A practical strategy to subcutaneous administered in-situ gelling co-delivery system of arsenic and retinoic acid for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia

Arsenic trioxide(ATO) combined with all trans retinoic acid(ATRA) is the first choice for the treatment of low and medium risk acute promyelocytic leukemia(APL). Clinical studies reported that the combination of ATO and ATRA could achieve a significant curative effect. However, the retinoic acid syndrome, serious drug resistance and the short half-life in vivo which lead to frequent and large dose administration limit the application of ATRA. In addition, the preparations of arsenic are conventional injections and tablets in clinic, which has poor patients’ compliance caused by frequent long-term administration and serious side effects. In order to overcome the above limitations, a phospholipid phase separation gel(PPSG) loaded with ATO and ATRA was developed. ATO + ATRA-PPSG(AAP), as a biodegradable sustained-release delivery system, was the first achievement of co-delivery of hydrophilic ATO and lipophilic ATRA with high drug loading which is the main problem in the application of nano preparation. The prepared PPSG displayed high safety and biocompatibility. The drug in PPSG was released slowly and continuously in vivo and in vitro for up to 10 d, which could reduce the side effects caused by the fluctuation of blood drug concentration and solve the problem of the long treatment cycle and frequent administration. In vivo pharmacokinetics depicted that PPSG could improve the bioavailability, decrease the peak concentration, and prolong the t 1/2 of ATO and ATRA. Particularly, AAP significantly inhibited the tumor volume, extended the survival period of tumor-bearing mice, and promoted the differentiation of APL cells into normal cells. Therefore, ATO + ATRA-PPSG not only could co-load hydrophilic ATO and lipophilic ATRA according to the clinical dosage, but also possessed the sustained-release and long-acting treatment effect which was expected to reduce administration time and ameliorate compliance of patients. Thus, it had great potential for clinical transformation and application.

Separation and purification of deoxynivalenol(DON) mycotoxin from wheat culture using a simple two-step silica gel column chromatography

Deoxynivalenol（DON） is a type B trichothecenes mycotoxin produced by several Fusarium species, often found in foodstuffs for humans and animals. DON is in great demand for the toxicological researches both in vivo and in vitro. In this work, wheat culture was inoculated with a Fusarium graminearum PH-1 strain for DON production. The solvent system for crude extraction was acetonitrile-water（84：16, v/v）. A simple two-step silica gel column chromatography was employed to separate the DON mycotoxin from wheat culture, combined with preparative high performance liquid chromatography（preparative HPLC） to purify the compound. The solvent system for the second silica gel column chromatography was methylene chloride-methanol（17：1, v/v）, which provided a good elution effect selected on thin layer chromatography（TLC）. The target compound was identified by HPLC, and the chemical structure was confirmed by mass spectrometry（MS） and ~1H and ^（13）C nuclear magnetic resonance（NMR） spectroscopy. A total of 433 mg of purified DON was obtained from 1 kg of wheat culture, with a purity of 99.01%. The study had provided an easy-operating and cost-effective method to isolate an expensive compound in a simple way.

Gas separation using sol–gel derived microporous zirconia membranes with high hydrothermal stability

A microporous zirconia membrane with hydrogen permeance about 5 × 10-8mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1, H2/CO2 permselectivity of ca. 14, and excellent hydrothermal stability under steam pressure of 100 k Pa was fabricated via polymeric sol–gel process. The effect of calcination temperature on single gas permeance of sol–gel derived zirconia membranes was investigated. Zirconia membranes calcined at 350 °C and 400 °C showed similar single gas permeance, with permselectivities of hydrogen towards other gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, methane, and sulfur hexa fluoride, around Knudsen values. A much lower CO2permeance（3.7 × 10-9mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1）was observed due to the interaction between CO2 molecules and pore wall of membrane. Higher calcination temperature, 500 °C, led to the formation of mesoporous structure and, hence, the membrane lost its molecular sieving property towards hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The stability of zirconia membrane in the presence of hot steam was also investigated. Exposed to 100 k Pa steam for 400 h, the membrane performance kept unchanged in comparison with freshly prepared one, with hydrogen and carbon dioxide permeances of 4.7 × 10-8and ~ 3 × 10-9mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1, respectively. Both H2 and CO2permeances of the zirconia membrane decreased with exposure time to 100 k Pa steam. With a total exposure time of 1250 h, the membrane presented hydrogen permeance of 2.4 × 10-8mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1and H2/CO2 permselectivity of 28, indicating that the membrane retains its microporous structure.

STUDY ON ENRICHMENT AND SEPARATION OF TRACE ELEMENTS WITH SILICA GELS MODIFIED BY HETEROCYCLIC AZO DYES

Two types of modified silica gels were prepared by adsorption method and bonding method respectively. Enrichment and separation of trace metal ions have been done by using the column packed with modified silica gels.