The impact of the mountain barrier on the spread of heavy metal pollution on the example of Gorce Mountains, Southern Poland.

The main objective of this study was to determine the content, mobility, and the variability of concentration of zinc, lead, and cadmium in soils from the Gorce Mountains (south Poland), located over 100 km south-east from the potential industrial sources of contamination-zinc-lead sulfide ore mine and smelter in Bukowno, as well as hard coal mines of Silesia region and Kraków Nowa-Huta steelwork. The abovementioned problem is crucial in the context of the traditional mountain farming still extant in the region, as well as intensively developing tourism. The geoaccumulation index and potential ecological risk index were adopted to evaluate soil pollution in the study area and the BCR sequential extraction technique to assess mobility of the abovementioned elements. The obtained results clearly show that the pollution from distant industrial sources in the mountains is detectable. Apart from the increased concentrations of the tested metals in the soil (especially available forms), there is also a strong correlation between the concentrations of lead, zinc, and cadmium, which proves their common source of origin. The main evidence is the fact that differences in the concentrations of the tested metals on the windward and leeward sides were statistically significant. This also means that the studied mountain area, despite relatively low altitudes (up to 1310 m above sea level), constitutes a measurable barrier to the spread of atmospheric pollutants.

The multimodal chemical study of pre-Columbian Peruvian mummies.

In the pre-Hispanic Central Andes, the mummified bodies of ancestors stood as the basis for the social and cosmic order. However, the mummification techniques in that region are still poorly understood, as there have been surprisingly few archaeometric studies on their technical aspects. For that reason, we selected two mummies of the Chancay culture (900-1533 AD), on which to perform extensive chemical characterisation using a combination of molecular and elemental analysis and nanoscale imaging. The multimodal chemical study included the use of ATR FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM-EDX, GC-MS and HPLC-MS techniques, and allowed the identification of a plethora of organic and inorganic substances present in their skin. Moreover, we were able to recognise different patterns of decomposition in each case. Data obtained during this study suggest that, in the last centuries before the Inca Empire conquered the Peruvian Central Coast, local societies treated some of their dead in a special manner, covering their bodies with balms composed of many substances. Some of these substances had anti-decay properties and could stop further decomposition of the skin.

Usefulness of bee bread and capped brood for the assessment of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels in the environment.

Monitoring airborne pollutants, like aromatic hydrocarbons, are raising more and more concerns recently. Various sampling techniques and methods are known to collect, measure, and analyse environmental pollution levels based on honey bee bodies or bee product samples. Although honey bees are studied in detail and sampling methods are becoming more and more sophisticated biological samples may significantly differ in pollutant accumulation, showing a wide range of pollution levels even in the same site and environment. We have compared the pollution levels of honey bee capped brood and bee bread (pollen collected by honey bees and deposited in the hive) originating from four sites during two years of study and twelve honey bee families near various pollution sources emitting monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) to the environment. Our result showed, that the environmental monitoring of BTEX can be based on sampling honey bees, and bee bread in particular. However, we found a significant difference in the uptake of these pollutants regarding sample type. Pollen collected as a food source revealed consistently higher levels of BTEX than bee brood, as well as some other differences in pollution levels between samples and between seasons, as opposed to capped brood. Based on our results, we suggest that for measuring and monitoring of BTEX pollution in the environment the use of bee bread is a valuable source of information.

Interactions of pentacyclic triterpene acids with cardiolipins and related phosphatidylglycerols in model systems.

Pentacyclic triterpene acids (PTAs): betulinic (BAc), oleanolic (Ola) and ursolic (Urs) are potent pharmaceuticals applied in the therapy of cancer and bacterial infections. The mechanism of PTA action is multifactor, but the important step is their interaction with the lipids of mitochondrial and bacterial membranes. In our studies we applied the Langmuir monolayer technique to investigate the interactions between PTAs and cardiolipins (CLs) and phosphatidylglycerols (PGs). We applied two different mammalian mitochondrial CLs and one species extracted from the membrane of Escherichia coli. For comparison we performed the same experiments on the systems containing PTAs and 3 PGs strictly correlated structurally to the applied CLs. Our studies proved that PTAs can disturb the organization of CL-rich domains and affect the bacterial membrane fluidity by the interactions with phosphatidylglycerols, so anionic phospholipids are the targets of their membrane action. The thermodynamic interpretation of the results indicated that Urs has the highest membrane disorganizing potential among the 3 studied PTAs. The studies performed on model systems proved also that BAc can discriminate over structurally similar animal cardiolipin species, interacts specifically with BHCL - the main mammalian CL and can disturb its organization in the membrane. In contrast, Ola and Urs are much active as far as the interaction with bacterial CLs and PGs is concerned.

Langmuir monolayer studies of the interaction of monoamphiphilic pentacyclic triterpenes with anionic mitochondrial and bacterial membrane phospholipids - searching for the most active terpene.

The interactions of three representative monoamphiphilic pentacyclic triterpenes (PTs) with cardiolipins (CL) and phosphatidylglycerols (PG) extracted from mitochondrial and bacterial membranes were comparatively characterized in binary Langmuir monolayers. The studied terpenes: lupeol, α- and ß-amyrin are isomeric compounds known from their broad biological activity. Anticancer and antimicrobial activity of PTs is often correlated with their propensity of being incorporated into mitochondrial and bacterial membranes and their specific interactions with cardiolipins. In our studies on 18 model systems surface pressure (π)-mean molecular area (A) isotherms were registered at five different component proportions in each system. Thermodynamic analysis complemented by in situ Brewster angle microscopy visualization of the investigated mixed films enabled the thorough characterization of the studied systems. It turned out that the investigated terpenes interact more favorably with PG molecules as compared to CLs. For most of the system containing CLs the values of ΔG(exc) were positive which was interpreted as the ability of the terpenes to disintegrate the membranes rich in CLs. Our results confirmed also that in the light of thermodynamic criterion α-amyrin exhibited the highest potential to disintegrate the CL containing domains in mitochondrial and bacterial membranes. The probable origin of the observed specific interactions between α-amyrin and investigated phospholipids could be explained based on the phenomenon of chiral discrimination. The obtained results were also widely discussed in reference to the biological activity of the studied compounds.