THE EFFECTS OF ULTRAVIOLET AND VISIBLE RADIATION ON MOUSE ASCITES TUMOUR CELLS

Abstract— Effects of ultraviolet and visible radiation on the viability of Landschutz ascites tumour cells have been tested by growing control and treated tumour samples in adult mice. The tumour cells were irradiated as a dilute suspension in isotonic buffered salt solution, and were equilibrated at 0°C with oxygen or with nitrogen before irradiation.
Tumour cell proliferation was measured by a variety of techniques. The preferred assay-method was the growth of solid tumours in the axillae and groins of mice after sub-cutaneous inoculation of varying dilutions of treated or control ascites tumour cells. The immune response of the mice to the injected cells was reduced by whole body irradiation with a 300r dose of x-rays two days before inoculation. Results were calculated from parallel line assays using the reciprocal of the delay in appearance of the solid tumours up to 30 days post-innoculation. This reciprocal (1/T) was linearly related to the logarithm of the number of cells inoculated.
Photoreactivation has been demonstrated for this system, in which both U.V. and visible radiations were absorbed by the same cells. Light delivered alone in oxygen or in nitrogen was without effect on cell-viability, but it increased cell-survival after u.v.-irradiation in nitrogen and decreased survival after u.v.-irradiation in oxygen. Ultraviolet radiation alone was not significantly more lethal in oxygen than in nitrogen. A further observation in this work was an interaction between irradiated and control tumour cells injected into the same animal.
It is suggested that the radiation used may affect the antigenic character of the tumour cells as well as their reproductive capadity.     

Synthesis and structure of 4-[(4-Nitro-1,2,5-oxadiazol-3-yl)-NNO-azoxyl]-1, 2,5-oxadiazol-3-amine

The synthesis of the energetic compound 4-[(4-nitro-1,2,5-oxadiazol-3-yl)-NNO-azoxyl]-1,2,5-oxadiazol-3-amine (3) was achieved in two steps from diaminofurazan (1). Compound 3 was characterized by X-ray diffraction. From the X-ray structure a bifurcated intramolecular H bond between O(2)-H(2)-N(4) was observed. In addition, intramolecular H bonding was observed between H(1) and N(7) of an adjacent molecule. One molecule of ethanol and one-half molecule of water per molecule of3 was observed in the crystal lattice. However, no H bonding was observed between the solvent molecules and3 in the crystal lattice. Despite the presence of solvent in the crystal lattice,3 was found to have a high crystal density (d=1.856 g/cm³).     

Quantitative analysis of xanthohumol and related prenylflavonoids in hops and beer by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A method for quantitation of six prenylflavonoids (xanthohumol, isoxanthohumol, desmethylxanthohumol, 6- and 8-prenylnaringenins and 6-geranylnaringenin) in hops and beer by HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry has been developed. The method allows direct analysis of beer and crude methanolic extracts of hops. After HPLC separation, prenylflavonoids were detected by positive ion multiple-reaction monitoring using a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a heated nebulizer--atmospheric pressure chemical ionization interface. The accuracy and precision were evaluated by replicate analyses of (spiked) samples. Thirteen commercial beers were analysed with the method. Isoxanthohumol, formed by isomerization of xanthohumol during the brewing process, was the most abundant flavonoid in hopped beers, ranging from 0.04 to 3.44 mg/l.     

Mass spectral fragmentation of the intravenous anesthetic propofol and structurally related phenols

Propofol (2,6-diisopropyl phenol) is a widely used intravenous anesthetic. To define its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, methods for its quantitation in biological matrixes have been developed, but its pattern of mass spectral fragmentation is unknown. We found that fragmentation of the [M - H](-) ion (m/z 177) of propofol in both APCI MS/MS and ESI MS/MS involves the stepwise loss of a methyl radical and a hydrogen radical from one isopropyl side chain to give the most intense product ion, [M -H - CH(4)](-), at m/z 161. This two-step process is also the preferred mode of fragmentation for similar branched alkyl substituted phenols. This mode of fragmentation of the [M - H](-) ion is supported by three independent lines of evidence: (1) the presence of the intermediary [M - H - CH(3)](-) radical ion under conditions of reduced collision energy, (2) the determination of the mass of the predominant [M - H - CH(4)](-) product ion by high resolution mass spectrometry, and (3) the pattern of product ions resulting from further fragmentation of the [M - H - CH(4)](-) product ion. Phenols with a single straight chain alkyl substituent, in contrast, undergo beta elimination of the alkyl radical irrespective of the length of the alkyl chain, yielding the most intense product ion at m/z 106. This product ion represents a special case of a stable intermediary radical for the two-step process described for branched side chains, because further elimination of a hydrogen radical from the beta carbon is not possible.     

Synthesis of a peroxime proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) alpha/gamma agonist via stereocontrolled Williamson ether synthesis and stereospecific SN2 reaction of S-2-chloro propionic acid with phenoxides

The stereospecific synthesis of the PPAR alpha/gamma agonist 1 was accomplished via ethylation of the optically pure trihydroxy derivative 6, itself derived via an enzymatic resolution. The ethylation can be accomplished without epimerization only under strict control of the reaction conditions and the choice of base (sodium tert-amylate), temperature (-30 degrees C), order of addition, and solvent (DMF). The key diastereospecific SN2 reaction of the phenol 4 with S-2-chloropropionic acid is best achieved via the sodium phenoxide of 4 derived from Na0 as the reagent of choice. The structure elucidation and key purification protocols to achieve pharmaceutical purity will also be described.     

Comparison of γ activation and vacuum distillation for determination of oxygen in sodium

A γ photon activation technique has been applied to the determination of oxygen in sodium and the results obtained compared with those using vacuum distillation. Care has been taken to ensure that sampling errors are minimised and a specially designed sampling, storage and irradiation container for γ extraction has been developed. Initial results show favourable agreement between the techniques but the precision of γ activation results requires to be improved.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of emetine after oxidative activation to a fluorescent product

A clinically useful analytical method is described for monitoring plasma levels of emetine. The drug is initially extracted from plasma with dichloromethane (0.3 volumes). The extract can be analyzed directly by paired-ion reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to levels of 500 ng/ml of plasma by spectrophotometric monitoring of column effluent. For analysis of emetine at lower concentrations, the dichloromethane extracts are subjected to mild mercuric acetate oxidation prior to separation, thereby converting emetine to a fluorescent product. Spectrofluorometric monitoring of the column effluent readily extends the sensitivity of the assay to 10 ng of emetine/ml of plasma. At these levels measurements can be made with a precision of +/- 4%.     

Effect of end‐tethered polymers on surface adhesion of glassy polymers

The adhesion between a glassy polymer melt and substrate is studied in the presence of end‐grafted chains chemically attached to the substrate surface. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out to study the effect of the areal density ∑ of tethered chains and tensile pull velocity v on the adhesive failure mechanisms. The initial configurations are generated using a double‐bridging algorithm in which new bonds are formed across a pair of monomers equidistant from their respective free ends. This generates new chain configurations that are substantially different than the original two chains such that the systems can be equilibrated in a reasonable amount of cpu time. At the slowest tensile pull velocity studied, a crossover from chain scission to crazing is observed as the coverage increases, while for very large pull velocity, only chain scission is observed. As the coverage increases, the sections of the tethered chains pulled out from the interface form the fibrils of a craze that are strong enough to suppress chain scission, resulting in cohesive rather than adhesive failure. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 199–208, 2004