Ion-Imprinted Polymer for Selective Separation of Cerium(III) Ions from Rare Earth Mixture.

Ion-imprinting polymers (IIPs) materials draw the great recognition because of the powerful selectivity to the desired metal ions. Therefore, the ion-imprinting polymer (Ce-IIP) was prepared by using cerium metal with amidoxime ligand as the complexing agent, in addition ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) are crosslinking agent and free radical initiator, respectively. Aqueous HCl was applied to leach the cerium ions from the imprinted polymer for the creation of cavities of template, which is utilized for further cerium ions adsorption with high selectivity. The Ce-IIP was characterized by using ICP-MS, FE-SEM and also solid state analysis by UV-vis NIR spectroscopy. FT-IR study confirmed the complexation of the Ce-IIP was successful. The optimum pH was found to be 6 and the highest adsorption capacity was estimated about 145 mg g-1. Thus, the prepared Ce-IIP gave very good selectivity to cerium ions in the presence of lanthanide ions and also Ce-IIP can be reused 10 times without a substantial loss in adsorption capacity.

High-throughput metabolomics reveals dysregulation of hydrophobic metabolomes in cancer cell lines by Eleusine indica.

Eleusine indica, which is used in traditional medicine, exhibits antiproliferative activity against several cancer cell lines. However, metabolomic studies to evaluate the metabolite changes induced by E. indica in cancer cells are still lacking. The present study investigated the anticancer effects of a root fraction of E. indica (R-S5-C1-H1) on H1299, MCF-7, and SK-HEP-1 cell lines and analyzed metabolic changes in the treated cancer cells using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). Cell metabolic activity assays demonstrated that the cell viability of the three cancer cell lines was significantly reduced following treatment with R-S5-C1-H1, with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations values of 12.95 µg/mL, 15.99 µg/mL, and 13.69 µg/mL at 72 h, respectively. Microscopy analysis using Hoechst 33342 and Annexin V fluorescent dyes revealed that cells treated with R-S5-C1-H1 underwent apoptotic cell death, while chemometric analysis suggested that apoptosis was triggered 48 h after treatment with R-S5-C1-H1. Deconvoluted cellular metabolomics revealed that hydrophobic metabolites were significantly altered, including triacylglycerols, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingomyelin, and ceramide, suggesting that apoptosis induction by R-S5-C1-H1 potentially occurred through modulation of phospholipid synthesis and sphingolipid metabolism. These metabolomic profiling results provide new insights into the anticancer mechanisms of E. indica and facilitate the overall understanding of molecular events following therapeutic interventions.

Peptide Conjugate on Multilayer Graphene Oxide Film for the Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Wharton's Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Graphene oxide (GO) is extensively studied as a template material for mesenchymal stem cell application due to its two-dimensional nature and unique functionalization chemistries. Herein, a new type of peptide-conjugated multilayer graphene oxide (peptide/m-GO film) was fabricated and used as biomaterial for culturing human Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs). The characterization of the peptide/m-GO films was performed, and the biocompatibility of the WJ-MSCs on the peptide/m-GO films was investigated. The results demonstrated that the peptide conjugate on the m-GO film did not hamper the normal growth of WJ-MSCs but supported the growth of WJ-MSCs after the 6-day culture period. In addition, the osteogenic differentiation of WJ-MSCs on the peptide/m-GO films was enhanced as compared with the parent m-GO film. Therefore, such peptide-conjugated m-GO films could provide a highly biocompatible and multifunctional 2D material to tailor the potential application of WJ-MSCs in bone tissue regeneration.

MS-based metabolomics revealing Bornean Sinularia sp. extract dysregulated lipids triggering programmed cell death in Hepatocellular carcinoma.

Soft coral, Sinularia sp. had been proven to inherit promising anti-cancer properties against variety of cancer. Current study, Sinularia sp. extract was introduced to Hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep 3B). Cell viability assay indicated the extract exhibit a dose and time dependent cytotoxicity. LC50 exhibited the lowest at 72 h post treatment estimated as 45.3 µg/mL. Morphological alterations including nuclear condensation, cytoplasm shrinkage and deformed cellular shape in treated Hep 3B were observable. Chemometric analysis revealed hydrophobic metabolites were significantly altered. Elevated vitamin D and derivatives tend to up-regulation Ca2+ and ROS subsequently triggering apoptosis. Dysregulated glycerolipids may suggest that they were biotransformed to compensate the needs of phospholipids during cell damage. Perturbation of sphingolipids, ceramide and carbohydrate-conjugated ceramides species increased the release of pro-apoptotic components reside within mitochondria and promote programmed cell death in treated Hep 3B. To conclude, MS-based metabolomics enabled the characterization of Sinularia sp. extract-induced cell death.

Extractable impurities from fluoropolymer-based membrane filters - interference in high-throughput, untargeted analysis.

The removal of particles using fluoropolymer-based membrane filters is usually done so to prolong the life span of an analytical column, prevent hardware damage, and reduce signal suppression. Ironically, these membrane filters tend to leach impurities into the samples as the samples are filtered through them. These impurities have the potential to affect the researcher's interpretation in high-throughput, non-targeted analysis. In this study, extractable impurities from different brands of fluoropolymer-based membrane filters present in the filtrate filtered using the said filters were investigated. The results demonstrated that different brand membrane filters and materials tend to elute vastly different numbers of impurities. There were instances whereby the extractable impurities persisted in both the membrane filter and the filtrate despite the filter being pre-conditioned (up to 3 times). Principle component analysis revealed that filtrates at different purge intervals are distant from the unfiltered samples. Pre-conditioning of the PTFE membrane filters could potentially reduce the number of extractable impurities across the tested brands. PVDF filtrates, however, tend to co-cluster with their respective brands, thus suggesting that dissimilarity persists in brands following conditioning. As such, pre-conditioning of the PTFE membrane filters should be encouraged so as to reduce false positive results, while the use of PVDF membrane filters for mass-spectrometry-based untargeted analysis is not advisable as extractable impurities would still persist after 3 rounds of conditioning. Neither the use of different filter brands, nor the use of different filter materials in a sample batch are encouraged as different membrane materials or brands could potentially elute varying impurities.