Untargeted analysis of pure snail slime and snail slime‐induced Au nanoparticles metabolome with MALDI FT‐ICR MS

Abstract

Chronic wounds result from the failure of the normal wound healing process. Any delay during the tissue repair process could be defined as chronic wound healing, potentially having a highly detrimental impact on human health. To face this problem, in the last years, the use of different technologies alternative to therapeutic agents is gaining more attention. The Helix aspersa snail slime‐based products are increasingly being used for skin injury, thanks to their ability to make tissue repair processes faster. To date, a comprehensive overview of pure snail slime metabolome is not available. Besides, Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) technology is spreading rapidly in the medical environment, and the search for AuNPs “green” synthetic routes that involve natural products as precursor agents is demanded, alongside with a deep comprehension of the kind of species that actively take part in synthesis and product stabilization. The aim of this work is to characterize the metabolic profile of a pure snail slime sample, by an untargeted high‐resolution mass spectrometry‐based analysis. In addition, insights on AuNPs synthesis and stabilization by the main components of pure snail slime used to induce the synthesis were obtained. The untargeted analysis provided a large list of important classes of metabolites, that is, fatty acid derivatives, amino acids and peptides, carbohydrates and polyphenolic compounds that could be appreciated in both samples of slime, with and without AuNPs. Moreover, a direct comparison of the obtained results suggests that mostly nitrogen and sulfur‐bearing metabolites take part in the synthesis and stabilization of AuNPs.

Hemp Chemotype Definition by Cannabinoids Characterization Using LC-ESI(+)-LTQ-FTICR MS and Infrared Multiphoton Dissociation

“…Therefore, the development and application of more advanced analytical methods compared to UNODC ones represent a pivotal role in order to have a reliable evaluation of C. sativa L. plants chemotyping to guarantee their efficacy and safety in pharmaceutical use. In this regard, several works in the literature report the successful application of specific and sensitive high-resolution MS (HRMS) to study, in higher plants, the profile, and distribution of pharmacologically interesting components [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], including cannabinoid compounds [10,29,30]. Structural information may be gathered by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), which is conventionally performed through collision-induced dissociation (CID) [29] but, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study regarding the use of infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) as fragmentation mass spectrometry technique for Cannabis components.…”

Chitosan/snail slime films as multifunctional platforms for potential biomedical and cosmetic applications: physical and chemical characterization

“…Its analytical composition has already been reported in our previous works. 2,46 In summary, the MALDI (+) FT-ICR MS analysis was performed, evidencing the main presence of amino acids (i.e., threonine, tryptophan, arginine, histidine, asparagine, cysteine, glutamine, proline, glycine, and serine), and sulfur-bearing peptides, particularly glutathione, which showed cysteine units. The presence of fatty acids, carbohydrates, polyphenols, and condensed heterocycles was assessed, along with polar lipids, polyphenols, condensed heterocycles, and nucleotides.…”

Proposing Chitosan/Snail Slime Blended Films As Sustainable Functional Masks/Patches for Cosmetics and Biomedical Applications

“…Work is in progress for testing invitro Chitosan-based blended films' antioxidant, as well as anti-inflammatory properties, with the aim also to assess their potential effect on improving wound healing, thanks to the Snail Slime components content. [1,2] Furthermore, Chitosan/Snail Slime blended films' sunscreen, moisturizing, and skin-lightening properties will be explored, for making them suitable also as potential cosmetic multifunctional formulations. [3]…”