Quantitating fatty acids in dried blood spots on a common collection card versus a novel wicking sampling device.

Blood biomarkers of n - 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids can serve as indicators of dietary intake and benefits and/or disease risk. The use of dried blood spots for fatty acid analyses is increasing but most of the reported data is qualitative (relative percentages of total fatty acids). The ability to quantitate concentrations of fatty acids on a common blood spot collection card and a novel wicking device designed to collect 10 µL of blood was compared with a wet blood sample in ten young adult participants. Prior to this comparison, the collection materials were screened for contaminants by gas chromatography with flame ionization and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, and the blood volume and blood spot area relationship of the collection card was confirmed using technical replicates. Palmitate and stearate were detected as free fatty acids on both collection materials and as lysophosphatidylcholines on the wicking device. The low amounts (<1.0 µg) did not affect the quantitation of these fatty acids in either material. The relationship between blood volume and blood spot area was linear (r = 0.99, p < 0.001) and it was determined that a 6 mm hole punch contained 9.6 µL of blood. When compared with wet blood, the fatty acid determinations from the dried blood spots were largely similar although there were some minor differences in low abundant fatty acids. Quantitative fatty acid determinations of dried blood spots are possible and should be reported along with relative percentage data to improve interpretation in the future.

New Octadecanoid Enantiomers from the Whole Plants of Plantago depressa.

In this study, 19 octadecanoid derivatives-four pairs of enantiomers (1⁻8), two racemic/scalemic mixtures (9⁻10), and nine biosynthetically related analogues-were obtained from the ethanolic extract of a Chinese medicinal plant, Plantago depressa Willd. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analyses, with the absolute configurations of the new compounds assigned by time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT)-based electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Six of them (1, 3⁻6, and 9) were reported for the first time, while 2, 7, and 8 have been previously described as derivatives and are currently obtained as natural products. Our bioassays have established that selective compounds show in vitro anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells.

Chemical composition of essential oils from four Vietnamese species of piper (piperaceae).

The chemical composition of essential oils from four Piper species, Piper retrofractum Vahl., P. boehmeriaefolium (Miq.) C. DC., P. sarmentosum Roxb., and P. maclurei Merr., were analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Nineteen to sixty-four compounds representing 92.0%-98.4% of the total contents were identified in the oil samples. The major constituents identified in P. retrofractum leaf oil were benzyl benzoate (14.4%), myrcene (14.4%), bicycloelemene (9.9%), bicyclogermacrene (7.0%) and ß-caryophyllene (5.3%). On the other hand, the main constituents of P. boehmeriaefolium were α-copaene (28.3%), α-pinene (7.4%) and 1, 8-cineole (5.7%). P. sarmentosum showed a very different chemical profile characterized mainly by aromatic compounds and devoid of monoterpene hydrocarbons. The major constituents were benzyl benzoate (49.1%), benzyl alcohol (17.9%), 2-hydroxy-benzoic acid phenylmethyl ester (10.0%) and 2-butenyl-benzene (7.9%). The leaf of P. maclurei was characterized by higher amount of (E)-cinnamic acid (37.4%) and (E)-nerolidol (19.4%). Moreover, (Z)-9-octadecanoic acid methyl ester (28.0%), (E)-cinnamyl acetate (17.2%), phytol (12.2%) and (E)-cinnamaldehyde (8.8%) were the major compounds identified in the stem oil.

Cinnamyl alcohols and methyl esters of fatty acids from Wedelia prostrata callus cultures.

Two methyl esters of fatty acids, namely octadecanoic acid methyl ester (methyl stearate) and hexadecanoic acid methyl ester (methyl palmitate), in addition to four cinnamyl alcohol derivatives, sinapyl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, p-coumaryl alcohol and coniferyl alcohol 4-O-glucoside (coniferin), were isolated from callus cultures of Wedelia prostrata. The structure of coniferin was established by spectroscopic and chemical methods, while the other compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and thin layer chromatography in comparison with standards.

[Study on the chemical constituents from pine needles of Cedrus deodara].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents from pine needles of Cedrus deodara. METHODS: Chemical constituents were isolated by silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated through spectroscopic analysis. RESULTS: The compounds were identified as 9-hydroxy-dodecanoic acid (I), ethyl laurate (II), ethyl stearate (III), 3beta-hydroxy-oleanolic acid methyl ester (IV), beta-sitosterol (V), shikimic acid (VI), methylconiferin (VII), ferulic acid beta-glucoside (VIII). CONCLUSION: Compounds I-IV, VI-VIII are isolated and identified from this genus for the first time, compound V is isolated from pine needles of this genus for the first time.

Isolation of 5-hydroxypyrrolidin-2-one and other constituents from the young fronds of Pteridium aquilinum.

5-Hydroxypyrrolidin-2-one, along with (2R)-pterosin B, shikimic acid, kaempferol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, transtiliroside, beta-sitosterol, daucosterol, glycerol 1-stearate and benzoic acid, were isolated from the young fronds of the bracken fern Pteridium aquilinum. 5-Hydroxypyrrolidin-2-one, shikimic acid and glycerol 1-stearate were isolated from the plant for the first time.

[Studies on chemical constituents of green algae Ulva pertusa].

OBJECTIVE: To study the compounds from Ulva pertusa. METHOD: The alga was extracted with ethanol, isolated and purified by column chromatography on silica gel and sephadex LH -20. All the compounds were identified on the basis of spectral analysis (including IR, MS, NMR). RESULT: Seven compounds were elucidated as cis-asarone (1), trans-asarone (2), gamma-asarone (3), trans-phytol (4), phytyl-stearate (5), phytyl-acetate (6), isophytol (7). CONCLUSION: All other compounds were isolated for the first time from U. pertusa, except for the compound 4.

The chemical constituents of Capparis spinosa of Jordanian origin.

Investigation of Capparis spinosa of Jordanian origin lead to isolation of two new compounds beta-sitosterylglucoside-6'-octadecanoate (1) and 3-methyl-2-butenyl-beta-glucoside (2). Linked Scan MS measurements were used to propose a mass fragmentation pattern for the alkaloid Cadabicine isolated here for the second time from nature.

Antibacterial activity of a stearic acid derivative from Stemodia foliosa.

From the hexane-soluble fraction of an ethanol extract from leaves and stems of Stemodia foliosa (Scrophulariaceae), the new stearic acid 4-[(n-pentoxy)phenethyl] ester (1) was isolated. This compound exhibited antibacterial properties at 10 microg/mL concentration by using disc diffusion method against Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis and fast-acid bacterium Mycobacterium fortuitum. The structure of the new compound was elucidated by spectroscopic methods and by chemical conversion.

A new phenolic fatty acid ester with lipoxygenase inhibitory activity from Jacaranda filicifolia.

The dichloromethane extract of the stem of jacaranda filicifolia Don. showed inhibitory activity in vitro against soybean 5-lipoxygenase. Systematic fractionation to isolate the compounds responsible resulted in the isolation of three active compounds, 2 alpha, 3 alpha-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid, beta-sitosterol, and one of which was new which was characterised as 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl 1-dodecyloctadecanoate. This type of compound has not previously been reported to inhibit lipoxygenase.

A fast and versatile method for extraction and quantitation of long-chain acyl-CoA esters from tissue: content of individual long-chain acyl-CoA esters in various tissues from fed rat.

A method for the extraction of acyl-CoA esters from tissue, and their subsequent analysis by HPLC is described. The lipids are removed by a two-phase extraction in a chloroform/methanol/water system. The long-chain acyl-CoA esters are extracted using methanol and a high salt concentration (2 M ammonium acetate). Reextraction of the dry residue after evaporation of extraction solvent results in low overall recoveries (20%). By adding 1 mg/ml acyl-CoA-binding protein to the extraction solvent the overall recovery was increased to 55%. The method is easy and fast to perform and is thereby suitable for analysis of a large number of samples. The advantages of the method over previously published methods are discussed.

Separation of wax esters from steryl esters by chromatography on magnesium hydroxide.

Chromatography of stearyl oleate and cholesteryl oleate on thin layer plates coated with magnesium hydroxide-celite, 1:1, or magnesia-celite, 1:1, showed that magnesium hydroxide had better resolving power for the separation of these wax ester and steryl ester model compounds than did magnesia, an adsorbent which has been used previously for this separation. By means of high pressure liquid chromatography on magnesium hydroxide, wax esters and steryl esters from the skin surface lipids of human, rat and monkey were separated completely and without hydrolysis.

Isolation, properties, and structural features of divalent cation ionophores derived from beef heart mitochondria.

The notion of small molecular weight ion carriers in biological systems is herein documented by a description of the isolation and ionophoretic properties of a family of oxyoctadecadienoate congeners derived from beef-heart mitochondria. Although certain members of this family of compounds have been shown to possess unique ionophoretic properties, one should not lose sight of the fact that the compounds that we have described represented only a portion of the total picture. Other chemically unrelated, yet structurally unknown species have been isolated from beef-heart mitochondria, and compounds similar in both chromatographic and spectroscopic properties to the oxyoctadecadienoate family, as well as other unique structures, have been isolated in our laboratory from sarcoplasmic reticulum and chloroplasts. The important points to be derived from these findings are that there is an apparent abundance of natural ionophores and we should no longer concern should address ourselves to the more relevant task of digging them out and ourselves with the question "are there ionophores in biological systems?" but describing their chemical and physical properties. In view of the apparent abundance of natural ionophores, this is an enormous task, especially when one considers that it only represents half of the problem. The isolation and description of the ionophoroprotein or channel-forming complexes share equally in the overall significance and level of understanding attributable to this area of inquiry and it would appear that many fruitful collaborative ventures are, or should be, on the horizon.