Atheroprotective potentials of curcuminoids against ginger extract in hypercholesterolaemic rabbits

The anti-atherogenic potentials of total ginger (Zingiber officinale) extract (TGE) or curcuminoids extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa), members of family Zingiberaceae, were compared in hypercholesterolaemia. Rabbits were fed either normal or atherogenic diet. The rabbits on atherogenic diet received treatments with TGE or curcumenoids and placebo concurrently for 6 weeks (n = 6). The anti-atherogenic effects of curcuminoids and ginger are mediated via multiple mechanisms. This effect was correlated with their ability to lower cholesteryl ester transfer protein activity. Ginger extract exerted preferential effects on plasma lipids, reverse cholesterol transport, cholesterol synthesis and inflammatory status. Curcuminoids, however, showed superior antioxidant activity.     

Assessing the role of chemical components in cellular responses to atmospheric particle matter (PM) through chemical fractionation of PM extracts

In order to further our understanding of the influence of chemical components and ultimately specific sources of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) on pro-inflammatory and other adverse cellular responses, we promulgate and apply a suite of chemical fractionation tools to aqueous aerosol extracts of PM samples for analysis in toxicity assays. We illustrate the approach with a study that used water extracts of quasi-ultrafine PM (PM_0.25) collected in the Los Angeles Basin. Filtered PM extracts were fractionated using Chelex, a weak anion exchanger diethylaminoethyl (DEAE), a strong anion exchanger (SAX), and a hydrophobic C18 resin, as well as by desferrioxamine (DFO) complexation that binds iron. The fractionated extracts were then analyzed using high-resolution sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICPMS) to determine elemental composition. Cellular responses to the fractionated extracts were probed in an in vitro rat alveolar macrophages model with measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The DFO treatment that chelates iron was very effective at reducing the cellular ROS activity but had only a small impact on the TNF-α production. In contrast, the hydrophobic C18 resin treatment had a small impact on the cellular ROS activity but significantly reduced the TNF-α production. The use of statistical methods to integrate the results across all treatments led to the conclusion that sufficient iron must be present to participate in the chemistry needed for ROS activity, but the amount of ROS activity is not proportional to the iron solution concentration. ROS activity was found to be most related to cationic mono- and divalent metals (i.e., Mn and Ni) and oxyanions (i.e., Mo and V). Although the TNF-α production was not significantly affected by the chelexation of iron, it was greatly impacted by the removal of organics with the C18 resin and all other metal removal methods, suggesting that iron is not a critical pathway leading to TNF-α production, but a wide range of soluble metals and organic compounds in particulate matter play a role. Although the results are specific to the Los Angeles Basin, where the samples used in the study were collected, the method employed in the study can be widely employed to study the role of components of particulate matter in in vitro or in vivo assays.     

Multistep energy and electron transfer processes in novel rotaxane donor–acceptor hybrids generating microsecond-lived charge separated states

A new set of [Cu(phen)₂]⁺ based rotaxanes, featuring [60]-fullerene as an electron acceptor and a variety of electron donating moieties, namely zinc porphyrin (ZnP), zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and ferrocene (Fc), has been synthesized and fully characterized with respect to electrochemical and photophysical properties. The assembly of the rotaxanes has been achieved using a slight variation of our previously reported synthetic strategy that combines the Cu(i)-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition reaction (the “click” or CuAAC reaction) with Sauvage''s metal-template protocol. To underline our results, complementary model rotaxanes and catenanes have been prepared using the same strategy and their electrochemistry and photo-induced processes have been investigated. Insights into excited state interactions have been afforded from steady state and time resolved emission spectroscopy as well as transient absorption spectroscopy. It has been found that photo-excitation of the present rotaxanes triggers a cascade of multi-step energy and electron transfer events that ultimately leads to remarkably long-lived charge separated states featuring one-electron reduced C₆₀ radical anion (C₆₀˙^–) and either one-electron oxidized porphyrin (ZnP˙⁺) or one-electron oxidized ferrocene (Fc˙⁺) with lifetimes up to 61 microseconds. In addition, shorter-lived charge separated states involving one-electron oxidized copper complexes ([Cu(phen)₂]²⁺ (τ < 100 ns)), one-electron oxidized zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc˙⁺; τ = 380–560 ns), or ZnP˙⁺ (τ = 2.3–8.4 μs), and C₆₀˙^– have been identified as intermediates during the sequence. Detailed energy diagrams illustrate the sequence and rate constants of the photophysical events occurring with the mechanically-linked chromophores. This work pioneers the exploration of mechanically-linked systems as platforms to position three distinct chromophores, which are able to absorb light over a very wide range of the visible region, triggering a cascade of short-range energy and electron transfer processes to afford long-lived charge separated states.