Developing an ultrasensitive immunochromatographic assay for authentication of an emergent fraud aminopyrine in herbal tea.

Aminopyrine is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug only for medical purposes, however, it has been illegally added in traditional Chinese herbal teas for fraud activity recently. In this study, a specific antibody against aminopyrine with IC50 of 3.00 ng/mL was obtained for the first time by a rational hapten design. Furthermore, an ultrasensitive gold nanoparticles immunochromatographic assay (AuNPs-ICA) for determination of aminopyrine based on a portable reader was firstly developed, with cut-off value of 100.00 ng/mL, limit of detection (LOD) of 4.80 ng/mL and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 5.71 ng/mL for herbal tea, respectively. The recovery rates ranged from 93.21 % to 105.61 %, with inter-assay coefficient of variation (CV) from 1.08 % to 3.82 %. Additionally, 24 blind samples were examined simultaneously by AuNPs-ICA and LC-MS/MS, demonstrating a good consistency for each other. The proposed AuNPs-ICA is an ultrasensitive and reliable tool for on-site surveillance screening of fraud additives in herbal tea.

One-step ultra-sensitive immunochromatographic strip authenticating an emergent fraud acetophenetidin in herbal tea.

Herbal tea is a highly popular and widely consumed beverage. However, a pain-relieving and fever-reducing drug, acetophenetidin, was recently found to illegally occur in herbal tea for a fraud purpose. Due to the potential health risk and urgent requirement for on-site screening method, a one-step and high specificity strip for identifying acetophenetidin was developed for the first time. Assisted by computational chemistry, four haptens were designed to prepare immunogens and coating antigens for antibody generation, and a specific antibody with ultra-sensitivity and high specificity was generated, showing half maximal inhibitory (IC50) of 16.46 ng/mL for acetophenetidin, less than 3.5% of cross-reactivity to analogs by ELISA. A gold nanoparticles immunochromatographic strip was developed for detection of acetophenetidin in herbal tea, demonstrating a cut-off value of 160 ng/mL and a limit of detection of 1.63 ng/mL. The recovery rates were ranged from 102.2% to 106.1% with coefficient of variation between 2.21% and 7.20%. The analysis of real samples (n = 20) by the strip was well correlated with that of the confirmatory method, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The proposed strip has the potential to be used for rapid screening of acetophenetidin in herbal tea.

A novel self-aggregated gold nanoparticles based on sensitive immunochromatographic assays for highly detection of opium poppy in herbal teas.

Opium poppy abused in food has aroused public concerns due to its serious side effects. Effective monitoring is essential to fight the abuse crisis. Herein, we synthesized an easily prepared, affordable, accessible highly aggregated gold nanoparticles (AGNPs) performing in lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for detection opium poppy in herbal teas. Simultaneously, a LFIA based ontime-resolved fluorescent microspheres (TRFMs) was developed as contrastive method. In this study, morphine (MOR), codeine (COD) and thebaine (THE) were as the specific recognition markers of opium poppy. Results demonstrated the quantitative limits of detection were 0.0049/0.0053/0.084, 0.034/0.037/0.37 ng mL-1 for AGNPs/TRFMs-LFIA, respectively. The recoveries were 95%-107.5%/91%-106.7% with coefficient of variation was 1.6%-6.6%/1.8%-7.2%, indicating excellent accuracy and precision. Parallel experiments among AGNPs/TRFMs-LFIA and LC-MS/MS analysis showed good correlation. Overall, AGNPs-LFIA executed quantitative analysis within 15 min on the basis of simple treatment while providing a rapid and sensitive analysis strategy for illegal drugs abused.

Broad-specific immunochromatography for simultaneous detection of various sulfonylureas in adulterated multi-herbal tea.

Sulfonylureas (SUs) are a series of anti-diabetic drugs widely used for type 2 diabetes mellitus for clinic treat. However, it is often illegally adulterated in multi-herbal tea to improve the claimed anti-diabetic activity in recent years. In this study, a novel hapten was rationally designed, and a broad-specific monoclonal antibody (anti-SUs mAb) recognizing nine SUs was developed. This mAb was used to develop a colloidal gold lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (CG-LFIA). The anti-SUs mAb demonstrated half inhibitory concentration (IC50) ranged from 0.15 ng/mL to 3.25 ng/ mL for nine SUs by ELISA. The cut-off value of developed CG-LFIA for nine SUs was from 3 to 100 ng/ mL for the spiked samples. LC-MS/MS confirmed the reliability of the new CG-LFIA. The results indicated that the proposed CG-LFIA could be an ideal method in on-site screening surveillance assay for SUs illegally adulterated in multi-herbal tea products.

Effects of land use transition on ecological vulnerability in poverty-stricken mountainous areas of China: A complex network approach.

Poverty-stricken mountainous areas are often subject to ecological vulnerability, and land use transition is a major factor affecting that vulnerability. Land use transition forms a complex network comprised of different land use types which interact with each other and respond to external environment processes, resulting in dynamics. This study develops complex network approach with cascade failure model to quantitatively explore the effects of land use transition on ecological vulnerability from the holistic and dynamic perspective. The study analyzes the characteristics of land use transition, identifying key transition types and simulating their impact on ecological vulnerability in 16 poverty-stricken mountainous counties in western Hubei Province, China, with the following findings. (1) The heterogeneity of change in agricultural land and construction land is significant; from 1990 to 2015, a short-term increase in the amount of agricultural land is followed by a gradual reduction, while the amount of construction land increased continuously. (2) Agricultural land is the dominant output land type, exported mainly to construction land and water area, and construction land is the dominant input land type, imported mainly from agricultural land. Sparse woods, woods, and dryland are the key land use types in the study area. (3) the critical points for maintaining resilience of ecosystem are 80% or higher for cultivated land and 80% or higher for woodland. (4) For the tolerance parameter α, 20% increase in cultivated land and a 10% increase in woodland would enhance ecosystem resilience and reduce its damage degree to corresponding land use transition. These findings are important points of reference for the sustainable management of poverty-stricken mountainous counties in western Hubei Province and in China more generally. They also have policy implications for land resources, especially in terms of the alleviation of poverty and the coordination between ecological protection and economic development.

Egg Yolk Immunoglobulin Supplementation Prevents Rat Liver from Aflatoxin B1-Induced Oxidative Damage and Genotoxicity.

Egg yolk immunoglobulins (IgY), as nutraceutical supplement for therapeutic or prophylactic intervention, have been extensively studied. The effects of IgY on small molecular toxin-induced toxicity in animals are unclear. In the present study, the protection of highly purified and specific anti-AFB1 IgY against AFB1-induced genotoxicity and oxidative damage on the rat liver model were investigated. Our results revealed that AFB1 induced significant oxidative damage markers, as well as AFB1-induced protein expression in antioxidant, pro- and antiapoptosis processes in rat liver. These effects could be significantly inhibited by cogavage with anti-AFB1 IgY in a dose-dependent manner. However, anti-AFB1 IgY did not significantly induce hepatic CAT and SOD1. To explore mechanisms, metabolite experiments were established to evaluate the influence of anti-AFB1 IgY on the absorption of AFB1 in rats. Middle and high doses of anti-AFB1 IgY reduced hepatic AFB1-DNA adducts by 43.3% and 52.9%, AFB1- N7-guanine urinary adducts by 19.6% and 34.4%, and AFB1-albumin adducts by 10.5% and 21.1%, respectively. The feces of high dose anti-AFB1 IgY cogavaged rats contained approximately 2-fold higher AFB1 equivalents at 3-6 h after ingestion than AFB1 group feces, indicating IgY inhibited AFB1 uptake. These results had provided insight that anti-AFB1 IgY could prevent animal organs from damage caused by AFB1 and will be beneficial for the application of detoxification antibody as a supplement in food.

Antidiabetic and Antinephritic Activities of Aqueous Extract of Cordyceps militaris Fruit Body in Diet-Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Sprague Dawley Rats.

Cordyceps militaris has long been used as a crude drug and folk tonic food in East Asia. The present study aims to evaluate the antidiabetic and antinephritic effects of the aqueous extract of the Cordyceps militaris fruit body (CM) in diet-streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced diabetic rats. During four weeks of continuous oral administration of CM at doses of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 g/kg and metformin at 100 mg/kg, the fasting blood glucose and bodyweight of each rat were monitored. Hypoglycemic effects of CM on diabetic rats were indicated by decreases in plasma glucose, food and water intake, and urine output. The hypolipidemic activity of CM was confirmed by the normalization of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in diabetic rats. Inhibitory effects on albuminuria, creatinine, urea nitrogen, and n-acetyl-ß-d-glucosaminidase verified CM's renal protective activity in diabetic rats. Furthermore, CM exerted beneficial modulation of inflammatory factors and oxidative enzymes. Compared with untreated diabetic rats, CM decreased the expression of phosphor-AKT and phosphor-GSK-3ß in the kidneys. Altogether, via attenuating oxidative stress, CM displayed antidiabetic and antinephritic activities in diet-STZ-induced diabetic rats.

[Chemical constituents from Exochorda racemosa].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents of Exochorda racemosa. METHOD: Compounds were isolated and purified by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, MCI gel and RP-18 column chromatography, and their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis. RESULT: Twenty compounds were isolated and identified as N-p-coumaroyl-N'-caffeoylputrescine (1), sutherlandin trans-p-coumarate (2), apigenin 7-O-methylglucuronide (3), astragalin (4), nicotiflorin (5), kaempferol 3-neohesperidoside (6), rutin (7), apigenin (8), luteolin (9), linalool-1-oic acid (10), betulalbuside A (11), ursolic acid (12) , corosolic acid (13), gynuramide II (14), beta-sitosterol (15), daucosterol (16), uridine (17), adenosine (18), syringin (19), and trans4-hydroxycinnamic acid (20), respectively. CONCLUSION: All compounds were obtained from this plant for the first time, moreover, 1 was reported as a new natural product, and 2 is a naturally rare cyanogenic glycoside.

New terpenoids from Isodon sculponeata.

Two new ent-kaurane diterpene derivatives, sculponeatins N (1) and O (2), and a new A-ring contracted oleanane triterpenoid, sculponeatic acid (5), were isolated from the plant Isodon sculponeata. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. This is the first report of natural occurrence of an A-ring contracted oleanane triterpenoid.