Multi-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in the collinear pulse configuration with time-integrating detection was performed on metallic samples in ambient air in an effort to clarify the contributing processes responsible for the signal enhancement observed in comparison with single-pulse excitation. Complementary experiments were also carried out on another LIBS setup using detection by an imaging spectrograph with high time resolution. The effects of laser bursts consisting of up to seven ns-range pulses from Nd-doped solid-state lasers operating at their fundamental wavelength and separated by 8.5-50 micros time gaps was studied. The ablation and emission characteristics of the generated plasmas were investigated using light profilometry, microscopy, plasma imaging, emission distribution mapping, time-resolved line emission monitoring, and plasma temperature calculations. The experimental data suggest that the two contributing processes mainly responsible for the signal enhancement effect are the plume reheating caused by the sequential laser pulses and, more dominantly, the increased material ablation attributed to the lower breakdown threshold for the preheated (molten) sample surface and/or the reduced background gas pressure behind the shockwave of preceding pulses.

Chelidonium majus or greater celandine is spread throughout the world, and it is a very common and frequent component of modern phytotherapy. Although C. majus contains alkaloids with remarkable physiological effect, moreover, safety pharmacology properties of this plant are not widely clarified, medications prepared from this plant are often used internally. In our study the inhibitory effects of C. majus herb extracts and alkaloids on hERG potassium current as well as on cardiac action potential were investigated. Our data show that hydroalcoholic extracts of greater celandine and its alkaloids, especially berberine, chelidonine and sanguinarine have a significant hERG potassium channel blocking effect. These extracts and alkaloids also prolong the cardiac action potential in dog ventricular muscle. Therefore these compounds may consequently delay cardiac repolarization, which may result in the prolongation of the QT interval and increase the risk of potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmias.

The leaves of Morus alba L. have a long history in Traditional Chinese Medicine and also became valued by the ethnopharmacology of many other cultures. The worldwide known antidiabetic use of the drug has been suggested to arise from a complex combination effect of various constituents. Moreover, the drug is also a potential antihyperuricemic agent. Considering that type 2 diabetes and hyperuricemia are vice-versa in each other's important risk factors, the use of mulberry originated phytotherapeutics might provide an excellent option for the prevention and/or treatment of both conditions. Here we report a series of relevant in vitro and in vivo studies on the bioactivity of an extract of mulberry leaves and its fractions obtained by a stepwise gradient on silica gel. In vivo antihyperglycemic and antihyperuricemic activity, plasma antioxidant status, as well as in vitro glucose consumption by adipocytes in the presence or absence of insulin, xanthine oxidase inhibition, free radical scavenging activity, and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were tested. Known bioactive constituents of M. alba (chlorogenic acid, rutin, isoquercitrin, and loliolide) were identified and quantified from the HPLC-DAD fingerprint chromatograms. Iminosugar contents were investigated by MS/MS, 1-deoxynojirimycin was quantified, and amounts of 2-O-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-1-deoxynojirimicin and fagomine were additionally estimated.

According to modern ethnobotanical records, the fruit of is effective in the treatment of different allergic symptoms. In order to obtain pharmacological evidence for this observation, the fruit was investigated for anti-inflammatory activity using animal models. Aqueous and 70% MeOH extracts were tested in 48/80-induced rat paw edema assay after oral administration, and it was found that the 70% MeOH extract (500 mg/kg) reduced significantly edema volume (0.660 ± 0.082 mL vs. control 0.935 ± 0.041 mL). Extracts of different parts of the fruit (pulp, peel, seed) were investigated in the same assay, and the peel extract was shown to exhibit maximum edema-reducing effect (0.470 ± 0.124 mL vs. control 0.920 ± 0.111 mL). This extract was used to elucidate the mode of action. Different inflammation inducers (serotonin, histamine, dextran, bradykinin, and carrageenan) were applied in the rat paw model, but the extract inhibited only the compound 48/80 elicited inflammation. The active extract was then fractionated by solvent-solvent partitioning and chromatographic methods with the guidance of the 48/80-induced anti-inflammatory assay, and the main compounds responsible for the activity were identified as ursolic acid and oleanolic acid. Our data suggest that the activity is most probably based on a membrane stabilizing effect caused by the inhibition of degranulation of mast cells. Moreover, previously unknown 2,5-bis-aryl-3,4-dimethyltetrahydrofuran lignans, nectandrin B, fragransin A, and saucernetindiol were isolated and identified from for the first time.

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IntroductionPhenothiazines when exposed to white light or to UV radiation undergo a variety of reactions that result in degradation of parental compound and formation of new species. This process is slow and may be sped up with exposure to high energy light such as that produced by a laser.MethodsVarying concentrations of Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride (CPZ) (2–20 mg/mL in distilled water) were exposed to 266 nm laser beam (time intervals: 1–24 hrs). At distinct intervals the irradiation products were evaluated by spectrophotometry between 200–1500 nm, Thin Layer Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) - Diode Array Detection, HPLC tandem mass spectrometry, and for activity against the CPZ sensitive test organism Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923.ResultsCPZ exposure to 266 nm laser beam of given energy levels yielded species, whose number increased with duration of exposure. Although the major species produced were Promazine (PZ), hydroxypromazine or PZ sulfoxide, and CPZ sulfoxide, over 200 compounds were generated with exposure of 20 mg/mL of CPZ for 24 hrs. Evaluation of the irradiation products indicated that the bioactivity against the test organism increased despite the total disappearance of CPZ, that is due, most probably, to one or more new species that remain yet unidentified.ConclusionsExposure of CPZ to a high energy (6.5 mJ) 266 nm laser beam yields rapidly a large number of new and stable species. For biological grade phenothiazines (in other words knowing the impurities in the samples: solvent and solute) this process may be reproducible because one can control within reasonably low experimental errors: the concentration of the parent compound, the laser beam wavelength and average energy, as well as the duration of the exposure time. Because the process is “clean” and rapid, it may offer advantages over the pyrogenically based methods for the production of derivatives.

The synthesis, structure elucidation and the complete (1)H and (13)C signal assignment of a series of dioxolane derivatives of 20-hydroxyecdysone, synthesized as novel modulators of multidrug resistance, are presented. The structures and NMR signal assignment were established by comprehensive one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy supported by mass spectrometry.