Cadmium, zinc and iron interactions in the tissues of bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus after exposure to low and high doses of cadmium chloride

In present study, bank voles Clethrionomys glareolus were peritioneally injected with different doses of cadmium, 0, 1.5, 3.0 mg Cd/kg body mass. Animals were sacrificed on the 21st day after cadmium exposure and the liver and kidney were obtained for cadmium, zinc and iron analysis using atomic absorption spectrometry. Results showed that cadmium had accumulated in the tissues according to dosage and sex. Cadmium affected the survival and body masses of dosed females. Cadmium decreased the iron concentrations in the liver of voles, whereas zinc concentrations increased in both the kidney and liver

Research on solvent systems with tetra-n-butylammonium bromide for counter-current chromatography of betalains

In this study, new two-phase solvent systems for counter-current chromatography (CCC) consisting of n-butanol and water as well as various amounts of acetic acid, acetonitrile, ethanol, acetone or ethyl acetate were tested. Additionally, tetra-n-butylammonium bromide (TBAB) was introduced into the system in the form of aqueous solutions or phosphate-citrate buffer (pH 6.7) in order to form ion-pairs with betalains. The selection of buffer pH was based on their ability to create ion pairs by tetraalkylammonium salts, with selected betalains under these conditions. In this study, it is shown that the settling time of two phases is longer with the increase of acetic acid/acetonitrile/ethanol/acetone/ethyl acetate. For selected solvent systems with high amounts of acetonitrile, ethanol and acetone two phases were not observed. The systems with acetone have the largest increase of settling time. Ethyl acetate systems were characterized by a slow settling time increase. In systems containing additionally 2% aqueous TBAB, smaller changes in settling time than in similar systems without TBAB were observed. Addition of TBAB in the buffer resulted in a prolongation of settling time. Solvent systems in which the separation between the aqueous and organic phases was visually best, were selected from among all the tested systems and the betalain partition coefficients were measured by LC-DAD-ESI-MS. The best results were observed for systems: n-butanol-water-acetic acid (2:2.5:0.75, v/v/v), n-butanol-water-acetic acid (2:2.5:1, v/v/v) and n-butanol-TBAB in water-acetonitrile (2:2.5:0.5, v/v/v)