Search Results (3)

Several massive colonies of Pectinatella magnifica have been observed during the summer almost every year since 1974 in agricultural reservoir ponds and lakes with dirty freshwater environments in Ishikawa, Japan, which has posed serious environmental problems on the shores of Hokuriku District. We collected Pectinatella magnifica during the summer at Kahokugata Lake and Makiyama agricultural reservoir pond in June and July 2016. However, scientific data for the statoblasts of Pectinatella magnifica are limited. Our results for scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analyses of Pectinatella magnifica indicated immobilization of the chemical elements that were involved in the mass during the summer. We also reported the characterization of an invasive species of bryozoan (Pectinatella magnifica) in lakes and ponds in Ishikawa, Japan, based on field observations in 2016. We studied the microstructure, mineralogy, chemical composition, and radioactivity associated with these organisms, using a combination of micro-techniques, SEM-EDS, associated with ICP-MS, and XRD. This study aims to illustrate the capability of Pectinatella magnifica to produce minerals within statoblasts and gelatinous material. Obtained results may indicate forming quartz, palygorskite, dolomite, bischofite, pyrolusite, and pyrite, associated with native sulfur and copper in the statoblast. The mass of gelatinous material contains talc and vermiculite as well as non-crystalline phase. The mechanism of biomineral formation has important implications for water–mineral–organism or microorganism interactions both in lower drainage basin systems, such as Kahokugata Lake, and upper water areas, such as Makiyama agricultural reservoir pond. Many types with variety of sizes and shapes of bryozoan (Pectinatella magnifica) were found in lakes and ponds in Japan. The biomineralization systems will be made available for use not only in researching bryozoans (Pectinatella magnifica), but also for environmental change systems from upstream to downstream of the lake. To date, there have been no reports on related electron microscopy observations, including the real-life occurrence of “bioremediation”. These observations could lead to simple methods of removing statoblasts of the invasive alien species Pectinatella magnifica from agricultural and reservoir environments, because there was limited microbial immobilization of the ions during the winter. Full article

The use of a liquid chromatography (LC) splitter inserted between an HPLC column and an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) is described. This paper aims to show the feasibility of using the splitter in an HPLC-ELSD system to fractionate a model mixture of analytes, namely salicin (2-(hydroxymethyl)-phenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside) and glucose. The retention factors and efficiency of the separation were studied under various temperatures and water contents in the mobile phase in order to clarify the mechanism of polyols separation on a diol column under the conditions of hydrophilic liquid chromatography (HILIC). Finally, the system was applied to a biological sample (a lyophilized colony gel of Pectinatella magnifica), where the presence of fructose and glucose was confirmed. Full article

Pectinatella magnifica, an invasive bryozoan, might significantly affect ecosystem balance due to its massive occurrence in many areas in Europe and other parts of the world. Biological and chemical analyses are needed to get complete information about the impact of the animal on the environment. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate in vitro cytotoxic effects of five extracts prepared from P. magnifica using LDH assay on THP-1 cell line. Antimicrobial activities of extracts against 22 different bacterial strains were tested by microdilution method. Our study showed that all extracts tested, except aqueous portion, demonstrated LD₅₀ values below 100 μg/mL, which indicates potential toxicity. The water extract of P. magnifica with LD₅₀ value of 250 μg/mL also shows potentially harmful effects. Also, an environmental risk resulting from the presence and increasing biomass of potentially toxic benthic cyanobacteria in old colonies should not be underestimated. Toxicity of Pectinatella extracts could be partially caused by presence of Aeromonas species in material, since we found members of these genera as most abundant bacteria associated with P. magnifica. Furthermore, P. magnifica seems to be a promising source of certain antimicrobial agents. Its methanolic extract, hexane, and chloroform fractions possessed selective inhibitory effect on some potential pathogens and food spoiling bacteria in the range of MIC 0.5–10 mg/mL. Future effort should be made to isolate and characterize the content compounds derived from P. magnifica, which could help to identify the substance(s) responsible for the toxic effects of P. magnifica extracts. Full article