Rapidly, relevantly, and efficiently toxicity assessment is the basis of continuous investigation and control of environmental contaminants. Artemia sp. is usually used as a biological model in cost-efficient bioassays under laboratory conditions to determine toxicity based on its advantageous properties of rapid hatching, easy accessibility, and sensitivity to toxic substances. The three sensitive endpoints of acute mortality, acute cyst hatchability, as well as behavioral response (such as swimming speed) are commonly used as evaluation criteria. The establishment of international standards for toxicity assessment of Artemia spp. is necessary. Further research is needed to obtain valuable insights from a biological perspective and for bio-conservation purposes.
Part of the book: Assessment and Management of Radioactive and Electronic Wastes
Anthocyanins are water-soluble pink/red/blue/purple pigments found abundantly in the flesh and skin of fruits, flowers, and roots of different varieties of plants. Compared to vegetative tissues in many plants, fruits have much higher contents of anthocyanins. In general, anthocyanins have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, and antiapoptotic activities that benefit human health. To date, anthocyanins in many different fruits have gained intensive studies in structures, biosynthesis, genetics, and genomics. Despite this, difficulties exist in identifying anthocyanins with similar structures and precisely estimating contents within fruit matrices. To improve this challenge, high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) based metabolomics has been shown a powerful technology to distinguish structure-similar anthocyanins. This chapter reviews, summarizes, and discusses the application of HPLC-MS/MS in the annotation or identification of anthocyanins in fruits.
Part of the book: High Performance Liquid Chromatography