[Rapid screening of 14 antibacterial drugs in anti-acne cosmetics using ion mobility spectrometry coupled with solid-phase extraction].

The main methods currently used to detect illegally added chemicals in cosmetics include thin-layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Compared with other analytical techniques, these methods have the advantages of high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, all of which are required in practical detection work. However, they also present a number of limitations, such as long analysis times and requirements for skilled operators and strictly controlled laboratory environments. Supervision, a growing trend in market surveillance, requires rapid and effective methods to screen illegally added chemicals. The suspected samples are sealed for some time and then sent to the laboratory for further testing. Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is a new type of trace gas separation technology that was developed in recent years. The principle behind IMS is the separation and characterization of chemical species based on differences in the migration speed of their gas-phase ions under an electric field. As this technology has the advantages of miniaturization, easy operation, and quick responses, it is widely used in food and drug quality testing, as well as other related fields. However, it is rarely used in cosmetic detection, likely because the cosmetics matrix is highly complex, which can interfere with ion determination. Thus, optimizing the pretreatment process of cosmetics for IMS is important. In this work, solid-phase extraction (SPE) is combined with IMS to establish a method for the rapid screening of 14 antibacterial drugs in anti-acne cosmetics. The IMS detection parameters, sample extraction conditions, and SPE clean-up conditions (SPE column, type of leachate, type and volume of eluent) were studied and optimized in detail. The sample was extracted with 80%(v/v) acetonitrile aqueous solution (containing 0.2% (mass fraction) trichloroacetic acid), loaded onto an activated Oasis® MCX SPE column, leached with 3.0 mL of methanol, and eluted with 1.0 mL of 2% ammonia methanol solution. The eluate was then directly injected into the IMS instrument. The IMS parameters were as follows: positive ion source voltage=2200 V, transfer tube voltage=8000 V, inlet temperature=180 ℃, transfer tube temperature=180 ℃, ion gate voltage=50 V, gate voltage pulse width=85 µs, and migration gas flow rate=1.2 L/min. The migration times for the 14 antibacterial drugs ranged from 11 to 17 ms, and the detection limits for the target compounds ranged from 0.2 to 1.2 µg/g. Owing to the narrow linear range of IMS, a quantitative method employing HPLC was also established to optimize the SPE pretreatment step and verify the positive samples. Chromatographic separation was conducted on a Phenomenex Luna C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm), with a column flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and gradient elution with mobile phases A (0.01 mol/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate adjusted to pH 4.0 with phosphoric acid) and B (acetonitrile). The column temperature was set to 35 ℃, and the injection volume was fixed at 5 µL. A total of 25 cosmetics samples were screened, and one positive sample was found to be consistent with the results of HPLC. The proposed method is fast, simple, and efficient, and it can be used for the rapid screening of the 14 antibacterial drugs in anti-acne cosmetics. Pretreatment can significantly reduce the influence of the cosmetic matrices on the determination results, improve instrument sensitivity, and effectively decrease the occurrence rate of false positives and negatives. The technique developed in this work can improve the efficiency of screening for illegally added chemicals and expand the applications of IMS for detecting various chemicals in complex matrices, such as cosmetics.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of silkworm Bmovo-1 and wild type silkworm ovary.

The detailed molecular mechanism of Bmovo-1 regulation of ovary size is unclear. To uncover the mechanism of Bmovo-1 regulation of ovarian development and oogenesis using RNA-Seq, we compared the transcriptomes of wild type (WT) and Bmovo-1-overexpressing silkworm (silkworm(+Bmovo-1)) ovaries. Using a pair-end Illumina Solexa sequencing strategy, 5,296,942 total reads were obtained from silkworm(+Bmovo-1) ovaries and 6,306,078 from WT ovaries. The average read length was about 100 bp. Clean read ratios were 98.79% for silkworm(+Bmovo-1) and 98.87% for WT silkworm ovaries. Comparative transcriptome analysis showed 123 upregulated and 111 downregulated genes in silkworm(+Bmovo-1) ovaries. These differentially expressed genes were enriched in the extracellular and extracellular spaces and involved in metabolism, genetic information processing, environmental information processing, cellular processes and organismal systems. Bmovo-1 overexpression in silkworm ovaries might promote anabolism for ovarian development and oogenesis and oocyte proliferation and transport of nutrients to ovaries by altering nutrient partitioning, which would support ovary development. Excessive consumption of nutrients for ovary development alters nutrient partitioning and deters silk protein synthesis.

Bmovo-1 regulates ovary size in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

The regulation of antagonistic OVO isoforms is critical for germline formation and differentiation in Drosophila. However, little is known about genes related to ovary development. In this study, we cloned the Bombyx mori ovo gene and investigated its four alternatively spliced isoforms. BmOVO-1, BmOVO-2 and BmOVO-3 all had four C2H2 type zinc fingers, but differed at the N-terminal ends, while BmOVO-4 had a single zinc finger. Bmovo-1, Bmovo-2 and Bmovo-4 showed the highest levels of mRNA in ovaries, while Bmovo-3 was primarily expressed in testes. The mRNA expression pattern suggested that Bmovo expression was related to ovary development. RNAi and transgenic techniques were used to analyze the biological function of Bmovo. The results showed that when the Bmovo gene was downregulated, oviposition number decreased. Upregulation of Bmovo-1 in the gonads of transgenic silkworms increased oviposition number and elevated the trehalose contents of hemolymph and ovaries. We concluded that Bmovo-1 was involved in protein synthesis, contributing to the development of ovaries and oviposition number in silkworms.