Comparison of Database Searching Programs for the Analysis of Single-Cell Proteomics Data.

Single-cell proteomics is emerging as an important subfield in the proteomics and mass spectrometry communities, with potential to reshape our understanding of cell development, cell differentiation, disease diagnosis, and the development of new therapies. Compared with significant advancements in the "hardware" that is used in single-cell proteomics, there has been little work comparing the effects of using different "software" packages to analyze single-cell proteomics datasets. To this end, seven popular proteomics programs were compared here, applying them to search three single-cell proteomics datasets generated by three different platforms.

Aloe derived nanovesicle as a functional carrier for indocyanine green encapsulation and phototherapy.

Background: Cancer is one of the devastating diseases in the world. The development of nanocarrier provides a promising perspective for improving cancer therapeutic efficacy. However, the issues with potential toxicity, quantity production, and excessive costs limit their further applications in clinical practice.

Saposhnikoviae Radix Enhanced the Angiogenic and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Huangqi Chifeng Tang in a Rat Model of Cerebral Infarction.

Huangqi Chifeng Tang (HQCFT), a traditional Chinese formula of three herbs, has been used to treat cerebral infarction (CI). Saposhnikoviae Radix (SR) was designed as a guiding drug for HQCFT to improve its angiogenic and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, TTC staining was used to detect the area of CI.

Cause Clarification of Cysteine Oxidation by Active Species Generated during the Oxidation Process of Cinnamaldehyde and Impact on an In Chemico Alternative Method for Skin Sensitization Using a Nucleophilic Reagent Containing Cysteine.

Aldehydes comprise a major portion of skin sensitizers because they can react with both cysteine and lysine. Moreover, cinnamaldehyde (CA) is a typical moderate sensitizer and is often used in an alternative test method for skin sensitization. The amino acid derivative reactivity assay (ADRA) is an in chemico test method that evaluates the reactivity of cysteine derivatives (-(2-(1-naphthyl)acetyl)-l-cysteine, NAC) and lysine derivatives with the test chemicals and uses CA as a proficiency substance.

Carboxypeptidase B-Assisted Charge-Based Fractional Diagonal Chromatography for Deep Screening of C-Terminome.

The determination of protein C-termini is of great significance for protein function annotation and proteolysis research. However, the progress of C-terminomics is still far behind its counterpart, N-terminomics, because of the low reactivity of the carboxyl group. Herein, we developed a negative selection strategy, termed carboxypeptidase B-assisted charge-based fractional diagonal chromatography (CPB-ChaFRADIC), to achieve a global C-terminome analysis.

The amino acid derivative reactivity assay with fluorescence detection and its application to multi-constituent substances.

The Amino acid Derivative Reactivity Assay (ADRA) is an in chemico alternative to animal testing for the prediction of skin sensitization potential. Although co-elution of test chemicals and nucleophilic reagents during HPLC analysis is sometimes problematic when using the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA), it rarely occurs when using ADRA. Nevertheless, the application of either of these tests to multi-constituent substances requires nucleophilic reagents capable of selective detection.

Rapid determination of the content of digestible energy and metabolizable energy in sorghum fed to growing pigs by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy1.

The object of this study was to establish a new method to predict the content of DE and ME in sorghum fed to growing pigs by using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). A total of 33 sorghum samples from all over China were used in this study. The samples were scanned for their spectra in the range of 12,000 to 4,000 cm-1.

Precipitation of test chemicals in reaction solutions used in the amino acid derivative reactivity assay and the direct peptide reactivity assay.

The Amino acid Derivative Reactivity Assay (ADRA) was developed by the authors as an in chemico alternative to animal testing for skin sensitization potential. Although ADRA is based on the same scientific principles as the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA), a comparison of the results from these two test methods shows a far lower incidence of precipitation of test chemicals in reaction solutions for ADRA than for DPRA. Specifically, a comparison of the results for 82 test chemicals that were tested using both DPRA and ADRA showed that while there were 30 chemicals tested using DPRA for which precipitation was found in the reaction solution, there were just three chemicals tested using ADRA for which even slight turbidity was found in the reaction solution.

A newly developed means of HPLC-fluorescence analysis for predicting the skin sensitization potential of multi-constituent substances using ADRA.

The Amino acid Derivative Reactivity Assay (ADRA) is an in chemico alternative to animal testing for skin sensitization potential, in which measurements of multi-constituent solutions were sometimes affected by co-elution with nucleophilic reagents. So, we established a means of using fluorescence detection and verified the utility of a newly developed ADRA-fluorescence detection (ADRA-FL) test method. We tested three types of plant extracts-aloe, green tea, and licorice-and although unable to quantify nucleophilic reagents using ultraviolet detection due to co-elution of multiple components, the use of fluorescence detection enabled us to detect nucleophilic reagents selectively and predict each of the extract solutions to be sensitizers.

The underlying factors that explain why nucleophilic reagents rarely co-elute with test chemicals in the ADRA.

The Amino acid Derivative Reactivity Assay (ADRA) is an in chemico alternative to animal testing for skin sensitization potential that uses two different nucleophilic reagents and it is known that ADRA hardly exhibts co-elution compared with the Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA) based on the same scientific principles. In this study, we have analyzed the factors underlying why co-elution, which is sometimes an issue during DPRA testing, virtually never occurs during ADRA testing. Chloramine T and dimethyl isophthalate both exhibited co-elution during DPRA testing, but when quantified at both DPRA's 220 nm and ADRA's 281 nm, we found that when the later detection wavelength was used, these test chemicals produced extremely small peaks that did not interfere with quantification of the peptides.

Cause of and countermeasures for oxidation of the cysteine-derived reagent used in the amino acid derivative reactivity assay.

The amino acid derivative reactivity assay (ADRA) is an in chemico alternative to animal testing for skin sensitization that solves certain problems found in the use of the direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA). During a recent validation study conducted at multiple laboratories as part of the process to include ADRA in an existing OECD test guideline, one of the nucleophilic reagents used in ADRA-N-(2-(1-naphthyl)acetyl)-l-cysteine (NAC)-was found to be susceptible to oxidation in much the same manner that the cysteine peptide used in DPRA was. Owing to this, we undertook a study to clarify the cause of the promotion of NAC oxidation.

Preclinical Study of Antineoplastic Sinoporphyrin Sodium-PDT via In Vitro and In Vivo Models.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) investigations have seen stable increases and the development of new photosensitizers is a heated topic. Sinoporphyrin sodium is a new photosensitizer isolated from Photofrin. This article evaluated its anticancer effects by clonogenic assays, MTT assays and xenograft experiments in comparison to Photofrin.

Safety evaluation of repeated intravenous infusion of sinoporphyrin with and without PDT in rats.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising antineoplastic modality in the oncology field. We assessed the safety of repeated intravenous administrations of sinoporphyrin, a porphyrin derivative, with and without illumination in rats. Toxicokinetic studies of single and multiple administrations of sinoporphyrin were also carried out.

A novel in chemico method to detect skin sensitizers in highly diluted reaction conditions.

The direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA) is a simple and versatile alternative method for the evaluation of skin sensitization that involves the reaction of test chemicals with two peptides. However, this method requires concentrated solutions of test chemicals, and hydrophobic substances may not dissolve at the concentrations required. Furthermore, hydrophobic test chemicals may precipitate when added to the reaction solution.

Development of a prediction method for skin sensitization using novel cysteine and lysine derivatives.

Introduction: The Direct Peptide Reactivity Assay (DPRA) was developed as an alternative simple and versatile method for predicting skin sensitization. Here, we describe a novel Amino acid Derivative Reactivity Assay (ADRA) involving 2 amino acid derivatives: N-(2-(1-naphthyl)acetyl)-l-cysteine (NAC) and α-N-(2-(1-naphthyl)acetyl)-l-lysine (NAL), in which each amino-terminal residue is introduced into a naphthalene ring. ADRA measurements were conducted at 281nm, which improved baseline stability, and were less influenced by other substances in the reaction solutions than DPRA measurements that are conducted at 220nm.