Biological Stability of Water-Based Cutting Fluids: Progress and Application

The application of cutting fluid in the field of engineering manufacturing has a history of hundreds of years, and it plays a vital role in the processing efficiency and surface quality of parts. Among them, water-based cutting fluid accounts for more than 90% of the consumption of cutting fluid. However, long-term recycling of water-based cutting fluid could easily cause deterioration, and the breeding of bacteria could cause the cutting fluid to fail, increase manufacturing costs, and even endanger the health of workers. Traditional bactericides could improve the biological stability of cutting fluids, but they are toxic to the environment and do not conform to the development trend of low-carbon manufacturing. Low-carbon manufacturing is inevitable and the direction of sustainable manufacturing. The use of nanomaterials, transition metal complexes, and physical sterilization methods on the bacterial cell membrane and genetic material could effectively solve this problem. In this article, the mechanism of action of additives and microbial metabolites was first analyzed. Then, the denaturation mechanism of traditional bactericides on the target protein and the effect of sterilization efficiency were summarized. Further, the mechanism of nanomaterials disrupting cell membrane potential was discussed. The effects of lipophilicity and the atomic number of transition metal complexes on cell membrane penetration were also summarized, and the effects of ultraviolet rays and ozone on the destruction of bacterial genetic material were reviewed. In other words, the bactericidal performance, hazard, degradability, and economics of various sterilization methods were comprehensively evaluated, and the potential development direction of improving the biological stability of cutting fluid was proposed.

A Validated HPLC-PDA-HRMS Method to Investigate the Biological Stability and Metabolism of Antiparasitic Triterpenic Esters

Pentacyclic triterpenes (PTs) are commonly found in medicinal plants with well-known antiparasitic effects. Previous research on C-3 and C-27 triterpenic esters showed effective and selective in vitro antiparasitic activities and in vivo effectiveness by parenteral routes. The aim of this study was to determine triterpenic esters’ stability in different biological-like media and the main microsomal degradation products. An HPLC-PDA method was developed and validated to simultaneously analyze and quantify bioactive triterpenic esters in methanol (LOQ: 2.5 and 1.25–100 µg/mL) and plasma (LOQ: 5–125 µg/mL). Overall, both triterpenic esters showed a stable profile in aqueous and buffered solutions as well as in entire plasma, suggesting gaining access to the ester function is difficult for plasma enzymes. Conversely, after 1 h, 30% esters degradation in acidic media was observed with potential different hydrolysis mechanisms. C-3 (15 and 150 µM) and C-27 esters (150 µM) showed a relatively low hepatic microsomal metabolism (<23%) after 1 h, which was significantly higher in the lowest concentration of C-27 esters (15 µM) (>40% degradation). Metabolic HPLC-PDA-HRMS studies suggested hydrolysis, hydroxylation, dehydration, O-methylation, hydroxylation and/or the reduction of hydrolyzed derivatives, depending on the concentration and the position of the ester link. Further permeability and absorption studies are required to better define triterpenic esters pharmacokinetic and specific formulations designed to increase their oral bioavailability.

Assessing biological stability in a porous groundwater aquifer of a riverbank filtration system: combining traditional cultivation-based and emerging cultivation-independent in situ and predictive methods

Riverbank filtration systems are important drinking water resources. Aquifers of riverbank filtration systems are subjected to considerable dynamics concerning the quantity and quality of the infiltrating water. The microbiological quality is mainly jeopardized by faecal contamination of the main river. Besides, water quality can be impacted by growth of natural water-borne bacteria due to the input of nutrients resulting in the proliferation of opportunistic pathogens, impairment of odour and taste or bio-corrosion. The occurrence of such phenomena indicates a biological instability. For highly dynamic riverbank filtration systems, it is thus of high relevance to assess the biological stability of the groundwater resource.In the present study, we applied a holistic, two-tiered concept of in situ and predictive methods to assess the biostability of the aquifer in a bank filtration system of the Danube River. We applied traditional cultivation-based and selected cultivation-independent methods—including cultivation on yeast extract and R2A agar, determination of total cell counts via fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, leucine incorporation and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing—at critical control points along the infiltration path from the river to the abstraction well.The concentration of organic nutrients and the hydrological variability were the main controlling factors driving the biological stability of the groundwater body. Wells situated at greater distance displayed significantly lower dissolved organic carbon concentrations and a dampened hydrological influence in comparison to the well situated next to the river. Apparent discrepancies between the methods used indicated a different indicator function of the cultivation-based and cultivation-independent approaches. For complex systems, we thus recommend this new holistic concept for assessing biostability by combining in situ as well as predictive parameters and using cultivation-based and cultivation-independent methods.

Nanostructured Antimicrobial Peptides: Crucial Steps of Overcoming the Bottleneck for Clinics

The security issue of human health is faced with dispiriting threats from multidrug-resistant bacteria infections induced by the abuse and misuse of antibiotics. Over decades, the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) hold great promise as a viable alternative to treatment with antibiotics due to their peculiar antimicrobial mechanisms of action, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, lower drug residue, and ease of synthesis and modification. However, they universally express a series of disadvantages that hinder their potential application in the biomedical field (e.g., low bioavailability, poor protease resistance, and high cytotoxicity) and extremely waste the abundant resources of AMP database discovered over the decades. For all these reasons, the nanostructured antimicrobial peptides (Ns-AMPs), based on a variety of nanosystem modification, have made up for the deficiencies and pushed the development of novel AMP-based antimicrobial therapies. In this review, we provide an overview of the advantages of Ns-AMPs in improving therapeutic efficacy and biological stability, reducing side effects, and gaining the effect of organic targeting and drug controlled release. Then the different material categories of Ns-AMPs are described, including inorganic material nanosystems containing AMPs, organic material nanosystems containing AMPs, and self-assembled AMPs. Additionally, this review focuses on the Ns-AMPs for the effect of biological activities, with emphasis on antimicrobial activity, biosecurity, and biological stability. The “state-of-the-art” antimicrobial modes of Ns-AMPs, including controlled release of AMPs under a specific environment or intrinsic antimicrobial properties of Ns-AMPs, are also explicated. Finally, the perspectives and conclusions of the current research in this field are also summarized.