Rational Design and Development of Anisotropic and Mechanically Strong Gelatin‐Based Stress Relaxing Hydrogels for Osteogenic/Chondrogenic Differentiation

Rational design and development of tailorable simple synthesis process remains a centerpiece of investigational efforts toward engineering advanced hydrogels. In this study, a green and scalable synthesis approach is developed to formulate a set of gelatin‐based macroporous hybrid hydrogels. This approach consists of four sequential steps starting from liquid‐phase pre‐crosslinking/grafting, unidirectional freezing, freeze‐drying, and finally post‐curing process. The chemical crosslinking mainly involves between epoxy groups of functionalized polyethylene glycol and functional groups of gelatin both in liquid and solid state. Importantly, this approach allows to accommodate different polymers, chitosan or hydroxyethyl cellulose, under identical benign condition. Structural and mechanical anisotropy can be tuned by the selection of polymer constituents. Overall, all hydrogels show suitable structural stability, good swellability, high porosity and pore interconnectivity, and maintenance of mechanical integrity during 3‐week‐long hydrolytic degradation. Under compression, hydrogels exhibit robust mechanical properties with nonlinear elasticity and stress‐relaxation behavior and show no sign of mechanical failure under repeated compression at 50% deformation. Biological experiment with human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) reveals that hydrogels are biocompatible, and their physicomechanical properties are suitable to support cells growth, and osteogenic/chondrogenic differentiation, demonstrating their potential application for bone and cartilage regenerative medicine toward clinically relevant endpoints.     

The neutral cluster amminehexa‐μ2‐chlorido‐μ4‐oxido‐tris(1,4,6‐triazabicyclo[3.3.0]oct‐4‐ene)tetracopper(II)

The title compound, [Cu₄Cl₆O(C₅H₉N₃)₃(NH₃)], is a neutral conformationally chiral cluster which crystallizes under the conditions described in this paper as a racemic conglomerate. It contains four Cu^II atoms in a tetrahedral coordination with a central O atom lying on a crystallographic threefold axis. Six chloride anions bridge the four Cu^II atoms. Three Cu^II atoms are bound by an N atom of a monodentate 1,4,6‐triazabicyclo[3.3.0]oct‐4‐ene (Htbo) ligand and the remaining Cu^II atom is bound by a terminal ammine ligand. The geometry at each copper center is trigonal bipyramidal, produced by the bound N atom of Htbo or ammonia, the O atom in the axial position, and three chloride ions in the equatorial plane. The chloride anions form an octahedron about the oxygen center. The copper–ammonia bond lies along the crystallographic threefold axis, along which the molecules are packed in a polar head‐to‐tail fashion.     

Posthypoxic behavioral impairment and mortality of Drosophila melanogaster are associated with high temperatures,enhanced predeath activity and oxidative stress

Hypoxia is an underlying pathophysiological condition of a variety of devastating diseases, including acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We are faced with limited therapeutic options for AIS patients, and even after successful restoration of cerebral blood flow, the poststroke mortality is still high. More basic research is needed to explain mortality after reperfusion and to develop adjunct neuroprotective therapies. Drosophila melanogaster (D.m.) is a suitable model to analyze hypoxia; however, little is known about the impacts of hypoxia and especially of the subsequent reperfusion injury on the behavior and survival of D.m. To address this knowledge gap, we subjected two wild-type D.m. strains (Canton-S and Oregon-R) to severe hypoxia (<0.3% O₂) under standardized environmental conditions in a well-constructed hypoxia chamber. During posthypoxic reperfusion (21% O₂), we assessed fly activity (evoked and spontaneous) and analyzed molecular characteristics (oxidative stress marker abundance, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and metabolic activity) at various timepoints during reperfusion. First, we established standard conditions to induce hypoxia in D.m. to guarantee stable and reproducible experiments. Exposure to severe hypoxia under defined conditions impaired the climbing ability and reduced the overall activity of both D.m. strains. Furthermore, a majority of the flies died during the early reperfusion phase (up to 24 h). Interestingly, the flies that died early exhibited elevated activity before death compared to that of the flies that survived the entire reperfusion period. Additionally, we detected increases in ROS and stress marker (Catalase, Superoxide Dismutase and Heat Shock Protein 70) levels as well as reductions in metabolic activity in the reperfusion phase. Finally, we found that changes in environmental conditions impacted the mortality rate. In particular, decreasing the temperature during hypoxia or the reperfusion phase displayed a protective effect. In conclusion, our data suggest that reperfusion-dependent death might be associated with elevated temperatures, predeath activity, and oxidative stress.Subject terms: Stroke, Molecular neuroscience     

Local structure in perovskite relaxor ferroelectrics: high-resolution Nb 3QMAS NMR

Solid solutions of (1'-x)Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O3xPb(Sc(1/2)Nb(1/2))O3 (PMN/PSN) have been investigated using high-resolution 93Nb 3-quantum magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance experiments (3QMAS NMR). In previous MAS NMR investigations, the local B-cation ordering in these relaxor ferroelectric solid solutions was quantitatively determined. However, in conventional one-dimensional MAS spectra the effects of chemical shifts and quadrupole interaction are convoluted; this, in addition to the insufficient resolution, precludes reliable extraction of the values of isotropic chemical shift and quadrupole coupling product. In the current 3QMAS investigation, 93Nb spectra are presented for concentrations x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.9 at high magnetic field (19.6 T) and fast sample spinning speed (35.7 kHz). Seven narrow peaks and two broad components are observed. The unique high-resolution of the two-dimensional 3QMAS spectra enables unambiguous and consistent assignments of spectral intensities to the specific 28 nearest B-site neighbor (nBn) configurations, (NMg, NSc, NNb) where each number ranges from 0 to 6 and their sum is 6. It is now possible to isolate the isotropic chemical shift and quadrupole coupling product and separately determine their values for most of the 28 nBn configurations. The isotropic chemical shift depends linearly on the number of Mg2+ cations in the configuration; delta iso CS=(13.7 +/- 0.1)NMg-970 +/- 0.4 ppm, regardless of the ratio NSc/NNb. For the seven Nb5+-deficient configurations (NMg, 6-NMg, 0) and the pure niobium configuration (0, 0, 6), the quadrupole coupling products (and hence the electric field gradients) are small (PQ approximately 6-12 MHz) and for the remaining configurations containing small, ferroelectric active Nb5+ ions, the quadrupole coupling products are significantly larger (PQ approximately 40 MHz), indicating larger electric field gradients.     

High spin states in77Se populated by the74Ge(α,n γ) reaction

⁷⁷Se has been investigated by the reaction⁷⁴Ge(,n) at 14 MeV. Gamma singles spectra, gamma angular distributions and gamma-gamma coincidences have been taken. A level scheme has been established, spins and parities have been assigned. States of a rotational band on the 1/2^– ground state, a rotational band on the 5/2^– 249.7 keV state and an anormal band have been identified. Nuclear Reaction ⁷⁴Ge(,n )E =14 MeV; measuredE ,I ,--Coin.,-ang. distr.⁷⁷Se deduced levels,J, . Enriched target, Ge (Li).     

Phenomenon observed at the onset of micellization using static light scattering

A phenomenon was observed near the critical micelle concentration (cmc) of surfactants using static light scattering. This consists of an unexpected peak in light scattering as the concentration varies between zero and above the cmc. This work studied three different surfactants: the two ionic surfactants hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100. Peaks were observed for all three under different conditions such as varying ionic strengths and different concentration paths. These peaks are real, are reproducible, and appear to have static properties.     

A Photophysical Study of Sensitization‐Initiated Electron Transfer: Insights into the Mechanism of Photoredox Activity

The development of photocatalytic reactions has provided many novel opportunities to expand the scope of synthetic organic chemistry. In parallel with progress towards uncovering new reactivity, there is consensus that efforts focused on providing detailed mechanistic insight in order to uncover underlying excited‐state reactions are essential to maximise formation of desired products. With this in mind, we have investigated the recently reported sensitization‐initiated electron transfer (SenI‐ET) reaction for the C?H arylation of activated aryl halides. Using a variety of techniques, and in particular nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we are able to distinguish several characteristic signals from the excited‐state species involved in the reaction, and subsequent kinetic analysis under various conditions has facilitated a detailed insight into the likely reaction mechanism.     

Thermal behaviour of new biological active cadmium mixed ligands complexes

This paper reports the investigation on the thermal stability of new complexes with mixed ligands of the type [Cd(NN)(C₃H₃O₂)₂(H₂O)_m]·nH₂O [(1) NN: 1,10-phenantroline, m = 1, n = 0; (2) NN: 2,2′-bipyridine, m = 0, n = 1.5 and (C₃H₃O₂): acrylate anion]. The IR data indicate a bidentate coordination mode for both heterocyclic amine and acrylate. The in vitro qualitative and quantitative antimicrobial activity assays showed that the complexes exhibited variable antimicrobial activity against planktonic as well as biofilm embedded Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Proteus sp., Salmonella sp., Shigella sp., Acinetobacter boumani, Pseudomonas aeruginosa), Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) and fungal (Candida albicans) strains, reference and isolated ones from the hospital environment. The thermal behaviour steps were investigated in synthetic air flow. The thermal transformations are complex processes according to TG and DTA curves including dehydration, amine as well as acrylate thermolysis. The final products of decomposition are the most stable metal oxides.     

A qualitative study of amlodipine and its related compounds by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A comprehensive structural analysis of amlodipine and certain related compounds was performed by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Triple quadrupole and quadrupole time-of-flight instruments were used to provide collision-induced dissociation and accurate mass measurement for selected product and second-generation product ions. A unique ion rearrangement was observed, which was found to be characteristic of certain dihydropyridines. This study provides a fundamental understanding of the fragmentation of these compounds. The structural elucidation of an unknown impurity is presented as an example.