Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
A new method was proposed to determine the nitrogen content of nitrocelluloses (NCs). It is based on the finding of a linear relationship between the nitrogen content and the molar ratio of nitrite-to-nitrate ions released after alkaline hydrolysis. Capillary electrophoresis was used to monitor the concentration of nitrite and nitrate ions. The influences of hydrolysis time and molar mass of NC on the molar ratio of nitrite-to-nitrate ions were investigated, and new insights into the understanding of the alkaline denitration mechanism of NCs, underlying this analytical strategy is provided. The method was then tested successfully with various explosive and non-explosive NC-containing samples such as various daily products and smokeless gunpowders. Inherently to its principle exploiting a concentration ratio, this method shows very good repeatability in the determination of nitrogen content in real samples with relative standard deviation (n=3) inferior to 1.5%, and also provides very significant advantages with respect to sample extraction, analysis time (1h for alkaline hydrolysis, 3min for electrophoretic separation), which was about 5 times shorter than for the classical Devarda's method, currently used in industry, and safety conditions (no need for preliminary drying NC samples, mild hydrolysis conditions with 1M sodium hydroxide for 1h at 60°C).
Journal of Hazardous Materials

hal-01103120
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01103120
PUBMED : 25562808

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Landes Bioscience
Résumé : International audience
In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
Autophagy

hal-00735751
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00735751
PUBMED : 22966490