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Flavonoids, secondary plant metabolites with many health-promoting properties, including antioxidant, are a valuable component of food products, especially functional foods. In the latter, plant extracts are commonly used, the properties of which are attributed to the characteristic main ingredients. However, in a mixture the antioxidant properties of the individual ingredients do not always show an additive effect. This paper presents and discusses the antioxidant properties of naturally occurring flavonoid aglycones and their binary mixtures. In the experiments, model systems were used that differed in the volume of the alcoholic antioxidant solution in the measuring system and its concentration in the range in which it occurs in nature. Antioxidant properties were determined by ABTS and DPPH methods. The presented data proved that the dominant resultant effect in the mixtures is antioxidant antagonism. The magnitude of the observed antagonism depends on the mutual relations of individual components, their concentrations and the method used to assess antioxidant properties. It was shown that the observed non-additive antioxidant effect of the mixture results from the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds between phenolic groups of the antioxidant molecule. The presented results may be useful in the context of proper design of functional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature is a valuable source of anti-oxidants that have a health-promoting effect by inhibiting various undesirable changes leading to cell degradation and, consequently, potential disease ailments. One of them is gallic acid which has been used as a healing agent since ancient times. Currently, due to various beneficial properties, this compound is considered to be one of the main phenolic acids of great importance in numerous industries. It is commonly used as a substance protecting against the harmful effects of UV radiation, an astringent in cosmetic preparations, and a preservative in food products. Therefore, gallic acid is now deemed essential for both human health and industry. Increasingly better methods of its isolation and analysis are being developed, and new solutions are being sought to increase its production. This review, presenting a concise characterization of gallic acid, updates the knowledge about its various biological activities and methods used for its isolation and determination, including chromatographic and non-chromatographic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorogenic acid (CQA) is one of phenolics commonly found in higher plants, possessing numerous health-promoting effects on humans. Unfortunately, it is easily degraded/transformed into other substances during extraction. Therefore, its reliable analysis requires a special approach that does not involve high temperatures. This paper presents a very simple method of CQA isolation using the sea sand disruption method with subsequent purification of the extract using the ion-pair solid-phase extraction process, followed by HPLC–DAD detection. It was found that control of the ion pairing reagent concentration and sample pH is crucial to improve purification, and that the best results, with recovery exceeding 98%, were obtained for 0.05 M tetrabutylammonium bisulfate at pH 7 when the ion pairs were formed directly in the extract and eluted from the C18 sorbent using an acidified methanol–water mixture. The practical potential of the developed procedure was verified by using it for CQA isolation from different plants. The approach represents one of the contemporary analytical trends and current advances in the solid phase extraction, in which several sorption extraction techniques are combined to ensure high-quality analytical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, to increase the content of quercetin in the isolates obtained from the white and red onion scales, in accordance with the zero waste philosophy, using water as an environmentally and healthy friendly extractant, a mathematical model was constructed, based on the Central Composite Design. The suitability of the model for the accurate and quick study of complex relationships was demonstrated by obtaining a statistically insignificant difference in the yield predicted by the model and that determined experimentally under optimal extraction conditions, i.e., 44.14 mg/g (33.57 mg/g) and 45.54 mg/g (33.31 mg/g) for white (red) onion scales, respectively. To present the obtained isolates applicability, their biological activity was assessed in terms of antioxidant activity and antifungal activity against various fungi, showing properties that are sufficient to encourage the use of this material, previously treated as worthless waste, for the production of various functional ingredients, including functional food additives. Moreover, they can be also used to produce safe and effective protectants meeting the GRAS criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extensive use of rodenticides poses a severe threat to non-target species, particularly birds of prey and scavengers. In this study, a GC-MS/MS-based method was used to unlock the cause of bird deaths in Poland. Organs (liver, heart, kidney, and lungs) collected during autopsies of two rooks (Corvus frugilegus) and one carrion crow (Corvus corone corone), as well as fecal samples, were analyzed for the presence of anticoagulant coumarin derivatives, i.e., warfarin and bromadiolone. As for warfarin, the highest concentration was found in crow samples overall, with concentrations in the feces and lungs at 5.812 ± 0.368 µg/g and 4.840 ± 0.256 µg/g, respectively. The heart showed the lowest concentration of this compound (0.128 ± 0.01 µg/g). In the case of bromadiolone, the highest concentration was recorded in the liver of a rook (16.659 ± 1.499 µg/g) and this concentration significantly exceeded the levels in the other samples. By revealing the reality of the threat, these discoveries emphasize the need to regulate and monitor the trade in rodenticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Effective diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases requires the right tools to be used enabling selective and sensitive analysis of their biomarkers. One of them is homocysteine (Hcy), nowadays determined by immunoassays and chromatographic methods. This study aims to compare the results obtained by direct chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) and high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection (HPLC-FD) using commercial kits. Materials and methods: Homocysteine concentration was determined in serum samples obtained from 101 individuals, using Atellica IM HCY (Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany) and HCY in plasma/serum - HPLC-FD (Chromsystems Instruments & Chemicals GmbH, Gräfelfing, Germany) tests validated for routine analysis. The latter was applied as a reference method. The comparability and agreement between the tested methods were evaluated using the Passing-Bablok (PB) regression analysis and the Bland-Altman (BA) method of the differences analysis. Results: Studies showed that CLIA gives higher Hcy concentrations (15.7 ± 4.14 µmol/L). Passing-Bablok regression analysis of the results obtained with CLIA (y) compared with HPLC-FD (x) yielded an intercept of 0.22 (95%CI: - 2.16 to 2.46) and slope of 1.58 (95%CI: 1.33 to 1.87). Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated a systematic positive bias for CLIA of 5.85 ± 2.77 µmol/L. Conclusions: Methods disagreement precludes their interchangeability. Lower Hcy values by HPLC-FD result from its greater selectivity. High performance liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection should be considered as preferential method for analysing Hcy in blood serum as well as the recommended reference method for routine clinical analysis. This fact, however, imposes the need to establish new reference ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable plant analysis is a challenging task due to the physical character and chemical complexity of plant matrices. First of all, it requires the application of a proper sample preparation procedure to fully isolate the analyzed substances from the plant matrix. The high-temperature liquid-solid extraction is commonly applied for this purpose. In the light of recently published results, however, the application of high-temperature extraction for polyphenolics analysis in plants is disputable as it causes their transformation leading to erroneous quantitative estimations of these compounds. Experiments performed on different plants show that the transformation/degradation of quercetin and its glycosides is not induced by sea sand disruption method (SSDM) and prove the method to be most appropriate for the estimation of quercetin and its derivatives in plants. What is more, the application of SSDM in plant analysis allows the researcher, to determine which quercetin derivatives are native plant components and what is their true concentration. In other word, the application of SSDM in plant analysis eliminates errors in the study of plant metabolism involving quercetin and its derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyanthraquinones represent a group of pharmacologically active compounds characteristic for plants of the Rumex and Rheum genera. These compounds in the human intestine act as laxative compounds. As they cause the greatest side effects and are often abused by the public, their accurate analysis in plants and plant-derived laxatives is much needed. To isolate compounds from plants, pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) is frequently applied. The technique has been regarded, so far, as very effective, even in isolation of sensitive compounds for which exposure time in high temperature has a negative impact. This work demonstrates some interesting and surprising results accompanying PLE of hydroxyanthraquinones from the Rumex crispus L. root using methanol/water mixtures as extractant. The presented results demonstrate that glycoside forms of hydroxyanthraquinones (emodin -8 -O-β-D-glucopyranoside, chrysophanol -8 -O-β-D-glucopyranoside, and physcion -8 -O-β-D-glucopyranoside) are hydrolytically unstable even in the short-lasting PLE. The increase of water concentration in the extractant leads to the increase of the transformation degree of the glycoside forms to the corresponding aglycones (emodin, chrysophanol, and physcion), increasing the concentration of the latter. The rise in the PLE temperature accelerates the hydrolytical degradation of the glycoside forms. The extension of the extraction time also intensifies this process. The presented results show that extraction of glycosides using extractants containing water can lead to false conclusions about the chemical composition of plants. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study it was shown that the fungistatic and antioxidant activities of onion extracts are related to the type of liquid used as the extractant and the technique of its preparation. A change in the antioxidant properties of white and red onion extracts was demonstrated with the change of the temperature of the pressurized hot water extraction process, which can be easily related to the changes accompanying the process of thermal processing of vegetables and fruits during cooking. Owing to the experimental and mathematical approaches concerning both the main and characteristic components of onions, i.e., quercetin and phenols, respectively, with the biological activity of the extracts, it was possible to demonstrate the significant share of these compounds in the antifungal and antioxidant properties of the extracts. Considering that the research was carried out, inter alia, on onion husks, demonstrating a very high potential of biological properties of this waste material from agricultural production, the research results presented in the paper should encourage the popularization of the use of this so far underestimated raw material for the production of various functional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of calorimetric measurements and surface excess adsorption isotherms for adsorption process of n-butanol from n-hexane on controlled porosity glasses of different mean pore diameters. The pore diameter was found to have very small effect on the adsorption heat, while it affects the desorption heat recorded by the flow microcalorimeter. Moreover, in the region of very low alcohol concentration in solution, the heat of adsorption exhibits sharp maximum for both narrow and wide pore diameters. This rather puzzling result is attributed to the effect of molecular association of alcohol molecules in the solution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper presents the results of calorimetric measurements and surface excess adsorption isotherms for n-butanol adsorption from n-hexane on a series of controlled porosity glasses characterized by different mean pore diameters. It is demonstrated that, in the region of very low alcohol concentration in solution, the heat of adsorption exhibits sharp maximum, independently of the pore diameter of adsorbent. This rather puzzling result is explained by the heterogeneity of the surface and the effects of molecular association of alcohol molecules in the solution. A simple theoretical model that supports our predictions is presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Biological properties of menaquinone-7, one of the vitamin K2 vitamers (K2MK-7), both those proven and those that remain to be investigated, arouse extensive interest that goes beyond the strictly scientific framework. The most important of them is the prevention of age-related diseases, considering that we live in the times identified as the era of aging societies and many people are exposed to the vitamin K2MK-7 deficiency. Therefore, an effective analytical protocol that can be adopted as a diagnostic and preventive analytics tool is needed. Herein, a simple sample preparation method followed by the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based method (LC-MS/MS), was used for the selective and sensitive determination of K2MK-7 in serum samples. Under the optimized conditions, using 500 µL of serum and the same amount of n-hexane, the reproducibility and the accuracy were obtained in the ranges of 89–97% and 86–110%, respectively, and the limit of detection value was 0.01 ng/mL. This method was used for the routine analysis. Statistical interpretation of the data from 518 samples obtained during 2 years of practice allowed for obtaining information on the content and distribution of K2MK-7 in the Polish population, broken down by the sex and age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we have presented the development and validation of a rapid and sensitive reversed-phase liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the determination of vincristine (VCR) in patient serum samples. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Kinetex® (Singapore) column using a mobile phase consisting of 25 mM acetic acid and 0.3% formic acid (A) and methanol (B) in a gradient elution mode at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The VCR and internal standard (vinblastine) were monitored using the multiple reaction monitoring mode under positive electrospray ionization. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.67 ng/mL, and the upper limit of quantification (ULOQ) was 250 ng/mL for VCR. The calculated values of LOD and LOQ for VCR were 0.075 and 0.228 ng/mL, respectively. The calibration curve was linear over the VCR concentration range of 1.0–250 ng/mL in serum. The intra- and inter-day precision and precision were within the generally accepted criteria for the bioanalytical method (<15%). The method was successfully applied to the analysis of serum samples in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the antioxidant activity of serum and plasma samples of a known glutathione content with the activity of glutathione, whilst determining to what extent various stress factors might change the activity of the tested samples. Copper ions and benzene were used as examples of environmental stress factors, and xenobiotics in the form of representatives of various groups of drugs, were used as examples of pharmacological stressors at therapeutic ranges. The activity was assessed by the ABTS, ORAC, FRAP and CUPRAC methods. Glutathione content was measured by the HPLC-FD method. During the experiments, plasma samples were shown to be more resistant to oxidative stress. Moreover, the important role of environmental xenobiotics in oxidative stress was revealed, as well as the differentiated influence of pharmaceutical xenobiotics. Among all pharmaceutical xenobiotics tested, including representatives of antiarrhythmic, antiepileptic, cytostatic and mucolytic drugs, the greatest stress was shown for antiarrhythmic drugs and cytostatics. [Display omitted] • Antioxidant activity (AA) of serum, plasma and glutathione samples was compared. • Differentiated impact of various exogenous stress factors on AA was presented. • The greatest impact of antiarrhythmic and cytostatics drugs was proved. • The highest resistance to stress factors was demonstrated for human plasma. • It was proved that Acethylocysteine evidently promotes the increase of AA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]