DNA LESIONS AND DNA DEGRADATION IN MOUSE LYMPHOMA L5178Y CELLS AFTER PHOTODYNAMIC TREATMENT SENSITIZED BY CHLOROALUMINUM PHTHALOCYANINE

Two closely related strains of mouse lymphoma L5178Y cells, LY-R and LY-S, have been found to differ in their sensitivity to the cytotoxic effects of photodynamic treatment (PDT) with chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (CAPC) and red light. Strain LY-R is more sensitive to photodynamic cell killing than strain LY-S. Differences in uptake of CAPC could not account for the differences in cytotoxic effects. There was no marked difference between the two strains in the induction of single-strand breaks (which includes frank single-strand breaks and alkali-labile lesions), but substantially more DNA-protein cross-links were formed in strain LY-R by CAPC and light. Repair of single-strand breaks proceeded with similar kinetics in both strains for the first 30 min post-irradiation, suggesting that these lesions are not responsible for the differential sensitivity of the two strains to the lethal effects of photodynamic treatment. Thereafter, alkaline elution revealed the presence of increasing DNA strand breakage in strain LY-R. DNA degradation, as measured by the conversion of prelabeled [14C] DNA to acid-soluble radioactivity, was more rapid and extensive in strain LY-R.     

Electrochemistry of vanadium-doped tetragonal and monoclinic ZrO2 attached to graphite/polyester composite electrodes

The electrochemistry of monoclinic and tetragonal vanadium-doped zirconias (VZrO₂), prepared from gel precursors with vanadium loadings ranging from 0.5 to 15 mol%, has been studied using abrasive-conditioned graphite/polyester composite electrodes immersed in aqueous HCl and HClO₄ solutions. Isolated vanadium centers form a solid solution in the zirconia lattice with a solubility limit close to 5 mol%. Above 5 mol%, finely dispersed V₂O₅ is formed. Vanadium centers located at the boundary sites of the zirconia lattice display successive one-electron transfer processes near to +0.25 and +0.10 V vs. SCE, whereas finely dispersed V₂O₅ yields three successive reduction processes at +0.46, +0.30, and +0.16 V vs. SCE. Electrochemical data indicate the presence of both V⁵⁺ and V⁴⁺ centers in the lattice of monoclinic and tetragonal zirconias, the V⁵⁺/V⁴⁺ ratio decreasing as the vanadium loading increases. Electronic Publication     

Blood lead monitoring in Italy: Assessment of the quality of results obtained between 1992 and 1994

Between 1992 and 1994, a new screening campaign for blood Pb monitoring in the Italian general population was carried out. Since the first campaign (started in 1978, in accomplishment of the European Community Directive 77/312/EEC) a working group of the Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry at the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), as the Reference Centre (RC), has coordinated the activity of various laboratories spread over the national territory. Appropriate quality assurance procedures, including an external quality assessment scheme (EQAS), were elaborated. Within the EQAS, three or four trials were carried out every year. Each laboratory participating in the trial analyzed eight control samples prepared from cow blood at different Pb concentrations. The results obtained by each peripheral laboratory and the RC between 1992 and 1994 have been compared by regression analysis. The same statistical method was adopted to compare the results obtained by each peripheral laboratory and the RC in the duplicate analysis of about 10 per cent of the human samples collected during the 1992–1994 monitoring campaign. There was no evidence of systematic differences between the regression lines obtained on control and human samples. In spite of the lower Pb concentration in the control samples analyzed during the 1992–1994 campaign, the analytical performance of the laboratories was better than that obtained in the previous screening campaign (1985–1986). Blood Pb levels observed in human samples collected between 1992 and 1994, confirm the downward time trend observed in the campaigns carried out in 1978–1979, 1980–1981 and 1985–1986. This study confirms that the results obtained in an EQAS are representative of the actual performance in the analysis of real (human) samples.     

Effect of branching and confinement on star-branched polymeric systems

The effect of confinement, number of branches (functionality), and size of the molecules on various properties as a function of temperature of star-branched polymers confined between two walls was studied using Monte Carlo simulations with the parallel tempering technique. The coil-to-globule transition and the liquidlike to solidlike transition, similar to those observed for linear chains, were characterized in all systems by changes in the heat capacity, internal energy, and radius of gyration. The transitions were also characterized by the most probable isomeric structure at a given temperature. The radius of gyration of the star polymers was smaller than the values of linear chains when the number of arms f increased. For star chains with more than f=5 arms the values of the radius of gyration, and therefore the size of the molecules, were similar for every condition of confinement studied, especially at higher temperatures. As confinement was increased, the difference in the radius of gyration of linear chains and star polymers became even larger. The coil-to-globule transition temperatures shifted to higher temperatures as the size of the chains and the number of arms in a molecule were increased. Effects of confinement were higher on the properties of the system at the smallest separations (less than twice the monomer diameter), where the coil-to-globule transition shifted to lower temperatures. The liquidlike to solidlike transition was present at almost the same temperature for different conditions of confinement, chain size, and number of arms. The behavior of the systems for separations between the walls greater than five bead diameters was similar to the behavior in the unconfined case. Hence, no considerable effect of confinement was found above this separation.     

Soluble alpha-amino acid salts in acetonitrile: practical technology for the production of some dipeptides

Alpha-amino acids are soluble in acetonitrile when treated with phosphazene bases. As a result, the protection/deprotection events that are usually required for peptide coupling reactions can be minimized. This is illustrated in the synthesis of the important angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril. [reaction: see text]     

Theoretical and photoluminescence studies on the d10-s2 AuI-TlI interaction in extended unsupported chains

The reactions of solutions of TlPF(6) and OPPh(3) in tetrahydrofuran or acetone with NBu(4)[AuR(2)] (R=C(6)Cl(5), C(6)F(5)) gave the new complexes [Au(C(6)Cl(5))(2)](2)[Tl(OPPh(3))][Tl(OPPh(3))(L)] (L=THF (1), acetone (2)) and the previously reported [Tl(OPPh(3))(2)][Au(C(6)F(5))(2)] (3). The crystal structures of complexes 1 and 2 display extended unsupported chains with short intermolecular interactions between alternating gold(I) and thallium(I) centres. Moreover, the Tl(I) centres show two different types of geometrical environments, such as pseudotetrahedral and distorted trigonal-bipyramidal, due to the presence of solvent molecules that act as ligands in the solid-state structure. Quasirelativistic and nonrelativistic ab initio calculations were performed to study the nature of the intermetallic Au(I)-Tl(I) interactions and are consistent with the presence of a high ionic contribution (80 %) and dispersion-type (van der Waals) interaction with a charge-transfer contribution (20 %) when relativistic effects are taken into account. All complexes are luminescent in the solid state at room temperature and at 77 K. Complexes 1 and 2 show site-selective excitation, probably due to the different environments around the Tl(I) centres. The DFT and time-dependent (TD)-DFT calculations are in agreement with the experimental excitation spectra for all complexes and confirm the site-selective excitation behaviour as a function of the Tl(I) geometrical environment.     

A mechanistic study of the permeation kinetics through biomembrane models: gemcitabine-phospholipid bilayer interaction

The kinetics of the interaction between Gemcitabine (a new anticancer drug) and phospholipid membrane models was investigated. This kind of study is of particular importance both in hypothesizing the interaction of Gemcitabine with mammalian cell membranes and in evaluating the potentiality of liposomes as a Gemcitabine delivery system. Unilamellar (LUV) and multilamellar (MLV) membrane models were made up of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), dimyristoylphosphatidic acid sodium salt (DMPA), or a DMPC-DMPA mixture (1:1 molar ratio). Gemcitabine-phospholipid vesicle interaction was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements performed at different time intervals. The findings showed slower permeation kinetics of Gemcitabine through MLV than LUV which, at the same lipid/water ratio, are characterized by a larger lipid surface in contact with the drug aqueous solution. Another interesting difference between LUV and MLV is the onset of a transient two-peak structure during the DSC scans of MLVs. The effect is due to the unequal distribution of the drug between the outer and inner bilayers of the multilamellar vesicles during the permeation kinetics. At equilibrium the two-peak structure merges into a unique peak. This finding may provide useful information about the lipid bilayer permeability in model membranes.     

Structural characterization techniques for the analysis of semiconductor strained heterostructures

A combined method for structural characterization of strained epitaxial heterostructures involving different techniques such as Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), multiple crystal X-ray diffractometry (MCD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is presented. In order to obtain a complete characterization of the analysed structure, three different quantities are measured independently: the epilayer thickness, the density of misfit dislocations which may appear at the interface, and the significant components of the strain tensor, mainly the tetragonal distortion, affecting the epilayer lattice. In this way the thermodynamic state and the mechanisms of plastic deformation of the structures can be fully investigated. In this contribution we present and discuss the experimental results concerning a set of InP/GaAs samples having different layer thicknesses ranging from 5 to 500 nm. The thickness of the samples has been determined by RBS. Measurements of in-plane strain and tetragonal distortion have been performed by MCD and RBS-channelling respectively, finally TEM has been used for determining the defects densities and distribution.