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Rapid Estimation of Astaxanthin and the Carotenoid-to-Chlorophyll Ratio in the Green Microalga Chromochloris zofingiensis Using Flow Cytometry. Mar Drugs 2017; 15:md15070231. [PMID: 28753934 PMCID: PMC5532673 DOI: 10.3390/md15070231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2017] [Revised: 07/03/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The green microalga Chromochloris zofingiensis can accumulate significant amounts of valuable carotenoids, mainly natural astaxanthin, a product with applications in functional food, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and with potential therapeutic value in cardiovascular and neurological diseases. To optimize the production of astaxanthin, it is essential to monitor the content of astaxanthin in algal cells during cultivation. The widely used HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) method for quantitative astaxanthin determination is time-consuming and laborious. In the present work, we present a method using flow cytometry (FCM) for in vivo determination of the astaxanthin content and the carotenoid-to-chlorophyll ratio (Car/Chl) in mixotrophic C. zofingiensis. The method is based on the assessment of fluorescent characteristics of cellular pigments. The mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of living cells was determined by FCM to monitor pigment formation based on the correlation between MFI detected in particular channels (FL1: 533 ± 15 nm; FL2: 585 ± 20 nm; FL3: >670 nm) and pigment content in algal cells. Through correlation and regression analysis, a linear relationship was observed between MFI in FL2 (band-pass filter, emission at 585 nm in FCM) and astaxanthin content (in HPLC) and applied for predicting astaxanthin content. With similar procedures, the relationships between MFI in different channels and Car/Chl ratio in mixotrophic C. zofingiensis were also determined. Car/Chl ratios could be estimated by the ratios of MFI (FL1/FL3, FL2/FL3). FCM is thus a highly efficient and feasible method for rapid estimation of astaxanthin content in the green microalga C. zofingiensis. The rapid FCM method is complementary to the current HPLC method, especially for rapid evaluation and prediction of astaxanthin formation as it is required during the high-throughput culture in the laboratory and mass cultivation in industry.
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Antonioli D, Sparnacci K, Laus M, Ferrarese Lupi F, Giammaria TJ, Seguini G, Ceresoli M, Perego M, Gianotti V. Composition of ultrathin binary polymer brushes by thermogravimetry-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 2016; 408:3155-63. [PMID: 26873220 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-016-9380-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Revised: 01/19/2016] [Accepted: 01/29/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
In the present paper, a reliable and rugged thermogravimetry-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TGA-GC-MS) method was developed to determine the composition of ultrathin films consisting of binary blends of functional polystyrene (PS) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) grafted to a silicon wafer. A general methodology will be given to address the composition determination problem for binary or even multicomponent polymer brush systems using the PS/PMMA-based samples as a paradigmatic example. In this respect, several distinct tailor-made materials were developed to ensure reliable calibration and validation stages. The analytical method was tested on unknown samples to follow the composition evolution in PS/PMMA brushes during the grafting reaction. A preferential grafting of the PMMA was revealed in full agreement with its preferential interaction with the SiO2 polar surface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Antonioli
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DISIT), Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", INSTM, UdR Alessandria, Viale T. Michel 11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy
| | - Katia Sparnacci
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DISIT), Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", INSTM, UdR Alessandria, Viale T. Michel 11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy
| | - Michele Laus
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DISIT), Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", INSTM, UdR Alessandria, Viale T. Michel 11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy
| | | | - Tommaso Jacopo Giammaria
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DISIT), Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", INSTM, UdR Alessandria, Viale T. Michel 11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy.,Laboratorio MDM, IMM-CNR, Via C. Olivetti 2, 20864, Agrate Brianza, MB, Italy
| | - Gabriele Seguini
- Laboratorio MDM, IMM-CNR, Via C. Olivetti 2, 20864, Agrate Brianza, MB, Italy
| | - Monica Ceresoli
- Laboratorio MDM, IMM-CNR, Via C. Olivetti 2, 20864, Agrate Brianza, MB, Italy.,Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 16, Milan, 20133, Italy
| | - Michele Perego
- Laboratorio MDM, IMM-CNR, Via C. Olivetti 2, 20864, Agrate Brianza, MB, Italy
| | - Valentina Gianotti
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica (DISIT), Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", INSTM, UdR Alessandria, Viale T. Michel 11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy.
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Bickham T, Lim Y. In Sickness and in Debt: Do Mounting Medical Bills Predict Payday Loan Debt? SOCIAL WORK IN HEALTH CARE 2015; 54:518-531. [PMID: 26186423 DOI: 10.1080/00981389.2015.1038410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Cash-strapped families sometimes turn to small, short-term loans with exorbitant fees—payday loans—to cope with mounting medical bills. Given that about three-fourths of payday loan customers are repeat borrowers, consumer advocates and policymakers have increasingly raised voices of concern about the use of payday loans to finance various household expenses, including, among other things, medical bills. The present study hypothesized that increases in medical debt are associated with increases in payday loan debt among a sample of Chapter 7 bankruptcy filers. The results of a multivariate tobit regression analysis showed that medical debt was associated with increased payday loan debt, controlling for various types of debt and other socioeconomic variables. This article concludes with implications of the results for social work policy- and direct-practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trey Bickham
- a School of Social Work , Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge , Louisiana , USA
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Iven T, Herrfurth C, Hornung E, Heilmann M, Hofvander P, Stymne S, Zhu LH, Feussner I. Wax ester profiling of seed oil by nano-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. PLANT METHODS 2013; 9:24. [PMID: 23829499 PMCID: PMC3766222 DOI: 10.1186/1746-4811-9-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2013] [Accepted: 07/01/2013] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Wax esters are highly hydrophobic neutral lipids that are major constituents of the cutin and suberin layer. Moreover they have favorable properties as a commodity for industrial applications. Through transgenic expression of wax ester biosynthetic genes in oilseed crops, it is possible to achieve high level accumulation of defined wax ester compositions within the seed oil to provide a sustainable source for such high value lipids. The fatty alcohol moiety of the wax esters is formed from plant-endogenous acyl-CoAs by the action of fatty acyl reductases (FAR). In a second step the fatty alcohol is condensed with acyl-CoA by a wax synthase (WS) to form a wax ester. In order to evaluate the specificity of wax ester biosynthesis, analytical methods are needed that provide detailed wax ester profiles from complex lipid extracts. RESULTS We present a direct infusion ESI-tandem MS method that allows the semi-quantitative determination of wax ester compositions from complex lipid mixtures covering 784 even chain molecular species. The definition of calibration prototype groups that combine wax esters according to their fragmentation behavior enables fast quantitative analysis by applying multiple reaction monitoring. This provides a tool to analyze wax layer composition or determine whether seeds accumulate a desired wax ester profile. Besides the profiling method, we provide general information on wax ester analysis by the systematic definition of wax ester prototypes according to their collision-induced dissociation spectra. We applied the developed method for wax ester profiling of the well characterized jojoba seed oil and compared the profile with wax ester-accumulating Arabidopsis thaliana expressing the wax ester biosynthetic genes MaFAR and ScWS. CONCLUSIONS We developed a fast profiling method for wax ester analysis on the molecular species level. This method is suitable to screen large numbers of transgenic plants as well as other wax ester samples like cuticular lipid extracts to gain an overview on the molecular species composition. We confirm previous results from APCI-MS and GC-MS analysis, which showed that fragmentation patterns are highly dependent on the double bond distribution between the fatty alcohol and the fatty acid part of the wax ester.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Iven
- Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Department of Plant Biochemistry, Georg-August-University, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Cornelia Herrfurth
- Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Department of Plant Biochemistry, Georg-August-University, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Ellen Hornung
- Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Department of Plant Biochemistry, Georg-August-University, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Mareike Heilmann
- Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Department of Plant Biochemistry, Georg-August-University, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Per Hofvander
- Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 44230-53 Alnarp, Sweden
| | - Sten Stymne
- Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 44230-53 Alnarp, Sweden
| | - Li-Hua Zhu
- Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 44230-53 Alnarp, Sweden
| | - Ivo Feussner
- Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Department of Plant Biochemistry, Georg-August-University, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
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do Nascimento TG, de Jesus Oliveira E, Basílio Júnior ID, de Araújo-Júnior JX, Macêdo RO. Short-term stability studies of ampicillin and cephalexin in aqueous solution and human plasma: Application of least squares method in Arrhenius equation. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2013; 73:59-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2012.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2011] [Revised: 04/06/2012] [Accepted: 04/09/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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