Robotic written silver ink on photographic paper for detection of thiram residues in fruits

HPTLC+SRES screening of pesticide for point-of-care application as shown with thiram in juice

In this study, a HPTLC-platformed SERS detection was established for screening thiram in juice. After a simple extraction, the sample liquid was separated on HPTLC plates, which resulted in a specific zone for the analyte. Following infiltration with atomize water, the band of interest was easily scraped off and eluted. In parallel, a flexible and SERS-active substrate was fabricated by the in-situ synthesis of gold nanoparticles within cotton fabrics. Under optimized conditions, fingerprint-like signal at 1376 cm^-1 of the analyte were easily recorded by a hand-held Raman spectrometer with enough LOD (0.5 mg/L), LOQ (0.9 mg/L) and reproducibility (<11.7%). The optimized screening system was further validated with pear, apple and mango juice by determining the spike-and-recovery rates (75.6 to 112.8%). It was demonstrated that this method could be a facile point-of-care testing system tailored for pesticide screening.

Two-Dimensional Printed AgNPs@Paper Swab for SERS Screening of Pesticide Residues on Apples and Pears

In recent years, growing food safety and quality concerns have emerged and created an urgent need for the development of rapid and reliable food control technologies. This study proposes a novel surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate printing technology that utilizes commercial filter paper functionalized by silver nanoparticles. We modified the Automatic TLC Sampler using a two-dimensional (2D) printer. The modification allows for various sampling modes which can be applied to 2D printing. The shape and size of nano silver on the substrate were determined, and the substrate sensitivity, uniformity, and stability were evaluated. As demonstrated by the experimental outcomes, the proposed technology is highly sensitive and reproducible, that is, the limit of quantitation was 10^-5 mg/kg, and the spot-to-spot and block-to-block Raman intensity variations were below 4.2%. We also successfully applied the technology to pears and apples for thiram recognition, yielding outstanding detectability down to 2.5 × 10^-6 and 3.9 × 10^-7 mg/mL (equal to 2.5 × 10^-3 and 3.9 × 10^-4 mg/kg), respectively. These were well below the maximum residue limit (7 mg/kg). More importantly, the linear relationships between thiram levels and the SERS intensity allow for sensitive monitoring of minute variations in agricultural insecticide residues. This proposed detection method can realize in situ detection with a strong signal fingerprint.

Effects of thiram exposure on liver metabolism of chickens

Pesticides are widely used to control crop diseases, which have made an important contribution to the increase of global crop production. However, a considerable part of pesticides may remain in plants, posing a huge threat to animal safety. Thiram is a common pesticide and has been proven that its residues in the feed can affect the growth performance, bone formation, and intestinal health of chickens. However, there are few studies on the liver metabolism of chickens exposed to thiram. Here, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of thiram exposure on liver metabolism of chickens. Metabolomics analysis shows that 62 metabolites were down-regulated (ginsenoside F5, arbekacin, coproporphyrinogen III, 3-keto Fusidic acid, marmesin, isofumonisin B1, 3-Hydroxyquinine, melleolide B, naphazoline, marmesin, dibenzyl ether, etc.) and 35 metabolites were up-regulated (tetrabromodiphenyl ethers, deoxycholic acid glycine conjugate, L-Palmitoylcarnitine, austalide K, hericene B, pentadecanoylcarnitine, glyceryl palmitostearate, quinestrol, 7-Ketocholesterol, tetrabromodiphenyl ethers, etc.) in thiram-induced chickens, mainly involved in the metabolic pathways including glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor biosynthesis, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Taken together, this research showed that thiram exposure significantly altered hepatic metabolism in chickens. Moreover, this study also provided a basis for regulating the use and disposal of thiram to ensure environmental quality and poultry health.