Palladium-catalyzed hydrodehalogenation of aryl halides using paraformaldehyde as the hydride source: high-throughput screening by paper-based colorimetric iodide sensor

Paraformaldehyde was employed as a hydride source in the palladium-catalyzed hydrodehalogenation of aryl iodides and bromides. High throughput screening using a paper-based colorimetric iodide sensor (PBCIS) showed that Pd(OAc)₂ and Cs₂CO₃ were the best catalyst and base, respectively. Aryl iodides and bromides were hydrodehalogenated to produce the reduced arenes using Pd(OAc)₂ and Pd(PPh₃)₄ catalyst. This catalytic system showed good functional group tolerance. In addition, it was found that paraformaldehyde is the hydride source and the reducing agent for the formation of palladium nanoparticles.     

Simultaneous,real-time measurement of nitric oxide and oxygen dynamics during cardiac ischemia-reperfusion of the rat utilizing sol-gel-derived electrochemical microsensors

In this study, we simultaneously measured nitric oxide (NO) and oxygen (O₂) dynamics in the myocardium during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) utilizing sol-gel modified electrochemical NO and O₂ microsensors. In addition, we attempted to clarify the correlation between NO release in the ischemic period and O₂ restoration in the myocardium after reperfusion, comparing a control heart with a remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC)-treated heart as an attractive strategy for myocardial protection. Rat hearts were randomly divided into two groups: a control group (n = 5) and an RIPC group (n = 5, with RIPC treatment). Myocardia that underwent RIPC treatment (182 ± 70 nM, p < 0.05) released more NO during the ischemic period than those of the control group (63 ± 41 nM). The restoration value of oxygen tension (pO₂) in the RIPC group significantly increased and was restored to pre-ischemic levels (92.6 ± 36.8%); however, the pO₂ of the control group did not increase throughout the reperfusion period (5.7 ± 7.5%, p = 0.001). Myocardial infarct size measurements revealed a significant decrease in cell death in the myocardium region of the RIPC group (41.44 ± 6.42%, p = 0.001) compared with the control group (60.05 ± 10.91%). As a result, we showed that the cardioprotective effect of RIPC could be attributed to endogenous NO production during the ischemic period, which subsequently promoted reoxygenation in post-ischemic myocardia during early reperfusion. Our results suggest that the promotion of endogenous formation during an ischemic episode might be helpful as a therapeutic strategy for protecting the myocardium from IR injury. Additionally, our NO and O₂ perm-selective microsensors could be utilized to evaluate the effect of drug or treatment.     

Retrovirus-mediated transduction of a cytosine deaminase gene preserves the stemness of mesenchymal stem cells

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as attractive cellular vehicles to deliver therapeutic genes for ex-vivo therapy of diverse diseases; this is, in part, because they have the capability to migrate into tumor or lesion sites. Previously, we showed that MSCs could be utilized to deliver a bacterial cytosine deaminase (CD) suicide gene to brain tumors. Here we assessed whether transduction with a retroviral vector encoding CD gene altered the stem cell property of MSCs. MSCs were transduced at passage 1 and cultivated up to passage 11. We found that proliferation and differentiation potentials, chromosomal stability and surface antigenicity of MSCs were not altered by retroviral transduction. The results indicate that retroviral vectors can be safely utilized for delivery of suicide genes to MSCs for ex-vivo therapy. We also found that a single retroviral transduction was sufficient for sustainable expression up to passage 10. The persistent expression of the transduced gene indicates that transduced MSCs provide a tractable and manageable approach for potential use in allogeneic transplantation.     

Facile Fabrication of Multi‐targeted and Stable Biochemical SERS Sensors

The direct transfer of single‐crystalline Au nanowires (NWs) onto Au substrates was achieved by a simple attachment and detachment process. In the presence of a lubricant, Au NWs grown vertically on a sapphire substrate were efficiently moved to an Au substrate through van der Waals interactions. We demonstrate that the transferred Au NWs on the Au substrate can act as sensitive, reproducible, and long‐term‐stable surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors by detecting human α‐thrombin as well as Pb²⁺ and Hg²⁺ ions. These three biochemically and/or environmentally important analytes were successfully detected with high sensitivity and selectivity by Au NW‐SERS sensors bound by a thrombin‐binding aptamer. Furthermore, the as‐prepared sensors remained in working order after being stored under ambient conditions at room temperature for 80 days. Because Au NWs can be routinely transferred onto Au substrates and because the resultant Au NW‐SERS sensors are highly stable and provide with high sensitivity and reproducibility of detection, these sensors hold potential for practical use in biochemical sensing.