Current Analytical Chemistry - Volume 9, Issue 1, 2013

Whilst a multitude of techniques have been employed to study the biology of tumour tissue and its response to chemotherapeutic reagents, most current methodologies do not capture the sophistication of the in vivo environment. Microfluidics however offers the ability to maintain and interrogate primary tissue samples in an environment with biomimetic flow characteristics. In this study head and neck squamous cell c Read More

Besides the internal genetic content and the chemical exchanges with external tissue environment, the physical interactions of cancer cells with its microenvironment also provide the guidelines for successful oncogenesis. During its metastatic journey from primary tumor to distant locations of body, a cancer cell is exposed to stresses of diverse origin and kind, of which fluid shear stresses of interstitial and haematogenic nature Read More

Tissue engineered bone grafts are among the most promising approaches to heal large bone defects. An in vitro culture phase prior to transplantation provides the opportunity to optimize the graft properties. In our study we developed computational models for the investigation of the deformation, perfusion and revascularization of a porous β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffold seeded with human bone marrow Read More

Surface engineering provides a powerful tool to create model systems to investigate the complex interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Cell adhesive peptide ligands (e.g. Arginine-Glycine-Aspatate (RGD) sequence) and carbohydrates are abundant in the ECM, and both are involved in mediating cell adhesion. However, how these interact is not well understood in vivo. Model systems to investigate their c Read More

The development of drug delivery systems in experimental therapy usually requires in vitro release models, that should posses specific characteristics including: low cost, simple procedure, high reproducibility and very importantly resemble as strictly as possible the in vivo behaviour. In this respect, the paper describes the effects of the use of different experimental procedures on the drug release profiles from controll Read More

The microcirculation plays a key role in the delivery of essential substrates for oxidative processes in cells, the removal of products of cell metabolism, and the regulation of peripheral blood flow distribution. The functional properties of microvascular networks strongly depend on the rheological properties of blood and on the heterogeneity of their architecture. However, studying blood flow behaviour through in vivo Read More

This review provides an overview of the emerging trends in analysis of essential oils and indicates future trends. Since early human history the essential oils have been used in folk medicine, food and cosmetic industries in various parts of the world. GC-FID is the traditional method for essential oils quantification while GC-MS is the most common analytical method for qualitative analysis. Chiral GC allowed the identificati Read More

The female flowers of hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are used as a flavoring agent in the brewing industry. There is growing interest in possible health benefits of hops, particularly as estrogenic and chemopreventive agents. Among the possible active constituents, most of the attention has focused on prenylated flavonoids, which can chemically be classified as prenylated chalcones and prenylated flavanones. Among chalcones, xan Read More

This review focuses on modern spectroscopic approaches to the investigations of the incorporation and organization of carotenoids in biological membranes and in experimental models of them. In particular, the application of electronic absorption, emission, Raman, resonance Raman and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopies are discussed in the light of the molecular organization of carotenoids in lipid membra Read More

This review deals with analytical techniques which are applied for the determination of mycotoxins in biological matrices. Mycotoxins are small (MW < 800) and naturally toxic secondary metabolites produced by a wide range of fungal species. Their common occurrence in food and feed poses a danger to the health of humans and animals. These secondary metabolites can act as mutagenic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, neurotoxic Read More

This paper demonstrates the special potential of Raman spectroscopy for the study of selected plant metabolites. Carotenoids, which are beneficial components in fruits and vegetables, have been shown to be a significant factor in lowering the risk of various types of cancer and ischemic heart diseases. On the other hand, alkaloids may have various effects on human health, e.g. caffeine is a mild stimulant of the central nervous Read More

In order to investigate the enantioseparation property of the biselector chiral stationary phase derived from polysaccharide, a new biselector chiral stationary phase was prepared by coating a blend of two amylose derivatives on an aminated silica gel. The blend consisted of amylose tris(phenylcarbamate) and amylose tris(benzoate) at a glucose unit ratio of 1:1 (mol/mol). For the sake of enantioseparation comparison Read More

Resonance light scattering technique has been employed to investigate the interaction between anthracyclines and DNA in the presence of quercetin. Upon binding to DNA, anthracyclines undergo dramatic enhancement in their resonance light scattering intensities, while quercetin goes through no obvious change in its intensity. Once being added into anthracyclines- DNA system, quercetin can induce great difference in r Read More

We constructed nano-metal oxide (tin oxide, cerium oxide, cobalt oxide, iron oxide, nickel oxide, gold oxide, and silver oxide) -modified carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) for detecting flavonols (kaempferol, myricetin, and quercetin) and flavones (luteolin and apigenin) using high-performance liquid chromatography with an electrochemical detector (HPLC-ECD). Flavonoids are more efficiently catalytically oxidized on a gold oxid Read More

A combination of a modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method and cloudpoint extraction (CPE) before spectrophotometric analysis has been developed for the determination of carbaryl residues in vegetable samples that include cucumber, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, kale, and yard long bean. The initial surfactantrich phase became colored upon diazotization with 2,4-dimethoxy anilin Read More

A novel capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method is, for the first time, developed for effective separation and simultaneous determination of ceftriaxone sodium and levofloxacin in human urine. The electrophoresis conditions were investigated and optimized. A 25 mM disodium tetraborate buffer adjusted with sodium hydroxide or phosphoric acid to pH 9.2 was used and the peak area was determined with UV de Read More