Mete Severcan

Differentiation of Anatolian honey samples from different botanical origins by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy using multivariate analysis

Botanical origin of the nectar predominantly affects the chemical composition of honey. Analytical techniques used for reliable honey authentication are mostly time consuming and expensive. Additionally, they cannot provide 100% efficiency in accurate authentication. Therefore, alternatives for the determination of floral origin of honey need to be developed. This study aims to discriminate characteristic Anatolian honey samples from different botanical origins based on the differences in their molecular content, rather than giving numerical information about the constituents of samples. Another scope of the study is to differentiate inauthentic honey samples from the natural ones precisely. All samples were tested via unsupervised pattern recognition procedures like hierarchical clustering and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Discrimination of sample groups was achieved successfully with hierarchical clustering over the spectral range of 1800-750 cm(-1) which suggests a good predictive capability of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and chemometry for the determination of honey floral source.

Screening of Protective Effect of Amifostine on Radiation-Induced Structural and Functional Variations in Rat Liver Microsomal Membranes by FT-IR Spectroscopy

In this study, the protective effect of amifostine, which is the only FDA-approved radioprotective agent, was investigated against the deleterious effects of ionizing radiation on rat liver microsomal membranes at molecular level. Sprague-Dawley rats, which were either administered amifostine or not, were whole-body irradiated with a single dose of 800 cGy and decapitated after 24 h. The microsomal membranes isolated from the livers of these rats were investigated using FT-IR spectroscopy. The results revealed that radiation caused a significant decrease in the lipid-to-protein ratio and the degradation of lipids into smaller fragments that contain less CH(2) and more carbonyl esters, olefinic═CH and CH(3) groups, which could be interpreted as a result of lipid peroxidation. Radiation altered the secondary structure of proteins by inducing a decrease in the β-sheet structures and an increase in the turns and random coil structures. Moreover, a dramatic increase in lipid order and a significant decrease in the membrane dynamics were observed in the irradiated group. The administration of amifostine before ionizing radiation inhibited all the radiation induced compositional, structural, and functional damages. In addition, these results suggest that FT-IR spectroscopy provides a novel approach to monitoring radiation-induced damage on biological membranes.

Estimation of protein secondary structure from FTIR spectra using neural networks

Abstract Secondary structure of proteins have been predicted using neural networks (NN) from their Fourier transform infrared spectra. Leave-one-out approach has been used to demonstrate the applicability of the method. A form of cross-validation is used to train NN to prevent the overfitting problem. Multiple neural network outputs are averaged to reduce the variance of predictions. The networks realized have been tested and rms errors of 7.7% for α-helix, 6.4% for β-sheet and 4.8% for turns have been achieved. These results indicate that the methodology introduced is effective and estimation accuracies are in some cases better than those previously reported in the literature.

Effect of thermal treatment on secondary structure and conformational change of mushroom polyphenol oxidase (PPO) as food quality related enzyme: A FTIR study.

In order to understand the conformational changes of polyphenol oxidase (PPO), which is a food quality related enzyme, after thermal treatment, secondary structure changes of the enzyme were analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and compared with the change in enzyme activity in the temperature range of 25-80 °C. Fourier self-deconvolution, neural network (NN) and curve-fitting analysis were applied to the amide I band of FTIR spectra for detail analysis of secondary structure elements. FTIR analysis indicated that PPO is an α-helix dominating enzyme. Detail analysis revealed that, as temperature increased, α-helix and β-sheet decreased, but aggregated β-sheet, turns and random coil increased. The marked changes were noted at 40 °C with the occurrence of new bands due to aggregated β-sheet structures, all of which indicate protein denaturation. These aggregation bands were still observed when the temperature was reduced back to 25 °C, from 70 °C, demonstrating an irreversible change in the structure.

Structural alterations in rat liver proteins due to streptozotocin-induced diabetes and the recovery effect of selenium: Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy and neural network study

The relation between protein structural alterations and tissue dysfunction is a major concern as protein fibrillation and/or aggregation due to structural alterations has been reported in many disease states. In the current study, Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopic imaging has been used to investigate diabetes-induced changes on protein secondary structure and macromolecular content in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat liver. Protein secondary structural alterations were predicted using neural network approach utilizing the amide I region. Moreover, the role of selenium in the recovery of diabetes-induced alterations on macromolecular content and protein secondary structure was also studied. The results revealed that diabetes induced a decrease in lipid to protein and glycogen to protein ratios in diabetic livers. Significant alterations in protein secondary structure were observed with a decrease in α-helical and an increase in β-sheet content. Both doses of selenium restored diabetes-induced changes in lipid to protein and glycogen to protein ratios. However, low-dose selenium supplementation was not sufficient to recover the effects of diabetes on protein secondary structure, while a higher dose of selenium fully restored diabetes-induced alterations in protein structure.

Investigation of Compositional, Structural, and Dynamical Changes of Pentylenetetrazol-Induced Seizures on a Rat Brain by FT-IR Spectroscopy

To accomplish the appropriate treatment strategies of epilepsy action mechanisms underlying epileptic seizures should be lightened. The identification of epileptic seizure-induced alterations on the brain related to their pathologies may provide information for its action mechanism. Therefore, the current study determined molecular consequences of seizures induced by pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), which is a widely used convulsant agent, on rat brain. The rats were administered subconvulsant (25 mg/kg) and convulsant (60 mg/kg) doses of PTZ during a week, and brain tissues were studied by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Results revealed a decrease in lipid fluidity and lipid and protein content and also the differences in membrane packing by changing the nature of hydrogen bonding as indicated by the C═O, the PO(-)2 symmetric, and asymmetric bands. Monitoring of the olefinic band elicited seizure-induced lipid peroxidation further confirmed by the thiobarbituric acid (TBAR) assay. Additionally, PTZ-induced convulsions led to alterations in protein structures obtained by neural network (NN) predictions like an increase in random coils. On the basis of the spectral changes, treated samples could be successfully differentiated from the controls by cluster analysis. Consequently, the convulsive dose of PTZ caused more significant molecular variations compared to the subconvulsive one. All findings might have an important role in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying epileptic activities.

Epileptic seizures induce structural and functional alterations on brain tissue membranes

Epilepsy is characterized by disruption of balance between cerebral excitation and inhibition, leading to recurrent and unprovoked convulsions. Studies are still underway to understand mechanisms lying epileptic seizures with the aim of improving treatment strategies. In this context, the research on brain tissue membranes gains importance for generation of epileptic activities. In order to provide additional information for this field, we have investigated the effects of pentylenetetrazol-induced and audiogenetically susceptible epileptic seizures on structure, content and function of rat brain membrane components using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The findings have shown that both two types of epileptic seizures stimulate the variations in the molecular organization of membrane lipids, which have potential to influence the structures in connection with functions of membrane proteins. Moreover, less fluid lipid structure and a decline in content of lipids obtained from the ratio of CH3 asym/lipid, CH2 asym/lipid, CO/lipid, and olefinicCH/lipid and the areas of the PO2 symmetric and asymmetric modes were observed. Moreover, based on IR data the changes in the conformation of proteins were predicted by neural network (NN) analysis, and displayed as an increase in random coil despite a decrease in beta sheet. Depending on spectral parameters, we have successfully differentiated treated samples from the control by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. In summary, FT-IR spectroscopy may offer promising attempt to identify compositional, structural and functional alterations in brain tissue membranes resulting from epileptic activities.

Ionizing Radiation Induces Structural and Functional Damage on the Molecules of Rat Brain Homogenate Membranes: A Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopic Study

Humans can be exposed to ionizing radiation, due to various reasons, whose structural effects on biological membranes are not well defined. The current study aims to understand the ionizing radiation-induced structural and functional alterations in biomolecules of brain membranes using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy using rat animal models. For this purpose, 1000 cGy of ionizing radiation was specifically directed to the head of Sprague Dawley rats. The rats were decapitated after 24 h. The results revealed that the lipid-to-protein ratio decreased and that irradiation caused lipid peroxidation and increases in the amounts of olefinic =CH, carbonyl, and methylene groups of lipids. In addition, ionizing radiation induced a decrease in membrane fluidity, disordering of membrane lipids, strengthening of the hydrogen bonding of the phosphate groups of lipid head-groups, and weakening in the hydrogen bonding of the interfacial carbonyl groups of lipids. Radiation further caused significant decrements in the α-helix and turns, and significant increments in the β-sheet and random coil contents in the protein structure. Hierarchical cluster analyses, performed in the whole region (3030–1000 cm–1), lipid (3030–2800 cm–1), and protein (1700–1600 cm–1) regions separately, successfully differentiated the control and irradiated groups of rat brain membranes and showed that proteins in the membranes are affected more than lipids from the damages induced with ionizing radiation. As a result, the current study showed that FT-IR spectroscopy can be used successfully as a novel method to monitor radiation-induced alterations on biological membranes.

Investigation of diabetes-induced effect on apex of rat heart myocardium by using cluster analysis and neural network approach: An FTIR study

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a progressive chronic disorder, which affects people belonging to all age groups of the population. This disease is accompanied by a greatly increased risk of cardiovascular death. In the present study, the effects of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes on apex myocardium of the rat heart have been investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra. The cluster analysis has been applied to FTIR spectra to differentiate the diabetic samples from the normal controls. In addition, the protein secondary structures of diabetic and normal tissues were predicted by neural networks based on the amide I band of the FTIR spectra. The findings mainly suggest that 5 weeks of diabetes alters the lipid and protein profile of normal rat heart apex myocardium, which might have an important role in understanding the molecular mechanism of diabetes-related heart diseases.

Structural effects of simvastatin on rat liver tissue: Fourier transform infrared and Raman microspectroscopic studies

Abstract. Simvastatin is one of the most frequently prescribed statins because of its efficacy in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, reducing cardiovascular risk and related mortality. Determination of its side effects on different tissues is mandatory to improve safe use of this drug. In the present study, the effects of simvastatin on molecular composition and structure of healthy rat livers were investigated by Fourier transform infrared and Raman imaging. Simvastatin-treated groups received 50  mg/kg/day simvastatin for 30 days. The ratio of the area and/or intensity of the bands assigned to lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids were calculated to get information about the drug-induced changes in tissues. Loss of unsaturation, accumulation of end products of lipid peroxidation, and alterations in lipid-to-protein ratio were observed in the treated group. Protein secondary structure studies revealed significant decrease in α-helix and increase in random coil, while native β-sheet decreases and aggregated β-sheet increases in treated group implying simvastatin-induced protein denaturation. Moreover, groups were successfully discriminated using principal component analysis. Consequently, high-dose simvastatin treatment induces hepatic lipid peroxidation and changes in molecular content and protein secondary structure, implying the risk of liver disorders in drug therapy.