Light on Bipolar Disorder, Treatment Plant-based Gummy Candy Helps Vegans and Vegetarians get Their Vitamins........9

From the ACS Press Room Lithium Imaging Method could Shine New Light on Bipolar Disorder, Treatment

“DNAzyme-Based Lithium-Selective Imaging Reveals Higher Lithium Accumulation in Bipolar Disorder Patient-Derived Neurons” ACS Central Science

Since 1949, lithium has been a mainstay for treating bipolar disorder (BD), a mental health condition marked by extreme mood swings. But scientists still don’t have a clear understanding of how the drug works, or why some patients respond better than others. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science developed a method for imaging lithium in living cells, allowing them to discover that neurons from BD patients accumulate higher levels of lithium than healthy controls. According to the National Institutes of Health, 4.4% of U.S. adults experience BD at some time in their lives. Studies have shown that lithium-based drugs can help stabilize mood and reduce suicide risk in people with BD. However, only about one-third of BD patients respond completely to lithium treatment, and the rest respond only partially or not at all. One reason could be that the drug has an extremely narrow therapeutic range: Below a certain blood serum level of lithium, most patients do not respond, but at a slightly higher level, they can experience severe side effects. Being able to measure lithium concentrations directly in a patient’s neurons could help scientists understand how lithium works as a drug, and then they could use this knowledge to optimize the dosage. So Yi Lu and colleagues wanted to develop a method to detect and measure lithium in living cells at therapeutically relevant concentrations. The researchers used in vitro selection to identify a DNA enzyme (DNAzyme) that catalyzes the release of a fluorescent molecule from an RNA probe, thus producing a signal, only when lithium is present. The DNAzyme was 100 times more selective for lithium over other metal ions, and it was sensitive enough to detect lithium at concentrations within the therapeutic range. As a proof of concept, the researchers collected skin cells from BD patients and healthy donors, reprogrammed them to become stem cells and then differentiated them into neurons. The team treated the neurons with the DNAzyme-based sensor and a therapeutically relevant dosage of lithium. Using fluorescence microscopy, the researchers found that immature neurons from BD patients and healthy controls accumulated similar levels of lithium, but mature neurons from BD patients accumulated higher levels of lithium than mature control neurons. The

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From the ACS Press Room Plant-based Gummy Candy Helps Vegans and Vegetarians get Their Vitamins

“Emulsion-Filled Pectin Gels for Vehiculation of Vitamins D3 and B12: From Structuring to the Development of Enriched Vegan Gummy Candies” ACS Food Science & Technology

Worldwide, millions of people follow vegan and vegetarian diets for religious, ethical, environmental or economic reasons. While these diets have purported health benefits, they can also lack essential nutrients, such as vitamins B12 and D3, if not well-planned or supplemented correctly. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology have packed a strawberry-flavored gummy with these vitamins, formulating it without any animal products so vegans and vegetarians can reach their recommended daily allowances (RDA). Some essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B12, are found exclusively in animal products, while others can be obtained from other sources. For example, humans can make vitamin D3 when their skin is exposed to sunlight, but many people aren’t outside enough to meet the requirement for this vitamin. Therefore, it is primarily consumed through fish, eggs and organ meats, which are not eaten by vegans and some vegetarians. To avoid the pitfalls of vitamin deficiencies, people who adhere to plant-based diets often take supplements, but it’s been challenging to put both vitamin B12 and vitamin D3 in one pill because of their differing solubilities. One solution could be to put them

into emulsion-filled gels, such as gummy candies. Previous researchers have shown that pectin, a plant-based polysaccharide, can be used as a gelling agent in animal productfree foods. So, Samantha Pinho and colleagues wanted to see if they could use only plant-based ingredients, such as pectin, to

produce a gummy candy enriched with vitamins B12 and D3 that would be acceptable to consumers.

The researchers first made an emulsion, combining citrate buffer, inulin, gum arabic, flaxseed oil and vitamin D3, and separately made the pectin gel, dissolving a type of pectin, calcium chloride and vitamin B12 in a citrate buffer. Then, by rapidly stirring the emulsion into the pectin gel with sugar, the team produced an emulsion-filled gel. The gel became a reddish gummy material after it dried. To develop this into a suitable food product, the researchers added a natural strawberry flavor and molded the gel into half-inch-wide canContinued on Page 14