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Fructus Psoraleae (FP) is commonly used in the treatment of vitiligo, osteoporosis, and other diseases in clinic. As a result, the toxicity caused by FP is frequently encountered in clinical practice; however, the underlying toxicity mechanism remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the toxic effect of the ethanol extract of FP (EEFP) in rats and to explore the underlying toxic mechanisms using a metabolomics approach. The toxicity was evaluated by hematological indicators, biochemical indicators, and histological changes. In addition, a serum metabolomic method based on ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight MS (UPLC–Q‐TOF–MS) had been established to investigate the hepatorenal toxicity of FP. Multivariate statistical approaches, such as partial least squares discriminant analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis, were built to evaluate the toxic effects of FP and find potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways. Ten endogenous metabolites had been identified and the related metabolic pathways were involved in phospholipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, purine metabolism, and antioxidant system activities. The results showed that long‐term exposure to high‐dose EEFP may cause hepatorenal toxicity in rats. Therefore, serum metabolomics can improve the diagnostic efficiency of FP toxicity and make it more accurate and comprehensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key step in the workflow of bottom-up proteomics is the proteolysis of proteins into peptides with trypsin. In addition, enzyme-catalytic 18O labeled peptides as internal standards coupled with multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM MS) for the absolute quantitation of the target proteome is commonly used for its convenient operation and low cost. However, long digestion and labeling times, incomplete digestion and 18O to 16O back exchange limit its application, therefore, we developed a rapid and efficient digestion method based on a high ratio of trypsin to protein. In addition, after separation of the digested samples using pipette tips packed with reversed-phase packing materials in house, the trypsin can be separated, collected and reused at least four times. Based on this approach, a novel protein quantification method using 18O-labeled QconCAT peptides as internal standards combined with MRM MS for the absolute quantitation of a target proteome is established. Experimental results showed that the novel method had high digestion and 18O labeling efficiencies, and no 18O to 16O back-exchange occurred. A linear range covering 2 orders of magnitude and a limit of quantification (LOQ) as low as 5 fmol were achieved with an RSD below 10%. Then, the quantitative method is used for the absolute quantitation of drug metabolizing enzymes in human liver microsomes. The results are in good agreement with the previously reported data, which demonstrates that the novel method can be used for absolute quantitative analyses of target proteomes in complex biological samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epimedium Folium has been extensively utilized for medicinal purposes in China for a significant period. This review undertakes a comprehensive examination of literature pertaining to Epimedium and its metabolites over the past decade, drawing from databases such as PubMed. Through meticulous organization and synthesis of pertinent research findings, including disease models, pharmacological effects, and related aspects, this narrative review sheds light on the principal pharmacological activities and associated mechanisms of Epimedium in safeguarding the reproductive system, promoting bone health, mitigating inflammation, and combating tumors and viral infections. Consequently, this review contributes to a more profound comprehension of the recent advances in Epimedium research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Cui, Lin, Hao, Shi, Gao, Yang, Yang, Wu, Gao, Ru, Li, Xiao, Gao and Wang.)

Preparative electromigration techniques are a category of separation and preparation techniques based on differential electromigration principle. These techniques are widely applied in biomacromolecule and proteome researches. Related techniques mainly include preparative electrophoresis, preparative electrochromatography, preparative isoelectric focusing and free flow electrophoresis and so on. We review each kind of the preparative electromigration techniques on its apparatus designs, applications, advantages and disadvantages in detail. Microscale preparative electrophoresis is a hot spot in recent years. Its high resolution, high recovery and high efficiency make it a more prominent role in the biological sample analysis. In this review, we focus on some advances in microscale preparative electrophoresis and also give an outlook on preparative electromigration techniques in the future.

A novel multiple-channel apparatus for packing capillary chromatographic column was designed and manufactured for packing six capillary chromatographic columns with close column efficiency at the same time. Briefly, it consists of a magnetic stirrer, a liquid chromatographic pump and a multiple-channel can. The reagents used for preparing ODS (C18) slurry and stirring condition of the magnetic stirrer were optimized in the study. Two batches of capillary chromatographic columns were packed under the optimum condition, and these packed capillary chromatographic columns were evaluated in the terms of peak capacity, sequence coverage, retention times of three peptide ions and column pressure using the tryptic digest of a bovine serum albumin (BSA) and detected by LC-MS in electrospray ionization (ESI) mode. The experimental results showed that the six capillary chromatographic columns packed at the same time had close column efficiencies, however, the column efficiencies of twelve capillary chromatographic columns packed at two times were significantly different. In addition, there was no significant column efficiency difference when packing one or six capillary chromatographic columns at the same time. The multiple-channel apparatus designed by us is simple, time-saving, and can be applied to pack capillary chromatographic columns with similar column efficiencies, thus it is of evident advantage over traditional one-channel apparatus.

For deep coverage of proteome, especially in performing qualitative identification and quantitative analysis of low-abundance proteins, the most commonly used method is the application of a longer capillary chromatographic column or a capillary column packed with smaller particle sizes. However, this causes another problem, the very high back pressure which results in liquid leaks in some connection parts in a liquid chromatograph. To solve this problem, an electric heating apparatus was developed to raise the temperature of a capillary column for reducing its back pressure, which was further applied in a capillary high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry system (cHPLC-MS/MS), and evaluated in the terms of chromatographic column back pressure and chromatographic column efficiency using bovine serum albumin (BSA) tryptic digests and yeast tryptic digests, separately. The results showed that at the optimum current, our electric heating apparatus could reduce the column pressure of a capillary column packed with 3 µm packing materials by at least 50% during the separation of BSA tryptic digestion and yeast tryptic digestion, compared with that without electric heating. The column efficiency was also increased slightly. This suggested that the electric heating apparatus can significantly reduce the column pressure, which provides an efficient way to use capillary chromatographic columns packed with smaller sizes of particles at a lower pressure.

A novel method has been established based on metal element chelated tags coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-selected ion monitoring mass spectrometry (HPLC-SIM/MS). The labeling efficiency and stability of metal element chelated tags, the chromatographic retention behavior and MS behavior of the labeled peptides, the linear range and accuracy of this method were examined. The results showed that the metal element chelated tag method has high labeling efficiency and high labeling stability, and the labeled peptides with different kinds of metal tags have consistent chromatographic retention behavior. The method of metal tags coupled with HPLC-SIM/MS has high sensitivity with the limit of quantification (LOQ) up to 1 fmol. The linear range for the method was between 1 fmol to 500 fmol with R2 > 0.99, which means the method has a good linearity. Moreover, this method had an average recovery of 117.01%. The method was used in the absolute quantitation of a protein enolase in Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis (TTE) with a relative standard deviation of 5.74%, which means high precision. All the results showed that this method is accurate and reliable for the absolute quantitation of proteins. This gives us an alternative for the quantitative determination of proteins in relatively simple biological samples.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials built from organic binding ligands and metal ions through self-assembly. Currently, MOFs have drawn a growing interest among the scientific teams of various fields. Compared with conventional inorganic porous materials, MOFs possess larger specific surface areas, higher porosity and diversity of structures and functions, thus many potential applications have been proposed in the domains of gas adsorption and separation, sensors, drug delivery, catalysis or others. The combinations of MOFs and other materials such as graphene oxide, magnetic nanoparticles have obvious advantages in adsorption and separation. The appearance of novel materials greatly promotes interdisciplinary developments such as organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, coordination chemistry, materials chemistry, life science and computer science. This article reviews the progress of MOFs in recent years, including the characteristics of MOFs, advances at home and abroad, applications, central issues of compound MOFs and the prospects in the future.