An antioxidant modulates expression of receptor activator of NF-kappaB in asthma

Oxidative stress plays critical roles in airway inflammation that is usually accompanied by increased vascular permeability and plasma exudation. VEGF increases vascular permeability and leads to airway inflammation. In addition, VEGF has been shown to enhance receptor activator of NF-kappaB (RANK) expression in endothelial cells. An aim of the study was to determine the potential role of antioxidant in the regulation of RANK expression in murine model of asthma. We have used a C57BL/6 mouse model of allergic asthma to evaluate the effect of L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (OTC), a prodrug of cysteine, which acts as an antioxidant, and VEGF receptor inhibitor on RANK mRNA expression. The mice develop the following pathophysiological features of asthma in the lungs: increased expression of RANK mRNA, increased number of inflammatory cells of the airways, increased vascular permeability, and increased levels of VEGF. Administration of OTC and VEGF receptor inhibitor markedly reduced plasma extravasation and VEGF levels in allergen-induced asthmatic lungs. We also showed that the increased RANK mRNA expression at 72 h after ovalbumin inhalation were reduced by the administration of OTC or VEGF receptor inhibitor. The results indicate that OTC and VEGF receptor inhibitor which inhibit up-regulation of VEGF expression modulate RANK expression that may be in association with the regulation of vascular permeability, and suggest that VEGF may regulate the RANK expression. These findings provide a crucial molecular mechanism for the potential use of antioxidants to prevent and/or treat asthma and other airway inflammatory disorders.     

Synthesis of 2-amino-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans and fully substituted furans from modified Baylis-Hillman adducts

Syntheses of 2-amino-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran derivatives 3a-g and fully substituted furans 5a-f were achieved starting from the Baylis-Hillman adducts. We prepared 2-amino-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans from the Baylis-Hillman adducts of methyl and ethyl acrylates and fully substituted furans from the Baylis-Hillman adducts of alkyl vinyl ketones.     

An O-GlcNAcase-specific inhibitor and substrate engineered by the extension of the N-acetyl moiety

A novel analogue of PUGNAc, a potent O-GlcNAcase inhibitor, was synthesized and analyzed as an inhibitor of O-GlcNAcase, hexosaminidase A, and hexosaminidase B. While PUGNAc does not demonstrate selective inhibition of these related enzymes, the extension of the acetyl moiety to the longer butyl chain provided a compound with depressed inhibition of O-GlcNAcase and no observed inhibition of either hexosaminidase A or hexosaminidase B. Further, we applied this knowledge of substrate recognition at the N-acetyl group to our recently reported fluorogenic substrate for monitoring O-GlcNAcase activity. Gratifyingly, this altered small molecule was demonstrated to be a potent substrate for O-GlcNAcase while possessing no activity at hexosaminidase A. This reagent provides, for the first time, a means for monitoring O-GlcNAcase activity independent of the related enzymes hexosaminidase A and hexosaminidase B.     

Simultaneous determination of psychotropic drugs in human urine by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemiluminescence detection

Amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine are often used as psychotropic drugs in treatment of the various mental diseases, and are also partly excreted by kidney. This work developed a simple, selective and sensitive method for their simultaneous monitoring in human urine using capillary electrophoresis coupled with electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection based on end-column ECL reaction of tris-(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) with aliphatic tertiary amino moieties. Acetone was used as an additive to the running buffer to obtain their absolute separation. Under optimized conditions the proposed method displayed a linear range from 5.0 to 800 ng mL⁻¹ for the three drugs with the correlation coefficients more than 0.995 (n = 8). Their limits of detection were 0.8 ng mL⁻¹ (3.6 fg), 1.0 ng mL⁻¹ (4.5 fg) and 1.5 ng mL⁻¹ (6.8 fg) at a signal to noise ratio of 3, respectively. The relative standard deviations for five determinations of 20 ng mL⁻¹ amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine were 1.7%, 4.2% and 3.6%, respectively. For practical application an extract step with 90:10 heptane/ethyl acetate (v/v) was performed to eliminate the influence of ionic strength in sample. The recoveries of amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine at different levels in human urine were between 83% and 93%, which showed that the method was valuable in clinical and biochemical laboratories for monitoring amitriptyline, doxepin and chlorpromazine.     

Photopolymer microtips for efficient light coupling between single-mode fibers and photonic crystal fibers

A novel method for light coupling between single-mode fibers (SMFs) and small-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) is demonstrated. The method is based on growing photopolymer microtips directly on the end faces of SMFs. The shape and size of the tips can be controlled by adjusting the laser power and the exposure time for polymerization to match the mode field to the small-core PCFs. A 5 dB improvement in coupling efficiency between a SMF and a commercial small-core, highly nonlinear PCF is experimentally demonstrated. This compact and efficient butt-coupling method is particularly suitable for PCF gas sensor applications.     

Quasi-neutral limit of the full bipolar Euler-Poisson system

The quasi-neutral limit of the multi-dimensional non-isentropic bipolar Euler-Poisson system is considered in the present paper. It is shown that for well-prepared initial data the smooth solution of the nonisentropic bipolar Euler-Poisson system converges strongly to the compressible non-isentropic Euler equations as the Debye length goes to zero.     

Some developments in Nielsen fixed point theory

We give a brief survey of some developments in Nielsen fixed point theory. After a look at early history and a digress to various generalizations, we confine ourselves to several topics on fixed points of self-maps on manifolds and polyhedra. Special attention is paid to connections with geometric group theory and dynamics, as well as some formal approaches.     

First‐principle calculations on CO oxidation catalyzed by a gold nanoparticle

We have elucidated the mechanism of CO oxidation catalyzed by gold nanoparticles through first‐principle density‐functional theory (DFT) calculations. Calculations on selected model show that the low‐coordinated Au atoms of the Au₂₉ nanoparticle carry slightly negative charges, which enhance the O₂ binding energy compared with the corresponding bulk surfaces. Two reaction pathways of the CO oxidation were considered: the Eley–Rideal (ER) and Langmuir–Hinshelwood (LH). The overall LH reaction O_2(ads) + CO_(gas) → O_2(ads) + CO_(ads) → OOCO_(ads) → O_(ads) + CO_2(gas) is calculated to be exothermic by 3.72 eV; the potential energies of the two transition states ( TS_LH1 and TS_LH2 ) are smaller than the reactants, indicating that no net activation energy is required for this process. The CO oxidation via ER reaction Au₂₉ + O_2(gas) + CO_(gas) → Au₂₉–O_2(ads) + CO_(gas) → Au₂₉–CO_3(ads) → Au₂₉–O_(ads) + CO_2(gas) requires an overall activation barrier of 0.19 eV, and the formation of Au₂₉–CO_3(ads) intermediate possesses high exothermicity of 4.33 eV, indicating that this process may compete with the LH mechanism. Thereafter, a second CO molecule can react with the remaining O atom via the ER mechanism with a very small barrier (0.03 eV). Our calculations suggest that the CO oxidation catalyzed by the Au₂₉ nanoparticle is likely to occur at or even below room temperature. To gain insights into high‐catalytic activity of the gold nanoparticles, the interaction nature between adsorbate and substrate is also analyzed by the detailed electronic analysis. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

新型含氟姜黄素类似物的合成、晶体结构及抗肿瘤活性

采用活性基团拼接法将含氟苯甲醛与酮反应, 合成了5个含氟单羰基姜黄素类似物, 结构经IR, ¹H NMR及ESI-MS确认. 对所合成的化合物进行了抗肿瘤活性测试(MTT法), 结果表明, 部分化合物对肿瘤细胞有较强的选择性抑制活性, 其中2,6-二(4-氟亚苯基)环己酮(3a)和2,6-二(2-氟亚苯基)环己酮(3b)的抗肿瘤谱广, 活性较好, 就此对化合物3b作了单晶培养, 并就晶体结构进行了X衍射分析. 结构表明化合物3b属三斜晶系, 空间群 P-1. 晶胞参数 a＝0.9222(2) nm, b＝0.9732(2) nm, c＝1.0127(2) nm, α＝88.920(4)°, β＝75.672(3)°, γ＝62.404(3)°, V＝0.7755(3) nm³, Z＝2, D_c＝1.329 Mg•m^－3, μ＝0.097 mm^－1, F(000)＝324, 最终偏离因子R＝0.0590, wR＝0.1841.