Beef heart mitochondria for the Rotenone monitoring.

A new procedure for the selective monitoring of the Rotenone is proposed. Since the Rotenone inhibits the first site of the mitochondrial respiratory chain in all living organisms, the proposed method is based on measurements of inhibition of the respiratory rate of beef heart mitochondria

TCMS inhibits ATP synthesis in mitochondria: a systematic analysis of the inhibitory mechanism

The interactions of the antifouling compound TCMS (2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-4-methylsulphonyl pyridine) with rat liver mitochondria have been investigated. The results indicate that the compound inhibits ATP synthesis. Further investigations regarding the ATP syn- thesis mechanism suggest that TCMS inhibits succinic dehydrogenase of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. As the respiratory chain is similar in all living organisms, it can be concluded that the toxic effect of TCMS most likely depend on the different bioavailability of the compound and on the different importance of mitochondria in the ATP production in the animal species

The extreme environment of a library: Xerophilic fungi inhabiting indoor niches

The use of Compactus shelves by libraries and archives is a good solution to optimize the storage space and prevent dust deposits on books. However, they are probably the cause of severe cases of fungal colonization in historical library materials. A typical phenomenon occurs as a spread of white mycelial growth forming scattered spots, mainly on volumes with leather or fabric bindings. Recent studies have identified the xerophilic fungus Eurotium halophilicum (anamorph Aspergillus halophilicus) as responsible for this kind of contamination. A similar situation was found inside the Library of Humanities (BAUM), at Ca' Foscari University, Venice (Italy). Various sampling methods, including cotton swabs and adhesive tape, were adopted to isolate fungi from books and a set of aerobiological analyses was performed to characterize the environment of the repository. The presence of E. halophilicum on both books and in the indoor air was confirmed by direct observation of adhesive tape samples, microscopic observations and molecular methods. Moreover, Aspergillus creber and Aspergillus protuberus belonging to the revised group Aspergillus section Versicolores, were also isolated for the first time in Italian conservation environments

A comparison between the responses of neutral red and acridine orange: Acridine Orange should be preferential and alternative to neutral red as a dye for the monitoring of contaminants by means of biological sensors

The acridine orange (AO) and neutral red (NR) dyes, commonly used as probes to measure the internal pH in acidic vesicles, are compared in this article. The comparison between the two dyes (arising from calculations taking into account their analytical constants) illustrated that the use of AO is preferential to that of NR because the AO response is sensitive over the whole pH range between 4.0 and 7.4, whereas the NR response is effective only between pHs 4.0 and 6.0. In addition, it became evident from the mitochondrial respiration response that NR, unlike AO, is a protonophore. When taken into consideration, these two properties suggest that AO is more suitable than NR as an indicator of toxicity measurements in water samples because the environmental toxic compounds induce pH changes in the acidic vesicles of biological structures that are used as environmental biosensors

Detection of volatile metabolites of moulds isolated from a contaminated library

The principal fungal species isolated from a contaminated library environment were tested for their microbial volatile organic compound (MVOC) production ability. Aspergillus creber, A. penicillioides, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Eurotium chevalieri, E. halophilicum, Penicillium brevicompactum and P. chrysogenum were cultivated on suitable culture media inside sample bottles specifically designed and created for direct MVOC injection to a GC-MS instrument. The fungal emissions were monitored over several weeks to detect changes with the aging of the colonies, monitored also by respirometric tests. A total of 55 different MVOCs were detected and isopropyl alcohol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-butanone were the principal compounds in common between the selected fungal species. Moreover, 2,4-dimethylheptane, 1,4-pentadiene, styrene, ethanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, acetone, furan and 2-methylfuran were the most detected compounds. For the first time, the MVOC production for particular fungal species was detected. The species A. creber, which belongs to the recently revised group Aspergillus section Versicolores, was characterized by the production of ethanol, furan and 1,4-pentadiene. For the xerophilic fungus E. halophilicum, specific production of acetone, 2-butanone and 1,4-pentadiene was detected, supported also by respirometric data. The results demonstrated the potential use of this method for the detection of fungal contamination phenomena inside Cultural Heritage's preservation environments. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved