Eliza Blicharska

The involvement of serotonergic system in the antidepressant effect of zinc in the forced swim test.

Recent preclinical data indicated the antidepressant-like activity of zinc in different tests and models of depression. The present study investigates the involvement of the serotonergic system in zinc activity in the forced swim test (FST) in mice and rats. The combined treatment of sub-effective doses of zinc (hydroaspartate, 2.5 mg Zn/kg) and citalopram (15 mg/kg), fluoxetine (5 mg/kg) but not with reboxetine (2.5 mg/kg) significantly reduces the immobility time in the FST in mice. These treatments had no influence on the spontaneous locomotor activity. Moreover, while the antidepressant-like effect of zinc (5 mg/kg) in the FST was significantly blocked by pretreatment with inhibitor of serotonin synthesis, p-chlorophenylalanine (pCPA, 3x200 mg/kg), 5HT-2(A/C) receptor antagonist, ritanserin (4 mg/kg) or 5HT-1A receptor antagonist, WAY 1006335 (0.1 mg/kg), the zinc-induced reduction in the locomotor activity was not affected by these serotonin modulator agents. These results indicate the specific involvement of the serotonergic system in antidepressant but not the motion behavior of zinc in mice. Also, an increase in the swimming but not climbing parameter of the rat FST observed following zinc administration (2.5 and 5 mg Zn/kg) indicates the serotonin pathway participation. This present data indicates that the antidepressant-like activity of zinc observed in the FST involves interaction with the serotonergic system.

A preliminary study on the effect of mineralization parameters on determination of metals in Viscum album species

An increasing interest in determination of various macro- and microelements in medicinal plants has been observed. The majority of studies are carried out using one mineralization method without any optimization. The present study demonstrates that changes in mineralization parameters can significantly affect the recovery of the elements determined. In the study, the dried plant material was mineralized in 12 ways and iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and manganese (Mn) levels were determined. The samples were mineralized in the dry or open microwave mode as well as 10 closed microwave modes. The influence of acid amounts, irradiation power and time, addition of hydrogen peroxide and perfluoric acid was examined. All parameters were shown to be critical — good efficiency was observed with larger amounts of acid. The determined content varied significantly in the same sample and were in the ranges (ug g−1): 46–136 (Fe), 1.4–11.8 (Cu), 4.0–11.3 (Ni), 15.4–53.8 (Zn) and 9.5–67.6 (Mn). Increased irradiation resulted in the loss of copper and zinc and better recovery of nickel. The results demonstrate that such determinations should include the mineralization optimization step.

LiChroprep-nH2 modified with calconcarboxylic acid as a sorbent in trace analysis of metal ions

Two new chelating sorbents for metal ions have been prepared by modification of chemically modified silica, i.e. by treatment of LiChroprep-NH 2 with calconcarboxylic acid (CCA). The molecular mechanism of binding of this reagent by the surface of the carrier is presented. The sorbents are compared with analogous sorbents with a plain silica carrier and chemically modified silicas - LiChroprep-RP containing CCA. The new sorbents are demonstrated to have higher stability than the silica and LiChroprep-RP chelating sorbents. They are used in solid phase extraction (SPE) for additional purification of aqueous solutions of salts of alkali metals from trace amounts of heavy metals and as stationary phase in column extraction chromatography for chromatographic separations of some chosen mixtures of metal ions.

Characterization of the cis/trans Isomerization of Resveratrol by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

ABSTRACT trans-Resveratrol was evaluated in a stability study. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector was used for the comparison of stressed and reference samples. Aqueous ethanolic solutions were examined under variable conditions. The following parameters were investigated: the time of storage, exposure to sunlight for up to 30 days, temperature from 5 to 80°C, pH from 2.9 to 10.2, trans-resveratrol concentrations from 0.5 to 100 mg L−1, and 3, 10, 20, and 50% ethanol. The cis/trans equilibrium position was significantly influenced by the resveratrol concentration. The trans-resveratrol isomer was stable only at solutions more concentrated than 25 mg L−1 that were stable for 30 days in a refrigerator or at room temperature protected from light. Degradation of no more than 10% was observed at temperatures lower than 50°C and pH values lower 7.43.

High-Resolution Continuum Source Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with Microwave-Assisted Extraction for the Determination of Metals in Vegetable Sprouts

The goal of this study was to investigate the enrichment of garden cress (Lepidium sativum), mung beans (Vigna radiata), and soybeans (Glycine max) with minerals. Hydroponic nutrient solutions were enriched with Zn2+,Cr3+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Se2+. Morphological assessment was based on monitoring changes that occurred as a function of the concentrations of elements in the medium. The growth of the plant, as a result of a stimulating or inhibitory effect of the identity and concentration of elements on the germination process, was characterized. Microbiological contamination was identified and catabolic profiles of two bacterial strains were performed. High-resolution continuum source atomic absorption spectrometry (HR-AAS) was used to determine Zn2+, Cr3+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Se2+ in dried plant material after sample pretreatment using microwave-assisted extraction. The limits of detection were 0.010, 0.029, 0.013, 0.151, and 0.030 milligram per liter for Ca2+, Cr3+, Mg2+, Se2+, and Zn2+, respectively. Recoveries were higher than 98 percent and the relative standard deviation was less than 5 percent. The accuracy of the procedure was estimated by analyzing certified reference materials. The results showed that biofortification of garden cress by zinc holds the highest promise for the creation of designer foods. Garden cress was found to have the highest bioconcentration factor among the investigated plants; at 50 parts per million, plant growth was stimulated without contamination by microorganisms.

Correlation of Metal and trans-Resveratrol Concentrations in Red Wine

ABSTRACT Red wine samples were analyzed for Al, Cu, Zn, and Pb by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry following microwave digestion. trans-Resveratrol was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector using a C18 column and 25% aqueous acetonitrile as the mobile phase. trans-Resveratrol was present at concentrations of 0.4863–1.1840 mg L−1 and the values were inversely proportional to the results for aluminum and copper.

HPLC Identification of Copper (II)-Trans-Resveratrol Complexes in Ethanolic Aqueous Solution.

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography assay with the diode array detector was applied for detection of trans-resveratrol complexes with copper (II). Two complexes with copper to resveratrol ratio 3:2 and 1:1 were identified in ethanolic-aqueous solutions in neutral and acidic conditions. The matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry was used for evaluation of complexes in eluate liquid fraction. The structures of complexes were modeled by Titan, Spartan and HyperChem software. The findings obtained satisfactorily explain the chromatographic data and could provide useful an additional data about these forms in which is present trans-resveratrol in wine (free and/or forming complex with copper).

Analysis of dissolution profiles of iron, zinc, and manganese from complex dietary supplements by ion chromatography and chemometrics

ABSTRACT Four commercially available formulations containing iron, zinc, and manganese were subjected to dissolution profile testing during 60 min and the dissolution was analyzed by ion chromatography. The obtained curves were analyzed directly by principal component analysis (PCA). The main trend (87.1% of variance) was connected with average dissolution percentage over the investigated time. The second component (11.2% of variance) is connected with shape of dissolution profile. All metals behave in the similar way and the differences were connected with excipients. An additional fit was completed on 12 kinetic models: first order kinetics (4 variants), Higuchi (2 variants), Hixson-Crowell (2 variants), Korsemeyer-Peppas, Logistic (2 variants), Peppas-Sahlin, Quadratic (2 variants), Weibull (3 variants), and Zero order kinetics (2 variants). The ranking of the fitting was performed by Akaike information criteria (AIC) values with additional PCA analysis on them, an approach presented in literature for the first time. The main trend (67.4% of variance) was connected with average fit. The second (14.8% of variance) is connected with differences of fitting ability to investigated dissolution curves. This methodology brought an overall look to trends and variances inside obtained data, both the profile shape and fitting ability to particular models. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Adsorption Kinetics at Silica Gel/Ionic Liquid Solution Interface

A series of imidazolium and pyridinium ionic liquids with different anions (Cl−, Br−, BF4−, PF6−) has been evaluated for their adsorption activity on silica gel. Quantification of the ionic liquids has been performed by the use of RP-HPLC with organic-aqueous eluents containing an acidic buffer and a chaotropic salt. Pseudo-second order kinetic models were applied to the experimental data in order to investigate the kinetics of the adsorption process. The experimental data showed good fitting with this model, confirmed by considerably high correlation coefficients. The adsorption kinetic parameters were determined and analyzed. The relative error between the calculated and experimental amount of ionic liquid adsorbed at equilibrium was within 7%. The effect of various factors such as initial ionic liquid concentration, temperature, kind of solvent, kind of ionic liquid anion and cation on adsorption efficiency were all examined in a lab-scale study. Consequently, silica gel showed better adsorptive characteristics for imidazolium-based ionic liquids with chaotropic anions from aqueous solutions in comparison to pyridinium ionic liquids. The adsorption was found to decrease with the addition of organic solvents (methanol, acetonitrile) but it was not sensitive to the change of temperature in the range of 5–40 °C.