Resolution Magic Angle Spinning NMR Research Articles

Ionogels based on protic ionic liquid - lithium salt mixtures

The effect of the addition of lithium nitrate on the liquid range and electrical conductivity of mixtures of a protic ionic liquid, ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) with LiNO3 is reported in this work. Moreover, changes in these properties upon confinement in silica-based matrices are also analysed and related to variations on the microstructure of the mixtures. Our results show that gelation of the mixtures induces amorphous behaviour in all the samples, but no significant changes in the thermal stability are detected. However, important differences on the electrical conductivity of the liquid and gel states of the mixtures were observed. While this magnitude decreases with the addition of salt in the liquid samples for all the temperatures it increases at low concentrations of LiNO3 up to a maximum in the gelled samples with the lowest concentration of added salt (0.1 mol of salt by kg of EAN). High resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR shows that the addition of lithium nitrate increases the mobility (both rotational and translational motion) of the cation EA+ within the ionogel and the diffusion of the cation provides evidence of the presence of two different populations of the same molecules experiencing two distinct apparent diffusion coefficients (bi-exponential decay of magnetization in diffusion NMR experiments), while it is mono-exponential in the pure ionic liquid. The Li+ cation is shown to display a higher mobility (both rotational and translational motion) in the ionogel than in the neat ionic liquid. The frustration of the formation of solvation complexes due to the confinement is suspected to be behind this behaviour.

Hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels: Drug diffusion investigated by HR-MAS NMR and release kinetics

Hydrogels based on hyaluronic acid (HA) and agarose-carbomer (AC) raised an increasing interest as drug delivery systems. The complex architecture of the polymer network, such as mesh size, HA molecular weight and drug-polymer non covalent interactions across the 3D polymer matrix strongly influence the release capability/profile of these materials. In this study, AC-HA hydrogels with different mesh sizes have been prepared and characterised. High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy has been used to investigate the motion of two drugs, such as ethosuximide (neutral molecule) and sodium salicylate (net negative charge) within the AC and AC-HA hydrogel networks. Analysis of the experimental data provides evidence of superdiffusive motion for all formulations containing sodium salicylate, while ethosuximide molecules undergo unrestricted diffusion within the gel matrix. We further speculate that the superdiffusive motion, observed at the nanoscale, can be responsible for the faster release of sodium salicylate from all hydrogel formulations.

Synthesis and In Situ Behavior of 1,4- and 2,5-(13C) Isotopomers of p-Phenylenediamine in Reconstructed Human Epidermis Using High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning NMR.

p-Phenylenediamine (PPD) has been classified as a strong skin allergen, but when it comes to toxicological concerns, benzoquinone diamine (BQDI), the primary oxidation derivative of PPD, is frequently considered and was shown to covalently bind nucleophilic residues on model peptides. However, tests in solution are far from providing a reliable model, as the cutaneous metabolism of PPD is not covered. We now report the synthesis of two 13C substituted isotopomers of PPD, 1,4-(13C)p-phenylenediamine 1 and 2,5-(13C)p-phenylenediamine 2, and the investigation of their reactivity in reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) using the high resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR technique. RHE samples were first treated with 1 or 2 and incubated for 1 to 48 h. Compared to the control, spectra clearly showed only the signals of 1 or 2 gradually decreasing with time to disappear after 48 h of incubation. However, the culture media of RHE incubated with 1 for 1 and 24 h, respectively, showed the presence of both monoacetylated- and diacetylated-PPD as major products. Therefore, the acetylation reaction catalyzed by N-acetyltransferase (NAT) enzymes appeared to be the main process taking place in RHE. With the aim of increasing the reactivity by oxidation, 1 and 2 were treated with 0.5 equiv of H2O2 prior to their application to RHE and incubated for different times. Under these conditions, new peaks having close chemical shifts to those of PPD-cysteine adducts previously observed in solution were detected. Under such oxidative conditions, we were thus able to detect and quantify cysteine adducts in RHE (maximum of 0.2 nmol/mg of RHE at 8 h of incubation) while no reaction with other nucleophilic amino acid residues could be observed.

Molecular Level Characterisation of the Surface of Carbohydrate-Functionalised Mesoporous silica Nanoparticles (MSN) as a Potential Targeted Drug Delivery System via High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR Spectroscopy.

Atomistic level characterisation of external surface species of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) poses a significant analytical challenge due to the inherently low content of grafted ligands. This study proposes the use of HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy for a molecular level characterisation of the external surface of carbohydrate-functionalised nanoparticles. MSN differing in size (32 nm, 106 nm, 220 nm) were synthesised using the sol-gel method. The synthesised materials displayed narrow particle size distribution (based on DLS and TEM results) and a hexagonal arrangement of the pores with a diameter of ca. 3 nm as investigated with PXRD and N2 physisorption. The surface of the obtained nanoparticles was functionalised with galactose and lactose using reductive amination as confirmed by FTIR and NMR techniques. The functionalisation of the particles surface did not alter the pore architecture, structure or morphology of the materials as confirmed with TEM imaging. HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy was used for the first time to investigate the structure of the functionalised MSN suspended in D2O. Furthermore, lactose was successfully attached to the silica without breaking the glycosidic bond. The results demonstrate that HR-MAS NMR can provide detailed structural information on the organic functionalities attached at the external surface of MSN within short experimental times.

Metabolomic Impact of Lidocaine on a Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line.

Background: Metabolomics and onco-anesthesia are two emerging research fields in oncology. Metabolomics (metabolites analysis) is a new diagnostic and prognostic tool that can also be used for predicting the therapeutic or toxic responses to anticancer treatments. Onco-anesthesia studies assess the impact of anesthesia on disease-free and overall survival after cancer surgery. It has been shown that local anesthetics (LA), particularly lidocaine (LIDO), exert antitumor properties both in vitro and in vivo and may alter the biologic fingerprints of cancer cells. As LA are known to impair mitochondrial bioenergetics and byproducts, the aim of the present study was to assess the impact of LIDO on metabolomic profile of a breast cancer cell line. Methods: Breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells were exposed for 4 h to 0.5 mM LIDO or vehicle (n = 4). The metabolomic fingerprint was characterized by high resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy (HRMAS). The multivariate technique using the Algorithm to Determine Expected Metabolite Level Alteration (ADEMA) (Cicek et al., PLoS Comput. Biol., 2013, 9, e1002859), based on mutual information to identify expected metabolite level changes with respect to a specific condition, was used to determine the metabolites variations caused by LIDO. Results: LIDO modulates cell metabolites levels. Several pathways, including glutaminolysis, choline, phosphocholine and total choline syntheses were significantly downregulated in the LIDO group. Discussion: This is the first study assessing the impact of LIDO on metabolomic fingerprint of breast cancer cells. Among pathways downregulated by LIDO, many metabolites are reported to be associated with adverse prognosis when present at a high titer in breast cancer patients. These results fit with the antitumor properties of LIDO and suggest its impact on metabolomics profile of cancer cells. These effects of LIDO are of clinical significance because it is widely used for local anesthesia with cutaneous infiltration during percutaneous tumor biopsy. Future in vitro and preclinical studies are necessary to assess whether metabolomics analysis requires modification of local anesthetic techniques during tumor biopsy.

Metabolic Profiling of Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Reveals Multifaceted Effects in an Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model.

Background:Circadian rhythm disturbance is commonly observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In mammals, these rhythms are orchestrated by the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Our previous study in the Tg2576 AD mouse model suggests that inflammatory responses, most likely manifested by low GABA production, may be one of the underlying perpetrators for the changes in circadian rhythmicity and sleep disturbance in AD. However, the mechanistic connections between SCN dysfunction, GABA modulation, and inflammation in AD is not fully understood.Objective:To reveal influences of amyloid pathology in Tg2576 mouse brain on metabolism in SCN and to identify key metabolic sensors that couple SCN dysfunction with GABA modulation and inflammation.Methods:High resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR in conjunction with multivariate analysis was applied for metabolic profiling in SCN of control and Tg2576 female mice. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect neurons, astrocytes, expression of GABA transporter 1 (GAT1) and Bmal1.Results:Metabolic profiling revealed significant metabolic deficits in SCN of Tg2576 mice. Reductions in glucose, glutamate, GABA, and glutamine provide hints toward an impaired GABAergic glucose oxidation and neurotransmitter cycling in SCN of AD mice. In addition, decreased redox co-factor NADPH and glutathione support a redox disbalance. Immunohistochemical examinations showed low expression of the core clock protein, Bmal1, especially in activated astrocytes. Moreover, decreased expression of GAT1 in astrocytes indicates low GABA recycling in this cell type.Conclusion:Our results suggest that redox disbalance and compromised GABA signaling are important denominators and connectors between neuroinflammation and clock dysfunction in AD.

MBRS-69. METABOLITE PROFILING OF SHH MEDULLOBLASTOMA IDENTIFIES A SUBSET OF CHILDHOOD TUMOURS ENRICHED FOR HIGH-RISK MOLECULAR BIOMARKERS AND CLINICAL FEATURES

SHH medulloblastoma patients have a variable prognosis. Infants (<3–5 years at diagnosis) are associated with a good prognosis, while disease-course in childhood is associated with specific prognostic biomarkers (MYCN amplification, TP53 mutation, LCA histology; all high-risk). There is an unmet need to identify prognostic subgroups of SHH tumours rapidly in the clinical setting, to aid in real-time risk stratification and disease management. Metabolite profiling is a powerful technique for characterising tumours. High resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy (HR-MAS) can be performed on frozen tissue samples and provides high quality metabolite information. We therefore assessed whether metabolite profiles could identify subsets of SHH tumours with prognostic potential. Metabolite concentrations of 22 SHH tumours were acquired by HR-MAS and analysed using unsupervised hierarchical clustering. Methylation profiling assigned the infant and childhood SHH subtypes, and clinical and molecular features were compared between clusters. Two clusters were observed. A significantly higher concentration of lipids was observed in Cluster 1 (t-test, p=0.012). Cluster 1 consisted entirely of childhood-SHH whilst Cluster 2 included both childhood-SHH and infant-SHH subtypes. Cluster 1 was enriched for high-risk markers - LCA histology (3/7 v. 0/5), MYCN amplification (2/7 v. 0/5), TP53 mutations (3/7 v. 1/5) and metastatic disease - whilst having a lower proportion of TERT mutations (0/7 v. 2/5) than Cluster 2. These pilot results suggest that (i) it is possible to identify childhood-SHH patients linked to high-risk clinical and molecular biomarkers using metabolite profiles and (ii) these may be detected non-invasively in vivo using magnetic-resonance spectroscopy.

Effects of adult male rat feminization treatments on brain morphology and metabolomic profile

Body feminization, as part of gender affirmation process of transgender women, decreases the volume of their cortical and subcortical brain structures. In this work, we implement a rat model of adult male feminization which reproduces the results in the human brain and allows for the longitudinal investigation of the underlying structural and metabolic determinants in the brain of adult male rats undergoing feminization treatments. Structural MRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) were used to non-invasively monitor in vivo cortical brain volume and white matter microstructure over 30 days in adult male rats receiving estradiol (E2), estradiol plus cyproterone acetate (CA), an androgen receptor blocker and antigonadotropic agent (E2 + CA), or vehicle (control). Ex vivo cerebral metabolic profiles were assessed by 1H High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning NMR (1H HRMAS) at the end of the treatments in samples from brain regions dissected after focused microwave fixation (5 kW). We found that; a) Groups receiving E2 and E2 + CA showed a generalized bilateral decrease in cortical volume; b) the E2 + CA and, to a lesser extent, the E2 groups maintained fractional anisotropy values over the experiment while these values decreased in the control group; c) E2 treatment produced increases in the relative concentration of brain metabolites, including glutamate and glutamine and d) the glutamine relative concentration and fractional anisotropy were negatively correlated with total cortical volume. These results reveal, for the first time to our knowledge, that the volumetric decreases observed in trans women under cross-sex hormone treatment can be reproduced in a rat model. Estrogens are more potent drivers of brain changes in male rats than anti-androgen treatment.

Genome-Wide Transcriptome and Metabolome Analyses Provide Novel Insights and Suggest a Sex-Specific Response to Heat Stress in Pigs.

Heat stress (HS) negatively impacts pig production and swine health. Therefore, to understand the genetic and metabolic responses of pigs to HS, we used RNA-Seq and high resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR analyses to compare the transcriptomes and metabolomes of Duroc pigs (n = 6, 3 barrows and 3 gilts) exposed to heat stress (33 °C and 60% RH) with a control group (25 °C and 60% RH). HS resulted in the differential expression of 552 (236 up, 316 down) and 879 (540 up, 339 down) genes and significant enrichment of 30 and 31 plasma metabolites in female and male pigs, respectively. Apoptosis, response to heat, Toll-like receptor signaling and oxidative stress were enriched among the up-regulated genes, while negative regulation of the immune response, ATP synthesis and the ribosomal pathway were enriched among down-regulated genes. Twelve and ten metabolic pathways were found to be enriched (among them, four metabolic pathways, including arginine and proline metabolism, and three metabolic pathways, including pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis), overlapping between the transcriptome and metabolome analyses in the female and male group respectively. The limited overlap between pathways enriched with differentially expressed genes and enriched plasma metabolites between the sexes suggests a sex-specific response to HS in pigs.

Evidence of superdiffusive nanoscale motion in anionic polymeric hydrogels: Analysis of PGSE- NMR data and comparison with drug release properties

Polymeric hydrogels are promising candidates for drug delivery applications, thanks to their ability to encapsulate, transport and release a wide range of chemicals. The successful application of these materials requires a deep understanding of the mechanisms governing solute transport at the nanoscale and its impact on release kinetics. In this work, we investigate the translational diffusion of ibuprofen loaded in anionic agarose-carbomer (AC) hydrogels by 1H high resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy, and compare it to its macroscopic release kinetics. The analysis of the experimental NMR data provides the first evidence of superdiffusion for ibuprofen in AC hydrogels. Superdiffusive transport is observed in the majority of our samples, especially those with the smallest mesh size (7 nm) and highest ibuprofen concentrations (90–120 mg/mL). This outcome is rationalized in terms of heavy-tailed distributions of spatial displacements (Lèvy flights) and of waiting times, which depend on the nanoscopic structural heterogeneity of the gels and the strong but reversible association between ibuprofen and the agarose matrix.

Immobilized Gold Nanoparticles Prepared from Gold(III)-Containing Ionic Liquids on Silica: Application to the Sustainable Synthesis of Propargylamines.

A cycloaurated phosphinothioic amide gold(III) complex was supported on amorphous silica with the aid of an imidazolium ionic liquid (IL) physisorbed in the SiO2 pores (SiO2–IL) and covalently bonded to the SiO2 (SiO2@IL). Gold(0) nanoparticles (AuNPs) were formed in situ and subsequently immobilized on the SiO2–IL/SiO2@IL phase. The resulting catalytic systems Au–SiO2–IL and Au–SiO2@IL promoted the solvent-free A3 coupling reaction of alkynes, aldehydes, and amines in high yields under solvent-free conditions with very low catalyst loading and without the use of additives. The Au–SiO2@IL catalyst showed good recyclability and could be reused at least five times with yields of propargylamines of ≥80%. This synthetic method provides a green and low cost way to effectively prepare propargylamines. Additionally, 31P high resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR spectroscopy is introduced as a simple technique to establish the Au loading of the catalyst.

1H HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy to study the metabolome of the protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia

Knowledge of the metabolic profile and exchange processes in the protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia is of importance for a better understanding of the biochemical processes and for the development of drugs to control diseases caused by G. lamblia. In the current paper, 1H High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy was directly applied to G. lamblia trophozoite suspensions to analyze the detectable small metabolites with a minimum of intervention. Thirty-one components were identified with main contributions from amino acids such as alanine and ornithine. The reproducibility, variability, and stability of the metabolites were investigated. Citrulline was found to be formed as an intermediate and citrulline levels depended on the stage of cell growth. Glucose-1-phosphate was found to be formed in relatively high amounts after cell harvesting if enzymes were not inactivated. In addition, the metabolic footprint of Giardia trophozoites, i.e. changes in the culture medium induced by G. lamblia, was investigated by liquid state NMR spectroscopy of culture media before and after inoculation. A quantitative comparison of the NMR spectra revealed component changes in the culture media during growth. The results suggested that not glucose but rather arginine serves as main energy supply. Biochemical functions of intracellular components and their metabolic exchange with the culture medium are discussed. The results provide an important basis for the design of HR-MAS NMR based metabolomic studies of G. lamblia in particular and any protozoan parasite samples in general.

NMR Analysis to Identify Biuret Groups in Common Polyureas

Polyureas (PU) are well known as a class of high impact engineering materials, and widely used also in emerging advanced applications. As a general observation, most of them are only soluble in a very limited number of highly protonic solvents, which makes their chemical structure analysis a great challenge. Besides the presence of abundant hydrogen bonding, the poor solubility of PU in common organic solvents is often ascribed to the formation of biuret crosslinking in their molecular chains. To clarify the presence of biuret groups in PU has been of great interest. To this end, two samples, based on hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) respectively, were synthesized by precipitation polymerization of each of these diisocyanates in water-acetone at 30 °C. Their chemical structures were analyzed by high resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR, and through comparison of their NMR spectra with those of specially prepared biuret-containing polyurea oligomers, it was concluded that biuret group was absent in all the PU prepared at 30 °C. In addition, this NMR analysis was also applied to a PU obtained by copolymerization of TDI with ethylene diamine (EDA) and water at 65 °C in EDA aqueous solution. It was confirmed that biuret unit was also absent in this PU and that EDA was more active than water towards TDI. The presence of EDA was crucial to the formation of uniform PU microspheres. This study provides therefore a reliable method for the analysis of PU chemical structure.

Hydroxyalkylation of xylan using propylene carbonate: comparison of products from homo- and heterogeneous synthesis by HRMAS NMR and rheology

Xylan is a highly available polysaccharide in the plant kingdom and is therefore a valuable resource for novel materials from renewable resources. Hydroxyalkylation is one of the most common reactions to derivatize biopolymers by altering hydroxyl groups. State of the art procedures incorporate epoxides, which are toxic, carcinogenic and highly explosive. In this study, hydroxyalkylation with propylene carbonate (PC) was used as green approach to synthesize xylan derivatives. Reaction pathways under homogeneous conditions, in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and heterogeneous conditions, without solvent, are compared. Analysis using liquid state and high resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR, a novel approach for insoluble but swellable polysaccharide derivatives, as well as FTIR spectroscopy, hydrolysis in combination with borate anion exchange chromatography, and rheology showed significant differences regarding the structure of the products. While the degree of substitution (DS) is similar under both conditions, side chains are significantly longer under heterogeneous conditions, implying a higher rate of homopolymerization. This leads to a non-complete decarboxylation. The higher sterical hindrance imposed by longer side chains therefore leads to a higher tendency of xylose monosaccharides being derivatized at only one native hydroxyl group, while under homogeneous conditions a higher tendency towards double substitution can be observed. Rheology showed a shear thinning behaviour as well as an increase in viscosity with DS for samples from homogeneous synthesis. Products from solvent-free approach were analyzed in swollen state. They showed gel-like behaviour, whose elasticity increases with increasing DS as a result of side chain entanglement.

Lipid Driven Nanodomains in Giant Lipid Vesicles are Fluid and Disordered

It is a fundamental question in cell biology and biophysics whether sphingomyelin (SM)- and cholesterol (Chol)- driven nanodomains exist in living cells and in model membranes. Biophysical studies on model membranes revealed SM and Chol driven micrometer-sized liquid-ordered domains. Although the existence of such microdomains has not been proven for the plasma membrane, such lipid mixtures have been often used as a model system for ‘rafts’. On the other hand, recent super resolution and single molecule results indicate that the plasma membrane might organize into nanocompartments. However, due to the limited resolution of those techniques their unambiguous characterization is still missing. In this work, a novel combination of Förster resonance energy transfer and Monte Carlo simulations (MC-FRET) identifies directly 10 nm large nanodomains in liquid-disordered model membranes composed of lipid mixtures containing SM and Chol. Combining MC-FRET with solid-state wide-line and high resolution magic angle spinning NMR as well as with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy we demonstrate that these nanodomains containing hundreds of lipid molecules are fluid and disordered. In terms of their size, fluidity, order and lifetime these nanodomains may represent a relevant model system for cellular membranes and are closely related to nanocompartments suggested to exist in cellular membranes.

Plasmid purification by using a new naphthalene tripodal support

Abstract The aim of this work was to employ a new naphthalene tripodal support for the isolation of supercoiled (sc) isoform of plasmid (pDNA) from a native sample. This support is for the first time synthesized and used in pDNA purification. The naphthalene tripodal ligand was synthesized and characterized to assess its purity and subsequently immobilized onto an epoxy-activated Sepharose CL-6B, using mild conditions and resulting in a ligand density of 0.32 mmol naphthalene tripodal/g derivatized Sepharose CL-6B. The complete characterization of naphthalene tripodal Sepharose CL-6B support was performed by High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and elemental analysis. The affinity was measured by SPR biosensor between naphthalene tripodal ligand immobilized on the surface and sc pVAX1- LacZ and the K D was 8.65 × 10 −8 ± 1.0 × 10 −8 M in 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, at T = 25 °C, indicating a high affinity. For comparison reasons, the affinity ligand 3,8-diamino-6-phenylphenanthridine (DAPP) was also immobilized on the chip surface and the K D for sc pVAX1- LacZ is lower than with naphthalene tripodal. Saturation transfer difference-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (STD-NMR) experiments showed that the interactions between the naphthalene tripodal–Sepharose CL-6B and DAPP-Sepharose supports and the 5′-mononucleotides are mainly hydrophobic and π-π stacking. The isolation of sc pDNA isoform was achieved with low salt concentrations, using 95 mM NaCl in binding step and 550 mM NaCl in elution step at T = 4 °C and pH 8, thus reducing the economic and environmental impact.

Polyurea Structure Characterization by HR-MAS NMR Spectroscopy

Owing to the presence of abundant interchain interactions such as hydrogen bonds, polyureas (PU) are only swellable or soluble in a limited number of highly protonic solvents, and the viscosity of the solutions obtained is very high, making their chemical structure characterization hard or even impossible by standard NMR. Accurate structure analysis is also hard by solid-state NMR due to low spectral resolution. The presence of a side reaction in their synthesis generating biuret cross-links is often invoked to explain their insolubility. Here we demonstrate that High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR is an efficient tool for the chemical structure analysis even for cross-linked PU. With 1H, 13C, and 1H–15N HSQC combined, a variety of linear and cross-linked PU is analyzed by HR-MAS NMR, and conclusive information on their chemical structure is obtained, which reveals for the first time that the biuret group is absent in all PU.

Metabolic Profiling of Intact Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves during Circadian Cycle Using 1H High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning NMR.

Arabidopsis thaliana is the most widely used model organism for research in plant biology. While significant advances in understanding plant growth and development have been made by focusing on the molecular genetics of Arabidopsis, extracting and understanding the functional framework of metabolism is challenging, both from a technical perspective due to losses and modification during extraction of metabolites from the leaves, and from the biological perspective, due to random variation obscuring how well the function is performed. The purpose of this work is to establish the in vivo metabolic profile directly from the Arabidopsis thaliana leaves without metabolite extraction, to reduce the complexity of the results by multivariate analysis, and to unravel the mitigation of cellular complexity by predominant functional periodicity. To achieve this, we use the circadian cycle that strongly influences metabolic and physiological processes and exerts control over the photosynthetic machinery. High resolution-magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (HR-MAS NMR) was applied to obtain the metabolic profile directly from intact Arabidopsis leaves. Combining one- and two-dimensional 1H HR-MAS NMR allowed the identification of several metabolites including sugars and amino acids in intact leaves. Multivariate analysis on HR-MAS NMR spectra of leaves throughout the circadian cycle revealed modules of primary metabolites with significant and consistent variations of their molecular components at different time points of the circadian cycle. Since robust photosynthetic performance in plants relies on the functional periodicity of the circadian rhythm, our results show that HR-MAS NMR promises to be an important non-invasive method that can be used for metabolomics of the Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with altered physiology and photosynthetic efficiency.

High resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy reveals that pectoralis muscle dystrophy in chicken is associated with reduced muscle content of anserine and carnosine

Increased incidences of pectoralis muscle dystrophy are observed in commercial chicken products, but the muscle physiological causes for the condition remain to be identified. In the present study a high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) proton (1H) NMR spectroscopic examination of intact pectoralis muscle samples (n=77) were conducted to explore metabolite perturbations associated with the muscle dystrophy condition for the very first time. Both in chicken with an age of 21 and 31days, respectively, pectoralis muscle dystrophy was associated with a significantly lower content of anserine (p=0.034), carnosine (p=0.019) and creatine (p=0.049). These findings must be considered intriguing as they corroborate that characteristic muscle di-peptides composed of β-alanine and histidine derivatives such as anserine are extremely important in homeostasis of contractile muscles as a results of their role as buffering, anti-oxidative, and anti-glycation capacities.

Transport Properties of Ibuprofen Encapsulated in Cyclodextrin Nanosponge Hydrogels: A Proton HR-MAS NMR Spectroscopy Study.

The chemical cross-linking of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride (EDTA) led to branched polymers referred to as cyclodextrin nanosponges (CDNSEDTA). Two different preparations are described with 1:4 and 1:8 CD-EDTA molar ratios. The corresponding cross-linked polymers were contacted with 0.27 M aqueous solution of ibuprofen sodium salt (IP) leading to homogeneous, colorless, drug loaded hydrogels. The systems were characterized by high resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy. Pulsed field gradient spin echo (PGSE) NMR spectroscopy was used to determine the mean square displacement (MSD) of IP inside the polymeric gel at different observation times td. The data were further processed in order to study the time dependence of MSD: MSD = f(td). The proposed methodology is useful to characterize the different diffusion regimes that, in principle, the solute may experience inside the hydrogel, namely normal or anomalous diffusion. The full protocols including the polymer preparation and purification, the obtainment of drug-loaded hydrogels, the NMR sample preparation, the measurement of MSD by HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy and the final data processing to achieve the time dependence of MSD are here reported and discussed. The presented experiments represent a paradigmatic case and the data are discussed in terms of innovative approach to the characterization of the transport properties of an encapsulated guest within a polymeric host of potential application for drug delivery.