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Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was applied for the determination of Br and I in hair strands of human individuals under treatment with synthetic thyroid hormones.

Non-motor alterations such as anxiety and memory deficit may represent early indications of Parkinson's disease (PD), and therapeutic strategies that reduce non-motor alterations are promising alternatives for the treatment. Therefore, the search for natural compounds that act on motor and non-motor complications is highly relevant. In this sense, we demonstrated the role of hesperidin (Hsd) as a citrus flavonoid and its pharmacological properties as an antioxidant and neuroprotective agent. Our objective was to evaluate Hsd in developing motor and non-motor alterations in a Drosophila melanogaster model of Parkinson-like disease induced by iron (Fe) exposure. The flies were divided into six groups: control, Hsd (10 µM), L-dopa (positive control, 1 mM), Fe (1 mM), Fe + Hsd, and Fe + L-dopa. Motor coordination tests, memory assessment through aversive phototaxy, and anxiety-like behaviors characterized in flies, such as grooming and aggressiveness, were performed. The Hsd attenuated motor and non-motor alterations, such as motor coordination, memory deficits and anxiety-like behaviors, attenuated monoaminergic deficits, and lowered Fe levels in the head of flies. In addition, Hsd prolonged the life of the flies, thereby standing out from the L-dopa-treated group. Thus, Hsd can protect the dopaminergic system from insults caused by Fe, preventing non-motor alterations in PD; Hsd also reduced Fe levels in the flies' heads, suggesting that iron chelation may represent an important mechanism of action, in addition to its antioxidant action.

In this study, two methods based on the use of diluted acids were developed: microwave-assisted wet digestion (MAWD) and microwave-assisted ultraviolet digestion (MAWD-UV). These methods are evaluated for the digestion of oral pharmaceutical drugs and further determination of elemental impurities from classes 1 (As, Cd, Hg and Pb) and 2A (Co, Ni and V) by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Commercial drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes are used. No prior comminution is performed. For MAWD, the optimized conditions were 2 mol L−1 or 3 mol L−1 HNO3, 1 mL of 50% H2O2 and a 45 min or 55 min irradiation program. For MAWD-UV, the condition using 1 mol L−1 HNO3, 1.6 mL of 50% H2O2 and a 55 min irradiation program enabled the digestion of all samples. In this way, efficient methods are proposed for the digestion of commercial pharmaceutical tablets for further determination of class 1 and 2A elemental impurities (ICH Q3D guidelines).

In this work, a method combining microwave-induced combustion (MIC) for sample preparation of commercial levothyroxine sodium (L-T