Biomimetic Gastrointestinal Tract Functions for Metal Absorption Assessment in Edible Plants: Comparison to In Vivo Absorption

Nitrogen-doped carbon@TiO2 double-shelled hollow spheres as an electrochemical sensor for simultaneous determination of dopamine and paracetamol in human serum and saliva

As the most commonly used antipyretic and analgesic drug, paracetamol (PA) coexists with neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) in real biological samples. Their simultaneous determination is extremely important for human health, but they also interfere with each other. In order to improve the conductivity, adsorption affinity, sensitivity, and selectivity of TiO2-based electrochemical sensor, N-doped carbon@TiO2 double-shelled hollow sphere (H-C/N@TiO2) is designed and synthesized by simple alcoholic and hydrothermal method, using polystyrene sphere (PS) as a template. Meanwhile, TiO2 hollow spheres (H-TiO2) or N-doped carbon hollow spheres (H-C/N) are also prepared by the same method. H-C/N@TiO2 has good conductivity, charge separation, and the highly enhanced and stable current responses for the detection of PA and DA. The detection limit and linear range are 50.0 nmol/L and 0.3-50 μmol/L for PA, 40.0 nmol/L and 0.3-50 μmol/L for DA, respectively, which are better than those of carbon-based sensors. Moreover, this electrochemical sensor, with high selectivity, strong anti-interference, high reliability, and long time durability, can be used for the simultaneous detection of PA and DA in human blood serum and saliva. The high electrochemical performance of H-C/N@TiO2 is attributed to the multi-functional combination of different layers, because of good conductivity, absorption and electrons transfer ability from in-situ N-doped carbon and electrocatalytic activity from TiO2.

Benefit-risk assessment of metal bioavailability in edible fungi by biomimetic whole digestive tracts with digestion, metabolism, and absorption functions

As worldwide edible fungi, Lentinula edodes and Agaricus bisporus accumulate both essential and harmful metals. Metal bioavailability is important for metal benefit-risk assessment. A full functional model of digestive tracts (including digestion, metabolism, and absorption) is established. Under the digestive tract functions, the bioaccessible and bioavailable metals are released from edible fungi and absorbed by intestinal tract, respectively. Based on bioavailable metal contents in the intestine, safe dosage and maximum consumption are 43.52 g/d and 248.7 g/d for Agaricus bisporu, 20.59/328.9 g/d (for males/ female) and 132.9 g/d for Lentinus edodes; V, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Cr, Cd and Pb in Agaricus bisporus and Lentinula edodes are absorbed mainly in the large intestine; Fe is mainly absorbed in small intestine; edible fungi species-specificity in metal bioavailability is observed for As and Mn, which are mainly absorbed by small and large intestine for Agaricus bisporus and Lentinus edodes, respectively; and then metal toxicity on small and large intestine is disclosed. Metal benefit-risk is assessed by the content of monolayer liposome-extracted metal in the chyme from small and large intestine, which is controlled by the gastrointestinal functions, metal and edible fungi species.