Suppression of nitric oxide production in mouse macrophages by soybean flavonoids accumulated in response to nitroprusside and fungal elicitation

Background

The anti-inflammatory properties of some flavonoids have been attributed to their ability to inhibit the production of NO by activated macrophages. Soybean cotyledons accumulate certain flavonoids following elicitation with an extract of the fungal pathogen Diaporthe phaseolorum f. sp. meridionalis (Dpm). Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a nitric oxide donor, can substitute for Dpm in inducing flavonoid production. In this study, we investigated the effect of flavonoid-containing diffusates obtained from Dpm- and SNP-elicited soybean cotyledons on NO production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- and LPS plus interferon-γ (IFNγ)-activated murine macrophages.

Results

Significant inhibition of NO production, measured as nitrite formation, was observed when macrophages were activated in the presence of soybean diffusates from Dpm- or SNP-elicited cotyledons. This inhibition was dependent on the duration of exposure to the elicitor. Daidzein, genistein, luteolin and apigenin, the main flavonoids present in diffusates of elicited cotyledons, suppressed the NO production by LPS + IFNγ activated macrophages in a concentration-dependent manner, with IC₅₀ values of 81.4 μM, 34.5 μM, 38.6 μM and 10.4 μM respectively. For macrophages activated with LPS alone, the IC₅₀ values were 40.0 μM, 16.6 μM, 10.4 μM and 2.8 μM, respectively. Western blot analysis showed that iNOS expression was not affected by daidzein, was reduced by genistein, and was abolished by apigenin, luteolin and Dpm- and SNP-soybean diffusates at concentrations that significantly inhibited NO production by activated macrophages.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the suppressive effect of flavonoids on iNOS expression could account for the potent inhibitory effect of Dpm- and SNP-diffusates on NO production by activated macrophages. Since the physiological concentration of flavonoids in plants is normally low, the treatment of soybean tissues with SNP may provide a simple method for substantially increasing the concentration of metabolites that are beneficial for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases associated with NO production.

     

Direct structure determination by electron crystallography: Protein data sets

Applications of the Sayre equation to the electron crystallographic analysis of protein structures are demonstrated. Starting with a lower-resolution basis phase set obtained from the Fourier-transform of an electron micrograph, it is possible, for example, to extend directly to the higher resolution of the electron diffraction pattern. Examples of such analyses include bacteriorhodopsin, halorhodopsin and the Omp F porin from the outer membrane of Eschirichia coli. If a multisolution approach is taken, it may also be possible to carry out ab initio phase determinations, as demonstrated with low-resolution diffraction amplitudes from a negatively-stained membrane protein crystal.     

Electron crystallography of epitaxially grown paraffin

Three-dimensional electron diffraction data from the epitaxially crystallized paraffin n-C₃₆H₇₄ are investigated in a structure analysis and are found to give a reasonable image of the structure, in agreement with the earlier x-ray determination. An inconsistency in the refined isotropic temperature factors from different zonal projections, however, indicates the necessity for a more accurate physical model for epitaxially grown crystals which will account for a large spread of diffraction peaks along reciprocal lattice lines parallel to the projection axis.     

X-ray Diffraction: A Practical Approach

X-ray Diffraction: A Practical Approach, C. Suryanarayana and M. Grant Norton, 1998. Plenum Press, New York and London. xiii + 273 pages. (hardback, $49.50, U.S. and Canada; $59.40, elsewhere).It is the aim of this text to teach undergraduates majoring in materials science the use of powder X-ray diffraction for materials characterization. Since it does not treat X-ray diffraction and crystallography in a general way, it would have been better if it were given a more specific title, such as X-Ray Powder Diffraction for Metallurgical Characterization. A Primer and Workbook. As a laboratory course with work pages to be filled out by the student, it might have been spiral-bound to facilitate such use.     

Poly(hexamethylene terephthalate)—II. The crystal structure of forms I and II,from electron and x-ray diffraction,and packing analyses

Form I of poly(hexamethylene terephthalate), poly(6GT), has been shown, through electron diffraction of micro-single crystals, and fibre X-ray diffraction to belong to the triclinic system. The unit cell containing only one chain has dimensions $\text{a = 5.217(8), b = 5.284(12), c = 15.738(16)}\text{A}\text{?}\text{(}\text{fibre axis}\text{), α = 129.4(2), β = 97.6(2)}\text{and}\text{γ = 95.6(2)°}$. The space group is PT. The crystal structure of poly(6GT) form I has been established by the model compound approach and confirmed using 19 independent electron diffraction intensities. Upon refinement of the scale and temperature factors, the agreement index R reaches 0.172, with an overall isotropic temperature factor $\text{B = 3.0}\text{A}\text{?}{}_2$. Calculation of dynamical amplitudes, and also of structure amplitudes which allow for crystal bending, confirms that the electron diffraction data are suitable for a conventional structure analysis. The chain of the polyester has the same fully extended conformation as its related model compound hexamethylene glycol dibenzoate. The planar chain in the single cell is at 35° to the α-axis. The unit-cell dimensions of poly(6GT) form II differ from those of form I by the doubling of the b-dimension. The two chains in the double unit-cell are at 31 and 39° respectively from the a-axis. The agreement index R is 0.161 for the 19 reflections of the single cell and R = 0.196 when the 10 reflections causing the doubling of b are included.     

Crystal structure of MCM-70: A microporous material with high framework density

The crystal structure of the borosilicate MCM-70 (siliceous framework formula Si12O24) was determined from synchrotron powder diffraction data with the program FOCUS. The framework crystallizes in space group Pmn2(1), where a = 13.663, b = 4.779, c = 8.723 A, and forms 1D ellipsoidal 10-ring channels with the following dimensions: 5.0 x 3.1 A. Rietveld refinement of the model against synchrotron powder data from solvated material gives Rwp = 0.15, R(F2) = 0.11. In addition to the four tetrahedral sites and seven framework oxygens, one potassium position is found during this refinement. Because of the unreasonable geometry of five putative extraframework oxygen sites, another synchrotron pattern was obtained from a dehydrated specimen. A refinement in space group P1n1 (removing the mirror operation of Pmn2(1)), where a = 13.670, b = 4.781, c = 8.687 A, and beta = 90.24 degrees , verified that the previous framework geometry is preserved as well as the potassium position. One extraframework oxygen was located that would yield a reasonable K-O distance. The existence of potassium is verified by electron energy dispersive spectroscopic measurements as well as quantitative elemental analysis. (There are approximately 2.35 K sites per 12 Si in the unit cell.) It is likely that the constricted channels occlude KOH. 11B and 29Si MAS NMR measurements indicate a framework SiO2/B2O3 of approximately 40:1, which is consistent with a wavelength dispersive spectroscopic measurement. The silicate framework density is 2.10 gm/cm3. The resulting framework density for T sites, 21.1, is unusually high for a zeolite, just below the value for paracelsian (21.4) or scapolite (21.8), each of which also has a smallest four-ring loop. The 1H --> 29Si CP MAS measurements suggest sample heterogeneity, that is, a portion of the sample that is strongly coupled to hydrogen and efficiently cross polarizes and another portion that does not.