Seasonal dynamics of the hepatotoxic microcystins in various organs of four freshwater bivalves from the large eutrophic Lake Taihu of subtropical China and the risk to human consumption

So far, little is known on the distribution of hepatotoxic microcystin (MC) in various organs of bivalves, and there is no study on MC accumulation in bivalves from Chinese waters. Distribution pattern and seasonal dynamics of MC-LR, -YR and -RR in various organs (hepatopancreas, intestine, visceral mass, gill, foot, and rest) of four edible freshwater mussels (Anodonta woodiana, Hyriopsis cumingii, Cristaria plicata, and Lamprotula leai) were studied monthly during Oct. 2003-Sep. 2004 in Lake Taihu with toxic cyanobacterial blooms in the summer. Qualitative and quantitative determinations of MCs in the organs were done by LC-MS and HPLC. The major toxins were present in the hepatopancreas (45.5-55.4%), followed by visceral mass with substantial amount of gonad (27.6-35.5%), whereas gill and foot were the least (1.8-5.1%). The maximum MC contents in the hepatopancreas, intestine, visceral mass, gill, foot, and rest were 38.48, 20.65, 1.70, 0.64, 0.58, and 0.61 mu g/g DW, respectively. There were rather good positive correlation in MC contents between intestines and hepatopancreas of the four bivalves (r = 0.75-0.97, p < 0.05). There appeared to be positive correlations between the maximum MC content in the hepatopancreas and the delta(13)C (r = 0.919) or delta(15)N (r = 0.878) of the foot, indicating that the different MC content in the hepatopancreas might be due to different food ingestion. A glutathione (GSH) conjugate of MC-LR was also detected in the foot sample of C. plicata. Among the foot samples analyzed, 54% were above the provisional WHO tolerable daily intake (TDI) level, and the mean daily intakes from the four bivalves were 8-23.5 times the TDI value when the bivalves are eaten as a whole, suggesting the high risk of consuming bivalves in Lake Taihu. (C) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In vivo studies on toxin accumulation in liver and ultrastructural changes of hepatocytes of the phytoplanktivorous bighead carp i.p.-injected with extracted microcystins

Phytoplanktivorous bighead carp were injected i.p. with extracted microcystins (mainly MC-RR and -LR) at two doses, 200 and 500 MC-LReq. mu g kg(-1) bw, and the changes in extractable MCs in liver and in the ultrastructure of hepatocytes were studied at 1, 3, 12, 24 and 48 h after injection. Quantitative and qualitative determinations of MCs in the liver were conducted by HPLC and LC-MS, respectively. MC concentration in the liver reached the maxima at 12 It (2.89 mu g MCs g(-1) dry weight at the lower dose) or at 3 h (5.43 mu g MCs g(-1) dry weight at the higher dose) post-injection, followed by sharp declines afterwards, whereas the ultrastructural changes of hepatocytes in both dose groups suggest progressive increases in severity toward the directions of apoptosis and necrosis from I to 24 h, respectively. There were two new findings in fish: widening of intercellular spaces was among the early ultrastructural changes induced by MCs and ultrastructural recovery of hepatocytes was evident at 48 h post-injection in both dose groups. Both the present and previous studies suggest that with in vivo or in vitro exposure to microcystins, hepatocyte damage in fish tends to proceed toward the direction of apoptosis at lower MC concentrations but toward the direction of necrosis at high MC concentrations. The temporal dynamics of MCs in the liver suggest that bighead carp may have a mechanism to degrade or bind MC-LR actively after it enters the blood system. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultrafast non-thermal electron dynamics in single layer graphene

The impulsive optical excitation of carriers in graphene creates an out-of-equilibrium distribution, which thermalizes on an ultrafast timescale [1-4]. This hot Fermi-Dirac (FD) distribution subsequently cools via phonon emission within few hundreds of femtoseconds. While the relaxation mechanisms mediated by phonons have been extensively investigated, the initial stages, ruled by fundamental electron-electron (e-e) interactions still pose a challenge. © 2013 IEEE.

Kinetics of the oxidation of MCRR by potassium permanganate

The occurrence of the microcystins in the water bodies, especially in drinking water resources, has received considerable attentions. In situ chemical oxidation is a promising cost-effective treatment method to remove MC from water body. This research investigated the reaction kinetics of the oxidation of MCRR by permanganate. Experimental results indicate that the reaction is second order overall and first order with respect to both permanganate and MCRR, and has an activation energy of 18.9 kJ/mol. The second-order rate constant ranges from 0.154 to 0.225 l/mg/min at temperature from 15 to 30 degrees C. The MCRR degradation rates can be accelerated through increasing reaction temperature and oxidant concentration. The reaction under acid conditions was slightly faster than under alkaline conditions. The half-life of the reaction was less than 1 min, and more than 99.5% of MCRR was degraded within 10 min. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of nitrogen forms on the production of cyanobacterial toxin microcystin-LR by an isolated Microcystis aeruginosa

A cyanobacterial strain, which produced high content of microcystin-LR (MC-LR) but no rnicrocystin-RR (MC-RR), was isolated from the hypertrophic Dianchi Lake in China and identified as Microcystis aeruginosa DC-1. Effects of nitrogen containing chemicals and trace elements on the growth and the production of MC-LR by this strain were Studied. In the presence of bicine, compared with urea and ammonium, nitrate greatly promoted the growth and the production of MC-LR. However, leucine and arginine, which were the constitutional components in the molecular structure of MC-LR or RR, inhibited the production of MC-LR. Iron and silicon up to 10mg/L had little effects on the growth of M. aeruginosa DC-1, but the production of MC-LR was apparently enhanced. Under all conditions studied here, only MC-LR but no RR was detected within the cells of M. aeruginosa DC-1. Thus, chemical forms of nitrogen, rather than the usually concerned the total nitrogen, Lind trace elements played important roles in the production of MC toxins during cyanobacterial blooms.

Photodegradation dynamics of pure microcystin variants with illumination of fixed wavelength UV-lights

Photolysis of microcystins by UV irradiation and the effects of different environmental factors on efficiency of UV degradation were studied. The results indicated that the rates of the photolytical degradation reactions of microcystin-LR and RR-follow pseudo-first-order kinetic process. The results also showed that the concentrations of two microcystin variants decreased significantly by UV-C Irradiation; the wavelength and intensitiy of UV irradiation are two very important factors affecting the rate of degradation; temperature and pH value could also affect the half life of degradation rates. When irradiated by weaker UV-Iight, isomerization could be detected in the course of photolytical degradation. The concentrations of two isomers transformed from microcystin-LR reached its maximum at the third minute and decreased with the time afterwards. To simulate photolysis of microcystins in the field water body, microcystins with low concentration were used. It was found that UV-C illumination was capable of decomposing over 95% of microcystins within 40 min. In the presence of humic substances the photodecomposition slowed down to a certain extent. These results are valuable in using UV irradiation for elimination microcystins from raw water.

Comparative study on in vitro inhibition of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) and mouse protein phosphatases by microcystins

Microcystins isolated from toxic cyanobacteria are potent inhibitors of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A (PP1 and PP2A). The inhibitory effects of three structural variants of microcystins (microcystin-LR, -YR, and -RR) on protein phosphatases isolated and purified from the liver and kidney of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) were investigated using the P-32 radiometric assay. The relationships between percentage inhibition of protein phosphatase activity and microcystin levels followed a typical dose-dependent sigmoid curve. These results were compared to those obtained from mouse PP2A. The degree and pattern of inhibition of both fish and mouse protein phosphatases by microcystins were similar. Protein phosphatases in crude fish tissue homogenates showed similar inhibition patterns as purified fish PP2A toward microcystins. (C) 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

CYCLIC PEPTIDE HEPATOTOXINS FROM FRESH-WATER CYANOBACTERIAL (BLUE-GREEN-ALGAE) WATERBLOOMS COLLECTED IN CENTRAL CHINA

Toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) waterblooms have been found in several Chinese water bodies since studies began there in 1984. Waterbloom samples for this study contained Anabaena circinalis, Microcystis aeruginosa and Oscillatoria sp. Only those waterblooms dominated by Microcystis aeruginosa were toxic by the intraperitoneal (i.p.) mouse bioassay. Signs of poisoning were the same as with known hepatotoxic cyclic peptide microcystins. One toxic fraction was isolated from each Microcystis aeruginosa sample. Two hepatotoxic peptides were purified from each of the fractions by high-performance liquid chromatography and identified by amino acid analysis followed by low and high resolution fast-atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS). LD50 i.p. mouse values for the two toxins were 245-mu-g/kg (Toxin A) and 53-mu-g/g (Toxin B). Toxin content in the cells was 0.03 to 3.95 mg/g (Toxin A) and 0.18 to 3.33 mg/kg (Toxin B). The amino acid composition of Toxin A was alanine [1], arginine [2], glutamic acid [1] and beta-methylaspartic acid [1]; for Toxin B it was the same, except one of the arginines was replaced with a leucine. Low- and high-resolution FAB-MS showed that the molecular weights were 1,037 m/z (Toxin A) and 994 m/z (Toxin B), with formulas of C49H76O12N13 (Toxin A) and C49H75O12N10 (Toxin B). It was concluded that Toxin A is microcystin-RR and Toxin B is microcystin-LR, both known cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins isolated from cyanobacteria in other parts of the world. Sodium borohydride reduction of microcystin-RR yielded dihydro-microcystin-RR (m/z = 1,039), an important intermediate in the preparation of tritium-labeled toxin for metabolism and fate studies.

Disentangling mechanical and mass effects on nanomechanical resonators

Micro and nanomechanical resonators are powerful and label-free sensors of analytes in various environments. Their response, however, is a convolution of mass, rigidity, and nanoscale heterogeneity of adsorbates. Here we demonstrate a procedure to disentangle this complex sensor response, to simultaneously measure both mass and elastic properties of nanometer thick samples. This turns an apparent disadvantage of these resonators into a striking and unique asset, enabling them to measure more than mass alone.

立构规整型聚(3-烷基噻吩)的结晶形态与结构研究

立构规整聚(3-烷基噻吩)是具有高功能的聚合物光电材料，被广泛用于有机光电器件的制备与集成。本论文利用一种新的结晶方法，即溶剂辅助结晶，得到了梳状刚性链高分子RR-P3BT毫米级的新晶体及其晶胞参数。同时，还得到了RR-P3BT的分子链在这种新晶体中的堆砌方式。首次直接证明了刚性链高分子RR-P3BT的晶体生长方式是层状生长。又采用溶液等温结晶的方法，得到了RR-P3BT的多种晶体。包括Whisker晶体，平行四边形片晶，小长方形片晶和棒状单晶。并得出了这些晶体的晶胞参数和分子链的堆砌方式。通过溶液等温结晶也得到了RR-P3HT的多种晶体。包括Whisker晶体，长方形片晶，平行四边形片晶和六边形片晶。并得出这些晶体的晶胞参数和分子链的堆砌方式。

非茂过渡金属烯烃聚合催化剂的研究

本论文合成、表征了一系列以镍、钦为中心离子的非茂过渡金属配合物，研究了这些配合物催化烯烃聚合的反应行为。主要工作和结论如下：1．合成、表征了一系列水杨醛亚胺中性镍配合物。在改性甲基铝氧烷（MMAO）的活化下，这些中性镍配合物可高效催化降冰片烯伽BE）的加成聚合，在优化条件下，催化活性高达7.1×107 gPNBE／molNi.h，聚降冰片烯的分子量高达1.5×106g／mol。2．合成、表征了三种新型p一二酮单亚胺中性镍配合物。X-射线分析表明，这些中性镍配合物的空间构型为扭曲的平面四边形。在Ni（CO）2的活化下，这些中性镍配合物可催化乙烯聚合生成以甲基支化为主的支化聚乙烯。在MMAO的活化下，这些中性镍配合物是降冰片烯加成聚合的高效催化剂，在优化条件下，催化活性高达4.5×107gPNBE／molNi.h，聚降冰片烯的分子量高达1.1×106g／mol。另外，这些中性镍配合物在MMAO的活化下，可催化甲基丙烯酸甲酷（MMA）聚合，生成富间规的聚甲基丙烯酸甲酷（rr一70％）。令人惊讶的是，这些中性镍配合物／MMAO体系还能催化乙烯和MMA的共聚合反应，生成乙烯与MMA的无规共聚物，极性单体的插入率可达16.7 mol％。3．合成、表征了一系列新型β-二酮单亚胺钦配合物。X-射线分析表明，这些钦配合物的立体构型为含有一个CZ轴的变形八面体。常温下，这些钦配合物在MMAO的活化下，可以高效催化乙烯活性聚合，催化活性可达1.3×l06g PE/molTi-h，生成无支链的线性聚乙烯。常温下，这些钦配合物瓜IMAO体系还能高效催化乙烯和降冰片烯的活性共聚合反应，催化活性高达3.2×106gpolymer／molTi'h，所得聚合物为乙烯与降冰片烯的交替共聚物（COC）。利用该催化体系的活性聚合性质，制备了包含半晶和无定形两种结构片段的新型A-B二嵌段共聚物（PE-b1ock-COC）。4．合成、表征了一系列新型β-二亚胺钦配合物。在MMAO的活化下，这些钦配合物可以常温催化乙烯聚合，在优化条件下，催化活性可达4.6×105 gPe／molTi-h，生成双峰分布的聚乙烯，重均分子量高达6.6×105g／mol。