Although parabens have been reported to be used as antimicrobial preservatives in personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and foodstuffs, little is known about the occurrence of these compounds in sports supplements. In this study, a simple, fast and sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous determination of five commonly used parabens, methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, butyl-, and benzylparaben in sports supplements was established. The analytical method was validated with the values of parameters being acceptable. The method proved reliable, accurate, and sensitive and was successfully applied for the quantitation of parabens in 85 sports supplements samples. Almost all sports supplements contained at least one of the parabens analyzed, and the total concentrations of five parabens ranged from below the limit of quantification to 145 μg g-1, with a median value of 0.171 μg g-1. Ethylparaben and methylparaben were the most frequent paraben analogs found in samples (detection rate > 60%). Propylparaben, butylparaben and benzylparaben are forbidden in food samples, their detection rates were 49.4, 21.2 and 4.7%, respectively. Therefore, our study suggests that Brazilian population may be exposed to estrogenic not allowed parabens and their harmful effects through the intake of sports food supplements.

In this study, a simple and fast procedure was developed and validated for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in paper products using synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy. The method was used for the determination of BPA in thirteen types of paper products, including thermal receipt papers, lottery tickets, bus tickets, business cards, mailing envelopes, flyers, napkins, printing paper, food contact paper, kitchen rolls, toilet paper, newspapers, and magazines. BPA was found in 98% of thermal receipt papers (n = 341) at concentrations ranging from below the limit of quantification (LOQ) to 27.7 mg g−1 with a geometric mean of 14.6 mg g−1 and a median of 17.7 mg g−1. The detection rate for other paper products was 96%, with BPA concentrations ranging from below the LOQ to 379 µg g−1 and a median of 17.3 µg g−1. The estimated daily intake for the adjusted bodyweight of BPA (calculated at median concentrations) through dermal absorption from handling papers was 14.5 and 1070 ng day−1 for the general population and occupationally-exposed individuals, respectively. The proposed analytical method is simple, fast, and cost-effective for the determination of BPA in paper samples. Moreover, an estimated daily exposure of Brazilians to BPA through dermal absorption from handling different types of papers is shown.

Albendazole (ABZ) is an anthelmintic drug used for the treatment of infectious diseases in veterinary and human medicine. This drug is a prochiral drug that after administration, is rapidly oxidized in the pharmacologically active sulfoxide metabolite, which is also known as ricobendazole (ABZSOX). ABZSOX has a stereogenic center and possibly two enantiomers, (+)-ABZSOX and (-)-ABZSOX. In the present work, we investigate the pH effect on the asymmetric stereoselective sulfoxidation of ABZ into ABZSOX by employing the fungi Nigrospora sphaerica, Papulaspora immera Hotson, and Mucor rouxii. The results show a possibility of obtaining the pure enantiomers of the ricobendazole drug using fungi as biocatalytic agents. The three fungi showed a high degree of enantioselectivity expressed by enantiomeric excess. In addition, M. rouxii can be used as an alternative to obtain the (+)-ABZSOX enantiomer (ee 89.8%).

Abstract The tagitinins isolated of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray, Asteraceae, are the most studied sesquiterpene lactones due to their wide spectrum of pharmacologic activities, especially related with nuclear factor-kappa B inhibition. Nevertheless, detailed studies about the mechanism of action of its active compounds are still lacking. Neutrophils perform a fundamental role in the inflammatory response to several etiologic factors. However, the effect of tagitinins on human neutrophil is not yet clearly known. We investigated the role of tagitinin C (1), tagitinin F (2) and tagitinin A (3) in activation and survival of human neutrophils to establish possible effects in their mechanisms of inflammation. Human neutrophils were purified from the peripheral blood and cultivated with tagitinins C (1), F (2) and A (3) in the presence or not of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide. The enzymatic activity, apoptosis and secretion of cytokines rate were determined after 18 h. Lipopolysaccharide-induced myeloperoxidase activity of human neutrophils was significantly inhibited only by tagitinin F (2). Apoptosis of neutrophils was increased in the presence of tagitinin C (1), and it occurred independently of the presence of lipopolysaccharide or dexamethasone. Tagitinins C (1), F (2) and A (3) decrease lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and Tumor necrosis factor alpha production by human neutrophils. Together, these results indicate that tagitinins exhibit anti-inflammatory action on human neutrophils. However, tagitinin F (2) was the only sesquiterpene lactone that decreased secretion of inflammatory products by neutrophils without inducing neutrophil apoptosis.

Monensin A is an important commercially available natural product isolated from Streptomyces cinnamonensins that shows antibiotic and anti-parasitic activities. This molecule has a significant influence in the antibiotic market, but until now there are no studies on putative metabolite formations. Bioorganic catalysts applying metalloporphyrins and mono-oxygen donors are able to mimic the cytochrome P450 reactions. This model has been employed for natural product metabolism studies affording several new putative metabolites and in vivo experiments confirming the relevance of this procedure. In this work we evaluated the potential of 10,15,20-tetrakis (pentafluorophenyl) porphyrin metal(III) chloride [Fe(TFPP)Cl] catalyst models to afford a putative monensin A metabolite. Oxidation agents such as meta-chloroperoxy benzoic acid, iodosylbenzene, hydrogen peroxide 30 wt.% and tert-butyl hydroperoxide 70 wt.%, were used to investigate different reaction conditions, in addition to the analysis of the influence of the solvent. The quantification of total monensin A conversion and the structure of the new hydroxylated putative metabolite were proposed based on electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry analysis. The porphyrin tested, afforded moderate conversions of monensin A in all reaction conditions and the selectivity was found to be dependent on the oxidation/medium employed.

Pisonia aculeata L. (Nyctaginaceae) is a shrub widely used in Brazilian folk medicine, where the roots are used as purging and barks and leaves have anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of this study is to evaluate the antiedematogenic activity of crude extract and derived fractions from stems of P. aculeata and the acute toxicity of crude methanolic extract. From methanolic extract from stems of P. aculeata were obtained steroids, triterpenoids and nitrogenous compounds. All fractions tested show inhibitory activity of mice edema ear induced by croton oil, mainly hexane and chloroform fractions. Crude methanolic extract was also active, inhibiting 27.9% of the swelling occasioned by croton oil. In addition, treatment of mice with the crude extract of the stems of P. aculeata in the acute toxicity test did not cause death of animals or change in behavioral parameters, indicating that the extract may be considered non-toxic.

Pisonia aculeata L. (Nyctaginaceae) es un arbusto ampliamente utilizado en la medicina popular de Brasil, donde las raíces se utilizan como purgante, mientras que la corteza y hojas por sus propiedades anti-inflamatorias. El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar la actividad antiedematogénica del extracto crudo y las fracciones derivadas de los tallos de P. aculeata y la toxicidad aguda del extracto metanólico crudo. Del extracto metanólico obtenido de los tallos de P. aculeata se obtuvieron esteroides, triterpenoides y compuestos nitrogenados. Todas las fracciones probadas mostraron antiinflamatoria actividad en el edema de oreja inducido por aceite de crotón en ratones, sobre todo las fracciones de hexano y cloroformo. El extracto metanólico crudo también fue activo, inhibiendo el 27,9% de la inflamación ocasionada por el aceite de crotón. Además, el extracto crudo de los tallos de P. aculeata en el ensayo de toxicidad aguda no causaron la muerte de los animales o el cambio en su comportamiento, lo que indica que el extracto puede ser considerado como no tóxico.