Strategies and data analysis techniques for lipid and phospholipid chemistry elucidation by intact cell MALDI-FTMS.

Ions attributed to lipids and phospholipids are directly observed by desorption from whole bacteria using intact cell (IC) matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization (MALDI) Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS). Saccharomyces cerevisiae are grown in rich media broth, concentrated, and applied directly to the MALDI surface without lysis or chemical treatment. FTMS of MALDI ions gives excellent signal to noise ratios with typical resolving powers of 90,000 and mass precision better than 0.

Use of double-depleted 13C and 15N culture media for analysis of whole cell bacteria by MALDI time-of-flight and Fourier transform mass spectrometry.

In the present paper, results demonstrating the significant advantages of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) analysis of whole cell samples of bacteria grown on double isotopically-depleted (13C and 15N) media are presented. It is shown that several advantages accrue for MALDI with a 9.4 T Fourier transform mass spectrometer (FTMS).

Investigation of MALDI-TOF and FT-MS techniques for analysis of Escherichia coli whole cells.

Recently, it has been demonstrated that bacteria can be characterized using whole cells and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). However, identification of specific bacterial proteins usually requires analysis of cellular fractions or purified extracts. Here, the first application of Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) to analysis of bacterial proteins directly from whole cells is reported.

Vasodilating procyanidins derived from grape seeds.

We have shown in previous work that extracts of grape seeds (GSE) and skins, grape juice, and many red wines exhibit endothelium-dependent relaxing (EDR) activity in vitro. This EDR activity involves endothelial nitric oxide (NO) release and subsequent increase in cyclic GMP levels in the vascular smooth muscle cells. The NO/cyclic GMP pathway is known to be involved in many cardiovascular-protective roles.