Preparation of lucifer yellow fluorescent liposomes: A method for cells' membrane labeling

This report describes a method to conjugate lucifer yellow to the external surface of liposomes. The heterobifunctional cross-linking reagentN-succinimidyl 3-(2-pyridyldithio)propionate has been used to activate DMPE molecules. The DMPE-dithiopyridine product has been mixed with DMPC to prepare liposome vesicles. These have been reduced by DTT and finally reacted with lucifer yellow-iodoacetamide to produce the fluorescence-labeled vesicles. The quenching of their fluorescence intensity by Kl is consistent with fully exposed fluorophores. The decay of the fluorescence intensity of the lipid-bound lucifer yellow is biexponential (₁=7.9 ns; ₂=1.1 ns), with a relative yield of 0.16. When the fluorescent liposomes are mixed with cells, the lucifer yellow-DMPE derivative is transferred. Boar spermatozoa and peripheral human blood lymphocytes have been used as cellular models. The extent of incorporation is dependent on the incubation time and temperature. At 36°C, lucifer yellow fluorescence appears in the spermatozoa cells after 10 min of incubation and reaches its maximum at about 60 min. The fluorescent phospholipid derivative seems to incorporate specifically into membrane structures. The highest labeling ratio is observed with integer, scarcely motile, spermatozoa. A poorer labeling yield (15%) is found with lymphocytes. Interestingly, photobleaching due to epiillumination of the labeled cells is apparently negligible and cells are clearly visible after irradiation times ranging from several minutes to few hours.A preliminary account of this work was presented at the Quarto Simposio su Biotecnologie Biochimiche, Capri, 28–30 June 1992.     

Nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen in meso-nitroaryl-substituted porphyrins—unprotected at the NH-centers in the core ring

Unprotected 5-(4-nitrophenyl)-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin and 5,10-bis(4-nitrophenyl)-15,20-diphenylporphyrin react in the presence of a base at low temperature with carbanions (which bear a leaving group X at the carbanionic center) affording vicarious nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen (VNS) products in good yields (50-89%). The reactivity is explained in terms of the predominance of the porphyrin N-anion resonance forms at this temperature.     

Liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry of porphyrin dimers: reduction reactions and structural characterisation

New synthesised porphyrin dimers, with an amide or ester linkage between the two porphyrin units, were studied using liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry (LSIMS). The formation of reduced species was observed for all the compounds and it was found that the extent of reduction is dependent on the matrix used and on the structure of the porphyrin dimer. The main fragmentation pathways lead to monomer fragments resulting from cleavage of the amide or ester linkage between the two porphyrin units. The consistency of the fragmentations for all the dimers studied leads to the proposal of a common designation for the fragment ions. LSIMS, in addition to molecular weight determination, can provide important structural information for this type of compound.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of the dinuclear zinc-beta-lactamase from Bacteroides fragilis complexed with imipenem

Herein, we present results from MD simulations of the Michaelis complex formed between the dizinc beta-lactamase from B. fragilis and imipenem. We considered two catalytically important configurations, which differ in the presence or absence of a hydroxide bridge connecting the two zinc ions in the active site. The structural and dynamical effects induced by substrate binding, the specific roles of the conserved residues and the zinc-bound water molecules, the near attack conformers of the Michaelis complex, and so forth, are discussed in detail. The relative stability of the two configurations was estimated from QM linear scaling calculations on the enzyme-substrate complex combined with Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatic calculations and normal mode calculations. Importantly, we find that the two configurations have similar energies, indicating that these two structures could readily be interchanged, thereby facilitating catalysis. The configuration with the hydroxide bound to the two zinc ions is predicted to be the resting form of the enzyme, while the configuration without the bridge is the reactive form that was found to place the hydroxide in position to attack the carbonyl of the beta-lactam ring. Thus, we propose that the enzyme initiates catalysis by converting from the hydroxide bridge form into the configuration that lacks the hydroxide bridge. This interconversion increases the nucleophilicity of the hydroxide ion and exposes it to the beta-lactam carbonyl, which ultimately facilitates nucleophilic attack. The implications of the observed modes of binding, the possible influence of mutating the Lys184 and Asn193 residues on substrate binding, and the reaction mechanism are also discussed in detail.     

Spontaneously formed trans-anethol/water/alcohol emulsions: mechanism of formation and stability

We studied the spontaneous emulsification and droplet growth mechanism in trans-anethol/water/ethanol solutions, also known as the beverage ouzo, using dynamic light scattering spectroscopy. This simple ternary mixture is a generic example of a system that forms microemulsions spontaneously when brought into the two-phase region. The volume fraction of the dispersed phase was found to profoundly affect the growth rates of the droplets, which is a new finding that has not been predicted by the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner theory. Time-dependent measurements show that the droplet growth is governed by Ostwald ripening (OR), and no coalescence was observed. Furthermore, the OR rates increase with increasing oil concentration at low alcohol content. We attribute this behavior to enhanced droplet-droplet interactions. At high ethanol concentrations, we found that the measured rates decreased as the oil concentration increased. The OR growth mechanism completely correlates with changes in droplet size. The kinetics of droplet growth shows that the ripening has a saturation limit at a droplet radius of about 1.5 mum. Thus, formed emulsions remain stable for months.     

Insights into the phosphoryl-transfer mechanism of cAMP-dependent protein kinase from quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations

To investigate the molecular details of the phosphoryl-transfer mechanism catalyzed by cAMP-dependent protein kinase, we performed quantum mechanical (QM) calculations on a cluster model of the active site and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a ternary complex of the protein with Mg(2)ATP and a 20-residue peptide substrate. Overall, our theoretical results confirm the participation of the conserved aspartic acid, Asp(166), as an acid/base catalyst in the reaction mechanism catalyzed by protein kinases. The MD simulation shows that the contact between the nucleophilic serine side chain and the carboxylate group of Asp(166) is short and dynamically stable, whereas the QM study indicates that an Asp(166)-assisted pathway is structurally and energetically feasible and is in agreement with previous experimental results.     

On the origin of dynamic instability of molecular systems

The vibronic origin of dynamic instability of molecular systems considered earlier, is here given a more complete and rigorous treatment. It is shown that the nonvibronic contribution to the curvature of the adiabatic potential arising due to nuclear displacements under fixed electronic density distribution, is always positive, and hence the only reason for dynamic instability is the pseudo Jahn-Teller effect. For some examples of special interest (planar equilateral NH₃, planar square CH₄ and linear H ₃ ⁺ ) the molecular excited states, responsible for the instability of the ground state, are revealed by means of ab initio calculations.     

Artificial metalloenzymes: The powerful alliance between protein scaffolds and organometallic catalysts

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Synthesis and psychotropic properties of furyl- and thienyl-germatranes

Trihalogermyl-furans and -thiophenes were prepared by inserting germanium dibromide (GeBr₂) generated from the dibromogermane(II) dioxanate complex into the carbon-halogen bond of halo-furans and -thiophenes. Their ethanolysis and transesterification by triethanolamine yielded the germatranes which were subjected to psychotropic activity assays. The psychotropic properties of germatranes were found to depend on the type of the heterocycle and on the position of the germatrane moiety.     

THE USE OF INTERNALIZABLE DERIVATIVES OF CHLORIN E6 FOR INCREASING ITS PHOTOSENSITIZING ACTIVITY

Experiments with human hepatoma PLC/PRF/5 cells and human embryo skin fibroblasts involving the use of three different tests (colony formation, Trypan blue exclusion, labeled thymidine incorporation) have demonstrated a significantly higher photosensitizing activity of chlorin e₆ conjugates with internalizable ligands as compared to that of chlorin e₆ itself. Receptor-mediated internalization of chlorin e₆ conjugates ensures a greater photosensitization of cells than binding of those conjugates to cell surface receptors. The suitability of such conjugates that permit the delivery of a photosensitizer to sensitive intracellular targets is discussed.