Stopped-flow Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of nitromethane oxidation by the diiron(IV) intermediate of methane monooxygenase

The hydroxylase component (MMOH) of soluble methane monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) was reduced to the diiron(II) form and then allowed to react with dioxygen to generate the diiron(IV) intermediate Q in the first phase of a double-mixing stopped-flow experiment. CD3NO2 was then introduced in the second phase of the experiment, which was carried out in D2O at 25 degrees C. The kinetics of the reaction of the substrate with Q were monitored by stopped-flow Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, observing the disappearance of the asymmetric NO2 bending vibration at 1548 cm-1. The data were fit to a single-exponential function, which yielded a kobs of 0.45 +/- 0.07 s-1. This result is in quantitative agreement with a kobs of 0.39 +/- 0.01 s-1 obtained by observing the disappearance of Q by double-mixing stopped-flow optical spectroscopy at its absorption maximum of 420 nm. These results provide for the first time direct monitoring of the hydroxylation of a methane-derived substrate in the MMOH reaction pathway and demonstrate that Q decay occurs concomitantly with substrate consumption.     

Products from lactones and hydrazines: Hydroxyalkanohydrazides and pyrazolidones

Saturated aliphatic lactones and dihydrocoumarins have been characterized by the formation of their crystalline 1:1-adducts (hydroxyalkanohydrazides) with hydrazine hydrate. A new procedure, which involves the use of azeotropic distillation to remove the water present, greatly facilitates the reaction by reducing the time required. Three macrocyclic lactones, that did not react in either of two short procedures, readily formed the same type of 1:1-adducts after several hours of refluxing of the components in alcoholic solution. The unsaturated macrocyclic lactone gave two products of cleavage; one was the expected ω-hydroxyalkenohydrazide, but the other was its saturated analog, in which the double bond had been reduced by the excess hydrazine employed. β-Lactones are a special case, requiring variations in conditions; the yield of the simplest adduct was more than doubled by a new procedure. In one instance products in which the lactone ring had been opened in both possible ways were obtained for the first time. A “stream-lined extracter” was useful with the low melting adducts. Coumarins themselves gave either 1:2 adducts or pyrazolidones. The latter could also be prepared from the adducts. A study of 4-hydroxybutanohydrazide in a mass spectrometer showed that both γ-butyro-lactone and 5-methyl-3-pyrazolidone are thermal products. Pure 5-methyl-3-pyrazolidone has now been isolated from the syrupy reaction product of ethyl crotonate and hydrazine, It has been converted to benzylidene derivatives; spectral data of the latter are consistent with their polarized structures.     

Electron-transfer kinetics of copper(II/I) tripodal ligand complexes

The electron-transfer kinetics for each of three copper(II/I) tripodal ligand complexes reacting with multiple reducing and oxidizing counter reagents have been examined in aqueous solution at 25 degrees C, mu = 0.10 M. For all of the ligands studied, an amine nitrogen serves as the bridgehead atom. Two of the ligands (PMMEA and PEMEA) contain two thioether sulfurs and one pyridyl nitrogen as donor atoms on the appended legs while the third ligand (BPEMEA) has two pyridyl nitrogens and one thioether sulfur. Very limited kinetic studies were also conducted on two additional closely related tripodal ligand complexes. The results are compared to our previous kinetic study on a Cu(II/I) system involving a tripodal ligand (TMMEA) with thioether sulfur donor atoms on all three legs. In all systems, the Cu(II/I) electron self-exchange rate constants (k(11)) are surprisingly small, ranging approximately 0.03-50 M(-)(1) s(-)(1). The results are consistent with earlier studies reported by Yandell involving the reduction of Cu(II) complexes with four similar tripodal ligand systems, and it is concluded that the dominant reaction pathway involves a metastable Cu(II)L intermediate species (designated as pathway B). Since crystal structures suggest that the ligand reorganization accompanying electron transfer is relatively small compared to our earlier studies on macrocyclic ligand complexes of Cu(II/I), it is unclear why the k(11) values for the tripodal ligand systems are of such small magnitude.     

Drug-binding to biological macromolecules. A kinetic study of the system chlorodiazepoxide (librium) and bovine serum albumin

The Kinetics of the binding of librium to bovine serum albumin were investigated at an ionic strength of 0.15 M, in the pH-range between 5.5 and 10.5, using the temperature-jump method. Two relaxation times were observed. The first, rapid one is assigned to the equilibrium between reactants and complex, whereas the second, slower relaxation time measures a conformational change of this complex. Both relaxation times are independent of pH up to about 8.0 when they increase sharply to a new plateau at a pH of about 9.3. A possible parallelism between this behavior and the N ? B transition of albumin is discussed. The overall equilibrium constant K, as well as the equilibrium constant between the two conformers, K₂, were estimated from our kinetic results. Whereas the change of K with changing pH was within the experimental error, the equilibrium between the two conformers of the complex is somewhat shifted by an increase of the pH. At all values of pH, however, they are present in comparable concentrations. The value of K was also measured spectrophotometrically. The results of the two methods showed reasonable agreement. The relaxation times were affected very little by a change in temperature between 12 and 25°C from which it is concluded that the isomerization has a high negative value of ΔS?.     

Determination of eight fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium samples by headspace solid‐phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

A number of fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) have recently been detected in meconium samples. Several of these FAEEs have been evaluated as possible biomarkers for in utero ethanol exposure. In the present study, a method was optimized and validated for the simultaneous determination of eight FAEEs (ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl palmitoleate, ethyl stearate, ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate and ethyl arachidonate) in meconium samples. FAEEs were extracted by headspace solid‐phase microextraction. Analyte detection and quantification were carried out using GC‐MS operated in chemical ionization mode. The corresponding D5‐ethyl esters were synthesized and used as internal standards. The LOQ and LOD for each analyte were <150 and <100 ng/g, respectively. The method showed good linearity (r²>0.98) in the concentration range studied (LOQ – 2000 ng/g). The intra‐ and interday imprecision, given by the RSD of the method, was lower than 15% for all FAEEs studied. The validated method was applied to 63 authentic specimens. FAEEs could be detected in alcohol‐exposed newborns (>600 ng/g cumulative concentration). Interestingly, FAEEs could also be detected in some non‐exposed newborns, although the concentrations were much lower than those measured in exposed cases.     

Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Imaging and Analysis at High Spatial Resolution of MCF7 Human Breast Tumors

High resolution, dynamic GdDTPA-enhanced images of MCF7 human breast tumors in immunodeficient mice were analyzed at pixel resolution. The analysis, based on a physiological model, was performed by applying a nonlinear least-square algorithm using a color coded scale. The final output mapped at pixel resolution capillary permeability times surface area and fraction of extracellular volume, for each tumor slice. In addition, the output included assessment of the fit to the model by determining the proportion of variability (R²) for each pixel. The spatial variation in theR²values served to identify regions where the predominant mechanism of enhancement was leakage from the intravascular volume to the extracellular volume (R²close to 1). In regions with lowR²other mechanisms of enhancement appear to be dominating presumably diffusion within the extracellular space. As expected, in necrotic regions lacking microcapillaries and identified by analyzingT₂-weighted images of the same tumors, the model failed to fit the dynamic contrast enhanced data. The heterogeneous distribution of the determined pathophysiological features demonstrates the importance of recording and analyzing breast tumor images at high spatial resolution.     

Interactions of histatin-3 and histatin-5 with actin

Background

Histatins are histidine rich polypeptides produced in the parotid and submandibular gland and secreted into the saliva. Histatin-3 and ?5 are the most important polycationic histatins. They possess antimicrobial activity against fungi such as Candida albicans. Histatin-5 has a higher antifungal activity than histatin-3 while histatin-3 is mostly involved in wound healing in the oral cavity. We found that these histatins, like other polycationic peptides and proteins, such as LL-37, lysozyme and histones, interact with extracellular actin.

Results

Histatin-3 and ?5 polymerize globular actin (G-actin) to filamentous actin (F-actin) and bundle F-actin filaments. Both actin polymerization and bundling by histatins is pH sensitive due to the high histidine content of histatins. In spite of the equal number of net positive charges and histidine residues in histatin-3 and ?5, less histatin-3 is needed than histatin-5 for polymerization and bundling of actin. The efficiency of actin polymerization and bundling by histatins greatly increases with decreasing pH. Histatin-3 and ?5 induced actin bundles are dissociated by 100 and 50 mM NaCl, respectively. The relatively low NaCl concentration required to dissociate histatin-induced bundles implies that the actin-histatin filaments bind to each other mainly by electrostatic forces. The binding of histatin-3 to F-actin is stronger than that of histatin-5 showing that hydrophobic forces have also some role in histatin-3- actin interaction. Histatins affect the fluorescence of probes attached to the D-loop of G-actin indicating histatin induced changes in actin structure. Transglutaminase cross-links histatins to actin. Competition and limited proteolysis experiments indicate that the main histatin cross-linking site on actin is glutamine-49 on the D-loop of actin.

Conclusions

Both histatin-3 and ?5 interacts with actin, however, histatin 3 binds stronger to actin and affects actin structure at lower concentration than histatin-5 due to the extra 8 amino acid sequence at the C-terminus of histatin-3. Extracellular actin might regulate histatin activity in the oral cavity, which should be the subject of further investigation.

     

Thermal decomposition studies on cobalt(II) complexes of 4-N-(4’-antipyrylmethylidene)aminoantipyrine with varying counter ions

The phenomenological, kinetic and mechanistic aspects of the nitrate, chloride, bromide and iodide complexes of cobalt(II) with 4-N-(4-antipyrylmethylidene)aminoantipyrine (AA) have been studied by TG and DTG techniques. The kinetic parameters such as activation energy, pre-exponential factor and entropy of activation were computed. The rate controlling process at all stages of decomposition is random nucleation with one nucleus on each particle (Mampel model)