Dietary bioflavonoid quercetin modulates porcine ovarian granulosa cell functions in vitro

Quercetin is a dietary bioflavonoid used widely as a food supplement and is generally recognized as safe. The aim of this in vitro study was to examine the steroid hormone (progesterone and 17- β estradiol) release, proliferation (PCNA and cyclin B1) and apoptosis (caspase 3 and p53) of porcine ovarian granulosa cells after the addition of quercetin at concentrations 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100?μmol?L^?1. Progesterone release was stimulated at the concentration 10?μmol?L^?1. Quercetin neither had any impact on 17-β estradiol secretion nor on the presence of PCNA. However, a significant enhancement of the occurrence of cyclin B1 was noted except for the lowest concentration 0.01?μmol?L^?1. Quercetin did not have any influence on the number of granulosa cells containing caspase 3, but at the concentration 10?μmol?L^?1 it inhibited p53 occurrence. Results confirm the safety of quercetin in porcine ovarian granulosa cell model and further suggest its possible concentration-dependent influence on ovarian functions through pathway that may involve progesterone, cyclin B1 and p53.     

厌氧时聚-β-羟基丁酸酯(PHB)最大化积累的影响因子

为实现有限碳源的最大化利用,在厌氧/限氧曝气序批式生物系统的基础上,以碳源偏低的模拟城市污水为对象,分析比较厌氧阶段典型周期内不同碳源浓度,总磷浓度对聚-β-羟基丁酸酯(PHB)积累的影响,并考察了运用新的前曝气模式对PHB积累的影响。结果表明,当碳源浓度为140、280和400 mg/L时,PHB积累的最大值分别为10.53、22.75和32.61 mg/g;当总磷浓度为6、12和18 mg/L时,PHB最大积累值分别为25.75、32.54和38.27 mg/g。说明进水碳源浓度和总磷浓度与PHB的最大积累量呈正相关,且碳源浓度对PHB积累量的影响比总磷浓度的影响大。比较无前曝气时厌氧PHB最大积累量,前曝气时间为10、20和30 min的最大积累量分别增长了25.1%、57.1%和69.5%,说明增设前曝气运行方式有利于PHB的积累。     

多氯联苯对孔雀鱼卵黄蛋白原的诱导及检测

为探讨利用孔雀鱼(Poecilia reticulata)卵黄蛋白原(Vitellogenin,Vtg)作为生物标志物检测环境雌激素的可行性,采用浸浴法分别使用17β-雌二醇(E2)和多氯联苯(PCBs)对雄性孔雀鱼成鱼进行染毒,30d后测定其性腺系数(GSI)和肝指数(LSI),并将鱼体整体匀浆进行常规聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳(Native-PAGE)及磷、脂和糖蛋白特异染色分析.结果表明,PCBs对雄性孔雀鱼具有雌激素效应,和E2均可以诱导雄性孔雀鱼体内产生Vtg,但诱导组雄鱼GSI及LSI与对照组比较均无显著性差异(p>0.05).Native-PAGE及磷、脂、糖蛋白特异性分析表明,孔雀鱼Vtg是一种富含磷、脂、糖的蛋白,具有VtgⅠ、VtgⅡ和VtgⅢ等3种形式,其分子量分别为642kDa、541kDa和441kDa.雄性孔雀鱼Vtg可作为环境雌激素监测的有效生物标记物.     

Simultaneous analysis of free and sulfo-conjugated steroid estrogens in artificial urine solution and agricultural soils by high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple and robust analytical method was developed to simultaneously detect and quantify 17β-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol-3-sulphate (E2-3S), and estrone-3-sulphate (E1-3S) in aqueous solutions (calcium chloride and artificial urine solutions) and agricultural soils using high performance liquid chromatography and UV detection. The standards for all four compounds were linear in the range of 0.01 to 1.0 μg mL^?1 (n = 6) and 1.0 to 20 μg mL^?1 (n = 6), respectively, with correlation coefficients > 0.999. The on-column limits of detection at an injection volume of 50 μL and S/N (signal: noise) ratio of 3 were: 9.0 ng mL^?1, 10 ng mL^?1, 5.0 ng mL^?1, and 7.0 ng mL^?1 for E2-3S, E1-3S, E2 and E1, respectively. The limit of detection and quantification in artificial urine solution and CaCl₂ solution was 1.0 ng mL^?1 for all four compounds. Method detection limits for the compounds in the 3 soils ranged from 2 to 2.4 ng g^?1 (E2-3S and E1-3S), and 1.0 to 2.9 ng g^?1 (E2 and E1), respectively.     

Effects of biodegradation and sorption by humic acid on the estrogenicity of 17β-estradiol

The removal of 17β-estradiol (E2) by biodegradation and sorption onto humic acid (HA) was examined at various HA concentrations. Subsequently, estrogenicity associated with E2 removal was estimated using E-screen bioassay. Results showed that E2 biodegradation and its subsequent transformation to estrone (E1) were significantly reduced with increasing HA concentration. In addition, the presence of nutrients enhanced the biodegradation of E2. Overall, E2 biodegradation was the dominating contributor to its removal, which demonstrated a significantly negative correlation with E2 sorption at various HA concentrations. The sorption of E2 by HA was significantly enhanced with increasing HA concentration. Estrogenicity associated with residual E2 showed that there existed a significant difference among various HA concentrations, with the lowest value in the absence of HA. The findings suggest that the presence of HA and nutrients in natural waters should be considered in assessing estrogenicity of environmental samples due to complex sorption and biodegradation processes.     

Biosynthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate by Gamma proteobacterium WD-3 from volatile fatty acids

The production of copolymers of poly-β-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) is generally a high cost process. To reduce the production costs, inexpensive carbon sources such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from acidified wastewater can be used. Therefore, isolation of bacterial strains that can produce PHA copolymers using VFAs as a sole carbon source would be a beneficial alternative. In this study, a strain of PHA accumulating bacterium was isolated from the wastewater treatment plant of a soybean processing facility in Harbin. The strain was identified as γ-proteobacterium according to its 16S rDNA information and was originally named as strain WD-3. The strain accumulated a mass of PHA up to 45% of its dry cell weight when it was cultured under the optimum fermentation condition in this study when butyrate was used as the carbon source. In addition, WD-3 could synthesize PHA copolymers of poly-hydroxybutyrate and poly-hydroxyvalerate (PHV) either from C-even substrates or from C-odd substrates, and one-third of the copolymer was PHV. Results from this study demonstrated that small molecule organic acids can be used by the strain of WD-3 as the carbon source for growth and PHA production. The maximum PHA yield in the study was 0.45 g g⁻¹ dry cell.     

Inter-laboratory exercise on steroid estrogens in aqueous samples

An inter-laboratory comparison exercise was organized among European laboratories, under the aegis of EU COST Action 636: “Xenobiotics in Urban Water Cycle”. The objective was to evaluate the performance of testing laboratories determining “Endocrine Disrupting Compounds” (EDC) in various aqueous matrices. As the main task three steroid estrogens: 17α-ethinylestradiol, 17β-estradiol and estrone were determined in four spiked aqueous matrices: tap water, river water and wastewater treatment plant influent and effluent using GC-MS and LC-MS/MS. Results were compared and discussed according to the analytical techniques applied, the accuracy and reproducibility of the analytical methods and the nature of the sample matrices. Overall, the results obtained in this inter-laboratory exercise reveal a high level of competence among the participating laboratories for the detection of steroid estrogens in water samples indicating that GC-MS as well as LC-MS/MS can equally be employed for the analysis of natural and synthetic hormones.     

聚磷菌胞内多聚物的分析检测方法

PHA、糖原和多聚偏磷酸盐这三种多聚物在聚磷茵（PAOs）体内的代谢和生长有着很重要的作用,它们同时也影响污水处理强化生物除磷系统的处理效果,因此需要对胞内聚合物进行分析测定。本文介绍了监测PHA、糖原和多聚偏磷酸盐的常用定量和定性方法,以及部分方法的提取手段、预处理过程、测定原理以及注意事项。     

纳米TiO 2 -碳纳米管复合膜修饰电极伏安法测定水中α -萘酚和β -萘酚

摘要：制备了一种新型的纳米TiO2-碳纳米管复合膜修饰电极,在pH值为5.57的NaAc-HAc缓冲溶液中,研究了α-萘酚和β-萘酚在该修饰电极上的电化学行为,据此建立了纳米TiO2-碳纳米管复合膜修饰电极伏安法测定水中α-萘酚和β-萘酚的方法。优化了试验条件,α-萘酚和β-萘酚分别在8.3×10^-7mol／L—1.0×10^-5mol／L和7.8×10^-7mol／L—1.0×10^-5mol／L范围内,浓度与氧化峰电流呈良好的线性关系,开路富集3min,检出限分别为3.5××10^-7mol／L和2.3×10^-7mol／L,模拟水样测定的回收率为97.6％—101％。     

气相色谱/负离子化学电离质谱法测定地表水中硫丹及其代谢物

采用气相色谱/负离子化学电离质谱法测定地表水中的硫丹及其代谢物,用正己烷提取,外标法定量。α-硫丹、β-硫丹及硫丹硫酸酯在0.200μg/L～10.0μg/L范围内线性良好,方法检出限分别为0.010μg/L、0.008μg/L及0.010μg/L,空白加标平行测定的RSD为3.9%～4.8%,地表水样品加标回收率为85.5%～93.8%。