Search

Ovarian cancer is regarded as the most lethal gynecologic malignancy with poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Drug-resistance was thought to be the main obstacle to improving overall survival rate of ovarian cancer. New ligands for drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells have potential for the development of diagnosis and therapy of ovarian cancer. In present work, we reported two aptamers, HF3-58 and HA5-68 generated by cell-SELEX, against a paclitaxel-resistant ovarian cancer cell line (A2780T). Both two aptamers exhibited high selectivity and strong affinity to target cells with low nanomolar dissociation constants. The binding of aptamers to target cells was independent of divalent ions, and was tolerant of incubation temperature and nucleases in serum. Molecular targets of the two aptamers were preliminarily demonstrated to be two different glycoproteins on cell surface of A2780T cells. Owing to the structure stability and high resistance to nuclease, these two aptamers had good performance in the detection of drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells in human serum.

A novel dispersion liquid-liquid microextraction method based on the solidification of sedimentary ionic liquids (SSIL-DLLME), in which an in situ metathesis reaction forms an ionic liquid (IL) extraction phase, was developed to determine four pyrethroid insecticides (i.e., permethrin, cyhalothrin, fenpropathrin, and transfluthrin) in water followed by separation using high-performance liquid chromatography. In the developed method, in situ DLLME was used to enhance the extraction efficiency and yield. After centrifugation, the extraction solvent, tributyldodecylphosphonium hexafluorophosphate ([P44412][PF6]), was easily collected by solidification in the bottom of the tube. The effects of various experimental parameters, the quantity of tributyldodecylphosphonium bromide ([P44412]Br), the molar ratio of [P44412]Br to potassium hexafluorophosphate (KPF6), the ionic strength, the temperature of the sample solution, and the centrifugation time, were optimized using a Plackett-Burman design to identify the significant factors that affected the extraction efficiency. These significant factors were then optimized using a central composite design. Under the optimized conditions, the recoveries of the four pyrethroid insecticides at four spiked levels ranged from 87.1% to 101.7%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 0.1% to 5.5%. At concentration levels between 1 and 500 µg/L, good linearity was obtained, with coefficients of determination greater than 0.9995. The limits of detection (LODs) for the four pyrethroid insecticides were in the range of 0.71-1.54 µg/L. The developed method was then successfully used for the determination of pyrethroid insecticides in environmental samples.

A novel microextraction technique, named in-situ metathesis reaction, combined with ultrasound-assisted ionic liquid dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction was developed for the determination of five phenylurea pesticides (i.e., diuron, diflubenzuron, teflubenzuron, flufenoxuron, and chlorfluazuron) in environmental water samples. In the developed method, 360 μL LiNTf 2 aqueous solution (0.162 g/mL) was added to the sample solution containing a small amount of [C 6 MIM]Cl (0.034 g) to form a water-immiscible ionic liquid, [C 6 MIM]NTf 2 , as extraction solution. The mixed solutions were placed in an ultrasonic water bath at 150 W for 4 min and centrifuged at 3500 rpm for 10 min to achieve phase separation. After centrifugation, fine droplets of the extractant phase settled to the bottom of the centrifuge tube and were directly injected into the high-performance liquid chromatography system for analysis. The quantity of [C 6 MIM]Cl, the molar ratio of [C 6 MIM]Cl and LiNTf 2 , ionic strength, ultrasound time, and centrifugation time, were optimized using a Plackett–Burman design. Significant factors obtained were optimized by employing a central composite design. The optimized technique provides good repeatability (RSD 2.4 to 3.5%), linearity (0.5 μg/L to 500 μg/L), low LODs (0.06 μg/L to 0.08 μg/L) and great enrichment factor (244 to 268). The developed method can be applied in routine analysis for the determining of phenylurea pesticides in environmental samples.

A novel pretreatment method termed ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (UADLLME) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV) was applied for the detection of four synthesized metabolites of mequindox in pig urine samples. A total volume of 200 μL of methanol (dispersant) and 60 μL of 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (extract) were injected into 5.0 mL of urine sample and then emulsified by ultrasound treatment for 4 min to form a cloudy solution. The effect of several factors on the recovery of each metabolite was investigated by a fitting derivation method for the first time. Under optimum conditions, the method yields a linear calibration curve in the concentration range from 0.5 to 500 μg/L and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.16–0.28 μg/L for target analytes. The recoveries ranged from 72.0% to 91.3% with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 5.2%. The enrichment factors for the four compounds ranged from 75 to 95. Two pig urine samples were successfully analyzed using the proposed method.