Hydrolysis behavior of prednisolone 21-hemisuccinate/beta-cyclodextrin amide conjugate: involvement of intramolecular catalysis of amide group in drug release

Prednisolone 21-hemisuccinate/beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CyD) amide conjugate was prepared by binding prednisolone 21-hemisuccinate covalently to the amino group of mono(6-deoxy-6-amino)-beta-CyD through amide linkage. Prednisolone 21-hemisuccinate was intramolecularly transformed to prednisolone 17-hemisuccinate, and the parent drug, prednisolone, was slowly released from the 21-hemisuccinate with a half life of 69 h in pH 7.0 at 37 degrees C; the drug release at 25 degrees C was less than 10% for 48 h. In sharp contrast, the hydrolysis of prednisolone 21-hemisuccinate/beta-CyD amide conjugate was significantly faster (half life of 6.50 min at 25 degrees C) and gave prednisolone and mono(6-deoxy-6-succimino)-beta-CyD as products. The hydrolysis of the beta-CyD amide conjugate was subject to a specific-base catalysis in the alkaline region. The rapid hydrolysis of the conjugate can be ascribed to the involvement of an intramolecular nucleophilic catalysis of the amide group in the reaction. The succinic acid, bound to a drug through ester linkage at one carboxylic group and bound to a pro-moiety through amide linkage at another carboxylic group, may be useful as a spacer for construction of the immediate release type prodrugs of CyDs.     

Imaging of the bronchial blood flow usingg RI-angiography--study on its procedure and application of dual radioisotope technique (author's transl)

RI-angiography with 99mTcO4- was carried out using a scintillation camera with a digital minicomputer for the purpose of imaging of bronchial blood flow in various lung diseases, and as application of dual radioisotope techniques, other imagings such as tumor imaging with 197HgCl2 or 67Ga-citrate and/or perfusion imaging with 99mTc-MAA, were performed simultaneously in patients remaining the same position, too. The image as a iso-count map extracted out of the image of 197HgCl2, 67Ga-citrate or 99mTc-MAA, was superimposed to the brightness image of RI-anigogram (aortic phase). By these procedures, the image of bronchial blood flow were obtained in some patients with lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, lung abscess, and chronic bronchitis. The dual radioisotope techniques using RI-angiography and the other imaging were useful to make isotope diagnosis of lung diseases more reliable, and the image superimposition methods using RI-angiogram and the image of tumor or perfusion, were useful to improve anatomic orientation of the former.     

Use of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate room temperature ionic liquids as chelate extraction solvent with 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione

Possible use of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as chelate extraction solvent was evaluated by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF₆]), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([hmim][PF₆]) and 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([omim][PF₆]). These RTILs showed high extraction performance for divalent metal cations with 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione (Htta). The extracted metals were back-extracted into 1 mol dm⁻³ nitric acid quantitatively. Furthermore, the extracted species were estimated as neutral hydrated complexes M(tta)₂(H₂O)_n (n= 1 or 2) for M = Ni, Cu and Pb and anionic complexes M(tta)₃⁻ for M = Mn, Co, Zn and Cd.     

P2X7 Receptors in Astrocytes: A Switch for Ischemic Tolerance

A sub-lethal ischemic episode (preconditioning [PC]) protects neurons against a subsequent lethal ischemic injury. This phenomenon is known as ischemic tolerance. PC itself does not cause brain damage, but affects glial responses, especially astrocytes, and transforms them into an ischemia-resistant phenotype. P2X7 receptors (P2X7Rs) in astrocytes play essential roles in PC. Although P2X7Rs trigger inflammatory and toxic responses, PC-induced P2X7Rs in astrocytes function as a switch to protect the brain against ischemia. In this review, we focus on P2X7Rs and summarize recent developments on how astrocytes control P2X7Rs and what molecular mechanisms they use to induce ischemic tolerance.     

电阻式核磁共振测量的最新进展

电阻式核磁共振(RDNMR)测量是1988年由德国马普所的von Klitzing研究小组针对GaAs二维电子气中少量核自旋的探测而提出的一种具有超高灵敏度的实验技术. 目前, RDNMR已经成为研究单层或双层GaAs二维电子气核自旋和电子自旋特性的重要手段. 由于为实现电阻式核磁共振测量所建立的动态核极化方法强烈依赖于GaAs特有的材料属性, 至今这一技术一直没有扩展应用到其他半导体低维系统中. 最近,本研究小组发展了一种动态核极化新方法,成功实现了对典型窄带半导体锑化铟(InSb) 二维电子气的电阻式核磁共振测量.本文在介绍电阻式核磁共振测量工作原理及已建立的典型动态核极化方法的基础上,着重讨论所提出的动态核极化新方法的机理、 实验结果以及对今后研究的展望.     

Beta-NMR measurement of 58Cu in Si

The β-NMR study of short-lived nucleus ⁵⁸Cu (I ^π ?=?1^?+?, T _1/2?=?3.2 s) in Si has been performed. Spin polarization of ⁵⁸Cu induced by the charge exchange reaction of ⁵⁸Ni was observed in Si at 15 K. The ⁵⁸Cu magnetic moment $|\upmu[^{58}\mbox{Cu}]| = (0.46 \pm 0.03)\upmu_{\rm N}$ deduced from the β-NMR spectrum is consistent with the previous results on the laser spectroscopy. The present result shows that the ⁵⁸Cu nucleus is promising as a new nuclear probe for the microscopic study of Cu impurities in Si.     

Quantum Hall effect in back-gated InAs/GaSb heterostructures under a tilted magnetic field

We investigate the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in the InAs/GaSb hybridized electron–hole system grown on a conductive InAs substrate which act as a back-gate. In these samples, the electron density is constant and the hole density is controlled by the gate-voltage. Under a magnetic field perpendicular to the sample plane, the QHE appears along integer Landau-level (LL) filling factors of the net-carriers, where the net-carrier density is the difference between the electron and hole densities. In addition, longitudinal resistance maxima corresponding to the crossing of the extended states of the original electron and hole LLs make the QHE regions along integer-ν_net discontinuous. Under tilted magnetic fields, these R_xx maxima disappear in the high magnetic field region. The results show that the in-plane magnetic field component enhances the electron–hole hybridization and the formation of minigaps at LL crossings.