This paper reviews the current research on the speciation and determination of mercury by various analytical techniques, including the atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), voltammetry, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), ICP-mass spectrometry (MS), atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS), spectrophotometry, spectrofluorometry, and high performance liquid chromato...

Auxin a plant growth hormone, has a metabolic pathway that includes molecules and enzymes like those in animal brains. In this study, tomato plant seedlings (Lycopersicon esculenta) were used to investigate the fate of fluorine-tagged 5-hydroxytryptophan (PF-5-HTP) being developed for fluorine spectroscopy and imaging. Seedlings were treated with high or low concentrations of 5-HTP or PF-5-HTP ...

Native fluorescence, or autofluorescence (AF), consists in the emission of light in the UV-visible, near-IR spectral range when biological substrates are excited with light at suitable wavelength. This is a well-known phenomenon, and the strict relationship of many endogenous fluorophores with morphofunctional properties of the living systems, influencing their AF emission features, offers an e...

Estradiol (E(2))-signaling is widely considered to be exclusively mediated through the transcription-regulating intracellular estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and ERbeta. The aim of this study was to investigate transcription-independent E(2)-signaling in mouse IC-21 macrophages. E(2) and E(2)-BSA induce a rapid rise in the intracellular free Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) of Fura-2 loaded IC-2...

Fusion of Pseudaletia unipuncta nucleopolyhedrovirus with an armyworm cell line (SIE-MSH-805-F) was studied by means of three fluorescence assays that are based on the relief of fluorescence self-quenching of octadecylrhodamine B chloride (R18). A gradual increase in fluorescence intensity indicative of virus-cell fusion was observed by spectrofluorometry when R18-labeled polyhedron-derived vir...

Aerobic respiration is a major source of energy in eukaryotic cells. In this setting, ATP production by the mitochondrial respiratory chain relies on the availability of NADH and FADH2 to donate protons and electrons. The flux of electrons down the electron transport chain, based on a series of oxidation-reduction reactions, releases energy that allow for the transport of H(+) ions across the i...

A flow-injection on-line photochemical spectrofluorometry (FI-PF) was developed for the determination of menadione sodium bisulfite (MSB) using acetone and sodium sulfite as sensitizing reagents. An injected sample band carried by a water stream was on-line merged with a mixed NaOH, Na2SO3 and acetone solution in a "T" connector. It was then driven to pass a knotted PTFE photochemical reactor (...