Contamination with ergot bodies (Claviceps purpurea sensu lato) of two horse pastures in Northern Germany.

Because the occurrence of Claviceps in European pastures may have been overlooked to cause serious health problem for grazing animals, we documented the degree of Claviceps contamination in two horse pastures and estimated whether the horses could have ingested a critical quantity of alkaloids. We counted the Claviceps sclerotia and determined alkaloid levels using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Depending on the location, the number of sclerotia varied from 0.09 to 0.19 per square meter (central area) and from 0.23 to 55.8 per square meter (border strips). Alkaloid levels in individual sclerotia also varied in different genera of grasses, ranging from 0.98 ± 0.17 µg/kg in Agrostis sp. to 25.82 ± 9.73 µg/kg in Dactylis sp., equivalent to 0.98 µg/kg and 7.26 mg/kg. Sclerotia from Dactylis contained high levels of ergosine (0.209 % ± 0.100 %) and ergocristine (0.374 % ± 0.070 %). Depending on the localization in pastures, alkaloid levels in forage (dry matter, DM) ranged from 16.1 to 45.4 µg/kg in central areas and from 23.9 to 722 µg/kg in border strips. The amount of alkaloids that a horse could have ingested depended on its daily DM uptake, which was higher in the central areas (5.85 kg/day) than in the border strips (2.73 or 0.78 kg/day). In the central areas, this amount of alkaloids ranged from 94.2 to 265.9 µg/day; and in the border strips, from 65.3 (in 2.73 kg DM/day) to as much as 563.8 µg/day (in 0.78 kg DM/day). All these amounts are higher than the European averages for alkaloids ingested by horses via feedstuffs.

Exploring the relationship between protein secondary structures, temperature-dependent viscosities, and technological treatments in egg yolk and LDL by FTIR and rheology.

Egg yolk and its main component, low-density lipoproteins (LDL), were consecutively pasteurised, optimally freeze-dried, and dispersed in various NaCl solutions (0-10%). Heat-induced changes in the protein secondary structures which accompanied viscosity-increasing aggregation processes were monitored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to determine the intensities of intermolecular ß-sheets (1622 cm(-1)) and results were compared with the temperature-dependent viscosities. Considerable changes in secondary structures observed after reconstitution of freeze-dried LDL had no detectable effect on the characteristic heat-induced viscosity curves but suggest that LDL plays a particular role in the unwanted gel formation of egg yolk after conventional freezing. For all egg yolk samples and all NaCl-containing LDL samples, the sigmoidal changes in the absorbance units vs. temperature curves corresponded with the first increase in heat-induced viscosity. Both analytical methods showed that the presence of ionic strength caused a shift in curve progressions towards higher temperatures, indicating increased thermal stability.

Determination of RS,E/Z-tocotrienols by HPLC.

Synthetic alpha-tocotrienol was separated into four geometrical E/Z side chain isomers by preparative HPLC (permethylated beta-cyclodextrin phase). The isolated isomers were resolved in ethylene glycol dimethyl ether, converted into the corresponding methyl ether using dimethyl sulfate, and the tocotrienol methyl ethers were extracted with n-hexane. A subsequent HPLC separation on a chiral phase (adsorbent cellulose derivated with 3,5-dimethyl phenyl carbamate) discriminates between the enantiomers of each E/Z side chain isomer, achieving the complete resolution of the eight occurring synthetic RS,E/Z-alpha-tocotrienols. The method can be shortened by omitting the preparative separation of the E/Z tocotrienol isomers prior to the chromatography on the chiral dimethyl phenyl carbamate phase. The simplified method achieved the following separation: RS,E/Z-alpha-tocotrienol separated into five peaks, RS,E/Z-beta-tocotrienol into eight, RS,E/Z-gamma-tocotrienol into six and RS,E/Z-delta-tocotrienol into eight peaks. The naturally occurring R,E-E-tocotrienol isomer could be identified within the synthetic RS,E/Z-isomers by co-chromatography with tocotrienol methyl ethers derived from natural sources, respectively.