Riboflavin and pyridoxine restore dopamine levels and reduce oxidative stress in brain of rats

Background

Neurological disorders suggest that the excitotoxicity involves a drastic increase in intracellular Ca²⁺ concentrations and the formation of reactive oxygen species. The presence of these free radicals may also affect the dopaminergic system. The aim of this work was to determine if riboflavin (B₂) and pyridoxine (B₆) provide protection to the brain against free radicals generated by 3-nitropropionic acid (3-NPA) by measuring the levels of dopamine (DA) and selected oxidative stress markers.

Methods

Male Fisher rats were grouped (n?=?6) and treated as follows: group 1, control (NaCl 0.9%); group 2, 3-NPA (20 mg/kg); group 3, B₂ (10 mg/kg); group 4, B₂ (10 mg/kg)?+?3-NPA (20 mg/kg); group 5, B₆ (10 mg/kg) and group 6, B₆?+?3-NPA. All treatments were administered every 24 h for 5 days by intraperitoneal route. After sacrifice, the brain was obtained to measure DA, GSH, and lipid peroxidation, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, ATPase and H₂O₂.

Main findings

Levels of dopamine increased in cortex, striatum and cerebellum/medulla oblongata of animals that received 3-NPA alone. The lipid peroxidation increased in cortex, striatum, and cerebellum/medulla oblongata, of animals treated with B₂ vitamin alone. ATPase dependent on Ca⁺², Mg⁺² and H₂O₂ increased in all regions of animals that received 3-NPA alone.

Conclusion

The results confirm the capacity of 3-NPA to generate oxidative stress. Besides, the study suggests that B₂ or B₆ vitamins restored the levels of DA and reduced oxidative stress in brain of rats. We believe that these results would help in the study of neurodegenerative diseases.

     

Electrocatalytic carboxylation of benzyl chlorides at silver cathodes in acetonitrile

Silver exhibits powerful electrocatalytic activities towards the reductive carboxylation of benzyl chlorides (RCl): in CO2-saturated CH3CN, reduction of RCl occurs at potentials that are about 0.6 V more positive than those of the same process at Hg or carbon electrodes and gives carboxylic acids in good to excellent yields.     

Joint theoretical and experimental study of the gas‐phase elimination kinetics of tert‐butyl ester of carbamic,N, N‐dimethylcarbamic,N‐hydroxycarbamic acids and 1‐(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)‐imidazole

The gas‐phase elimination kinetics of the title compounds were carried out in a static reaction system and seasoned with allyl bromide. The working temperature and pressure ranges were 200–280 °C and 22–201.5 Torr, respectively. The reactions are homogeneous, unimolecular, and follow a first‐order rate law. These substrates produce isobutene and corresponding carbamic acid in the rate‐determining step. The unstable carbamic acid intermediate rapidly decarboxylates through a four‐membered cyclic transition state (TS) to give the corresponding organic nitrogen compound. The temperature dependence of the rate coefficients is expressed by the following Arrhenius equations: for tert‐butyl carbamate logk₁ (s^?1) = (13.02 ± 0.46) – (161.6 ± 4.7) kJ/mol(2.303 RT)^?1, for tert‐butyl N‐hydroxycarbamate logk₁ (s^?1) = (12.52 ± 0.11) – (147.8 ± 1.1) kJ/mol(2.303 RT)^?1, and for 1‐(tert‐butoxycarbonyl)‐imidazole logk₁ (s^?1) = (11.63 ± 0.21)–(134.9 ± 2.0) kJ/mol(2.303 RT)^?1. Theoretical studies of these elimination were performed at Møller–Plesset MP2/6‐31G and DFT B3LYP/6‐31G(d), B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p) levels of theory. The calculated bond orders, NBO charges, and synchronicity (Sy) indicate that these reactions are concerted, slightly asynchronous, and proceed through a six‐membered cyclic TS type. Results for estimated kinetic and thermodynamic parameters are discussed in terms of the proposed reaction mechanism and TS structure. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mass spectrometric studies of cyclopentanol derivatives in the reductive coupling of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones assisted by samarium diiodide

The mass spectrometric fragmentations of a series of cyclopentanol derivatives in positive fast-atom bombardment (FAB(+)) mode were investigated. The corresponding pathways proposed were confirmed by MS/MS data obtained using linked scans at constant B/E, high-resolution accurate mass data, and comparisons with corresponding information for a specifically deuterated molecule.     

Synthesis of degraded cyanogenic glycosides from Sambucus nigra

Two natural cyanohydrins, isolated from Sambucus nigra, have been synthesised from mandelonitrile and penta-O-acetyl-beta-galactopyranose. The synthesis confirmed the stereochemistry of the compounds, which had been assigned on biogenetic grounds.     

3-(4-iodomethyl-2-oxo-1-azetidinyl)propynoic acidt-butyl ester: a new β-lactam derivative,synthesis of an ynamide by reaction of 4-iodomethylazetidin-2-one with the t-butyl ester of propiolic acid in the presence of copper(i)

The reaction of 4-iodomethylazetidin-2-one (2) with the t-butyl ester of propiolic acid (4) in the presence both of equimolar amounts of copper(I) and oxygen results unexpectedly in the fomation of the β-lactam ynamide 5. Its structure was suggested by spectroscopic data and confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis.     

Determination of the energy bands of metallic lithium by the variational cellular method

The recently proposed variational cellular method (VCM) is extended to periodic structures with one atom per unit cell. The method as outlined in this paper is applied to the calculation of the band structure of metallic lithium. The results show that the VCM leads to accurate energy levels for Li requiring a small computational effort. It is concluded that the results are sufficiently encouraging to suggest the application of the method to more complex crystals.     

An X-ray study of the complex anionbis(N-hydroxy-iminodiacetate) vanadate(IV), a model for a vanadium-containing biologic compound

The structure of ammonium tetramethylammoniumbis(N-hydroxy-iminodiacetate)vanadate(IV) was determined by x-ray analysis. One independent anion and two cations were found in the asymetric unit. The crystal is monoclinic, space group C2/c, with a=15.820(9), b=16.450(6), c=16.311(4) å,=118.92(3) deg., V=3715(3) å³, Z=8, D_x=1.56g cm^–3,(M_o-K_a)=5.59 cm^–1, F(OOO)=2028, M=434.9 for C₁₂H₂₄N₄O₁₀V. The structure was solved and refined to R(F)=0.029 and R_w(F)=0.040.The complex anion does not contain the oxovanadium(IV) group, but contains vanadium(IV) as the central atom. This is the first example of a vanadium(IV) complex octacoordinated to nitrogen and oxygen atoms exhibiting a highly distorted dodecahedral geometry. The chelation is along twoa and fourg edges. As the angles ones are bonding distances (N—O, 1.381(3), 1.382(4) å) the angles around the central atom are very different from those usually observed in the dodecahedral complexes. The V—O distances range from 1.973(3) to 2.071(3) å and the V—N distances range from 2.002(3) to 2.003(4) å.