Ammonium bromide 400mg/5ml / Potassium bromide 400mg/5ml / Sodium bromide 400mg/5ml oral solution

Bromide is the first effective antiseizure medication used in human medicine since the XIX century. Initially met with skepticism, bromide quickly gained enthusiasm within the medical field until being largely replaced by newer antiseizure medications with significantly fewer adverse effects in people. In veterinary medicine, bromide continues to be used in the management of epileptic patients for over 30 years, yet adverse effects can impact owners and patients alike. We sought to provide the general practitioner and veterinary neurologist with insightful information on both the positive and negative attributes of bromide, explore factors that may influence its desirability as an antiseizure medication in specific veterinary cases and elucidate its current role in modern epilepsy treatment for veterinary patients. It's also our endeavor to discuss the current use as an alternative or add-on with other known antiseizure medications and potential future studies that might enhance our understanding and use of this medication.

Abstract licence: CC BY

The first visible-light-induced protocol for the general preparation of alkenyl thiocyanates from alkenyl bromides is presented. The reaction is simple, proceeds under very mild conditions and demonstrates broad functional group tolerance. Additionally, a flow protocol was developed to enable efficient scale-up of alkenyl thiocyanate synthesis, further enhancing the practicality and value of the method. Importantly, these alkenyl thiocyanates serve as valuable building blocks for the construction of diverse families of sulfur-containing molecules through trifluoromethylations, cycloadditions, oxidations, and C-S or P-S bond forming reactions.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

The European Commission mandated EFSA to assess the toxicity of bromide, the existing maximum residue levels (MRLs), and possible transfer from feed into food of animal origin. The critical effects of bromide in experimental animals are on the thyroid and central nervous system. Changes in thyroid hormone homeostasis could result in neurodevelopmental toxicity, among other adverse effects. Changes in thyroid hormone concentrations and neurophysiological parameters have also been observed in experimental human studies, but the evidence was limited. Dose-response modelling of decreased blood thyroxine concentrations in rats resulted in a reference point of 40 mg/kg body weight (bw) per day. The Scientific Committee established a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.4 mg/kg bw per day and an acute reference dose (ARfD) of 0.4 mg/kg bw per day to protect against adverse neurodevelopmental effects. The TDI value is supported by the results of experimental human studies with a NOAEL of 4 mg/kg bw per day and 10-fold interindividual variability. The TDI and ARfD are considered as conservative with 90% certainty. Insufficient evidence related to the toxicological effects of bromide was available for animals, with the exception of dogs. Therefore, the reference point of 40 mg/kg bw per day was extrapolated to maximum safe concentrations of bromide in complete feed for other animal species. Bromide can transfer from feed to food of animal origin, but, from the limited data, it was not possible to quantify the transfer rate. Monitoring data exceeded the current MRLs for some food commodities, generally with a low frequency. A conservative safety screening of the MRLs indicated that the TDI and ARfD are exceeded for some EU diets. Dietary exposure assessment for animals was not feasible due to insufficient data. The Scientific Committee recommends data be generated to allow robust dietary exposure assessments in the future, and data that support the risk assessment.

Abstract licence: CC BY-ND

Oligosaccharides demonstrate many bioactivities with applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries. They also serve as biomarkers for various diseases including cancer and glycogen storage disorders. These make the structural characterization of oligosaccharides very important. Unfortunately, the structural diversity found in saccharides make their characterization challenging, necessitating the development of sophisticated instrumentation to enable isomer differentiation. Herein, we report the ability of halide (Cl- and Br-) adducts to enable direct differentiation of oligosaccharide isomers using conventional collision-induced dissociation (CID) tandem MS (MS/MS). The halide adducts were generated by direct infusion nano-electrospray ionization (nESI). For the first time, this traditional nESI CID MS/MS platform was used to differentiate stereoisomers of trisaccharides (cellotriose β(1 → 4) and maltotriose α(1 → 4), tetrasaccharides (cellotetraose and maltotetraose), and pentasaccharides (cellopentaose and maltopentaose)). In addition, the MS/MS of halide adducts enabled the differentiation of positional, structural, and linkage isomers from a total of 14 oligosaccharides. The isomer differentiation was realized by the generation of distinct diagnostic fragment ions in CID. We also performed principal component analysis using the entire range of MS/MS fragment ion profiles and found that negative-ion mode halide adduction provided more effective isomer differentiation compared with positive-ion mode sodium adduction. Finally, we demonstrated complex mixture analysis by spiking all 14 oligosaccharides into raw urine, of which we successfully distinguished species based on molecular weight (first dimension) and CID MS/MS fragmentation patterns as the second dimension separation. This work effectively showcases the potential to use direct infusion nESI-MS/MS to characterize synthetic oligosaccharide isomers in unpurified reaction mixture as well as from biofluids for diagnostic purposes.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC