Molecular behavior assessment on initial stages of oil spill in terrestrial environments.

The contamination of terrestrial environments by oil spills creates biological risks to humans and affects the ecosystem's health. The studies that aim to evaluate the toxicity and changes in the environments are a field of potential interest to the scientific community. The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in the chemical composition of crude oil fractions after the simulation of a spill in soil and sand, with emphasis on an immediate temporal investigation. Samples of intermediate (°API = 27.0) and heavy (°API = 20.9) oils from Sergipe-Alagoas basin were used. The evaporation process in the soil was highlighted; while the GC-FID chromatographic profiles demonstrated (1) the disappearance from n-C12 until n-C14 compounds, besides a decrease of more than 50% in n-C15 and n-C16 n-alkanes and (2) no changes in n-C17/Pr and n-C18/Ph ratios for both oils. Analysis of resins fraction performed by Orbitrap-MS has shown changes in the mass spectra profile and compound distribution during the soil and sand exposure process, with N1, O1, and O2 species showing changes in the relative abundance in ESI(+) mode, and O2, N1, and O1 for ESI(-). Changes in polar compounds of oil will depend on the extent of the time of interaction with soil and sand, taking into account intrinsic aspects, such as the nature of the soil and components in it as the organic matter.

Chemical and microbiological characterization of tinctures and microcapsules loaded with Brazilian red propolis extract.

The aim of this study was to characterize tinctures and microcapsules loaded with an ethanol extract of red propolis through chemical, physicochemical and microbiological assays in order to establish quality control tools for nutraceutical preparations of red propolis. The markers (isoflavonoids, chalcones, pterocarpans, flavones, phenolic acids, terpenes and guttiferones) present in the tinctures A and B were identified and confirmed using LC/ESI/FTMS/Orbitrap. Four compositions (A, B, C and D) were prepared to contain B tincture of the red propolis with some pharmaceutical excipients and submitted to two drying processes, i. e. spray-drying and freeze-drying to obtain microcapsules loaded with the red propolis extract. The tinctures and microcapsules of the red propolis were submitted to the total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity tests. The antibacterial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were tested using Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25293 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 strains. The tinctures and microcapsules presented high flavonoid quantities from 20.50 to 40.79 mg/100 mg of the microcapsules. The antioxidant activity and IC50 were determined for the tinctures A and B (IC50: 6.95 µg/mL and 7.48 µg/mL), the spray-dried microcapsules (IC50: 8.89-15.63 µg/mL) and the freeze-dried microcapsules (IC50: 11.83-23.36 µg/mL). The tinctures and microcapsules were proved to be bioactive against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria with inhibition halos superior to 10 mm at concentration of 200 µg/mL and MIC values of 135.87-271.74 µg/mL using gram-positive strain and 271.74-543.48 µg/mL using gram-negative strain. The tinctures and microcapsules of the red propolis have a potential application for nutraceutical products.

Screening the life cycle of Schistosoma mansoni using high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Schistosomiasis is a common tropical disease caused by Schistosoma species Schistosomiasis' pathogenesis is known to vary according to the worms' strain. Moreover, high parasitical virulence is directly related to eggs release and granulomatous inflammation in the host's organs. This virulence might be influenced by different classes of molecules, such as lipids. Therefore, better understanding of the metabolic profile of these organisms is necessary, especially for an increased potential of unraveling strain virulence mechanisms and resistance to existing treatments. In this report, direct-infusion electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry (ESI(+)-HRMS) along with the lipidomic platform were employed to rapidly characterize and differentiate two Brazilian S. mansoni strains (BH and SE) in three stages of their life cycle: eggs, miracidia and cercariae, with samples from experimental animals (Swiss/SPF mice). Furthermore, urine samples of the infected and uninfected mice were analyzed to assess the possibility of direct diagnosis. All samples were differentiated using multivariate data analysis, PCA, which helped electing markers from distinct lipid classes; phospholipids, diacylglycerols and triacylglycerols, for example, clearly presented different intensities in some stages and strains, as well as in urine samples. This indicates that biochemical characterization of S. mansoni may help narrowing-down the investigation of new therapeutic targets according to strain composition and aggressiveness of disease. Interestingly, lipid profile of infected mice urine varies when compared to control samples, indicating that direct diagnosis of schistosomiasis from urine may be feasible.