Biomedical subjects

Rosangela Marchelli

Publications and source records attributed to Rosangela Marchelli.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2003

Extraction, semi-quantification, and fast on-line identification of oligopeptides in Grana Padano cheese by HPLC-MS.

Sixteen samples of Grana Padano cheese aged from 2 to 33 months were analyzed by HPLC-MS. The extraction process involved the use of diluted HCl, thus avoiding a strong deproteinizing agent (TCA), and allowing to maintain in solution also very lipophilic peptides. The molecular mass of the most abundant peptides were determined by electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry. A new method was developed based on the small fragmentation peaks arising from in-source fragmentation and from software analysis of the known casein sequences, which in many cases allowed the direct on-line identification of the oligopeptide sequences. Several new peptides never previously reported were identified, some of which containing bioactive sequences, consistently with what was described in the literature. Semiquantification of peptides at the different stages of aging was also performed by using a suitable internal standard, providing new insights into the evolution of the oligopeptide fraction during aging.

Cheese↗

PubMed2003

Enantiomeric separation of chiral peptide nucleic acid monomers by capillary electrophoresis with charged cyclodextrins.

Direct chiral separation of chiral peptide nucleic acid (PNA) monomers has been achieved for the first time by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with charged cyclodextrins as chiral selectors added to the electrophoretic buffer. Selectively modified 6-deoxy-6-N-histamino-beta-cyclodextrin and sulfobutyl ether-beta-CD were successfully used as chiral selectors for the enantiomeric separation of chiral monomers based on different aminoethylamino acids bearing thymine or adenine as nucleobases. Chiral separations were obtained at low selector concentrations (1-3 mM) with good enantioselectivity and resolution factors. Separations were optimized as a function of pH in order to exploit the effect of the electrostatic interactions between the oppositely charged selector and selectand. The method has been applied to the analysis of the enantiomeric excess of chiral monomers used for the solid phase synthesis of chiral PNA oligomers. CE chiral analysis showed that a very high enantiomeric purity was generally achieved in the synthesis of all monomers, except for histidine and aspartic acid based monomers in which ca. 10% of the "wrong" enantiomer was always present.

Cyclodextrins↗

PubMed2003

ESI-mass spectrometry analysis of unsubstituted and disubstituted beta-cyclodextrins: fragmentation mode and identification of the AB, AC, AD regioisomers.

The study of unsubstituted and disubstituted beta-cyclodextrins (beta-CDs) by ESI-mass spectrometry is reported, applying a cone-induced fragmentation in the presence of a twofold excess of sodium chloride, in order to gain information about the fragmentation of the different regioisomers. On the basis of the fragmentation pattern observed for the unsusbstituted beta-CD, a statistical model shows that the fragments generated by every regioisomer of a disubstituted CD (AB, AC, and AD) are expected to differ in their relative intensity and, therefore, they can be used for correctly identifying the three different regioisomers. The model was tested on the three regioisomeric (AB, AC, and AD) diamino-beta-CDs and ditosyl-beta-CD and on the AC and AD regioisomers of dimesitylenesulphonyl-beta-CD, allowing in every case through statistical analysis of the fragmentation pattern the correct assignment of every regioisomer on the basis of an ESI mass spectrum (single quadrupole analyzer, high cone voltage) of the pure compounds. The absolute intensities of the fragmentation peaks were voltage-dependent but their ratios was voltage-independent, indicating that no mass bias in peak ratios is introduced by the analyzer. Given the fast time of analysis and its general applicability, independently from the substituents, we propose our method as an easy way to identify the regioisomers of disubstituted beta-CDs.

Cyclodextrins↗

PubMed2002

Role of chirality and optical purity in nucleic acid recognition by PNA and PNA analogs.

Peptide nucleic acids are DNA mimics able to form duplexes with complementary DNA or RNA strands of remarkable affinity and selectivity. Oligopyrimidine PNA can displace one strand of dsDNA by forming PNA(2):DNA triplexes of very high stability. Many PNA analogs have been described in recent years, in particular, chiral PNA analogs. In the present article the results obtained recently using PNA derived from N-aminoethylamino acids 7 are illustrated. In particular, the dependence of optical purity on synthetic methodologies and a rationale for the observed effects of chirality on DNA binding ability is proposed. Chirality as a tool for improving sequence selectivity is also described. PNA analogs derived from D- or L-ornithine 8 were also found to be subjected to epimerization during solid phase synthesis. Modification of the coupling conditions or the use of a submonomeric strategy greatly reduced epimerization. The optically pure oligothymine PNAs 8 were found to bind to RNA by forming triplexes of unusual CD spectra. The melting curves of these adducts presented two transitions, suggesting a conformational change followed by melting at high temperature.

Chemistry↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Enhanced recognition of cystic fibrosis W1282X DNA point mutation by chiral peptide nucleic acid probes by a surface plasmon resonance biosensor.

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) containing an insert of three chiral monomers based on D-lysine ('chiral box') were synthesized and used as probes in Biospecific Interaction Analysis (BIA) for the recognition of DNA containing the W1282X point mutation of the cystic fibrosis gene. Hybridization experiments carried out in solution showed enhanced mismatch recognition when compared with the analogous achiral PNAs and oligonucleotides. The signal intensity was lower, but the selectivity of the Biacore response was found to be much higher than that observed with achiral PNAs. The newly designed chiral PNA probes were also found to hybridize with a 1:1 mixture of normal (N-W1282X) and mutated (M-W1282X) DNA oligomers immobilized on the biosensor, thus allowing discrimination not only between a normal and a mutated sequence (healthy/homozygous), but also between homo- and heterozygous individuals. These results suggest that 'chiral box' PNAs are potential powerful tools for the analysis of single point mutations of biological/biomedical relevance.

Cystic Fibrosis↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Recent advances in mycotoxin determination in food and feed by hyphenated chromatographic techniques/mass spectrometry.

Mycotoxins are fungal toxins produced by molds, which occur universally in food and feed derivatives, and are produced under certain environmental conditions in the field before harvest, post-harvest, during storage, processing, and feeding. Mycotoxin contamination is one of the most relevant and worrisome problem concerning food and feed safety because it can cause a variety of toxic acute and chronic effects in human and animals. In this review we report the use of mass spectrometry in connection with chromatographic techniques for mycotoxin determination by considering separately the most diffuse class of mycotoxins: patulin, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, zearalenone, trichothecenes, and fumonisins. Although the selectivity of mass spectrometry is unchallenged if compared to common GC and LC detection methods, accuracy, precision, and sensitivity may be extremely variable concerning the different mycotoxins, matrices, and instruments. The sensitivity issue may be a real problem in the case of LC/MS, where the response can be very different for the different ionization techniques (ESI, APCI, APPI). Therefore, when other detection methods (such as fluorescence or UV absorbance) can be used for the quantitative determination, LC/MS appears to be only an outstanding confirmatory technique. In contrast, when the toxins are not volatile and do not bear suitable chromophores or fluorophores, LC/MS appears to be the unique method to perform quantitative and qualitative analyses without requiring any derivatization procedure. The problem of exact quantitative determination in GC/MS and LC/MS methods is particularly important for mycotoxin determination in food, given the high variability of the matrices, and can be solved only by the use of isotopically labeled internal standards or by the use of ionization interfaces able to lower matrix effects and ion suppressions. When the problems linked to inconstant ionization and matrix effects will be solved, only MS detectors will allow to simplify more and more the sample preparation procedures and to avoid clean-up procedures, making feasible low-cost, high-throughput determination of mycotoxins in many different food matrices.

Animal Feed↗