abundance (p<0.05 of a heat shock protein, an oxidative stress protein and an autolysis-associated chitinase, when gliotoxin and H2O2 were present, compared to H2O2 alone. Moreover, gliotoxin exposure significantly reduced the abundance of selected proteins (p<0.05 involved in de novo purine biosynthesis. Significantly elevated abundance (p<0.05 of a key enzyme, xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase Xpt1, utilised in purine salvage, was observed in the presence of H2O2 and gliotoxin. This work provides new insights into the A. fumigatus proteome and experimental strategies, plus mechanistic data pertaining to gliotoxin functionality in the organism.

  20. Vibrotactile Identification of Signal-Processed Sounds from Environmental Events Presented by a Portable Vibrator: A Laboratory Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parivash Ranjbar

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: To evaluate different signal-processing algorithms for tactile identification of environmental sounds in a monitoring aid for the deafblind. Two men and three women, sensorineurally deaf or profoundly hearing impaired with experience of vibratory experiments, age 22-36 years. Methods: A closed set of 45 representative environmental sounds were processed using two transposing (TRHA, TR1/3 and three modulating algorithms (AM, AMFM, AMMC and presented as tactile stimuli using a portable vibrator in three experiments. The algorithms TRHA, TR1/3, AMFM and AMMC had two alternatives (with and without adaption to vibratory thresholds. In Exp. 1, the sounds were preprocessed and directly fed to the vibrator. In Exp. 2 and 3, the sounds were presented in an acoustic test room, without or with background noise (SNR=+5 dB, and processed in real time. Results: In Exp. 1, Algorithm AMFM and AMFM(A consistently had the lowest identification scores, and were thus excluded in Exp. 2 and 3. TRHA, AM, AMMC, and AMMC(A showed comparable identification scores (30%-42% and the addition of noise did not deteriorate the performance. Discussion: Algorithm TRHA, AM, AMMC, and AMMC(A showed good performance in all three experiments and were robust in noise they can therefore be used in further testing in real environments.

  1. Signal Analysis for Radiation Event Identification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Steven A. Wallace

    2004-12-30

    The method of digitizing the scintillation output signals from a lithiated sol-gel based glass is described. The design considerations for using the lithiated scintillator for the detection of Special Nuclear Material (SNM) is presented.

  2. Metabolism of Genipin in Rat and Identification of Metabolites by Using Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Tandem Mass Spectrometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yue Ding

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The in vivo and in vitro metabolism of genipin was systematically investigated in the present study. Urine, plasma, feces, and bile were collected from rats after oral administration of genipin at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight. A rapid and sensitive method using ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF MS was developed for analysis of metabolic profile of genipin in rat biological samples (urine, plasma, feces, and bile. A total of ten metabolites were detected and identified by comparing their fragmentation patterns with that of genipin using MetaboLynx software tools. On the basis of the chromatographic peak area, the sulfated and glucuronidated conjugates of genipin were identified as major metabolites. And the existence of major metabolites G1 and G2 was confirmed by the in vitro enzymatic study further. Then, metabolite G1 was isolated from rat bile by semipreparative HPLC. Its structure was unambiguously identified as genipin-1-o-glucuronic acid by comparison of its UV, IR, ESI-MS, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR spectra with conference. In general, genipin was a very active compound that would transform immediately, and the parent form of genipin could not be observed in rats biological samples. The biotransformation pathways of genipin involved demethylated, ring-opened, cysteine-conjugated, hydroformylated, glucuronidated, and sulfated transformations.

  3. Multi-slice echo-planar spectroscopic MR imaging provides both global and local metabolite measures in multiple sclerosis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mathiesen, Henrik Kahr; Tscherning, Thomas; Sorensen, Per Soelberg

    2005-01-01

    MR spectroscopy (MRS) provides information about neuronal loss or dysfunction by measuring decreases in N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), a metabolite widely believed to be a marker of neuronal viability. In multiple sclerosis (MS), whole-brain NAA (WBNAA) has been suggested as a marker of disease...... progression and treatment efficacy in treatment trials, and the ability to measure NAA loss in specific brain regions early in the evolution of this disease may have prognostic value. Most spectroscopic studies to date have been limited to single voxels or nonlocalized measurements of WBNAA only......, measurements of metabolites in specific brain areas chosen after image acquisition (e.g., normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), gray matter (GM), and lesions) can be obtained. The identification and exclusion of regions that are inadequate for spectroscopic evaluation in global assessments can significantly...

  4. The fusion protein signal-peptide-coding region of canine distemper virus: a useful tool for phylogenetic reconstruction and lineage identification.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolás Sarute

    Full Text Available Canine distemper virus (CDV; Paramyxoviridae, Morbillivirus is the etiologic agent of a multisystemic infectious disease affecting all terrestrial carnivore families with high incidence and mortality in domestic dogs. Sequence analysis of the hemagglutinin (H gene has been widely employed to characterize field strains, permitting the identification of nine CDV lineages worldwide. Recently, it has been established that the sequences of the fusion protein signal-peptide (Fsp coding region are extremely variable, suggesting that analysis of its sequence might be useful for strain characterization studies. However, the divergence of Fsp sequences among worldwide strains and its phylogenetic resolution has not yet been evaluated. We constructed datasets containing the Fsp-coding region and H gene sequences of the same strains belonging to eight CDV lineages. Both datasets were used to evaluate their phylogenetic resolution. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that both datasets clustered the same strains into eight different branches, corresponding to CDV lineages. The inter-lineage amino acid divergence was fourfold greater for the Fsp peptide than for the H protein. The likelihood mapping revealed that both datasets display strong phylogenetic signals in the region of well-resolved topologies. These features indicate that Fsp-coding region sequence analysis is suitable for evolutionary studies as it allows for straightforward identification of CDV lineages.

  5. The fusion protein signal-peptide-coding region of canine distemper virus: a useful tool for phylogenetic reconstruction and lineage identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarute, Nicolás; Calderón, Marina Gallo; Pérez, Ruben; La Torre, José; Hernández, Martín; Francia, Lourdes; Panzera, Yanina

    2013-01-01

    Canine distemper virus (CDV; Paramyxoviridae, Morbillivirus) is the etiologic agent of a multisystemic infectious disease affecting all terrestrial carnivore families with high incidence and mortality in domestic dogs. Sequence analysis of the hemagglutinin (H) gene has been widely employed to characterize field strains, permitting the identification of nine CDV lineages worldwide. Recently, it has been established that the sequences of the fusion protein signal-peptide (Fsp) coding region are extremely variable, suggesting that analysis of its sequence might be useful for strain characterization studies. However, the divergence of Fsp sequences among worldwide strains and its phylogenetic resolution has not yet been evaluated. We constructed datasets containing the Fsp-coding region and H gene sequences of the same strains belonging to eight CDV lineages. Both datasets were used to evaluate their phylogenetic resolution. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that both datasets clustered the same strains into eight different branches, corresponding to CDV lineages. The inter-lineage amino acid divergence was fourfold greater for the Fsp peptide than for the H protein. The likelihood mapping revealed that both datasets display strong phylogenetic signals in the region of well-resolved topologies. These features indicate that Fsp-coding region sequence analysis is suitable for evolutionary studies as it allows for straightforward identification of CDV lineages.

  6. Steady-state metabolite concentrations reflect a balance between maximizing enzyme efficiency and minimizing total metabolite load.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naama Tepper

    Full Text Available Steady-state metabolite concentrations in a microorganism typically span several orders of magnitude. The underlying principles governing these concentrations remain poorly understood. Here, we hypothesize that observed variation can be explained in terms of a compromise between factors that favor minimizing metabolite pool sizes (e.g. limited solvent capacity and the need to effectively utilize existing enzymes. The latter requires adequate thermodynamic driving force in metabolic reactions so that forward flux substantially exceeds reverse flux. To test this hypothesis, we developed a method, metabolic tug-of-war (mTOW, which computes steady-state metabolite concentrations in microorganisms on a genome-scale. mTOW is shown to explain up to 55% of the observed variation in measured metabolite concentrations in E. coli and C. acetobutylicum across various growth media. Our approach, based strictly on first thermodynamic principles, is the first method that successfully predicts high-throughput metabolite concentration data in bacteria across conditions.

  7. Functional metabolite assemblies—a review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aizen, Ruth; Tao, Kai; Rencus-Lazar, Sigal; Gazit, Ehud

    2018-05-01

    Metabolites are essential for the normal operation of cells and fulfill various physiological functions. It was recently found that in several metabolic disorders, the associated metabolites could self-assemble to generate amyloid-like structures, similar to canonical protein amyloids that have a role in neurodegenerative disorders. Yet, assemblies with typical amyloid characteristics are also known to have physiological function. In addition, many non-natural proteins and peptides presenting amyloidal properties have been used for the fabrication of functional nanomaterials. Similarly, functional metabolite assemblies are also found in nature, demonstrating various physiological roles. A notable example is the structural color formed by guanine crystals or fluorescent crystals in feline eyes responsible for enhanced night vision. Moreover, some metabolites have been used for the in vitro fabrication of functional materials, such as glycine crystals presenting remarkable piezoelectric properties or indigo films used to assemble organic semi-conductive electronic devices. Therefore, we believe that the study of metabolite assemblies is not only important in order to understand their role in normal physiology and in pathology, but also paves a new route in exploring the fabrication of organic, bio-compatible materials.

  8. Detection and quantitation analysis of cocaine and metabolites in fixed liver tissue and formalin solutions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cingolani, Mariano; Cippitelli, Marcello; Froldi, Rino; Gambaro, Veniero; Tassoni, Giovanna

    2004-01-01

    This study reports the results of the detection and quantitation of cocaine and its metabolites in liver tissues fixed in formalin and in the formalin solutions in which the same tissues were fixed. Toxicological analyses were performed on formalin-fixed liver samples from four cases of death of cocaine abusers and on formalin solutions (10% buffered, pH 7) in which the samples were preserved. Analyses carried out at the time of autopsy on body fluids and tissues allowed identification of cocaine and the metabolite benzoylecgonine. Liver tissue samples were preserved in formalin solutions for four weeks before analysis. Results only showed the presence of benzoylecgonine in the studied materials. The mean levels of recovery of benzoylecgonine in fixed tissues were 12.31% in liver and 84.47% in formalin from liver. Results indicated that benzoylecgonine has good stability, even in biological specimens subjected to chemical fixation.

  9. Gene-metabolite profile integration to understand the cause of spaceflight induced immunodeficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Nabarun; Cheema, Amrita; Gautam, Aarti; Donohue, Duncan; Hoke, Allison; Conley, Carolynn; Jett, Marti; Hammamieh, Rasha

    2018-01-01

    Spaceflight presents a spectrum of stresses very different from those associated with terrestrial conditions. Our previous study (BMC Genom. 15 : 659, 2014) integrated the expressions of mRNAs, microRNAs, and proteins and results indicated that microgravity induces an immunosuppressive state that can facilitate opportunistic pathogenic attack. However, the existing data are not sufficient for elucidating the molecular drivers of the given immunosuppressed state. To meet this knowledge gap, we focused on the metabolite profile of spaceflown human cells. Independent studies have attributed cellular energy deficiency as a major cause of compromised immunity of the host, and metabolites that are closely associated with energy production could be a robust signature of atypical energy fluctuation. Our protocol involved inoculation of human endothelial cells in cell culture modules in spaceflight and on the ground concurrently. Ten days later, the cells in space and on the ground were exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a ubiquitous membrane endotoxin of Gram-negative bacteria. Nucleic acids, proteins, and metabolites were collected 4 and 8 h post-LPS exposure. Untargeted profiling of metabolites was followed by targeted identification of amino acids and knowledge integration with gene expression profiles. Consistent with the past reports associating microgravity with increased energy expenditure, we identified several markers linked to energy deficiency, including various amino acids such as tryptophan, creatinine, dopamine, and glycine, and cofactors such as lactate and pyruvate. The present study revealed a molecular architecture linking energy metabolism and immunodeficiency in microgravity. The energy-deficient condition potentially cascaded into dysregulation of protein metabolism and impairment of host immunity. This project is limited by a small sample size. Although a strict statistical screening was carefully implemented, the present results further emphasize

  10. Novel signal-dependent filter bank method for identification of multiple basal ganglia nuclei in Parkinsonian patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinzon-Morales, R. D.; Orozco-Gutierrez, A. A.; Castellanos-Dominguez, G.

    2011-06-01

    Microelectrode recordings are a valuable tool for assisting localization targets during deep brain stimulation procedures in Parkinson's disease neurosurgery. Attempts to automate and standardize this process have been limited by variability in patient neurophysiology and strong dynamics of microelectrode recordings. In this paper, a methodology for the identification of basal ganglia nuclei is presented that is based on a signal-dependent filter bank method using microelectrode recordings. The method is a customized realization of the discrete wavelet transform via the lifting scheme that is optimally tuned by genetic algorithms. Using this method, unique mother wavelet functions that exhibit an adaptable spectrum to the microelectrode recording dynamic are generated. Additionally, by extracting morphological features from the space-transformed microelectrode recording, it is possible to integrate them into three-dimensional (3D) feature spaces with maximum class separability. Finally, high discriminant feature spaces are fed into basic classifiers to recognize up to four basal nuclei. Comparison with several existing wavelets highlights the characteristics of new mother wavelets. Additionally, classification results show that identification of addressed nuclei in the basal ganglia can be performed with 95% confidence.

  11. Metabolite Profiling of 14 Wuyi Rock Tea Cultivars Using UPLC-QTOF MS and UPLC-QqQ MS Combined with Chemometrics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Si Chen

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Wuyi Rock tea, well-recognized for rich flavor and long-lasting fragrance, is a premium subcategory of oolong tea mainly produced in Wuyi Mountain and nearby regions of China. The quality of tea is mainly determined by the chemical constituents in the tea leaves. However, this remains underexplored for Wuyi Rock tea cultivars. In this study, we investigated the leaf metabolite profiles of 14 major Wuyi Rock tea cultivars grown in the same producing region using UPLC-QTOF MS and UPLC-QqQ MS with data processing via principal component analysis and cluster analysis. Relative quantitation of 49 major metabolites including flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins, flavonol glycosides, flavone glycosides, flavonone glycosides, phenolic acid derivatives, hydrolysable tannins, alkaloids and amino acids revealed clear variations between tea cultivars. In particular, catechins, kaempferol and quercetin derivatives were key metabolites responsible for cultivar discrimination. Information on the varietal differences in the levels of bioactive/functional metabolites, such as methylated catechins, flavonol glycosides and theanine, offers valuable insights to further explore the nutritional values and sensory qualities of Wuyi Rock tea. It also provides potential markers for tea plant fingerprinting and cultivar identification.

  12. Identification of urine metabolites associated with 5-year changes in biomarkers of glucose homoeostasis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friedrich, N.; Skaaby, T.; Pietzner, M.

    2017-01-01

    of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index values. Methods: Urine metabolites in 3986 participants at both baseline and 5-year follow-up of the population-based Inter99 study were analyzed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Linear regression and analyses of covariance models were used to detect associations between urine...... associated with a decrease in HbA1c over time. Analyses of 5-year changes in fasting glucose and HOMA-IR index showed similar findings, with high baseline levels of lactic acid, beta-d-glucose, creatinine, alanine and 1-methylnicotinamide associated with increases in both parameters. Conclusion: Several...

  13. About the identification of signals at LHC

    CERN Document Server

    Mansoulié, Bruno

    2015-01-01

    This chapter describes the main ingredients and steps of the analysis used in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson decaying into WW (l‎, l‎, νν‎) in the ATLAS experiment. It presents a short guide through a “modern” analysis, typical of the analyses performed on LHC data. The main ingredients are reviewed: irreducible and reducible backgrounds, background estimates from Monte Carlo or data-driven, signal and control regions, global fit, extraction of limits and signal, and the look-elsewhere effect.

  14. Is the macromolecule signal tissue-specific in healthy human brain? A (1)H MRS study at 7 Tesla in the occipital lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaller, Benoît; Xin, Lijing; Gruetter, Rolf

    2014-10-01

    The macromolecule signal plays a key role in the precision and the accuracy of the metabolite quantification in short-TE (1) H MR spectroscopy. Macromolecules have been reported at 1.5 Tesla (T) to depend on the cerebral studied region and to be age specific. As metabolite concentrations vary locally, information about the profile of the macromolecule signal in different tissues may be of crucial importance. The aim of this study was to investigate, at 7T for healthy subjects, the neurochemical profile differences provided by macromolecule signal measured in two different tissues in the occipital lobe, predominantly composed of white matter tissue or of grey matter tissue. White matter-rich macromolecule signal was relatively lower than the gray matter-rich macromolecule signal from 1.5 to 1.8 ppm and from 2.3 to 2.5 ppm with mean difference over these regions of 7% and 12% (relative to the reference peak at 0.9 ppm), respectively. The neurochemical profiles, when using either of the two macromolecule signals, were similar for 11 reliably quantified metabolites (CRLB occipital lobe at 7T in healthy human brain. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Metabolite damage and repair in metabolic engineering design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun, Jiayi; Jeffryes, James G.; Henry, Christopher S.; Bruner, Steven D.; Hanson, Andrew D.

    2017-11-01

    The necessarily sharp focus of metabolic engineering and metabolic synthetic biology on pathways and their fluxes has tended to divert attention from the damaging enzymatic and chemical side-reactions that pathway metabolites can undergo. Although historically overlooked and underappreciated, such metabolite damage reactions are now known to occur throughout metabolism and to generate (formerly enigmatic) peaks detected in metabolomics datasets. It is also now known that metabolite damage is often countered by dedicated repair enzymes that undo or prevent it. Metabolite damage and repair are highly relevant to engineered pathway design: metabolite damage reactions can reduce flux rates and product yields, and repair enzymes can provide robust, host-independent solutions. Herein, after introducing the core principles of metabolite damage and repair, we use case histories to document how damage and repair processes affect efficient operation of engineered pathways - particularly those that are heterologous, non-natural, or cell-free. We then review how metabolite damage reactions can be predicted, how repair reactions can be prospected, and how metabolite damage and repair can be built into genome-scale metabolic models. Lastly, we propose a versatile 'plug and play' set of well-characterized metabolite repair enzymes to solve metabolite damage problems known or likely to occur in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology projects.

  16. Quantitative Isotope-Dilution High-Resolution-Mass-Spectrometry Analysis of Multiple Intracellular Metabolites in Clostridium autoethanogenum with Uniformly 13C-Labeled Standards Derived from Spirulina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schatschneider, Sarah; Abdelrazig, Salah; Safo, Laudina; Henstra, Anne M; Millat, Thomas; Kim, Dong-Hyun; Winzer, Klaus; Minton, Nigel P; Barrett, David A

    2018-04-03

    We have investigated the applicability of commercially available lyophilized spirulina ( Arthrospira platensis), a microorganism uniformly labeled with 13 C, as a readily accessible source of multiple 13 C-labeled metabolites suitable as internal standards for the quantitative determination of intracellular bacterial metabolites. Metabolites of interest were analyzed by hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Multiple internal standards obtained from uniformly (U)- 13 C-labeled extracts from spirulina were used to enable isotope-dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) in the identification and quantification of intracellular metabolites. Extraction of the intracellular metabolites of Clostridium autoethanogenum using 2:1:1 chloroform/methanol/water was found to be the optimal method in comparison with freeze-thaw, homogenization, and sonication methods. The limits of quantification were ≤1 μM with excellent linearity for all of the calibration curves ( R 2 ≥ 0.99) for 74 metabolites. The precision and accuracy were found to be within relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 15% for 49 of the metabolites and within RSDs of 20% for all of the metabolites. The method was applied to study the effects of feeding different levels of carbon monoxide (as a carbon source) on the central metabolism and Wood-Ljungdahl pathway of C. autoethanogenum grown in continuous culture over 35 days. Using LC-IDMS with U- 13 C spirulina allowed the successful quantification of 52 metabolites in the samples, including amino acids, carboxylic acids, sugar phosphates, purines, and pyrimidines. The method provided absolute quantitative data on intracellular metabolites that was suitable for computational modeling to understand and optimize the C. autoethanogenum metabolic pathways active in gas fermentation.

  17. A signal detection theory analysis of an unconscious perception effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haase, S J; Theios, J; Jenison, R

    1999-07-01

    The independent observation model (Macmillan & Creelman, 1991) is fitted to detection-identification data collected under conditions of heavy masking. The model accurately predicts a quantitative relationship between stimulus detection and stimulus identification over a wide range of detection performance. This model can also be used to offer a signal detection interpretation of the common finding of above-chance identification following a missed signal. While our finding is not a new one, the stimuli used in this experiment (redundant three-letter strings) differ slightly from those used in traditional signal detection work. Also, the stimuli were presented very briefly and heavily masked, conditions typical in the study of unconscious perception effects.

  18. Hydroquinone, a benzene metabolite, induces Hog1-dependent stress response signaling and causes aneuploidy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shiga, Takeki; Suzuki, Hiroyuki; Yamamoto, Hiroaki; Yamamoto, Kazuo; Yamamoto, Ayumi

    2010-01-01

    Previously, we have shown that phenyl hydroquinone, a hepatic metabolite of the Ames test-negative carcinogen o-phenylphenol, efficiently induced aneuploidy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by arresting the cell cycle at the G2/M transition as a result of the activation of the Hog1 (p38 MAPK homolog)-Swe1 (Wee1 homolog) pathway. In this experiment, we examined the aneuploidy forming effects of hydroquinone, a benzene metabolite, since both phenyl hydroquinone and hydroquinone are Ames-test negative carcinogens and share similar molecular structures. As was seen in phenyl hydroquinone, hydroquinone induced aneuploidy in yeast by delaying the cell cycle at the G2/M transition. Deficiencies in SWE1 and HOG1 abolished the hydroquinone-induced delay at the G2/M transition and aneuploidy formation. Furthermore, Hog1 was phosphorylated by hydroquinone, which may stabilize Swe1. These data indicate that the hydroquinone-induced G2/M transition checkpoint, which is activated by the Hog1-Swe1 pathway, plays a role in the formation of aneuploidy. (author)

  19. The glycerophosphoinositols: from lipid metabolites to modulators of T-cell signaling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura ePatrussi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Glycerophosphoinositols (GPIs are bioactive, diffusible phosphoinositide metabolites of phospholipase A2 that act both intracellularly and in a paracrine fashion following their uptake by specific transporters. The most representative compound, glycerophosphoinositol (GroPIns, is a ubiquitous component of eukaryotic cells that participates in central processes, including cell proliferation and survival. Moreover, glycerophosphoinositol 4-phosphate (GroPIns4P controls actin dynamics in several cell systems by regulating Rho GTPases. Recently, immune cells have emerged as targets of the biological activities of the GPIs. We have shown that exogenous GroPIns4P enhances CXCL12-induced T-cell chemotaxis through activation of the kinase Lck in a cAMP/PKA-dependent manner. While highlighting the potential of GroPIns4P as an immunomodulator, this finding raises questions on the role of endogenously produced GroPIns4P as well as of other GPIs in the regulation of the adaptive immune responses under homeostatic and pathological settings. Here we will summarize our current understanding of the biological activities of the GPIs, with a focus on lymphocytes, highlighting open questions and potential developments in this promising new area.

  20. Continuous degradation of a mixture of sulfonamides by Trametes versicolor and identification of metabolites from sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Carlos E.; Jesús García-Galán, Ma.; Blánquez, Paqui; Díaz-Cruz, M. Silvia; Barceló, Damià; Caminal, Glòria; Vicent, Teresa

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Degradation of sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole by Trametes versicolor was evaluated. ► The role of laccase and cytochrome P450 was determined. ► Degradation metabolites were identified for sulfapyridine (8) and sulfathiazole (5). ► A mixture of three sulfonamides was degraded in a continuous fluidized bed reactor. - Abstract: In this study, we assessed the degradation of the sulfonamides sulfapyridine (SPY) and sulfathiazole (STZ) by the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor. Complete degradation was accomplished in fungal cultures at initial pollutant concentrations of approximately 10 mg L −1 , although a longer period of time was needed to completely remove STZ in comparison to SPY. When cytochrome P450 inhibitors were added to the fungal cultures, STZ degradation was partially suppressed, while no additional effect was observed for SPY. Experiments with purified laccase and laccase mediators caused the removal of greater than 75% of each antibiotic. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqTOF-MS) analyses allowed the identification of a total of eight degradation intermediates of SPY in both the in vivo and the laccase experiments, being its desulfonated moiety the commonly detected product. For STZ, a total of five products were identified. A fluidized bed reactor with T. versicolor pellets degraded a mixture of sulfonamides (SPY, STZ and sulfamethazine, SMZ) by greater than 94% each at a hydraulic residence time of 72 h. Because wastewater contains many diverse pollutants, these results highlight the potential of T. versicolor as a bioremediation agent not only for the removal of antibiotics but also for the elimination of a wide range of contaminants.

  1. Continuous degradation of a mixture of sulfonamides by Trametes versicolor and identification of metabolites from sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Carlos E., E-mail: CarlosEsteban.Rodriguez@uab.cat [Unitat asociada de Biocatalisi Aplicada IQAC-CSIC, Escola d' Enginyeria, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain); Centro de Investigacion en Contaminacion Ambiental, Universidad de Costa Rica, 2060 San Jose (Costa Rica); Jesus Garcia-Galan, Ma. [Departament de Quimica Ambiental, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034, Barcelona (Spain); Blanquez, Paqui [Departament d' Enginyeria Quimica, Escola d' Enginyeria, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain); Diaz-Cruz, M. Silvia [Departament de Quimica Ambiental, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034, Barcelona (Spain); Barcelo, Damia [Departament de Quimica Ambiental, IDAEA-CSIC, C/Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034, Barcelona (Spain); Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Parc Cientific i Tecnologic de la Universitat de Girona, C/Emili Grahit, 101 Edifici H2O, E-17003 Girona (Spain); Caminal, Gloria [Unitat asociada de Biocatalisi Aplicada IQAC-CSIC, Escola d' Enginyeria, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain); Vicent, Teresa [Departament d' Enginyeria Quimica, Escola d' Enginyeria, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)

    2012-04-30

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Degradation of sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole by Trametes versicolor was evaluated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The role of laccase and cytochrome P450 was determined. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Degradation metabolites were identified for sulfapyridine (8) and sulfathiazole (5). Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A mixture of three sulfonamides was degraded in a continuous fluidized bed reactor. - Abstract: In this study, we assessed the degradation of the sulfonamides sulfapyridine (SPY) and sulfathiazole (STZ) by the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor. Complete degradation was accomplished in fungal cultures at initial pollutant concentrations of approximately 10 mg L{sup -1}, although a longer period of time was needed to completely remove STZ in comparison to SPY. When cytochrome P450 inhibitors were added to the fungal cultures, STZ degradation was partially suppressed, while no additional effect was observed for SPY. Experiments with purified laccase and laccase mediators caused the removal of greater than 75% of each antibiotic. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqTOF-MS) analyses allowed the identification of a total of eight degradation intermediates of SPY in both the in vivo and the laccase experiments, being its desulfonated moiety the commonly detected product. For STZ, a total of five products were identified. A fluidized bed reactor with T. versicolor pellets degraded a mixture of sulfonamides (SPY, STZ and sulfamethazine, SMZ) by greater than 94% each at a hydraulic residence time of 72 h. Because wastewater contains many diverse pollutants, these results highlight the potential of T. versicolor as a bioremediation agent not only for the removal of antibiotics but also for the elimination of a wide range of contaminants.

  2. Urinary excretion of androgen metabolites, comparison with excretion of radioactive metabolites after injection of [4-14C]testosterone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deslypere, J.P.; Sayed, A.; Vermeulen, A.; Wiers, P.W.

    1981-01-01

    The influence of age on the metabolic pattern of [4- 14 C]testosterone was studied in 20 young and 8 elderly males and compared to the metabolic pattern of endogenous androgens; the latter was also studied in 16 young and 8 elderly women. In both young and elderly males, androsterone and aetiocholanolone glucuronide represent 65% of [4- 14 C]testosterone metabolites: together with their suephoconjugates as well as with 5α- and 5β-androstane-3α, 17β-diol they represent even more than 75% of total urinary metabolites. The 5α/5β ratio of metabolites of [4- 14 C]testosterone was significantly (P 14 C]testosterone metabolites was generally higher than the ratio of metabolites of endogenous androgens, suggesting that the transformation of T to ring A saturated metabolites occurs at least partially in another compartment than the transformation of DHEA to these metabolites. For both [4- 14 C]testosterone and endogenous androgen metabolites we observed a statistically significant reduction of the 5α/5β ratio with age, a general phenomenon in both males and females. This reduction concern also 11-OH-androst-4-ene-3.17-dione metabolism. Neither sex hormone levels, nor specific binding seems to determine this age dependent shift; neither is there convincing evidence for latent hypothyroisism or liver dysfunction in the elderly. An age associated primary decrease of the 5α-reductase activity seems the most likely explanation. (author)

  3. Identification of new binding partners of the chemosensory signalling protein Gγ13 expressed in taste and olfactory sensory cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenhui eLiu

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Tastant detection in the oral cavity involves selective receptors localized at the apical extremity of a subset of specialized taste bud cells called taste receptor cells (TRCs. The identification of the genes coding for the taste receptors involved in this process have greatly improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying detection. However, how these receptors signal in TRCs, and whether the components of the signaling cascades interact with each other or are organized in complexes is mostly unexplored. Here we report on the identification of three new binding partners for the mouse G protein gamma 13 subunit (Gγ13, a component of the bitter taste receptors signalling cascade. For two of these Gγ13 associated proteins, namely GOPC and MPDZ, we describe the expression in taste bud cells for the first time. Furthermore, we demonstrate by means of a yeast two-hybrid interaction assay that the C terminal PDZ binding motif of Gγ13 interacts with selected PDZ domains in these proteins. In the case of the PDZ domain-containing protein zona occludens-1 (ZO-1, a major component of the tight junction defining the boundary between the apical and baso-lateral region of TRCs, we identified the first PDZ domain as the site of strong interaction with Gγ13. This association was further confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation experiments in HEK 293 cells. In addition, we present immunohistological data supporting partial co-localization of GOPC, MPDZ or ZO-1 and Gγ13 in taste buds cells. Finally, we extend this observation to olfactory sensory neurons, another type of chemosensory cells known to express both ZO-1 and Gγ13. Taken together our results implicate these new interaction partners in the sub-cellular distribution of Gγ13 in olfactory and gustatory primary sensory cells.

  4. Synchronization of developmental processes and defense signaling by growth regulating transcription factors.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinyi Liu

    Full Text Available Growth regulating factors (GRFs are a conserved class of transcription factor in seed plants. GRFs are involved in various aspects of tissue differentiation and organ development. The implication of GRFs in biotic stress response has also been recently reported, suggesting a role of these transcription factors in coordinating the interaction between developmental processes and defense dynamics. However, the molecular mechanisms by which GRFs mediate the overlaps between defense signaling and developmental pathways are elusive. Here, we report large scale identification of putative target candidates of Arabidopsis GRF1 and GRF3 by comparing mRNA profiles of the grf1/grf2/grf3 triple mutant and those of the transgenic plants overexpressing miR396-resistant version of GRF1 or GRF3. We identified 1,098 and 600 genes as putative targets of GRF1 and GRF3, respectively. Functional classification of the potential target candidates revealed that GRF1 and GRF3 contribute to the regulation of various biological processes associated with defense response and disease resistance. GRF1 and GRF3 participate specifically in the regulation of defense-related transcription factors, cell-wall modifications, cytokinin biosynthesis and signaling, and secondary metabolites accumulation. GRF1 and GRF3 seem to fine-tune the crosstalk between miRNA signaling networks by regulating the expression of several miRNA target genes. In addition, our data suggest that GRF1 and GRF3 may function as negative regulators of gene expression through their association with other transcription factors. Collectively, our data provide new insights into how GRF1 and GRF3 might coordinate the interactions between defense signaling and plant growth and developmental pathways.

  5. Screening for the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 and its major metabolites in human doping controls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Möller, Ines; Wintermeyer, Annette; Bender, Katja; Jübner, Martin; Thomas, Andreas; Krug, Oliver; Schänzer, Wilhelm; Thevis, Mario

    2011-09-01

    Referred to as 'spice', several new drugs, advertised as herbal blends, have appeared on the market in the last few years, in which the synthetic cannabinoids JWH-018 and a C(8) homologue of CP 47,497 were identified as major active ingredients. Due to their reported cannabis-like effects, many European countries have banned these substances. The World Anti-Doping Agency has also explicitly prohibited synthetic cannabinoids in elite sport in-competition. Since urine specimens have been the preferred doping control samples, the elucidation of the metabolic pathways of these substances is of particular importance to implement them in sports drug testing programmes. In a recent report, an in vitro phase-I metabolism study of JWH-018 was presented yielding mainly hydroxylated and N-dealkylated metabolites. Due to these findings, a urine sample of a healthy man declaring to have smoked a 'spice' product was screened for potential phase-I and -II metabolites by high-resolution/high-accuracy mass spectrometry in the present report. The majority of the phase-I metabolites observed in earlier in vitro studies of JWH-018 were detected in this urine specimen and furthermore most of their respective monoglucuronides. As no intact JWH-018 was detectable, the monohydroxylated metabolite being the most abundant one was chosen as a target analyte for sports drug testing purposes; a detection method was subsequently developed and validated in accordance to conventional screening protocols based on enzymatic hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction, and liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry analysis. The method was applied to approximately 7500 urine doping control samples yielding two JWH-018 findings and demonstrated its capability for a sensitive and selective identification of JWH-018 and its metabolites in human urine. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Metabolite damage and repair in metabolic engineering design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Jiayi; Jeffryes, James G; Henry, Christopher S; Bruner, Steven D; Hanson, Andrew D

    2017-11-01

    The necessarily sharp focus of metabolic engineering and metabolic synthetic biology on pathways and their fluxes has tended to divert attention from the damaging enzymatic and chemical side-reactions that pathway metabolites can undergo. Although historically overlooked and underappreciated, such metabolite damage reactions are now known to occur throughout metabolism and to generate (formerly enigmatic) peaks detected in metabolomics datasets. It is also now known that metabolite damage is often countered by dedicated repair enzymes that undo or prevent it. Metabolite damage and repair are highly relevant to engineered pathway design: metabolite damage reactions can reduce flux rates and product yields, and repair enzymes can provide robust, host-independent solutions. Herein, after introducing the core principles of metabolite damage and repair, we use case histories to document how damage and repair processes affect efficient operation of engineered pathways - particularly those that are heterologous, non-natural, or cell-free. We then review how metabolite damage reactions can be predicted, how repair reactions can be prospected, and how metabolite damage and repair can be built into genome-scale metabolic models. Lastly, we propose a versatile 'plug and play' set of well-characterized metabolite repair enzymes to solve metabolite damage problems known or likely to occur in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology projects. Copyright © 2017 International Metabolic Engineering Society. All rights reserved.

  7. Trophic transfer of pyrene metabolites between aquatic invertebrates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrasco Navarro, V.; Leppänen, M.T.; Kukkonen, J.V.K.; Godoy Olmos, S.

    2013-01-01

    The trophic transfer of pyrene metabolites was studied using Gammarus setosus as a predator and the invertebrates Lumbriculus variegatus and Chironomus riparius as prey. The results obtained by liquid scintillation counting confirmed that the pyrene metabolites produced by the aquatic invertebrates L. variegatus and C. riparius were transferred to G. setosus through the diet. More detailed analyses by liquid chromatography discovered that two of the metabolites produced by C. riparius appeared in the chromatograms of G. setosus tissue extracts, proving their trophic transfer. These metabolites were not present in chromatograms of G. setosus exclusively exposed to pyrene. The present study supports the trophic transfer of PAH metabolites between benthic macroinvertebrates and common species of an arctic amphipod. As some PAH metabolites are more toxic than the parent compounds, the present study raises concerns about the consequences of their trophic transfer and the fate and effects of PAHs in natural environments. - Highlights: ► The trophic transfer of pyrene metabolites between invertebrates was evaluated. ► Biotransformation of pyrene by L. variegatus and C. riparius is different. ► Metabolites produced by L. variegatus and C. riparius are transferred to G. setosus. ► Specifically, two metabolites produced by C. riparius were transferred. - Some of the pyrene metabolites produced by the model invertebrates L. variegatus and C. riparius are transferred to G. setosus through the diet, proving their trophic transfer.

  8. Potential of human saliva for nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics and for health-related biomarker identification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bertram, Hanne Christine; Eggers, Nina; Eller, Nanna

    2009-01-01

    In the present study, the ability of (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for metabolic profiling of human saliva samples was investigated. High-resolution (1)H NMR spectra were obtained, and signals were assigned to various metabolites mainly representing small organic acids and amino acids...... in intensities of several metabolites including trimethylamine oxide (TMAO), choline, propionate, alanine, methanol, and N-acetyl groups. No effects of gender and body mass index (BMI) on the salivary metabolite profile were detected. The relationships between the salivary metabolome and glycated hemoglobin...

  9. Identification of metabolites of vindoline in rats using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yuqian; Sun, Yupeng; Mu, Xiyan; Yuan, Lin; Wang, Qiao; Zhang, Lantong

    2017-08-15

    Vindoline (VDL) is an indole alkaloid, possessing hypoglycemic and vasodilator effects, and it is also the prodrug of many vinca alkaloids. In this paper, we analyzed in vivo (including plasma, urine, bile and faeces) and in vitro metabolic profile of VDL in rat with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). The chromatographic separation was performed on a C 18 column with a mobile phase consisted of 3mM ammonium acetate buffer and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 300μL/min. The mass spectral analysis was conducted in a positive electrospray ionization mode, and on-line data acquisition method multiple mass defect filter (MMDF) combined with dynamic background subtraction (DBS) were used in the biological samples analysis to trace all the potential metabolites of VDL. Twenty-five metabolites of VDL were detected by comparing with the blank sample, of which there were 2 sulfate conjugates. These data suggested that the biotransformation of VDL was deacetylation, oxidation, deoxidization, methylation, dealkylation and sulfate conjugation. This study provides useful information for further study of the pharmacology and mechanism of VDL, meanwhile, the research method can be widely applied to speculate structural features of the metabolites of other vinca alkaloids. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Systematic NMR Analysis of Stable Isotope Labeled Metabolite Mixtures in Plant and Animal Systems: Coarse Grained Views of Metabolic Pathways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chikayama, Eisuke; Suto, Michitaka; Nishihara, Takashi; Shinozaki, Kazuo; Hirayama, Takashi; Kikuchi, Jun

    2008-01-01

    Background Metabolic phenotyping has become an important ‘bird's-eye-view’ technology which can be applied to higher organisms, such as model plant and animal systems in the post-genomics and proteomics era. Although genotyping technology has expanded greatly over the past decade, metabolic phenotyping has languished due to the difficulty of ‘top-down’ chemical analyses. Here, we describe a systematic NMR methodology for stable isotope-labeling and analysis of metabolite mixtures in plant and animal systems. Methodology/Principal Findings The analysis method includes a stable isotope labeling technique for use in living organisms; a systematic method for simultaneously identifying a large number of metabolites by using a newly developed HSQC-based metabolite chemical shift database combined with heteronuclear multidimensional NMR spectroscopy; Principal Components Analysis; and a visualization method using a coarse-grained overview of the metabolic system. The database contains more than 1000 1H and 13C chemical shifts corresponding to 142 metabolites measured under identical physicochemical conditions. Using the stable isotope labeling technique in Arabidopsis T87 cultured cells and Bombyx mori, we systematically detected >450 HSQC peaks in each 13C-HSQC spectrum derived from model plant, Arabidopsis T87 cultured cells and the invertebrate animal model Bombyx mori. Furthermore, for the first time, efficient 13C labeling has allowed reliable signal assignment using analytical separation techniques such as 3D HCCH-COSY spectra in higher organism extracts. Conclusions/Significance Overall physiological changes could be detected and categorized in relation to a critical developmental phase change in B. mori by coarse-grained representations in which the organization of metabolic pathways related to a specific developmental phase was visualized on the basis of constituent changes of 56 identified metabolites. Based on the observed intensities of 13C atoms of

  11. Quantitation of promethazine and metabolites in urine samples using on-line solid-phase extraction and column-switching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Q.; Putcha, L.; Harm, D. L. (Principal Investigator)

    2001-01-01

    A chromatographic method for the quantitation of promethazine (PMZ) and its three metabolites in urine employing on-line solid-phase extraction and column-switching has been developed. The column-switching system described here uses an extraction column for the purification of PMZ and its metabolites from a urine matrix. The extraneous matrix interference was removed by flushing the extraction column with a gradient elution. The analytes of interest were then eluted onto an analytical column for further chromatographic separation using a mobile phase of greater solvent strength. This method is specific and sensitive with a range of 3.75-1400 ng/ml for PMZ and 2.5-1400 ng/ml for the metabolites promethazine sulfoxide, monodesmethyl promethazine sulfoxide and monodesmethyl promethazine. The lower limits of quantitation (LLOQ) were 3.75 ng/ml with less than 6.2% C.V. for PMZ and 2.50 ng/ml with less than 11.5% C.V. for metabolites based on a signal-to-noise ratio of 10:1 or greater. The accuracy and precision were within +/- 11.8% in bias and not greater than 5.5% C.V. in intra- and inter-assay precision for PMZ and metabolites. Method robustness was investigated using a Plackett-Burman experimental design. The applicability of the analytical method for pharmacokinetic studies in humans is illustrated.

  12. Identification of metabolites in the normal ovary and their transformation in primary and metastatic ovarian cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fong, Miranda Y; McDunn, Jonathan; Kakar, Sham S

    2011-01-01

    In this study, we characterized the metabolome of the human ovary and identified metabolic alternations that coincide with primary epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and metastatic tumors resulting from primary ovarian cancer (MOC) using three analytical platforms: gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) using buffer systems and instrument settings to catalog positive or negative ions. The human ovarian metabolome was found to contain 364 biochemicals and upon transformation of the ovary caused changes in energy utilization, altering metabolites associated with glycolysis and β-oxidation of fatty acids--such as carnitine (1.79 fold in EOC, pcancer also displayed an enhanced oxidative stress response as indicated by increases in 2-aminobutyrate in EOC (1.46 fold, p = 0.0316) and in MOC (2.25 fold, povary, specifically N-acetylasparate and N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate, whose role in ovarian physiology has yet to be determined. These data enhance our understanding of the diverse biochemistry of the human ovary and demonstrate metabolic alterations upon transformation. Furthermore, metabolites with significant changes between groups provide insight into biochemical consequences of transformation and are candidate biomarkers of ovarian oncogenesis. Validation studies are warranted to determine whether these compounds have clinical utility in the diagnosis or clinical management of ovarian cancer patients.

  13. Multiresidue analysis of 22 sulfonamides and their metabolites in animal tissues using quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction and high resolution mass spectrometry (hybrid linear ion trap-Orbitrap).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdallah, H; Arnaudguilhem, C; Jaber, F; Lobinski, R

    2014-08-15

    A new high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-HRMS) method was developed for a simultaneous multi-residue analysis of 22 sulfonamides (SAs) and their metabolites in edible animal (pig, beef, sheep and chicken) tissues. Sample preparation was optimized on the basis of the "QuEChERS" protocol. The analytes were identified using their LC retention times and accurate mass; the identification was further confirmed by multi-stage high mass accuracy (Pig kidney" with ǀ Z-scoreǀpig, beef, sheep, and chicken) allowing the simultaneous quantification of target sulfonamides at concentration levels above the MRL/2 and the identification of untargeted compounds such as N(4)-acetyl metabolites using multi-stage high mass accuracy mass spectrometry. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Identification of Discriminating Metabolic Pathways and Metabolites in Human PBMCs Stimulated by Various Pathogenic Agents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang Zhang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Immunity and cellular metabolism are tightly interconnected but it is not clear whether different pathogens elicit specific metabolic responses. To address this issue, we studied differential metabolic regulation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs of healthy volunteers challenged by Candida albicans, Borrelia burgdorferi, lipopolysaccharide, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro. By integrating gene expression data of stimulated PBMCs of healthy individuals with the KEGG pathways, we identified both common and pathogen-specific regulated pathways depending on the time of incubation. At 4 h of incubation, pathogenic agents inhibited expression of genes involved in both the glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation pathways. In contrast, at 24 h of incubation, particularly glycolysis was enhanced while genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation remained unaltered in the PBMCs. In general, differential gene expression was less pronounced at 4 h compared to 24 h of incubation. KEGG pathway analysis allowed differentiation between effects induced by Candida and bacterial stimuli. Application of genome-scale metabolic model further generated a Candida-specific set of 103 reporter metabolites (e.g., desmosterol that might serve as biomarkers discriminating Candida-stimulated PBMCs from bacteria-stimuated PBMCs. Our analysis also identified a set of 49 metabolites that allowed discrimination between the effects of Borrelia burgdorferi, lipopolysaccharide and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We conclude that analysis of pathogen-induced effects on PBMCs by a combination of KEGG pathways and genome-scale metabolic model provides deep insight in the metabolic changes coupled to host defense.

  15. Output ordering and prioritisation system (OOPS): ranking biosynthetic gene clusters to enhance bioactive metabolite discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peña, Alejandro; Del Carratore, Francesco; Cummings, Matthew; Takano, Eriko; Breitling, Rainer

    2017-12-18

    The rapid increase of publicly available microbial genome sequences has highlighted the presence of hundreds of thousands of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding valuable secondary metabolites. The experimental characterization of new BGCs is extremely laborious and struggles to keep pace with the in silico identification of potential BGCs. Therefore, the prioritisation of promising candidates among computationally predicted BGCs represents a pressing need. Here, we propose an output ordering and prioritisation system (OOPS) which helps sorting identified BGCs by a wide variety of custom-weighted biological and biochemical criteria in a flexible and user-friendly interface. OOPS facilitates a judicious prioritisation of BGCs using G+C content, coding sequence length, gene number, cluster self-similarity and codon bias parameters, as well as enabling the user to rank BGCs based upon BGC type, novelty, and taxonomic distribution. Effective prioritisation of BGCs will help to reduce experimental attrition rates and improve the breadth of bioactive metabolites characterized.

  16. Production of Secondary Metabolites in Extreme Environments: Food- and Airborne Wallemia spp. Produce Toxic Metabolites at Hypersaline Conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jančič, Sašo; Frisvad, Jens Christian; Kocev, Dragi

    2016-01-01

    the genome data analysis of W. mellicola (previously W. sebi sensu lato) and W. ichthyophaga revealed a low number of secondary metabolites clusters, a substantial number of secondary metabolites were detected at different conditions. Machine learning analysis of the obtained dataset showed that NaCl has...... of salt or sugar. In relation to food safety, the effect of high salt and sugar concentrations on the production of secondary metabolites by this toxigenic fungus was investigated. The secondary metabolite profiles of 30 strains of the listed species were examined using general growth media, known...... to support the production of secondary metabolites, supplemented with different concentrations of NaCl, glucose and MgCl2. In more than two hundred extracts approximately one hundred different compounds were detected using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). Although...

  17. The Host Plant Metabolite Glucose Is the Precursor of Diffusible Signal Factor (DSF) Family Signals in Xanthomonas campestris

    OpenAIRE

    Deng, Yinyue; Liu, Xiaoling; Wu, Ji'en; Lee, Jasmine; Chen, Shaohua; Cheng, Yingying; Zhang, Chunyan; Zhang, Lian-Hui

    2015-01-01

    Plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris produces cis-11-methyl-2-dodecenoic acid (diffusible signal factor [DSF]) as a cell-cell communication signal to regulate biofilm dispersal and virulence factor production. Previous studies have demonstrated that DSF biosynthesis is dependent on the presence of RpfF, an enoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) hydratase, but the DSF synthetic mechanism and the influence of the host plant on DSF biosynthesis are still not clear. We show here that exogenous ad...

  18. Secondary metabolites from Ganoderma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baby, Sabulal; Johnson, Anil John; Govindan, Balaji

    2015-06-01

    Ganoderma is a genus of medicinal mushrooms. This review deals with secondary metabolites isolated from Ganoderma and their biological significance. Phytochemical studies over the last 40years led to the isolation of 431 secondary metabolites from various Ganoderma species. The major secondary compounds isolated are (a) C30 lanostanes (ganoderic acids), (b) C30 lanostanes (aldehydes, alcohols, esters, glycosides, lactones, ketones), (c) C27 lanostanes (lucidenic acids), (d) C27 lanostanes (alcohols, lactones, esters), (e) C24, C25 lanostanes (f) C30 pentacyclic triterpenes, (g) meroterpenoids, (h) farnesyl hydroquinones (meroterpenoids), (i) C15 sesquiterpenoids, (j) steroids, (k) alkaloids, (l) prenyl hydroquinone (m) benzofurans, (n) benzopyran-4-one derivatives and (o) benzenoid derivatives. Ganoderma lucidum is the species extensively studied for its secondary metabolites and biological activities. Ganoderma applanatum, Ganoderma colossum, Ganoderma sinense, Ganoderma cochlear, Ganoderma tsugae, Ganoderma amboinense, Ganoderma orbiforme, Ganoderma resinaceum, Ganoderma hainanense, Ganoderma concinna, Ganoderma pfeifferi, Ganoderma neo-japonicum, Ganoderma tropicum, Ganoderma australe, Ganoderma carnosum, Ganoderma fornicatum, Ganoderma lipsiense (synonym G. applanatum), Ganoderma mastoporum, Ganoderma theaecolum, Ganoderma boninense, Ganoderma capense and Ganoderma annulare are the other Ganoderma species subjected to phytochemical studies. Further phytochemical studies on Ganoderma could lead to the discovery of hitherto unknown biologically active secondary metabolites. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Computational identification of signalling pathways in Plasmodium falciparum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oyelade, Jelili; Ewejobi, Itunu; Brors, Benedikt; Eils, Roland; Adebiyi, Ezekiel

    2011-06-01

    Malaria is one of the world's most common and serious diseases causing death of about 3 million people each year. Its most severe occurrence is caused by the protozoan Plasmodium falciparum. Reports have shown that the resistance of the parasite to existing drugs is increasing. Therefore, there is a huge and urgent need to discover and validate new drug or vaccine targets to enable the development of new treatments for malaria. The ability to discover these drug or vaccine targets can only be enhanced from our deep understanding of the detailed biology of the parasite, for example how cells function and how proteins organize into modules such as metabolic, regulatory and signal transduction pathways. It has been noted that the knowledge of signalling transduction pathways in Plasmodium is fundamental to aid the design of new strategies against malaria. This work uses a linear-time algorithm for finding paths in a network under modified biologically motivated constraints. We predicted several important signalling transduction pathways in Plasmodium falciparum. We have predicted a viable signalling pathway characterized in terms of the genes responsible that may be the PfPKB pathway recently elucidated in Plasmodium falciparum. We obtained from the FIKK family, a signal transduction pathway that ends up on a chloroquine resistance marker protein, which indicates that interference with FIKK proteins might reverse Plasmodium falciparum from resistant to sensitive phenotype. We also proposed a hypothesis that showed the FIKK proteins in this pathway as enabling the resistance parasite to have a mechanism for releasing chloroquine (via an efflux process). Furthermore, we also predicted a signalling pathway that may have been responsible for signalling the start of the invasion process of Red Blood Cell (RBC) by the merozoites. It has been noted that the understanding of this pathway will give insight into the parasite virulence and will facilitate rational vaccine design

  20. Identification of Combined Power Quality Disturbances Using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD and Total Least Squares-Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Techniques (TLS-ESPRIT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huaishuo Xiao

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In order to identify various kinds of combined power quality disturbances, the singular value decomposition (SVD and the improved total least squares-estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (TLS-ESPRIT are combined as the basis of disturbance identification in this paper. SVD is applied to identify the catastrophe points of disturbance intervals, based on which the disturbance intervals are segmented. Then the improved TLS-ESPRIT optimized by singular value norm method is used to analyze each data segment, and extract the amplitude, frequency, attenuation coefficient and initial phase of various kinds of disturbances. Multi-group combined disturbance test signals are constructed by MATLAB and the proposed method is also tested by the measured data of IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES Database. The test results show that the new method proposed has a relatively higher accuracy than conventional TLS-ESPRIT, which could be used in the identification of measured data.

  1. Metabolite profiling of bendamustine in urine of cancer patients after administration of [14C]bendamustine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubbelman, Anne-Charlotte; Jansen, Robert S; Rosing, Hilde; Darwish, Mona; Hellriegel, Edward; Robertson, Philmore; Schellens, Jan H M; Beijnen, Jos H

    2012-07-01

    Bendamustine is an alkylating agent consisting of a mechlorethamine derivative, a benzimidazole group, and a butyric acid substituent. A human mass balance study showed that bendamustine is extensively metabolized and subsequently excreted in urine. However, limited information is available on the metabolite profile of bendamustine in human urine. The objective of this study was to elucidate the metabolic pathways of bendamustine in humans by identification of its metabolites excreted in urine. Human urine samples were collected up to 168 h after an intravenous infusion of 120 mg/m(2) (80-95 μCi) [(14)C]bendamustine. Metabolites of [(14)C]bendamustine were identified using liquid chromatography (high-resolution)-tandem mass spectrometry with off-line radioactivity detection. Bendamustine and a total of 25 bendamustine-related compounds were detected. Observed metabolic conversions at the benzimidazole and butyric acid moiety were N-demethylation and γ-hydroxylation. In addition, various other combinations of these conversions with modifications at the mechlorethamine moiety were observed, including hydrolysis (the primary metabolic pathway), cysteine conjugation, and subsequent biotransformation to mercapturic acid and thiol derivatives, N-dealkylation, oxidation, and conjugation with phosphate, creatinine, and uric acid. Bendamustine-derived products containing phosphate, creatinine, and uric acid conjugates were also detected in control urine incubated with bendamustine. Metabolites that were excreted up to 168 h after the infusion included products of dihydrolysis and cysteine conjugation of bendamustine and γ-hydroxybendamustine. The range of metabolic reactions is generally consistent with those reported for rat urine and bile, suggesting that the overall processes involved in metabolic elimination are qualitatively the same in rats and humans.

  2. Detection of 14C-Carmoisine metabolites by high performance liquid chromatography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marinovich, M.; Ferrari, A.; Pacini, N.; Galli, C.L.

    1983-01-01

    14 C-Carmoisine, a sulphonated azodye, 200 mg/kg b.w. (25 μCi), was administered to rats by gavage. Separation of radioactive compounds in faeces and urine of these animals was carried out by HPLC with a UV and a radioactivity detector. In addition to unmodified carmoisine, five radioactive compounds were present. The main peak showed both the retention time and the UV spectrum of naphtionic acid. Metabolic patterns similar to those observed ''in vivo'' were found by incubation of 14 C-carmoisine under anaerobic conditions with a bacterial suspension isolated from human faeces and from the intestinal contents of rats. This procedure permits the preparation of amounts of unknown metabolites suitable for their identification. (orig.)

  3. Tyrosol and its metabolites as antioxidative and anti-inflammatory molecules in human endothelial cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muriana, Francisco J G; Montserrat-de la Paz, Sergio; Lucas, Ricardo; Bermudez, Beatriz; Jaramillo, Sara; Morales, Juan C; Abia, Rocio; Lopez, Sergio

    2017-08-01

    Tyrosol (Tyr) is a phenolic compound found in virgin olive oil. After ingestion, Tyr undergoes extensive first pass intestinal/hepatic metabolism. However, knowledge about the biological effects of Tyr metabolites is scarce. We chemically synthesized Tyr glucuronate (Tyr-GLU) and sulphate (Tyr-SUL) metabolites and explored their properties against oxidative stress and inflammation in TNF-α-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (hECs). Tyr and Tyr-SUL prevented the rise of reactive oxygen species, the depletion of glutathione, and the down-regulation of glutathione peroxidase 1, glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, and heme oxygenase-1 genes. Tyr-SUL and to a lower extent Tyr and Tyr-GLU prevented the phosphorylation of NF-κB signaling proteins. Tyr-GLU and Tyr-SUL also prevented the over-expression of adhesion molecules at gene, protein, and secretory levels, and the adhesion (Tyr-SUL > Tyr-GLU) of human monocytes to hECs. In vivo, Tyr, and most notably Tyr-SUL in a dose-dependent manner, ameliorated plantar and ear edemas in mice models of acute and chronic inflammation. This study demonstrates the antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory properties of Tyr metabolites, with Tyr-SUL being the most effective.

  4. Identification of some cross flow heat exchanger dynamic responses by measurement with low level binary pseudo-random input signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corran, E.R.; Cummins, J.D.; Hopkinson, A.

    1964-02-01

    An experiment was performed to assess the usefulness of the binary cross-correlation method in the context of the identification problem. An auxiliary burner was excited with a discrete interval binary code and the response to the perturbation of the input heat was observed by recording the variations of the primary inlet, primary outlet and secondary outlet temperatures. The observations were analysed to yield cross-correlation functions and frequency responses were subsequently determined between primary inlet and primary outlet temperatures and also between primary inlet and secondary outlet temperatures. The analysis verified (1) that these dynamic responses of this cross flow heat exchanger may be predicted theoretically, (2) in so far as this heat exchanger is representative of the generality of plant, that the binary cross-correlation method provides adequate identification of plant dynamics for control purposes in environments where small input variations and low signal to noise ratio are obligatory. (author)

  5. Organophosphorous pesticide metabolite (DEDTP) induces changes in the activation status of human lymphocytes by modulating the interleukin 2 receptor signal transduction pathway

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esquivel-Senties, M.S.; Barrera, I.; Ortega, A.; Vega, L.

    2010-01-01

    Diethyldithiophosphate (DEDTP) is a metabolite formed by biotransformation of organophosphorous (OP) compounds that has a longer half-life than its parental compound. Here we evaluate the effects of DEDTP on human CD4+ T lymphocytes. In vitro exposure to DEDTP (1-50 μM) decreased [ 3 H]thymidine incorporation in resting cells and increased CD25 surface expression without altering cell viability. DEDTP treatment inhibited anti-CD3/anti-CD28 stimulation-induced CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation determined by CFSE dilution. Decreased CD25 expression and intracellular IL-2 levels were correlated with this defect in cell proliferation. IL-2, IFN-γ and IL-10 secretion were also reduced while IL-4 secretion was not altered. Increased phosphorylation of SOCS3 and dephosphorylation of STAT5 were induced by DEDTP after as little as 5 min of exposure. In addition, DEDTP induced phosphorylation of ERK, JNK and p38 and NFAT nuclear translocation. These results suggest that DEDTP can modulate phosphorylation of intracellular proteins such as SOCS3, which functions as a negative regulator of cytokine signalling, and that DEDTP exposure may thus cause T cells to fail to respond to further antigen challenges.

  6. Biosynthetically directed fractional 13C labeling facilitates identification of Phe and Tyr aromatic signals in proteins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacob, Jaison; Louis, John M.; Nesheiwat, Issa; Torchia, Dennis A.

    2002-01-01

    Analysis of 2D [ 13 C, 1 H]-HSQC spectra of biosynthetic fractionally 13 C labeled proteins is a reliable, straightforward means to obtain stereospecific assignments of Val and Leu methyl sites in proteins. Herein we show that the same fractionally labeled protein sample facilitates observation and identification of Phe and Tyr aromatic signals. This is the case, in part, because the fractional 13 C labeling yields aromatic rings in which some of the 13 C- 13 C J-couplings, present in uniformly labeled samples, are absent. Also, the number of homonuclear J-coupling partners differs for the δ-, ε- and ζ-carbons. This enabled us to vary their signal intensities in distinctly different ways by appropriately setting the 13 C constant-time period in 2D [ 13 C, 1 H]-HSQC spectra. We illustrate the application of this approach to an 18 kDa protein, c-VIAF, a modulator of apoptosis. In addition, we show that cancellation of the aromatic 13 C CSA and 13 C- 1 H dipolar interactions can be fruitfully utilized in the case of the fractionally labeled sample to obtain high resolution 13 C constant-time spectra with good sensitivity

  7. Urinary profile of methylprednisolone and its metabolites after oral and topical administrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matabosch, Xavier; Pozo, Oscar J; Monfort, Núria; Pérez-Mañá, Clara; Farré, Magi; Marcos, Josep; Segura, Jordi; Ventura, Rosa

    2013-11-01

    Methylprednisolone (MP) is prohibited in sports competitions when administered by systemic routes; however its use by topical administration is allowed. Therefore, analytical approaches to distinguish between these different administration pathways are required. A reporting level of 30ng/mL was established for this purpose. However, the suitability of that reporting level for MP is not known. In the present work, excretion profiles of MP and different metabolites after oral and topical administrations have been compared. A method for the quantification of MP and the qualitative detection of fifteen previously reported metabolites has been validated. The method involved an enzymatic hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction and analysis by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The method was found to be linear, selective, precise and accurate. The high sensitivity (limit of detection 0.1ng/mL) and linear range (0.1-250ng/mL) achieved allowed for the quantification of MP at both the low concentrations present after topical administration and the high concentrations detected after oral intake. The method was applied to samples collected after oral (4 or 40mg) and topical administration (10mg of MP aceponate/day for 5 consecutive days) to healthy volunteers. After oral administration, MP and all metabolites were detected in urines collected up to at least 36h. Only MP and five metabolites were detected in samples obtained after topical treatment. As expected, concentrations of MP after topical administration were well below current reporting level (30ng/mL), however 3 out of 4 samples in range 8-24h after the low oral dose (4mg) were also below that concentration. Taking into account metabolites detected after both administration routes, metabolites 16β,17α,21-trihydroxy-6α-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,11,20-trione (M8) and 17α,20α,21-trihydroxy-6α-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,11-dione (M11) are best markers to differentiate between topical and oral

  8. Identification of Compounds That Inhibit IGF-I Signaling in Hyperglycemia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura A. Maile

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Increased responsiveness of vascular cells to the growth factor IGF-I has been implicated in complications associated with diabetes. Here we describe the development of an assay and screening of a library of compounds for their ability to accelerate cleavage of the transmembrane protein integrin-associated protein (IAP thereby disrupting the association between IAP and SHPS-1 which we have shown as critical for the enhanced response of vascular cells to IGF-I. The cell-based ELISA utilizes an antibody that specifically detects cleaved, but not intact, IAP. Of the 1040 compounds tested, 14 were considered active by virtue of their ability to stimulate an increase in antibody-binding indicative of IAP cleavage. In experiments with smooth muscle and retinal endothelial cell cultures in hyperglycemic conditions, each active compound was shown to accelerate the cleavage of IAP, and this was associated with a decrease in IAP association with SHPS-1 as determined by coimmunoprecipitation of the proteins from cell lysates. As a consequence of the acceleration in IAP cleavage, the compounds were shown to inhibit IGF-I-stimulated phosphorylation of key signaling molecules including Shc and ERK1/2, and this in turn was associated with a decrease in IGF-I-stimulated cell proliferation. Identification of these compounds that utilize this mechanism has the potential to yield novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention and treatment of vascular complications associated with diabetes.

  9. Characterization of model peptide adducts with reactive metabolites of naphthalene by mass spectrometry.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathalie T Pham

    Full Text Available Naphthalene is a volatile polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon generated during combustion and is a ubiquitous chemical in the environment. Short term exposures of rodents to air concentrations less than the current OSHA standard yielded necrotic lesions in the airways and nasal epithelium of the mouse, and in the nasal epithelium of the rat. The cytotoxic effects of naphthalene have been correlated with the formation of covalent protein adducts after the generation of reactive metabolites, but there is little information about the specific sites of adduction or on the amino acid targets of these metabolites. To better understand the chemical species produced when naphthalene metabolites react with proteins and peptides, we studied the formation and structure of the resulting adducts from the incubation of model peptides with naphthalene epoxide, naphthalene diol epoxide, 1,2-naphthoquinone, and 1,4-naphthoquinone using high resolution mass spectrometry. Identification of the binding sites, relative rates of depletion of the unadducted peptide, and selectivity of binding to amino acid residues were determined. Adduction occurred on the cysteine, lysine, and histidine residues, and on the N-terminus. Monoadduct formation occurred in 39 of the 48 reactions. In reactions with the naphthoquinones, diadducts were observed, and in one case, a triadduct was detected. The results from this model peptide study will assist in data interpretation from ongoing work to detect peptide adducts in vivo as markers of biologic effect.

  10. Shaft Crack Identification Based on Vibration and AE Signals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenxiu Lu

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The shaft crack is one of the main serious malfunctions that often occur in rotating machinery. However, it is difficult to locate the crack and determine the depth of the crack. In this paper, the acoustic emission (AE signal and vibration response are used to diagnose the crack. The wavelet transform is applied to AE signal to decompose into a series of time-domain signals, each of which covers a specific octave frequency band. Then an improved union method based on threshold and cross-correlation method is applied to detect the location of the shaft crack. The finite element method is used to build the model of the cracked rotor, and the crack depth is identified by comparing the vibration response of experiment and simulation. The experimental results show that the AE signal is effective and convenient to locate the shaft crack, and the vibration signal is feasible to determine the depth of shaft crack.

  11. Identification of 4-hydroxyheptachlorostyrene in polar bear plasma and its binding affinity to transhyretin: a metabolite of octachlorostyrene

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sandau, C.D.; Meerts, I.A.T.M.; Letcher, R.J.; McAlee, A.J.; Chittim, B.; Brouwer, A.; Norstrom, R.J.

    2000-01-01

    A new compound, 4-hydroxyheptachlorostyrene (4-OH-HpCS), was identified as a major component in the chlorinated phenolic compound fraction of polar bear plasma. The structure was hypothesized to be 4-OH-HpCS based on mass spectral interpretation, the assumption that it was a metabolite of

  12. Identification of 4-hydroxyheptachlorostyrene in polar bear plasma and its binding affinity to transthyretin : a metabolite of octachlorostyrene?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Standau, C.D.; Meerts, I.A.T.M.; Letcher, R.J.; McAlees, A.J.; Chittim, B.; Brouwer, A.; Norstrom, R.J.

    2000-01-01

    A new compound, 4-hydroxyheptachlorostyrene (4-OH-HpCS), was identified as a major component in the chlorinated phenolic compound fraction of polar bear plasma. The structure was hypothesized to be 4-OH-HpCS based on mass spectral interpretation, the assumption that it was a metabolite of

  13. IDENTIFIKASI METABOLIT SEKUNDER DAN AKTIVITAS ANTIBAKTERI EKSTRAK DAUN SUNGKAI (Peronema canescens JACK. TERHADAP BEBERAPA BAKTERI PATOGEN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arsyik Ibrahim

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available A research which identification of secondary metabolites and antibacterial activity test from methanol exstract of leaf Sungkai (Peronema canencens Jack to several pathogens bacterial, which aims to identification of secondary methabolites and determine the antibacterial activity from crude methanol extract of leaf Sungkai (P. canencens Jack. against Streptococcus mutans, Salmonella thyposa, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Material test obtained by maceration with methanol, then tested for activity. Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC value extract was determined by liquid dilution and the followed by scratches on solid media method.  Minimum Kill Concentration (KBM value extracts was determined by agar diffusion method with using paper disks.The results secondary metabolite identify form extracts of leaves P. canencens obtainable derived alkaloid, terpenoids - steroids, flavonoids, and tannin compounds. Methanol extract have the antibacterial activity. Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC value of extract is concentration of 20% for bacteria S. mutans, S.thiposa and S.aureus, while for the B. subtilis is konsentration of 15%. Minimum Kill Concentration (KBM values exstract at a concentration of 5% effective at killing S. mutans and S. thyposa bacteria, while the concentration of 1% effective to bacteria B.subtilis and S.aureus. Key words: P. canencens Jack,  antibacteria activity, S. mutans, S. thiposa, B. subtillis, S. aureus   ABSTRAK   Telah dilakukan penelitian identifikasi metabolit sekunder dan aktivitas antibakteri ekstrak metanol daun Sungkai (P.canencens Jack terhadap beberapa bakteri patogen. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi metabolit sekunder dan mengetahui aktifitas antibakteri dan Kadar Hambat Minimum (KHM dan Nilai Kadar Bunuh Minimum (KBM ekstrak kasar metanol daun Sungkai (P.canencens Jack. terhadap bakteri  Streptococcus mutans, Salmonella thyposa, Bacillus subtilis dan

  14. HOC Based Blind Identification of Hydroturbine Shaft Volterra System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bing Bai

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to identify the quadratic Volterra system simplified from the hydroturbine shaft system, a blind identification method based on the third-order cumulants and a reversely recursive method are proposed. The input sequence of the system under consideration is an unobservable independent identically distributed (i.i.d., zero-mean and non-Gaussian stationary signal, and the observed signals are the superposition of the system output signal and Gaussian noise. To calculate the third-order moment of the output signal, a computer loop judgment method is put forward to determine the coefficient. When using optimization method to identify the time domain kernels, we combined the traditional optimization algorithm (direct search method with genetic algorithm (GA and constituted the hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA. Finally, according to the prototype observation signal and the time domain kernel parameters obtained from identification, the input signal of the system can be gained recursively. To test the proposed method, three numerical experiments and engineering application have been carried out. The results show that the method is applicable to the blind identification of the hydroturbine shaft system and has strong universality; the input signal obtained by the reversely recursive method can be approximately taken as the random excitation acted on the runner of the hydroturbine shaft system.

  15. Proteome analysis provides insight into the regulation of bioactive metabolites in Hericium erinaceus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Xu; Ling, Hong; Yang, Jianwen; Chen, Juan; Guo, Shunxing

    2018-05-05

    Hericium erinaceus, a famous edible mushroom, is also a well-known traditional medicinal fungus. To date, a large number of bioactive metabolites with antitumor, antibacterial, and immune-boosting effects were isolated from the free-living mycelium and fruiting body of H. erinaceus. Here we used the proteomic approach to explore proteins involved in the regulation of bioactive metabolites, including terpenoid, polyketide, sterol and etc. RESULTS: Using mass spectrometry, a total of 2543 unique proteins were identified using H. erinaceus genome, of which 2449, 1855, 1533 and 690 proteins were successfully annotated in Nr, KOG, KEGG and GO databases. Among them, 722 proteins were differentially expressed (528 up- and 194 down-regulated) in fruiting body compared with mycelium. Most of differentially expressed proteins were putatively involved in energy metabolism, molecular signaling, and secondary metabolism. Additionally, numerous proteins involved in terpenoid, polyketide, and sterol biosynthesis were identified. Our data revealed that proteins involved in polyketide biosynthesis were up-regulated in the fruiting body, while some proteins in mevalonate (MEP) pathway from terpenoid biosynthesis were generally up-regulated in mycelium. The present study suggested that the differential regulation of biosynthesis genes could produce various bioactive metabolites with pharmacological effects in H. erinaceus. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  16. Understanding the protective effects of wine components and their metabolites in the brain function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esteban-Fernández A.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Moderate wine consumption has been suggested to exert a positive effect in prevention of neurodegenerative process and cognitive impairment. With the ultimate aim of achieving a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind this benefit, we have investigated the role of certain wine- derived phenolic metabolites and aroma compounds in the MAPK cascade (including ERK1/2, p38, one of the routes directly related to inflammation in neuronal cells. Some of the tested phenolic compounds, especially in the case of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, showed a significant neuroprotective effect against SIN-1-induced neuronal death. Regarding their effect over MAPK phosphorylation, inmunoblotting technique revealed a beneficial and significant decrease on the phosphorylation of p38 and ERK1/2 kinases after incubation with wine constituents. In addition, activity of caspase3-like protease, an executor of neuronal apoptosis and a downstream signal of MAPK, was significantly diminished by 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl propionic acid and linalool, counterbalancing the increase produced by SIN-1. Altogether, these results suggest that wine aroma, phenolic compounds and their gut metabolites could exert neuroprotective actions by modulating MAPK signalling and caspase-3 proteases activation, which are known to play a key role in oxidative/ nitrosative stress-induced response.

  17. System parameter identification information criteria and algorithms

    CERN Document Server

    Chen, Badong; Hu, Jinchun; Principe, Jose C

    2013-01-01

    Recently, criterion functions based on information theoretic measures (entropy, mutual information, information divergence) have attracted attention and become an emerging area of study in signal processing and system identification domain. This book presents a systematic framework for system identification and information processing, investigating system identification from an information theory point of view. The book is divided into six chapters, which cover the information needed to understand the theory and application of system parameter identification. The authors' research pr

  18. 21 CFR 882.1430 - Electroencephalograph test signal generator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Electroencephalograph test signal generator. 882.1430 Section 882.1430 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN... Electroencephalograph test signal generator. (a) Identification. An electroencephalograph test signal generator is a...

  19. NMR/MS Translator for the Enhanced Simultaneous Analysis of Metabolomics Mixtures by NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry: Application to Human Urine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bingol, Kerem; Brüschweiler, Rafael

    2015-06-05

    A novel metabolite identification strategy is presented for the combined NMR/MS analysis of complex metabolite mixtures. The approach first identifies metabolite candidates from 1D or 2D NMR spectra by NMR database query, which is followed by the determination of the masses (m/z) of their possible ions, adducts, fragments, and characteristic isotope distributions. The expected m/z ratios are then compared with the MS(1) spectrum for the direct assignment of those signals of the mass spectrum that contain information about the same metabolites as the NMR spectra. In this way, the mass spectrum can be assigned with very high confidence, and it provides at the same time validation of the NMR-derived metabolites. The method was first demonstrated on a model mixture, and it was then applied to human urine collected from a pool of healthy individuals. A number of metabolites could be detected that had not been reported previously, further extending the list of known urine metabolites. The new analysis approach, which is termed NMR/MS Translator, is fully automated and takes only a few seconds on a computer workstation. NMR/MS Translator synergistically uses the power of NMR and MS, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of the identification of those metabolites compiled in databases.

  20. Semi-automated identification of artefact and noise signals in MEG sensors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rettich, E.

    2006-09-01

    Magnetic encephalography (MEG) is a noninvasive method of measuring cerebral activity. It is based on the registration of magnetic fields that are induced by synaptic ion currents as the brain processes information. These magnetic fields are of a very small magnitude, ranging from a few femto Tesla (1 fT = 10 15 T) to several thousand fT (1 pT). This is equivalent to a ten thousandth to a billionth of the Earth's magnetic field. When applied with a time resolution in the range of milliseconds this technique permits research on time-critical neurophysiological processes. A meaningful analysis of MEG data presupposes that signals have been measured at low noise levels. This in turn requires magnetic shielding, normally in the form of a shielded cabin, and low-noise detectors. Data input from high-noise channels impairs the result of the measurement, possibly rendering it useless. To prevent this it is necessary to identify high-noise channels and remove them from the measurement data. At Juelich Research Center, like at most MEG laboratories, this is done by visual inspection. However, being dependent on the individual observer, this method does not yield objective results. Furthermore, visual inspection presupposes a high degree of experience and is time-consuming. This situation could be significantly improved by automated identification of high-noise channels. The purpose of the present study was to develop an algorithm that analyses measurement signals in a given time and frequency interval on the basis of statistical traits. Using a suitably designed user interface this permits searching MEG data for high-noise channel data below or above statistical threshold values on the basis of predetermined decision criteria. The identified high-noise channels are then output in a selection list, and the measurement data and results of the statistical analysis are displayed. This information enables the user to make changes and decide which high-noise channels to extract

  1. DETECT: a MATLAB toolbox for event detection and identification in time series, with applications to artifact detection in EEG signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawhern, Vernon; Hairston, W David; Robbins, Kay

    2013-01-01

    Recent advances in sensor and recording technology have allowed scientists to acquire very large time-series datasets. Researchers often analyze these datasets in the context of events, which are intervals of time where the properties of the signal change relative to a baseline signal. We have developed DETECT, a MATLAB toolbox for detecting event time intervals in long, multi-channel time series. Our primary goal is to produce a toolbox that is simple for researchers to use, allowing them to quickly train a model on multiple classes of events, assess the accuracy of the model, and determine how closely the results agree with their own manual identification of events without requiring extensive programming knowledge or machine learning experience. As an illustration, we discuss application of the DETECT toolbox for detecting signal artifacts found in continuous multi-channel EEG recordings and show the functionality of the tools found in the toolbox. We also discuss the application of DETECT for identifying irregular heartbeat waveforms found in electrocardiogram (ECG) data as an additional illustration.

  2. DETECT: a MATLAB toolbox for event detection and identification in time series, with applications to artifact detection in EEG signals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vernon Lawhern

    Full Text Available Recent advances in sensor and recording technology have allowed scientists to acquire very large time-series datasets. Researchers often analyze these datasets in the context of events, which are intervals of time where the properties of the signal change relative to a baseline signal. We have developed DETECT, a MATLAB toolbox for detecting event time intervals in long, multi-channel time series. Our primary goal is to produce a toolbox that is simple for researchers to use, allowing them to quickly train a model on multiple classes of events, assess the accuracy of the model, and determine how closely the results agree with their own manual identification of events without requiring extensive programming knowledge or machine learning experience. As an illustration, we discuss application of the DETECT toolbox for detecting signal artifacts found in continuous multi-channel EEG recordings and show the functionality of the tools found in the toolbox. We also discuss the application of DETECT for identifying irregular heartbeat waveforms found in electrocardiogram (ECG data as an additional illustration.

  3. Individual Biometric Identification Using Multi-Cycle Electrocardiographic Waveform Patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wonki Lee

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The electrocardiogram (ECG waveform conveys information regarding the electrical property of the heart. The patterns vary depending on the individual heart characteristics. ECG features can be potentially used for biometric recognition. This study presents a new method using the entire ECG waveform pattern for matching and demonstrates that the approach can potentially be employed for individual biometric identification. Multi-cycle ECG signals were assessed using an ECG measuring circuit, and three electrodes can be patched on the wrists or fingers for considering various measurements. For biometric identification, our-fold cross validation was used in the experiments for assessing how the results of a statistical analysis will generalize to an independent data set. Four different pattern matching algorithms, i.e., cosine similarity, cross correlation, city block distance, and Euclidean distances, were tested to compare the individual identification performances with a single channel of ECG signal (3-wire ECG. To evaluate the pattern matching for biometric identification, the ECG recordings for each subject were partitioned into training and test set. The suggested method obtained a maximum performance of 89.9% accuracy with two heartbeats of ECG signals measured on the wrist and 93.3% accuracy with three heartbeats for 55 subjects. The performance rate with ECG signals measured on the fingers improved up to 99.3% with two heartbeats and 100% with three heartbeats of signals for 20 subjects.

  4. Individual Biometric Identification Using Multi-Cycle Electrocardiographic Waveform Patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Wonki; Kim, Seulgee; Kim, Daeeun

    2018-03-28

    The electrocardiogram (ECG) waveform conveys information regarding the electrical property of the heart. The patterns vary depending on the individual heart characteristics. ECG features can be potentially used for biometric recognition. This study presents a new method using the entire ECG waveform pattern for matching and demonstrates that the approach can potentially be employed for individual biometric identification. Multi-cycle ECG signals were assessed using an ECG measuring circuit, and three electrodes can be patched on the wrists or fingers for considering various measurements. For biometric identification, our-fold cross validation was used in the experiments for assessing how the results of a statistical analysis will generalize to an independent data set. Four different pattern matching algorithms, i.e., cosine similarity, cross correlation, city block distance, and Euclidean distances, were tested to compare the individual identification performances with a single channel of ECG signal (3-wire ECG). To evaluate the pattern matching for biometric identification, the ECG recordings for each subject were partitioned into training and test set. The suggested method obtained a maximum performance of 89.9% accuracy with two heartbeats of ECG signals measured on the wrist and 93.3% accuracy with three heartbeats for 55 subjects. The performance rate with ECG signals measured on the fingers improved up to 99.3% with two heartbeats and 100% with three heartbeats of signals for 20 subjects.

  5. Synthesis of digital locomotive receiver of automatic locomotive signaling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. V. Goncharov

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. Automatic locomotive signaling of continuous type with a numeric coding (ALSN has several disadvantages: a small number of signal indications, low noise stability, high inertia and low functional flexibility. Search for new and more advanced methods of signal processing for automatic locomotive signaling, synthesis of the noise proof digital locomotive receiver are essential. Methodology. The proposed algorithm of detection and identification locomotive signaling codes is based on the definition of mutual correlations of received oscillation and reference signals. For selecting threshold levels of decision element the following criterion has been formulated: the locomotive receiver should maximum set the correct solution for a given probability of dangerous errors. Findings. It has been found that the random nature of the ALSN signal amplitude does not affect the detection algorithm. However, the distribution law and numeric characteristics of signal amplitude affect the probability of errors, and should be considered when selecting a threshold levels According to obtained algorithm of detection and identification ALSN signals the digital locomotive receiver has been synthesized. It contains band pass filter, peak limiter, normalizing amplifier with automatic gain control circuit, analog to digital converter and digital signal processor. Originality. The ALSN system is improved by the way of the transfer of technical means to modern microelectronic element base, more perfect methods of detection and identification codes of locomotive signaling are applied. Practical value. Use of digital technology in the construction of the locomotive receiver ALSN will expand its functionality, will increase the noise immunity and operation stability of the locomotive signal system in conditions of various destabilizing factors.

  6. Comparison of trapping profiles between d-peptides and glutathione in the identification of reactive metabolites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaana E. Laine

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Qualitative trapping profile of reactive metabolites arising from six structurally different compounds was tested with three different d-peptide isomers (Peptide 1, gly–tyr–pro–cys–pro–his-pro; Peptide 2, gly–tyr–pro–ala–pro–his–pro; Peptide 3, gly–tyr–arg–pro–cys–pro–his–lys–pro and glutathione (GSH using mouse and human liver microsomes as the biocatalyst. The test compounds were classified either as clinically “safe” (amlodipine, caffeine, ibuprofen, or clinically as “risky” (clozapine, nimesulide, ticlopidine; i.e., associated with severe clinical toxicity outcomes. Our working hypothesis was as follows: could the use of short different amino acid sequence containing d-peptides in adduct detection confer any add-on value to that obtained with GSH? All “risky” agents’ resulted in the formation of several GSH adducts in the incubation mixture and with at least one peptide adduct with both microsomal preparations. Amlodipine did not form any adducts with any of the trapping agents. No GSH and peptide 2 and 3 adducts were found with caffeine, but with peptide 1 one adduct with human liver microsomes was detected. Ibuprofen produced one Peptide 1-adduct with human and mouse liver microsomes but not with GSH. In conclusion, GSH still remains the gold trapping standard for reactive metabolites. However, targeted d-peptides could provide additional information about protein binding potential of electrophilic agents, but their clinical significance needs to be clarified using a wider spectrum of chemicals together with other safety estimates.

  7. Identification of fipronil metabolites in rodents by time-of-flight mass spectrometry for application in a human exposure study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fipronil is a phenylpyrazole insecticide commonly used in residential and agricultural applications. To understand more about the potential risks associated with fipronil, dosed Long Evans rats were evaluated for metabolites to develop a set of biomarkers for use in human exposur...

  8. The Profiling and Identification of the Absorbed Constituents and Metabolites of Guizhi Decoction in Rat Plasma and Urine by Rapid Resolution Liquid Chromatography Combined with Quadrupole-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiang, Hongjun; Zhang, Lishi; Song, Jiannan; Fan, Bin; Nie, Yinglan; Bai, Dong; Lei, Haimin

    2016-01-01

    Guizhi decoction (GZD), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription consisting of Ramulus Cinnamomi, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Radix Glycyrrhizae, Fructus Jujubae and Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, is usually used for the treatment of common colds, influenza, and other pyretic conditions in the clinic. However, the absorbed ingredients and metabolic compounds of GZD have not been reported. In this paper, a method incorporating rapid resolution liquid chromatography (RRLC) with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS) was used to identify ingredients after oral administration of GZD. Identification of the primary components in GZD, drug-containing serum and urine samples was carried out in order to investigate the assimilation and metabolites of the decoction in vivo. By comparing the total ion chromatograms (TICs) of GZD, a total of 71 constituents were detected or characterized. By comparing TICs of blank and dosed rat plasma, a total of 15 constituents were detected and identified as prototypes according to their retention time (tR) and MS, MS/MS data. Based on this, neutral loss scans of 80 and 176 Da in samples of rat plasma and urine helped us to identify most of the metabolites. Results showed that the predominant metabolic pathways of (epi) catechin and gallic acid were sulfation, methylation, glucuronidation and dehydroxylation; the major metabolic pathways of flavone were hydrolysis, sulfation and glucuronidation. Furthermore, degradation, oxidation and ring fission were found to often occur in the metabolism process of GZD in vivo. PMID:27626411

  9. Hydrophobicity and charge shape cellular metabolite concentrations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arren Bar-Even

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available What governs the concentrations of metabolites within living cells? Beyond specific metabolic and enzymatic considerations, are there global trends that affect their values? We hypothesize that the physico-chemical properties of metabolites considerably affect their in-vivo concentrations. The recently achieved experimental capability to measure the concentrations of many metabolites simultaneously has made the testing of this hypothesis possible. Here, we analyze such recently available data sets of metabolite concentrations within E. coli, S. cerevisiae, B. subtilis and human. Overall, these data sets encompass more than twenty conditions, each containing dozens (28-108 of simultaneously measured metabolites. We test for correlations with various physico-chemical properties and find that the number of charged atoms, non-polar surface area, lipophilicity and solubility consistently correlate with concentration. In most data sets, a change in one of these properties elicits a ~100 fold increase in metabolite concentrations. We find that the non-polar surface area and number of charged atoms account for almost half of the variation in concentrations in the most reliable and comprehensive data set. Analyzing specific groups of metabolites, such as amino-acids or phosphorylated nucleotides, reveals even a higher dependence of concentration on hydrophobicity. We suggest that these findings can be explained by evolutionary constraints imposed on metabolite concentrations and discuss possible selective pressures that can account for them. These include the reduction of solute leakage through the lipid membrane, avoidance of deleterious aggregates and reduction of non-specific hydrophobic binding. By highlighting the global constraints imposed on metabolic pathways, future research could shed light onto aspects of biochemical evolution and the chemical constraints that bound metabolic engineering efforts.

  10. Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry for analysis of microbial metabolites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klitgaard, Andreas

    to human health. Because of this, methods for detection and analysis of these compounds are vital. Estimates suggest that there are around 1.5 million different fungal species on Earth, dwarfing the number of plants estimated to 300,000, meaning that there potentially are many more interesting compounds...... is of large commercial interest for production of the bioactive compounds of the future. One part of my study focused on identification and elucidation of the biosynthesis of a nonribosomal peptide (NRP) nidulanin A from Aspergillus nidulans. Although the study was successful several analogs were......Filamentous fungi serve a very important role in Nature where they break down organic matter, releasing nutrients that can be used by other organisms. Fungi and other microorganisms also produce a wide array of bioactive compounds, the secondary metabolites( SMs), used for such diverse roles...

  11. New metabolites of hongdenafil, homosildenafil and hydroxyhomosildenafil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Miseon; Park, Yujin; Lee, Heesang; Choe, Sanggil; Baek, Seung-Hoon; Kim, Hye Kyung; Pyo, Jae Sung

    2018-02-05

    Recently, illegal sildenafil analogues have emerged, causing serious social issues. In spite of the importance of sildenafil analogues, their metabolic profiles or clinical effects have not been reported yet. In this study, new metabolites of illegal sildenafil analogues such as hongdenafil, homosildenafil, and hydroxyhomosildenafil were determined using liquid chromatography quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). To prepare metabolic samples, in vitro and in vivo studies were performed. For in vivo metabolites analysis, urine and feces samples of rats treated with sildenafil analogues were analyzed. For in vitro metabolites analysis, human liver microsomes incubated with sildenafil analogues were extracted and analyzed. All metabolites were characterized by LC-Q-TOF-MS and LC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. As a result, five, six, and seven metabolites were determined in hongdenafil, homosildenafil, and hydroxyhomosildenafil treated samples, respectively. These results could be applied to forensic science and other analytical fields. Moreover, these newly identified metabolites could be used as fundamental data to determine the side effect and toxicity of illegal sildenafil analogues. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Study on production of useful metabolites by development of advanced cell culture techniques using radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chung, Byung Yeoup; Kim, Jinhong; Lee, Seung Sik; Bai, Hyounwoo; An, Byung Chull; Lee, Eun Mi; Lee, Jae Taek; Kim, Mi Ja

    2010-12-15

    The purpose of this project is improvement of investigation, materialization and evaluation techniques on effectiveness for functional natural compounds throughout development of tissue/cell culture techniques for mass production of useful metabolites using radiation. Research scope includes Development of a technique for radiation tissue and cell culture, Database construction for radiation response in plants and radiation effects, Construction of general-purpose national based techniques of cell culture technique using radiation. Main results are as follow: Isolation and identification of radiation induced basI gene; Determination of stresses sensitivities by transformating basI gene into arabidopsis; Isolation and identification of radiation induced chaperon proteins (PaAhpC and yPrxII) from Pseudomonas and yeast, and structural and functional analysis of the proteins; Determination of oxidative and heat resistance by transformating PaAhpC; Isolation and identification of maysin and its derivatives from centipedgrass; Investigation of enhancement technique for improving maysin and its derivatives production using radiation; Investigation of removing undesirable color in maysin and its derivatives using radiation; Determination of the effect of radiation on physiological functions of centipedgrass extracts; Identification of H{sub 2}O{sub 2} removing enzyme in radiation irradiated plant (Spinach); Determination of the effects of centipedgrass extracts on anti-obesity and anti-cancer activities.

  13. Study on production of useful metabolites by development of advanced cell culture techniques using radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, Byung Yeoup; Kim, Jinhong; Lee, Seung Sik; Bai, Hyounwoo; An, Byung Chull; Lee, Eun Mi; Lee, Jae Taek; Kim, Mi Ja

    2010-12-01

    The purpose of this project is improvement of investigation, materialization and evaluation techniques on effectiveness for functional natural compounds throughout development of tissue/cell culture techniques for mass production of useful metabolites using radiation. Research scope includes Development of a technique for radiation tissue and cell culture, Database construction for radiation response in plants and radiation effects, Construction of general-purpose national based techniques of cell culture technique using radiation. Main results are as follow: Isolation and identification of radiation induced basI gene; Determination of stresses sensitivities by transformating basI gene into arabidopsis; Isolation and identification of radiation induced chaperon proteins (PaAhpC and yPrxII) from Pseudomonas and yeast, and structural and functional analysis of the proteins; Determination of oxidative and heat resistance by transformating PaAhpC; Isolation and identification of maysin and its derivatives from centipedgrass; Investigation of enhancement technique for improving maysin and its derivatives production using radiation; Investigation of removing undesirable color in maysin and its derivatives using radiation; Determination of the effect of radiation on physiological functions of centipedgrass extracts; Identification of H 2 O 2 removing enzyme in radiation irradiated plant (Spinach); Determination of the effects of centipedgrass extracts on anti-obesity and anti-cancer activities

  14. Advanced digital signal processing and noise reduction

    CERN Document Server

    Vaseghi, Saeed V

    2008-01-01

    Digital signal processing plays a central role in the development of modern communication and information processing systems. The theory and application of signal processing is concerned with the identification, modelling and utilisation of patterns and structures in a signal process. The observation signals are often distorted, incomplete and noisy and therefore noise reduction, the removal of channel distortion, and replacement of lost samples are important parts of a signal processing system. The fourth edition of Advanced Digital Signal Processing and Noise Reduction updates an

  15. Metabolite-cycled STEAM and semi-LASER localization for MR spectroscopy of the human brain at 9.4T.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giapitzakis, Ioannis-Angelos; Shao, Tingting; Avdievich, Nikolai; Mekle, Ralf; Kreis, Roland; Henning, Anke

    2018-04-01

    Metabolite cycling (MC) is an MRS technique for the simultaneous acquisition of water and metabolite spectra that avoids chemical exchange saturation transfer effects and for which water may serve as a reference signal or contain additional information in functional or diffusion studies. Here, MC was developed for human investigations at ultrahigh field. MC-STEAM and MC-semi-LASER are introduced at 9.4T with an optimized inversion pulse and elaborate coil setup. Experimental and simulation results are given for the implementation of adiabatic inversion pulses for MC. The two techniques are compared, and the effect of frequency and phase correction based on the MC water spectra is evaluated. Finally, absolute quantification of metabolites is performed. The proposed coil configuration results in a maximum B1 + of 48 μΤ in a voxel within the occipital lobe. Frequency and phase correction of single acquisitions improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and linewidth, leading to high-resolution spectra. The improvement of SNR of N-acetylaspartate (SNR NAA ) for frequency aligned data, acquired with MC-STEAM and MC-semi-LASER, are 37% and 30%, respectively (P < 0.05). Moreover, a doubling of the SNR NAA for MC-semi-LASER in comparison with MC-STEAM is observed (P < 0.05). Concentration levels for 18 metabolites from the human occipital lobe are reported, as acquired with both MC-STEAM and MC-semi-LASER. This work introduces a novel methodology for single-voxel MRS on a 9.4T whole-body scanner and highlights the advantages of semi-LASER compared to STEAM in terms of excitation profile. In comparison with MC-STEAM, MC-semi-LASER yields spectra with higher SNR. Magn Reson Med 79:1841-1850, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  16. Familial Resemblance for Serum Metabolite Concentrations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Draisma, H.H.M.; Beekman, M.; Pool, R.; van Ommen, G.J.B; Vaarhorst, A.A.M.; de Craen, A.J.; Willemsen, G.; Slagboom, P.E.; Boomsma, D.I.

    2013-01-01

    Metabolomics is the comprehensive study of metabolites, which are the substrates, intermediate, and end products of cellular metabolism. The heritability of the concentrations of circulating metabolites bears relevance for evaluating their suitability as biomarkers for disease. We report aspects of

  17. Metabolite Depletion Affects Flux Profiling of Cell Lines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nilsson, A.; Haanstra, J. R.; Teusink, B.

    2018-01-01

    Quantifying the rate of consumption and release of metabolites (i.e., flux profiling) has become integral to the study of cancer. The fluxes as well as the growth of the cells may be affected by metabolite depletion during cultivation.......Quantifying the rate of consumption and release of metabolites (i.e., flux profiling) has become integral to the study of cancer. The fluxes as well as the growth of the cells may be affected by metabolite depletion during cultivation....

  18. 21 CFR 870.2910 - Radiofrequency physiological signal transmitter and receiver.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Radiofrequency physiological signal transmitter... Devices § 870.2910 Radiofrequency physiological signal transmitter and receiver. (a) Identification. A radiofrequency physiological signal transmitter and receiver is a device used to condition a physiological signal...

  19. Modelling the acid/base 1H NMR chemical shift limits of metabolites in human urine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tredwell, Gregory D; Bundy, Jacob G; De Iorio, Maria; Ebbels, Timothy M D

    2016-01-01

    Despite the use of buffering agents the 1 H NMR spectra of biofluid samples in metabolic profiling investigations typically suffer from extensive peak frequency shifting between spectra. These chemical shift changes are mainly due to differences in pH and divalent metal ion concentrations between the samples. This frequency shifting results in a correspondence problem: it can be hard to register the same peak as belonging to the same molecule across multiple samples. The problem is especially acute for urine, which can have a wide range of ionic concentrations between different samples. To investigate the acid, base and metal ion dependent 1 H NMR chemical shift variations and limits of the main metabolites in a complex biological mixture. Urine samples from five different individuals were collected and pooled, and pre-treated with Chelex-100 ion exchange resin. Urine samples were either treated with either HCl or NaOH, or were supplemented with various concentrations of CaCl 2 , MgCl 2 , NaCl or KCl, and their 1 H NMR spectra were acquired. Nonlinear fitting was used to derive acid dissociation constants and acid and base chemical shift limits for peaks from 33 identified metabolites. Peak pH titration curves for a further 65 unidentified peaks were also obtained for future reference. Furthermore, the peak variations induced by the main metal ions present in urine, Na + , K + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , were also measured. These data will be a valuable resource for 1 H NMR metabolite profiling experiments and for the development of automated metabolite alignment and identification algorithms for 1 H NMR spectra.

  20. A Review About Lycopene-Induced Nuclear Hormone Receptor Signalling in Inflammation and Lipid Metabolism via still Unknown Endogenous Apo-10´-Lycopenoids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caris-Veyrat, Catherine; Garcia, Ada L; Reynaud, Eric; Lucas, Renata; Aydemir, Gamze; Rühl, Ralph

    2017-10-20

    Lycopene is the red pigment in tomatoes and tomato products and is an important dietary carotenoid found in the human organism. Lycopene-isomers, oxidative lycopene metabolites and apo-lycopenoids are found in the food matrix. Lycopene intake derived from tomato consumption is associated with alteration of lipid metabolism and a lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Lycopene is mainly described as a potent antioxidant but novel studies are shifting towards its metabolites and their capacity to mediate nuclear receptor signalling. Di-/tetra-hydro-derivatives of apo-10´-lycopenoic acid and apo-15´-lycopenoic acids are potential novel endogenous mammalian lycopene metabolites which may act as ligands for nuclear hormone mediated activation and signalling. In this review, we postulate that complex lycopene metabolism results in various lycopene metabolites which have the ability to mediate transactivation of various nuclear hormone receptors like RARs, RXRs and PPARs. A new mechanistic explanation of how tomato consumption could positively modulate inflammation and lipid metabolism is discussed.

  1. Robust high-resolution quantification of time signals encoded by in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belkić, Dževad; Belkić, Karen

    2018-01-01

    This paper on molecular imaging emphasizes improving specificity of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) for early cancer diagnostics by high-resolution data analysis. Sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is excellent, but specificity is insufficient. Specificity is improved with MRS by going beyond morphology to assess the biochemical content of tissue. This is contingent upon accurate data quantification of diagnostically relevant biomolecules. Quantification is spectral analysis which reconstructs chemical shifts, amplitudes and relaxation times of metabolites. Chemical shifts inform on electronic shielding of resonating nuclei bound to different molecular compounds. Oscillation amplitudes in time signals retrieve the abundance of MR sensitive nuclei whose number is proportional to metabolite concentrations. Transverse relaxation times, the reciprocal of decay probabilities of resonances, arise from spin-spin coupling and reflect local field inhomogeneities. In MRS single voxels are used. For volumetric coverage, multi-voxels are employed within a hybrid of MRS and MRI called magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Common to MRS and MRSI is encoding of time signals and subsequent spectral analysis. Encoded data do not provide direct clinical information. Spectral analysis of time signals can yield the quantitative information, of which metabolite concentrations are the most clinically important. This information is equivocal with standard data analysis through the non-parametric, low-resolution fast Fourier transform and post-processing via fitting. By applying the fast Padé transform (FPT) with high-resolution, noise suppression and exact quantification via quantum mechanical signal processing, advances are made, presented herein, focusing on four areas of critical public health importance: brain, prostate, breast and ovarian cancers.

  2. Signal Identification and Isolation Utilizing Radio Frequency Photonics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-09-01

    RF filter is the use of either a FIR or an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter. The FIR filter is simply the discrete convolution sum of the...by using a feedback loop of a fixed delay. In this case, the signal will ideally be a summation of an infinite number of delay round trips. While...and Infinite Impulse Response filters. A combination of FIR and IIR filters can be used to identify the center frequency of an RF signal, as seen in

  3. Simvastatin (SV) metabolites in mouse tissues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duncan, C.A.; Vickers, S.

    1990-01-01

    SV, a semisynthetic analog of lovastatin, is hydrolyzed in vivo to its hydroxy acid (SVA), a potent inhibitor of HMG CoA reductase (HR). Thus SV lowers plasma cholesterol. SV is a substrate for mixed function oxidases whereas SVA undergoes lactonization and β-oxidation. Male CD-1 mice were dosed orally with a combination of ( 14 C)SV and ( 3 H)SVA at 25 mg/kg of each, bled and killed at 0.5, 2 and 4 hours. Labeled SV, SVA, 6'exomethylene SV (I), 6'CH 2 OH-SV (II), 6'COOH-SV (III) and a β-oxidized metabolite (IV) were assayed in liver, bile, kidneys, testes and plasma by RIDA. Levels of potential and active HR inhibitors in liver were 10 to 40 fold higher than in other tissues. II and III, in which the configuration at 6' is inverted, may be 2 metabolites of I. Metabolites I-III are inhibitors of HR in their hydroxy acid forms. Qualitatively ( 14 C)SV and ( 3 H)SVA were metabolized similarly (consistent with their proposed interconversion). However 3 H-SVA, I-III (including hydroxy acid forms) achieved higher concentrations than corresponding 14 C compounds (except in gall bladder bile). Major radioactive metabolites in liver were II-IV (including hydroxy acid forms). These metabolites have also been reported in rat tissues. In bile a large fraction of either label was unidentified polar metabolites. The presence of IV indicated that mice (like rats) are not good models for SV metabolism in man

  4. Breaking chaotic shift key communication via adaptive key identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ren Haipeng; Han Chongzhao; Liu Ding

    2008-01-01

    This paper proposes an adaptive parameter identification method for breaking chaotic shift key communication from the transmitted signal in public channel. The sensitive dependence property of chaos on parameter mismatch is used for chaos adaptive synchronization and parameter identification. An index function about the synchronization error is defined and conjugate gradient method is used to minimize the index function and to search the transmitter's parameter (key). By using proposed method, secure key is recovered from transmitted signal generated by low dimensional chaos and hyper chaos switching communication. Multi-parameters can also be identified from the transmitted signal with noise

  5. Drug repositioning for enzyme modulator based on human metabolite-likeness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yoon Hyeok; Choi, Hojae; Park, Seongyong; Lee, Boah; Yi, Gwan-Su

    2017-05-31

    Recently, the metabolite-likeness of the drug space has emerged and has opened a new possibility for exploring human metabolite-like candidates in drug discovery. However, the applicability of metabolite-likeness in drug discovery has been largely unexplored. Moreover, there are no reports on its applications for the repositioning of drugs to possible enzyme modulators, although enzyme-drug relations could be directly inferred from the similarity relationships between enzyme's metabolites and drugs. We constructed a drug-metabolite structural similarity matrix, which contains 1,861 FDA-approved drugs and 1,110 human intermediary metabolites scored with the Tanimoto similarity. To verify the metabolite-likeness measure for drug repositioning, we analyzed 17 known antimetabolite drugs that resemble the innate metabolites of their eleven target enzymes as the gold standard positives. Highly scored drugs were selected as possible modulators of enzymes for their corresponding metabolites. Then, we assessed the performance of metabolite-likeness with a receiver operating characteristic analysis and compared it with other drug-target prediction methods. We set the similarity threshold for drug repositioning candidates of new enzyme modulators based on maximization of the Youden's index. We also carried out literature surveys for supporting the drug repositioning results based on the metabolite-likeness. In this paper, we applied metabolite-likeness to repurpose FDA-approved drugs to disease-associated enzyme modulators that resemble human innate metabolites. All antimetabolite drugs were mapped with their known 11 target enzymes with statistically significant similarity values to the corresponding metabolites. The comparison with other drug-target prediction methods showed the higher performance of metabolite-likeness for predicting enzyme modulators. After that, the drugs scored higher than similarity score of 0.654 were selected as possible modulators of enzymes for

  6. Differentiating signals to make biological sense - A guide through databases for MS-based non-targeted metabolomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil de la Fuente, Alberto; Grace Armitage, Emily; Otero, Abraham; Barbas, Coral; Godzien, Joanna

    2017-09-01

    Metabolite identification is one of the most challenging steps in metabolomics studies and reflects one of the greatest bottlenecks in the entire workflow. The success of this step determines the success of the entire research, therefore the quality at which annotations are given requires special attention. A variety of tools and resources are available to aid metabolite identification or annotation, offering different and often complementary functionalities. In preparation for this article, almost 50 databases were reviewed, from which 17 were selected for discussion, chosen for their online ESI-MS functionality. The general characteristics and functions of each database is discussed in turn, considering the advantages and limitations of each along with recommendations for optimal use of each tool, as derived from experiences encountered at the Centre for Metabolomics and Bioanalysis (CEMBIO) in Madrid. These databases were evaluated considering their utility in non-targeted metabolomics, including aspects such as identifier assignment, structural assignment and interpretation of results. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  7. Metabolites of cannabidiol identified in human urine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, D J; Mechoulam, R

    1990-03-01

    1. Urine from a dystonic patient treated with cannabidiol (CBD) was examined by g.l.c.-mass spectrometry for CBD metabolites. Metabolites were identified as their trimethylsilyl (TMS), [2H9]TMS, and methyl ester/TMS derivatives and as the TMS derivatives of the product of lithium aluminium deuteride reduction. 2. Thirty-three metabolites were identified in addition to unmetabolized CBD, and a further four metabolites were partially characterized. 3. The major metabolic route was hydroxylation and oxidation at C-7 followed by further hydroxylation in the pentyl and propenyl groups to give 1"-, 2"-, 3"-, 4"- and 10-hydroxy derivatives of CBD-7-oic acid. Other metabolites, mainly acids, were formed by beta-oxidation and related biotransformations from the pentyl side-chain and these were also hydroxylated at C-6 or C-7. The major oxidized metabolite was CBD-7-oic acid containing a hydroxyethyl side-chain. 4. Two 8,9-dihydroxy compounds, presumably derived from the corresponding epoxide were identified. 5. Also present were several cyclized cannabinoids including delta-6- and delta-1-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol. 6. This is the first metabolic study of CBD in humans; most observed metabolic routes were typical of those found for CBD and related cannabinoids in other species.

  8. Metabolite profiling of leek (Allium porrum L) cultivars by (1) H NMR and HPLC-MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soininen, Tuula H; Jukarainen, Niko; Soininen, Pasi; Auriola, Seppo O K; Julkunen-Tiitto, Riitta; Oleszek, Wieslaw; Stochmal, Anna; Karjalainen, Reijo O; Vepsäläinen, Jouko J

    2014-01-01

    Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum) is consumed as a vegetable throughout the world. However, little is known about the metabolites of leek cultivars, especially those with potentially important beneficial properties for human health. We provide new information for the overall metabolite composition of several leek cultivars grown in Europe by using HPLC-MS and (1) H NMR. The use of a novel CTLS/NMR (constrained total-line-shape nuclear magnetic resonance) approach was found to be capable of reliable quantification, even with overlapping metabolite signals in the (1) H NMR of plant metabolites. Additionally, a new application for leek flavonoids was optimised for HPLC-MS. The total concentration of carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, kestose/nystose and sucrose) and nine amino acids varied by fourfold in leek juice from different cultivars, while the total concentrations of four organic acids were similar in all cultivars. All the quantified flavonols were kaempferol derivatives or quercetin derivatives and threefold differences in flavonol concentrations were detected between cultivars. In this study, various phytochemical profiles were determined for several leek cultivars by (1) H NMR spectroscopy with CTLS combined with HPLC-MS. The wide variation in bioactive compounds among commercial leek cultivars offers promising opportunities for breeders to raise the levels of important biochemical compounds in leek breeding lines, and also provides some objective measure for quality assurance for the leek industry. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Characterization of fungi in office dust: Comparing results of microbial secondary metabolites, fungal internal transcribed spacer region sequencing, viable culture and other microbial indices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, J-H; Sulyok, M; Lemons, A R; Green, B J; Cox-Ganser, J M

    2018-05-04

    Recent developments in molecular and chemical methods have enabled the analysis of fungal DNA and secondary metabolites, often produced during fungal growth, in environmental samples. We compared 3 fungal analytical methods by analysing floor dust samples collected from an office building for fungi using viable culture, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing and secondary metabolites using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Of the 32 metabolites identified, 29 had a potential link to fungi with levels ranging from 0.04 (minimum for alternariol monomethylether) to 5700 ng/g (maximum for neoechinulin A). The number of fungal metabolites quantified per sample ranged from 8 to 16 (average = 13/sample). We identified 216 fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with the number per sample ranging from 6 to 29 (average = 18/sample). We identified 37 fungal species using culture, and the number per sample ranged from 2 to 13 (average = 8/sample). Agreement in identification between ITS sequencing and culturing was weak (kappa = -0.12 to 0.27). The number of cultured fungal species poorly correlated with OTUs, which did not correlate with the number of metabolites. These suggest that using multiple measurement methods may provide an improved understanding of fungal exposures in indoor environments and that secondary metabolites may be considered as an additional source of exposure. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Morphine metabolites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christrup, Lona Louring

    1997-01-01

    , morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G) and morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) are the major metabolites of morphine. The metabolism of morphine occurs not only in the liver, but may also take place in the brain and the kidneys. The glucuronides are mainly eliminated via bile and urine. Glucuronides as a rule...... are considered as highly polar metabolites unable to cross the blood-brain barrier. Although morphine glucuronidation has been demonstrated in human brain tissue, the capacity is very low compared to that of the liver, indicating that the M3G and M6G concentrations observed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) after...... systemic administration reflect hepatic metabolism of morphine and that the morphine glucuronides, despite their high polarity, can penetrate into the brain. Like morphine, M6G has been shown to be relatively more selective for mu-receptors than for delta- and kappa-receptors while M3G does not appear...

  11. Stem parasitic plant Cuscuta australis (dodder) transfers herbivory-induced signals among plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hettenhausen, Christian; Li, Juan; Zhuang, Huifu; Sun, Huanhuan; Xu, Yuxing; Qi, Jinfeng; Zhang, Jingxiong; Lei, Yunting; Qin, Yan; Sun, Guiling; Wang, Lei; Baldwin, Ian T; Wu, Jianqiang

    2017-08-08

    Cuscuta spp. (i.e., dodders) are stem parasites that naturally graft to their host plants to extract water and nutrients; multiple adjacent hosts are often parasitized by one or more Cuscuta plants simultaneously, forming connected plant clusters. Metabolites, proteins, and mRNAs are known to be transferred from hosts to Cuscuta , and Cuscuta bridges even facilitate host-to-host virus movement. Whether Cuscuta bridges transmit ecologically meaningful signals remains unknown. Here we show that, when host plants are connected by Cuscuta bridges, systemic herbivory signals are transmitted from attacked plants to unattacked plants, as revealed by the large transcriptomic changes in the attacked local leaves, undamaged systemic leaves of the attacked plants, and leaves of unattacked but connected hosts. The interplant signaling is largely dependent on the jasmonic acid pathway of the damaged local plants, and can be found among conspecific or heterospecific hosts of different families. Importantly, herbivore attack of one host plant elevates defensive metabolites in the other systemic Cuscuta bridge-connected hosts, resulting in enhanced resistance against insects even in several consecutively Cuscuta -connected host plants over long distances (> 100 cm). By facilitating plant-to-plant signaling, Cuscuta provides an information-based means of countering the resource-based fitness costs to their hosts.

  12. Identification of Gene-Specific Polymorphisms and Association with Capsaicin Pathway Metabolites in Capsicum annuum L. Collections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abburi, Venkata L.; Alaparthi, Suresh Babu; Unselt, Desiree; Hankins, Gerald; Park, Minkyu; Choi, Doil

    2014-01-01

    Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an economically important crop with added nutritional value. Production of capsaicin is an important quantitative trait with high environmental variance, so the development of markers regulating capsaicinoid accumulation is important for pepper breeding programs. In this study, we performed association mapping at the gene level to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with capsaicin pathway metabolites in a diverse Capsicum annuum collection during two seasons. The genes Pun1, CCR, KAS and HCT were sequenced and matched with the whole-genome sequence draft of pepper to identify SNP locations and for further characterization. The identified SNPs for each gene underwent candidate gene association mapping. Association mapping results revealed Pun1 as a key regulator of major metabolites in the capsaicin pathway mainly affecting capsaicinoids and precursors for acyl moieties of capsaicinoids. Six different SNPs in the promoter sequence of Pun1 were found associated with capsaicin in plants from both seasons. Our results support that CCR is an important control point for the flux of p-coumaric acid to specific biosynthesis pathways. KAS was found to regulate the major precursors for acyl moieties of capsaicinoids and may play a key role in capsaicinoid production. Candidate gene association mapping of Pun1 suggested that the accumulation of capsaicinoids depends on the expression of Pun1, as revealed by the most important associated SNPs found in the promoter region of Pun1. PMID:24475113

  13. Synthetic signal injection using inductive coupling

    OpenAIRE

    Marro, Kenneth I.; Lee, Donghoon; Shankland, Eric G.; Mathis, Clinton M.; Hayes, Cecil E.; Amara, Catherine E.; Kushmerick, Martin J.

    2008-01-01

    Conversion of MR signals into units of metabolite concentration requires a very high level of diligence to account for the numerous parameters and transformations that affect the proportionality between the quantity of excited nuclei in the acquisition volume and the integrated area of the corresponding peak in the spectrum. We describe a method that eases this burden with respect to the transformations that occur during and following data acquisition. The conceptual approach is similar to th...

  14. (1) H-MRS processing parameters affect metabolite quantification

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bhogal, Alex A; Schür, Remmelt R; Houtepen, Lotte C

    2017-01-01

    investigated the influence of model parameters and spectral quantification software on fitted metabolite concentration values. Sixty spectra in 30 individuals (repeated measures) were acquired using a 7-T MRI scanner. Data were processed by four independent research groups with the freedom to choose their own...... + NAAG/Cr + PCr and Glu/Cr + PCr, respectively. Metabolite quantification using identical (1) H-MRS data was influenced by processing parameters, basis sets and software choice. Locally preferred processing choices affected metabolite quantification, even when using identical software. Our results......Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1) H-MRS) can be used to quantify in vivo metabolite levels, such as lactate, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (Glu). However, there are considerable analysis choices which can alter the accuracy or precision of (1) H-MRS metabolite quantification...

  15. Enhanced Isotopic Ratio Outlier Analysis (IROA Peak Detection and Identification with Ultra-High Resolution GC-Orbitrap/MS: Potential Application for Investigation of Model Organism Metabolomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunping Qiu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Identifying non-annotated peaks may have a significant impact on the understanding of biological systems. In silico methodologies have focused on ESI LC/MS/MS for identifying non-annotated MS peaks. In this study, we employed in silico methodology to develop an Isotopic Ratio Outlier Analysis (IROA workflow using enhanced mass spectrometric data acquired with the ultra-high resolution GC-Orbitrap/MS to determine the identity of non-annotated metabolites. The higher resolution of the GC-Orbitrap/MS, together with its wide dynamic range, resulted in more IROA peak pairs detected, and increased reliability of chemical formulae generation (CFG. IROA uses two different 13C-enriched carbon sources (randomized 95% 12C and 95% 13C to produce mirror image isotopologue pairs, whose mass difference reveals the carbon chain length (n, which aids in the identification of endogenous metabolites. Accurate m/z, n, and derivatization information are obtained from our GC/MS workflow for unknown metabolite identification, and aids in silico methodologies for identifying isomeric and non-annotated metabolites. We were able to mine more mass spectral information using the same Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth protocol (Qiu et al. Anal. Chem 2016 with the ultra-high resolution GC-Orbitrap/MS, using 10% ammonia in methane as the CI reagent gas. We identified 244 IROA peaks pairs, which significantly increased IROA detection capability compared with our previous report (126 IROA peak pairs using a GC-TOF/MS machine. For 55 selected metabolites identified from matched IROA CI and EI spectra, using the GC-Orbitrap/MS vs. GC-TOF/MS, the average mass deviation for GC-Orbitrap/MS was 1.48 ppm, however, the average mass deviation was 32.2 ppm for the GC-TOF/MS machine. In summary, the higher resolution and wider dynamic range of the GC-Orbitrap/MS enabled more accurate CFG, and the coupling of accurate mass GC/MS IROA methodology with in silico fragmentation has great

  16. Enhanced Isotopic Ratio Outlier Analysis (IROA) Peak Detection and Identification with Ultra-High Resolution GC-Orbitrap/MS: Potential Application for Investigation of Model Organism Metabolomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Yunping; Moir, Robyn D; Willis, Ian M; Seethapathy, Suresh; Biniakewitz, Robert C; Kurland, Irwin J

    2018-01-18

    Identifying non-annotated peaks may have a significant impact on the understanding of biological systems. In silico methodologies have focused on ESI LC/MS/MS for identifying non-annotated MS peaks. In this study, we employed in silico methodology to develop an Isotopic Ratio Outlier Analysis (IROA) workflow using enhanced mass spectrometric data acquired with the ultra-high resolution GC-Orbitrap/MS to determine the identity of non-annotated metabolites. The higher resolution of the GC-Orbitrap/MS, together with its wide dynamic range, resulted in more IROA peak pairs detected, and increased reliability of chemical formulae generation (CFG). IROA uses two different 13 C-enriched carbon sources (randomized 95% 12 C and 95% 13 C) to produce mirror image isotopologue pairs, whose mass difference reveals the carbon chain length (n), which aids in the identification of endogenous metabolites. Accurate m/z, n, and derivatization information are obtained from our GC/MS workflow for unknown metabolite identification, and aids in silico methodologies for identifying isomeric and non-annotated metabolites. We were able to mine more mass spectral information using the same Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth protocol (Qiu et al. Anal. Chem 2016) with the ultra-high resolution GC-Orbitrap/MS, using 10% ammonia in methane as the CI reagent gas. We identified 244 IROA peaks pairs, which significantly increased IROA detection capability compared with our previous report (126 IROA peak pairs using a GC-TOF/MS machine). For 55 selected metabolites identified from matched IROA CI and EI spectra, using the GC-Orbitrap/MS vs. GC-TOF/MS, the average mass deviation for GC-Orbitrap/MS was 1.48 ppm, however, the average mass deviation was 32.2 ppm for the GC-TOF/MS machine. In summary, the higher resolution and wider dynamic range of the GC-Orbitrap/MS enabled more accurate CFG, and the coupling of accurate mass GC/MS IROA methodology with in silico fragmentation has great potential in

  17. Production of secondary metabolites trimethyl xanthina by Camellia sinensis L suspension culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutini, Sodiq, Mochamad; Muslihatin, Wirdhatul; Indra, Mochamad Rasjad

    2017-06-01

    Bioactive trimethyl xanthina can be obtained from the plant Camellia sinensis L. To obtain bioactive plant of which there are several hurdles for instance to wait up to five years to be harvested, also it needs land at a certain height from the sea level. Therefore, the production of secondary metabolites trimethyl xanthina need to be developed with suspense culture techniques. The purpose of this study obtained the production of bioactive trimethyl xanthina way culturally suspense in large scale with a relatively short time, potentially as anti-oxidants. Research methods include: (1) initiation of callus from pieces of leaves, shoots the youngest of the plant Camellia sinensis L in the media MS with the optimization of the addition of growth regulators, (2) the subculture of callus on media and plant growth regulator that is equal to the stage of initiation, (3) initiation of suspension culture using explants of callus Camellia sinensis L, (4) Analysis of secondary metabolites trimethyl xanthina growth in suspension culture, (5) the isolation and identification of trimethyl xanthina qualitatively and quantitatively using thin layer chromatography/high performance chromatography column. The results of the study suspension cultures containing bioactive trimethyl xanthina candidates that can be used as an antioxidant.

  18. Pulse-based electron spin transient nutation measurement of BaTiO3 fine particle: Identification of controversial signal around g = 2.00

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawai, Takatoshi; Yamaguchi, Yoji; Kitamura, Noriko; Date, Tomotsugu; Konishi, Shinya; Taga, Kazuya; Tanaka, Katsuhisa

    2018-05-01

    Two dimensional pulse-based electron spin transient nutation (2D-ESTN) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for determining the spin quantum number and has been applied to BaTiO3 fine powder in order to identify the origin of the continuous wave electron spin resonance (CW-ESR) signal around g = 2.00. The signal is frequently observed in BaTiO3 ceramics, and the correlation between the signal intensity and positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (PTCR) properties has been reported to date. The CW-ESR spectrum of BaTiO3 fine particles synthesized by the sol-gel method shows a typical asymmetric signal at g = 2.004. The 2D-ESTN measurements of the sample clearly reveal that the signal belongs to the S = 5/2 high spin state, indicating that the signal is not due to a point defect as suggested by a number of researchers but rather to a transition metal ion. Our elemental analysis, as well as previous studies, indicates that the origin of the g = 2.004 signal is due to the presence of an Fe3+ impurity. The D value (second-order fine structure parameter) reveals that the origin of the signal is an Fe3+ center with distant charge compensation. In addition, we show a peculiar temperature dependence of the CW-ESR spectrum, suggesting that the phase transition behavior of a BaTiO3 fine particle is quite different from that of a bulk single crystal. Our identification does not contradict a vacancy-mediated mechanism for PTCR. However, it is incorrect to use the signal at g = 2.00 as evidence to support the vacancy-mediated mechanism.

  19. An Innovative Fuzzy-Logic-Based Methodology for Trend Identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Xin; Tsoukalas, Lefteri H.; Wei, Thomas Y.C.; Reifman, Jaques

    2001-01-01

    A new fuzzy-logic-based methodology for on-line signal trend identification is introduced. The methodology may be used for detecting the onset of nuclear power plant (NPP) transients at the earliest possible time and could be of great benefit to diagnostic, maintenance, and performance-monitoring programs. Although signal trend identification is complicated by the presence of noise, fuzzy methods can help capture important features of on-line signals, integrate the information included in these features, and classify incoming NPP signals into increasing, decreasing, and steady-state trend categories. A computer program named PROTREN is developed and tested for the purpose of verifying this methodology using NPP and simulation data. The results indicate that the new fuzzy-logic-based methodology is capable of detecting transients accurately, it identifies trends reliably and does not misinterpret a steady-state signal as a transient one

  20. 21 CFR 870.2600 - Signal isolation system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... system. (a) Identification. A signal isolation system is a device that electrically isolates the patient... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Signal isolation system. 870.2600 Section 870.2600 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED...

  1. Identification of Two Protein-Signaling States Delineating Transcriptionally Heterogeneous Human Medulloblastoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walderik W. Zomerman

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Summary: The brain cancer medulloblastoma consists of different transcriptional subgroups. To characterize medulloblastoma at the phosphoprotein-signaling level, we performed high-throughput peptide phosphorylation profiling on a large cohort of SHH (Sonic Hedgehog, group 3, and group 4 medulloblastomas. We identified two major protein-signaling profiles. One profile was associated with rapid death post-recurrence and resembled MYC-like signaling for which MYC lesions are sufficient but not necessary. The second profile showed enrichment for DNA damage, as well as apoptotic and neuronal signaling. Integrative analysis demonstrated that heterogeneous transcriptional input converges on these protein-signaling profiles: all SHH and a subset of group 3 patients exhibited the MYC-like protein-signaling profile; the majority of the other group 3 subset and group 4 patients displayed the DNA damage/apoptotic/neuronal signaling profile. Functional analysis of enriched pathways highlighted cell-cycle progression and protein synthesis as therapeutic targets for MYC-like medulloblastoma. : Using peptide phosphorylation profiling, Zomerman et al. identify two medulloblastoma phosphoprotein-signaling profiles that have prognostic value and are potentially targetable. They find that these profiles extend across transcriptome-based subgroup borders. This suggests that diverse genetic information converges on common protein-signaling pathways and highlights protein-signaling as a unique information layer. Keywords: medulloblastoma, protein-signaling, protein synthesis, MYC, TP53, proteome, phosphoproteome

  2. Identification of a mutant α1 Na/K-ATPase that pumps but is defective in signal transduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Fangfang; Madan, Namrata; Ye, Qiqi; Duan, Qiming; Li, Zhichuan; Wang, Shaomeng; Si, Shuyi; Xie, Zijian

    2013-05-10

    It has not been possible to study the pumping and signaling functions of Na/K-ATPase independently in live cells. Both cell-free and cell-based assays indicate that the A420P mutation abolishes the Src regulatory function of Na/K-ATPase. A420P mutant has normal pumping but not signaling function. Identification of Src regulation-null mutants is crucial for addressing physiological role of Na/K-ATPase. The α1 Na/K-ATPase possesses both pumping and signaling functions. However, it has not been possible to study these functions independently in live cells. We have identified a 20-amino acid peptide (Ser-415 to Gln-434) (NaKtide) from the nucleotide binding domain of α1 Na/K-ATPase that binds and inhibits Src in vitro. The N terminus of NaKtide adapts a helical structure. In vitro kinase assays showed that replacement of residues that contain a bulky side chain in the helical structure of NaKtide by alanine abolished the inhibitory effect of the peptide on Src. Similarly, disruption of helical structure by proline replacement, either single or in combination, reduced the inhibitory potency of NaKtide on Src. To identify mutant α1 that retains normal pumping function but is defective in Src regulation, we transfected Na/K-ATPase α1 knockdown PY-17 cells with expression vectors of wild type or mutant α1 carrying Ala to Pro mutations in the region of NaKtide helical structure and generated several stable cell lines. We found that expression of either A416P or A420P or A425P mutant fully restored the α1 content and consequently the pumping capacity of cells. However, in contrast to A416P, either A420P or A425P mutant was incapable of interacting and regulating cellular Src. Consequently, expression of these two mutants caused significant inhibition of ouabain-activated signal transduction and cell growth. Thus we have identified α1 mutant that has normal pumping function but is defective in signal transduction.

  3. Hardware-efficient robust biometric identification from 0.58 second template and 12 features of limb (Lead I) ECG signal using logistic regression classifier.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahadat, Md Nazmus; Jacobs, Eddie L; Morshed, Bashir I

    2014-01-01

    The electrocardiogram (ECG), widely known as a cardiac diagnostic signal, has recently been proposed for biometric identification of individuals; however reliability and reproducibility are of research interest. In this paper, we propose a template matching technique with 12 features using logistic regression classifier that achieved high reliability and identification accuracy. Non-invasive ECG signals were captured using our custom-built ambulatory EEG/ECG embedded device (NeuroMonitor). ECG data were collected from healthy subjects (10), between 25-35 years, for 10 seconds per trial. The number of trials from each subject was 10. From each trial, only 0.58 seconds of Lead I ECG data were used as template. Hardware-efficient fiducial point detection technique was implemented for feature extraction. To obtain repeated random sub-sampling validation, data were randomly separated into training and testing sets at a ratio of 80:20. Test data were used to find the classification accuracy. ECG template data with 12 extracted features provided the best performance in terms of accuracy (up to 100%) and processing complexity (computation time of 1.2ms). This work shows that a single limb (Lead I) ECG can robustly identify an individual quickly and reliably with minimal contact and data processing using the proposed algorithm.

  4. Quantification of brain metabolites in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by localized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gredal, O; Rosenbaum, S; Topp, S

    1997-01-01

    We performed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in patients with motor neuron disease (MND) to determine the absolute in vivo concentrations in the brain of the metabolites N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and creatine (Cr/PCr). We examined the spectra acquired from a 20 x 20 x...... subjects. We estimated the concentrations of the metabolites using the water signal as an internal standard. The concentrations of Cho and Cr/PCr in both brain regions, as well as the concentration of NAA in the cerebellum, were unaltered in the MND patients compared with the controls. Only MND patients...... with both upper and lower motor neuron signs had a significantly decreased concentration of NAA (9.13 +/- 0.28 mM, mean +/- SEM) in the primary motor cortex when compared with healthy controls (10.03 +/- 0.22 mM). In conclusion, the slightly decreased concentration of NAA in the primary motor cortex from...

  5. High and ultra-high resolution metabolite mapping of the human brain using 1H FID MRSI at 9.4T.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nassirpour, Sahar; Chang, Paul; Henning, Anke

    2018-03-01

    Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) is a promising technique for mapping the spatial distribution of multiple metabolites in the human brain. These metabolite maps can be used as a diagnostic tool to gain insight into several biochemical processes and diseases in the brain. In comparison to lower field strengths, MRSI at ultra-high field strengths benefits from a higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) as well as higher chemical shift dispersion, and hence spectral resolution. This study combines the benefits of an ultra-high field magnet with the advantages of an ultra-short TE and TR single-slice FID-MRSI sequence (such as negligible J-evolution and loss of SNR due to T 2 relaxation effects) and presents the first metabolite maps acquired at 9.4T in the healthy human brain at both high (voxel size of 97.6µL) and ultra-high (voxel size of 24.4µL) spatial resolutions in a scan time of 11 and 46min respectively. In comparison to lower field strengths, more anatomically-detailed maps with higher SNR from a larger number of metabolites are shown. A total of 12 metabolites including glutamate (Glu), glutamine (Gln), N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (NAAG), Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutathione (GSH) are reliably mapped. Comprehensive description of the methodology behind these maps is provided. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Metabolic Signaling and Therapy of Lung Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-01

    report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by...which makes them attractive therapeutic targets. However, the development of targeted agents in lung cancer is still in its infancy, despite the...notion that metabolites can act as signaling molecules in distant metabolic pathways is gaining significant attentionand support (Figure 1A). Some of the

  7. InSourcerer: a high-throughput method to search for unknown metabolite modifications by mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mrzic, Aida; Lermyte, Frederik; Vu, Trung Nghia; Valkenborg, Dirk; Laukens, Kris

    2017-09-15

    Using mass spectrometry, the analysis of known metabolite structures has become feasible in a systematic high-throughput fashion. Nevertheless, the identification of previously unknown structures remains challenging, partially because many unidentified variants originate from known molecules that underwent unexpected modifications. Here, we present a method for the discovery of unknown metabolite modifications and conjugate metabolite isoforms in a high-throughput fashion. The method is based on user-controlled in-source fragmentation which is used to induce loss of weakly bound modifications. This is followed by the comparison of product ions from in-source fragmentation and collision-induced dissociation (CID). Diagonal MS 2 -MS 3 matching allows the detection of unknown metabolite modifications, as well as substructure similarities. As the method relies heavily on the advantages of in-source fragmentation and its ability to 'magically' elucidate unknown modification, we have named it inSourcerer as a portmanteau of in-source and sorcerer. The method was evaluated using a set of 15 different cytokinin standards. Product ions from in-source fragmentation and CID were compared. Hierarchical clustering revealed that good matches are due to the presence of common substructures. Plant leaf extract, spiked with a mix of all 15 standards, was used to demonstrate the method's ability to detect these standards in a complex mixture, as well as confidently identify compounds already present in the plant material. Here we present a method that incorporates a classic liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) workflow with fragmentation models and computational algorithms. The assumptions upon which the concept of the method was built were shown to be valid and the method showed that in-source fragmentation can be used to pinpoint structural similarities and indicate the occurrence of a modification. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Identification and quantification of drug-albumin adducts in serum samples from a drug exposure study in mice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Switzar, L.; Kwast, L.M.; Lingeman, H.; Giera, M.; Pieters, R.H.H.; Niessen, W.M.A.

    2013-01-01

    The formation of drug-protein adducts following the bioactivation of drugs to reactive metabolites has been linked to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and is a major complication in drug discovery and development. Identification and quantification of drug-protein adducts in vivo may lead to a better

  9. The selenium metabolite methylselenol regulates the expression of ligands that trigger immune activation through the lymphocyte receptor NKG2D

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hagemann-Jensen, Michael Henrik; Uhlenbrock, Franziska Katharina; Kehlet, Stephanie

    2014-01-01

    For decades Selenium (Se) research has been focused on the identification of active metabolites, which are crucial for Se chemoprevention of cancer. In this context, the metabolite methylselenol (CH3SeH) is known for its action to selectively kill transformed cells through mechanisms that include...... ligands. A balanced cell-surface expression of NKG2D ligands is considered as an innate barrier against tumor development. Our work therefore indicates that the application of selenium compounds, which are metabolized to CH3SeH, could improve NKG2D-based immune therapy.......: Increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), induction of DNA damage, triggering of apoptosis and the inhibition of angiogenesis. Here, we revealed that CH3SeH modulates cell surface expression of NKG2D ligands. The expression of NKG2D ligands is induced by stress-associated pathways, which occur...

  10. Metabolism of N-methylformamide in mice: primary kinetic deuterium isotope effect and identification of S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)glutathione as a metabolite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Threadgill, M.D.; Axworthy, D.B.; Baillie, T.A.; Farmer, P.B.; Farrow, K.C.; Gescher, A.; Kestell, P.; Pearson, P.G.; Shaw, A.J.

    1987-01-01

    S-(N-Methylcarbamoyl)glutathione has been identified by cesium ion liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry as a biliary metabolite in mice of the experimental antitumor agent and hepatotoxin N-methylformamide. Metabolism of N-methylformamide to urinary methylamine, urinary N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-cysteine and biliary S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)glutathione was found to be subject to large intermolecular primary kinetic isotope effects when hydrogen was replaced by deuterium in the formyl group (kH/kD = 5.5 +/- 0.2, 4.5 +/- 1.0 and 7 +/- 2, respectively), as shown by mass spectrometry of derivatives of these metabolites. These values indicate the existence of a common metabolic precursor for each of these metabolites. In particular, methylamine is shown not to arise from simple enzymatic hydrolysis of N-methylformamide but is associated with an oxidative process. Therefore, it is highly likely that N-methylformamide is oxidized and conjugated to form S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)glutathione which is metabolized further to N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl) cysteine. Either of these thiocarbamates could be hydrolyzed to give the parent thiol and the observed metabolic end products, methylamine and carbon dioxide. The presence of deuterium in the formyl moiety of N-methylformamide reduced markedly the hepatotoxicity of the compound, as shown by measurements of the activities of appropriate hepatic enzymes in plasma

  11. Identification of small molecule compounds that inhibit the HIF-1 signaling pathway

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sun Yi

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1 is the major hypoxia-regulated transcription factor that regulates cellular responses to low oxygen environments. HIF-1 is composed of two subunits: hypoxia-inducible HIF-1α and constitutively-expressed HIF-1β. During hypoxic conditions, HIF-1α heterodimerizes with HIF-1β and translocates to the nucleus where the HIF-1 complex binds to the hypoxia-response element (HRE and activates expression of target genes implicated in cell growth and survival. HIF-1α protein expression is elevated in many solid tumors, including those of the cervix and brain, where cells that are the greatest distance from blood vessels, and therefore the most hypoxic, express the highest levels of HIF-1α. Therapeutic blockade of the HIF-1 signaling pathway in cancer cells therefore provides an attractive strategy for development of anticancer drugs. To identify small molecule inhibitors of the HIF-1 pathway, we have developed a cell-based reporter gene assay and screened a large compound library by using a quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS approach. Results The assay is based upon a β-lactamase reporter under the control of a HRE. We have screened approximate 73,000 compounds by qHTS, with each compound tested over a range of seven to fifteen concentrations. After qHTS we have rapidly identified three novel structural series of HIF-1 pathway Inhibitors. Selected compounds in these series were also confirmed as inhibitors in a HRE β-lactamase reporter gene assay induced by low oxygen and in a VEGF secretion assay. Three of the four selected compounds tested showed significant inhibition of hypoxia-induced HIF-1α accumulation by western blot analysis. Conclusion The use of β-lactamase reporter gene assays, in combination with qHTS, enabled the rapid identification and prioritization of inhibitors specific to the hypoxia induced signaling pathway.

  12. Isolation of endosulfan sulfate-degrading Rhodococcus koreensis strain S1-1 from endosulfan contaminated soil and identification of a novel metabolite, endosulfan diol monosulfate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ito, Koji; Kawashima, Fujimasa; Takagi, Kazuhiro; Kataoka, Ryota; Kotake, Masaaki; Kiyota, Hiromasa; Yamazaki, Kenichi; Sakakibara, Futa; Okada, Sanae

    2016-01-01

    An aerobic endosulfan sulfate-degrading bacterium, Rhodococcus koreensis strain S1-1, was isolated from soil to which endosulfan had been applied annually for more than 10 years until 2008. The strain isolated in this work reduced the concentration of endosulfan sulfate (2) from 12.25 μM to 2.11 μM during 14 d at 30 °C. Using ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectroscopy (UPLC-ESI-MS), a new highly water-soluble metabolite possessing six chlorine atoms was found to be endosulfan diol monosulfate (6), derived from 2 by hydrolysis of the cyclic sulfate ester ring. The structure of 6 was elucidated by chemical synthesis of the candidate derivatives and by HR-MS and UPLC-MS analyses. Therefore, it was suggested that the strain S1-1 has a new metabolic pathway of 2. In addition, 6 was expected to be less toxic among the metabolites of 1 because of its higher water-solubility. -- Highlights: •A novel endosulfan sulfate-degrading bacterium was isolated and named strain S1-1. •Strain S1-1 degraded endosulfan sulfate into a novel metabolite endosulfan diol monosulfate. •Endosulfan diol monosulfate showed higher polarity than other known metabolites of endosulfan. •We proposed the plausible metabolic pathway of endosulfan in terms of organic chemistry.

  13. Isolation of endosulfan sulfate-degrading Rhodococcus koreensis strain S1-1 from endosulfan contaminated soil and identification of a novel metabolite, endosulfan diol monosulfate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ito, Koji; Kawashima, Fujimasa [Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, 1-1-1 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8502 (Japan); Organochemicals Division, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604 (Japan); Takagi, Kazuhiro, E-mail: ktakagi@affrc.go.jp [Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, 1-1-1 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8502 (Japan); Organochemicals Division, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604 (Japan); Kataoka, Ryota [Department of Environmental Science, University of Yamanashi, 41-4-37 Takeda, Kofu, Yamanashi (Japan); Kotake, Masaaki [Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai 981-8555 (Japan); Kiyota, Hiromasa [Graduate School of Environmental & Life Science, Okayama University, 1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 (Japan); Yamazaki, Kenichi [Organochemicals Division, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604 (Japan); Sakakibara, Futa [Organochemicals Division, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604 (Japan); The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science(JSPS), 1-8 Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (Japan); Okada, Sanae [Department of Applied Biology and Chemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture, 1-1-1 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 156-8502 (Japan)

    2016-05-13

    An aerobic endosulfan sulfate-degrading bacterium, Rhodococcus koreensis strain S1-1, was isolated from soil to which endosulfan had been applied annually for more than 10 years until 2008. The strain isolated in this work reduced the concentration of endosulfan sulfate (2) from 12.25 μM to 2.11 μM during 14 d at 30 °C. Using ultra performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectroscopy (UPLC-ESI-MS), a new highly water-soluble metabolite possessing six chlorine atoms was found to be endosulfan diol monosulfate (6), derived from 2 by hydrolysis of the cyclic sulfate ester ring. The structure of 6 was elucidated by chemical synthesis of the candidate derivatives and by HR-MS and UPLC-MS analyses. Therefore, it was suggested that the strain S1-1 has a new metabolic pathway of 2. In addition, 6 was expected to be less toxic among the metabolites of 1 because of its higher water-solubility. -- Highlights: •A novel endosulfan sulfate-degrading bacterium was isolated and named strain S1-1. •Strain S1-1 degraded endosulfan sulfate into a novel metabolite endosulfan diol monosulfate. •Endosulfan diol monosulfate showed higher polarity than other known metabolites of endosulfan. •We proposed the plausible metabolic pathway of endosulfan in terms of organic chemistry.

  14. On System Identification of Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Perisic, Nevena; Pedersen, B.J.

    Recently several methods have been proposed for the system identification of wind turbines which can be considered as a linear time-varying system due to the operating conditions. For the identification of linear wind turbine models, either black-box or grey-box identification can be used....... The operational model analysis (OMA) methodology can provide accurate estimates of the natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of the systems as long as the measurements have a low noise to signal ratio. However, in order to take information about the wind turbine into account a grey...

  15. High-throughput LC-MS method for the rapid characterization of multiple chemical constituents and metabolites of Da-Bu-Yin-Wan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xianna; Sun, Hui; Zhang, Aihua; Liu, Zhidong; Zou, Di; Song, Yanhua; Liu, Liang; Wang, Xijun

    2017-11-01

    Traditional Chinese medicine is the clinical experience accumulated by Chinese people against diseases. Da-Bu-Yin-Wan is a famous traditional Chinese medicine formula consisting of Phellodendri amurensis Rupr., Anemarrhenae asphodeloides Bge., Radix Rehmanniae Preparata and Chinemys reevesii. In this study, ultra high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight high-definition mass spectrometry with the control software of Masslynx (V4.1) was established for comprehensive screening and identification of the chemical constituents and serum metabolites of Da-Bu-Yin-Wan in vivo and in vitro. Consequently, 70 peaks in the methanol extract from Da-Bu-Yin-Wan and 38 peaks absorbed into rat blood were characterized. The 70 constituents in vitro included alkaloids, flavonoids, polysaccharide, limonoids, flavonoid, etc. And the 38 constituents consist of 22 absorbed prototypes and 16 metabolites of Da-Bu-Yin-Wan absorbed in vivo. We fully clarified the chemical constituents of Da-Bu-Yin-Wan and provided a scientific strategy for the screening and characterization of the chemical constituents and metabolites of traditional Chinese medicine in vitro and in vivo. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  16. Urinary excretion of androgen metabolites, comparison with excretion of radioactive metabolites after injection of (4-/sup 14/C)testosterone. Influence of age

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deslypere, J P; Sayed, A; Vermeulen, A [Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Endocrinology, State University Academic Hospital, De Pintelaan, 135, Ghent, Belgium; Wiers, P W [Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Pneumology, State University Academic Hospital, The Netherlands

    1981-01-01

    The influence of age on the metabolic pattern of (4-/sup 14/C)testosterone was studied in 20 young and 8 elderly males and compared to the metabolic pattern of endogenous androgens; the latter was also studied in 16 young and 8 elderly women. In both young and elderly males, androsterone and aetiocholanolone glucuronide represent 65% of (4-/sup 14/C)testosterone metabolites: together with their suephoconjugates as well as with 5..cap alpha..- and 5..beta..-androstane-3..cap alpha.., 17..beta..-diol they represent even more than 75% of total urinary metabolites. The 5..cap alpha../5..beta.. ratio of metabolites of (4-/sup 14/C)testosterone was significantly (P<0.01) correlated with the 5..cap alpha../5..beta.. ratio of the metabolites of the endogenous androgens, mainly dehydroepiandrosterone and androstenedione. The 5..cap alpha../5..beta.. ratio of (4-/sup 14/C)testosterone metabolites was generally higher than the ratio of metabolites of endogenous androgens, suggesting that the transformation of T to ring A saturated metabolites occurs at least partially in another compartment than the transformation of DHEA to these metabolites. For both (4-/sup 14/C)testosterone and endogenous androgen metabolites we observed a statistically significant reduction of the 5..cap alpha../5..beta.. ratio with age, a general phenomenon in both males and females. This reduction concern also 11-OH-androst-4-ene-3.17-dione metabolism. Neither sex hormone levels, nor specific binding seems to determine this age dependent shift; neither is there convincing evidence for latent hypothyroisism or liver dysfunction in the elderly. An age associated primary decrease of the 5..cap alpha..-reductase activity seems the most likely explanation.

  17. Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids: Relevant Secondary Metabolites. Chemical and Ecological Aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario O. Carignan

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Taxonomically diverse marine, freshwater and terrestrial organisms have evolved the capacity to synthesize, accumulate and metabolize a variety of UV-absorbing substances called mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs as part of an overall strategy to diminish the direct and indirect damaging effects of environmental ultraviolet radiation (UVR. Whereas the enzymatic machinery to synthesize MAAs was probably inherited from cyanobacteria ancestors via the endosymbionts hypothesis, metazoans lack this biochemical pathway, but can acquire and metabolize these compounds by trophic transference, symbiotic or bacterial association. In this review we describe the structure and physicochemical properties of MAAs, including the recently discovered compounds and the modern methods used for their isolation and identification, updating previous reviews. On this basis, we review the metabolism and distribution of this unique class of metabolites among marine organism.

  18. Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids: Relevant Secondary Metabolites. Chemical and Ecological Aspects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carreto, Jose I.; Carignan, Mario O.

    2011-01-01

    Taxonomically diverse marine, freshwater and terrestrial organisms have evolved the capacity to synthesize, accumulate and metabolize a variety of UV-absorbing substances called mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) as part of an overall strategy to diminish the direct and indirect damaging effects of environmental ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Whereas the enzymatic machinery to synthesize MAAs was probably inherited from cyanobacteria ancestors via the endosymbionts hypothesis, metazoans lack this biochemical pathway, but can acquire and metabolize these compounds by trophic transference, symbiotic or bacterial association. In this review we describe the structure and physicochemical properties of MAAs, including the recently discovered compounds and the modern methods used for their isolation and identification, updating previous reviews. On this basis, we review the metabolism and distribution of this unique class of metabolites among marine organism. PMID:21556168

  19. Metabolite profiling of symbiont and host during thermal stress and bleaching in the coral Acropora aspera

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hillyer, Katie E.; Dias, Daniel A.; Lutz, Adrian; Wilkinson, Shaun P.; Roessner, Ute; Davy, Simon K.

    2017-03-01

    Rising seawater temperatures pose a significant threat to the persistence of coral reefs. Despite the importance of these systems, major gaps remain in our understanding of how thermal stress and bleaching affect the metabolic networks that underpin holobiont function. We applied gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics to detect changes in the intracellular free metabolite pools (polar and semi-polar compounds) of in hospite dinoflagellate symbionts and their coral hosts (and any associated microorganisms) during early- and late-stage thermal bleaching (a reduction of approximately 50 and 70% in symbiont density, respectively). We detected characteristic changes to the metabolite profiles of each symbiotic partner associated with individual cellular responses to thermal, oxidative and osmotic stress, which progressed with the severity of bleaching. Alterations were also indicative of changes to energy-generating and biosynthesis pathways in both partners, with a shift to the increased catabolism of lipid stores. Specifically, in symbiont intracellular metabolite pools, we observed accumulations of multiple free fatty acids, plus the chloroplast-associated antioxidant alpha-tocopherol. In the host, we detected a decline in the abundance of pools of multiple carbohydrates, amino acids and intermediates, in addition to the antioxidant ascorbate. These findings further our understanding of the metabolic changes that occur to symbiont and host (and its associated microorganisms) during thermal bleaching. These findings also provide further insight into the largely undescribed roles of free metabolite pools in cellular homeostasis, signalling and acclimation to thermal stress in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis.

  20. MicroRNAs and Metabolites in Serum Change after Chemotherapy: Impact on Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Walenda

    Full Text Available Hematopoietic regeneration after high dose chemotherapy necessitates activation of the stem cell pool. There is evidence that serum taken after chemotherapy comprises factors stimulating proliferation and self-renewal of CD34(+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs--however, the nature of these feedback signals is yet unclear. Here, we addressed the question if specific microRNAs (miRNAs or metabolites are affected after high dose chemotherapy. Serum taken from the same patients before and after chemotherapy was supplemented for in vitro cultivation of HSPCs. Serum taken after chemotherapy significantly enhanced HSPC proliferation, better maintained a CD34(+ immunophenotype, and stimulated colony forming units. Microarray analysis revealed that 23 miRNAs changed in serum after chemotherapy--particularly, miRNA-320c and miRNA-1275 were down-regulated whereas miRNA-3663-3p was up-regulated. miRNA-320c was exemplarily inhibited by an antagomiR, which seemed to increase proliferation. Metabolomic profiling demonstrated that 44 metabolites were less abundant, whereas three (including 2-hydroxybutyrate and taurocholenate sulphate increased in serum upon chemotherapy. Nine of these metabolites were subsequently tested for effects on HSPCs in vitro, but none of them exerted a clear concentration dependent effect on proliferation, immunophenotype and colony forming unit formation. Taken together, serum profiles of miRNAs and metabolites changed after chemotherapy. Rather than individually, these factors may act in concert to recruit HSPCs into action for hematopoietic regeneration.