Cardiorenal Protective Effect of Costunolide against Doxorubicin-Induced Toxicity in Rats by Modulating Oxidative Stress,Inflammation and Apoptosis

Doxorubicin (DXB) is one of the most commonly used anticancer agents for treating solid and hematological malignancies; however, DXB-induced cardiorenal toxicity presents a limiting factor to its clinical usefulness in cancer patients. Costunolide (COST) is a naturally occurring sesquiterpene lactone with excellent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiapoptotic properties. This study evaluated the effect of COST on DXB-induced cardiorenal toxicity in rats. Rats were orally treated with COST for 4 weeks and received weekly 5 mg/kg doses of DXB for three weeks. Cardiorenal biochemical biomarkers, lipid profile, oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines, histological and immunohistochemical analyses were evaluated. DXB-treated rats displayed significantly increased levels of lipid profiles, markers of cardiorenal dysfunction (aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, troponin T, blood urea nitrogen, uric acid and creatinine). In addition, DXB markedly upregulated cardiorenal malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 levels and decreased glutathione, superoxide dismutase and catalase activities. COST treatment significantly attenuated the aforementioned alterations induced by DXB. Furthermore, histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that COST ameliorated the histopathological features and reduced p53 and myeloperoxidase expression in the treated rats. These results suggest that COST exhibits cardiorenal protective effects against DXB-induced injury presumably via suppression of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis.     

Target Design of Novel Histone Deacetylase 6 Selective Inhibitors with 2-Mercaptoquinazolinone as the Cap Moiety

Epigenetic alterations found in all human cancers are promising targets for anticancer therapy. In this sense, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) are interesting anticancer agents that play an important role in the epigenetic regulation of cancer cells. Here, we report 15 novel hydroxamic acid-based histone deacetylase inhibitors with quinazolinone core structures. Five compounds exhibited antiproliferative activity with IC₅₀ values of 3.4–37.8 µM. Compound 8 with a 2-mercaptoquinazolinone cap moiety displayed the highest antiproliferative efficacy against MCF-7 cells. For the HDAC6 target selectivity study, compound 8 displayed an IC₅₀ value of 2.3 µM, which is 29.3 times higher than those of HDAC3, HDAC4, HDAC8, and HDAC11. Western blot assay proved that compound 8 strongly inhibited tubulin acetylation, a substrate of HDAC6. Compound 8 also displayed stronger inhibition activity against HDAC11 than the control drug Belinostat. The inhibitory mechanism of action of compound 8 on HDAC enzymes was then explored using molecular docking study. The data revealed a high binding affinity (−7.92 kcal/mol) of compound 8 toward HDAC6. In addition, dock pose analysis also proved that compound 8 might serve as a potent inhibitor of HDAC11.     

Rh-Catalyzed Kinetic Resolution-Based Enantioselective [4+2]-Cycloaddition-Isomerization of Allene-1,3-dienes

The first example of Rh-catalyzed kinetic resolution of 1,3-disubstituted allene-1,3-dienes involving intramolecular[4+2]-cycloaddition has been developed.Follo...     

Rate Coefficients and Kinetic Isotope Effects of Cl+XCl→XCl+Cl (X=H,D, Mu) Reactions from Ring Polymer Molecular Dynamics

The ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) was used to calculate the thermal rate coefficients and kinetic isotope effects of the heavy-light-heavy abstract reaction Cl+XCl\begin{document}$ \rightarrow $\end{document}XCl+Cl (X = H, D, Mu). For the Cl+HCl reaction, the excellent agreement between the RPMD and experimental values provides a strong proof for the accuracy of the RPMD theory. And the RPMD results are also consistent with results from other theoretical methods including improved-canonical-variational-theory and quantum dynamics. The most novel finding is that there is a double peak in Cl+MuCl reaction near the transition state, leaving a free energy well. It comes from the mode softening of the reaction system at the peak of the potential energy surface. Such an explicit free energy well suggests strongly there is an observable resonance. And for the Cl+DCl reaction, the RPMD rate coefficient again gives very accurate results compared with experimental values. The only exception is at the temperature of 312.5 K, results from RPMD and all other theoretical methods are close to each other but slightly lower than the experimental value, which indicates experimental or potential energy surface deficiency.     

Recent Advances in Synergistic Antitumor Effects Exploited from the Inhibition of Ataxia Telangiectasia and RAD3-Related Protein Kinase (ATR)

As one of the key phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinases (PIKKs) family members, ataxia telangiectasia and RAD3-related protein kinase (ATR) is crucial in maintaining mammalian cell genomic integrity in DNA damage response (DDR) and repair pathways. Dysregulation of ATR has been found across different cancer types. In recent years, the inhibition of ATR has been proven to be effective in cancer therapy in preclinical and clinical studies. Importantly, tumor-specific alterations such as ATM loss and Cyclin E1 (CCNE1) amplification are more sensitive to ATR inhibition and are being exploited in synthetic lethality (SL) strategy. Besides SL, synergistic anticancer effects involving ATRi have been reported in an increasing number in recent years. This review focuses on the recent advances in different forms of synergistic antitumor effects, summarizes the pharmacological benefits and ongoing clinical trials behind the biological mechanism, and provides perspectives for future challenges and opportunities. The hope is to draw awareness to the community that targeting ATR should have great potential in developing effective anticancer medicines.     

拉曼光谱在固相有机合成中的应用

本文综述了近几年以来拉曼光谱在固相有机合成中的应用研究进展,分别介绍了近红外傅立叶变换和共焦显微两种拉曼光谱技术。近红外傅立叶变换拉曼光谱克服了荧光背景带来的干扰,可以用在固载试剂、催化剂的表征、固相有机反应的监测等方面,特别对于在无机载体上进行的有机反应的表征和检测方面具有很大的优势。共焦显微拉曼光谱具有特殊的空间分辨能力,适合对固相合成载体的结构进行表征,并可对载体内部反应活性位点的分布情况进行研究。     

聚芴类电致发光材料

聚芴与其衍生物是一类重要的电致发光聚合物,它们具有较高的光致发光效率,并且易于进行结构修饰,因此受到材料化学家们的高度关注。本文叙述的线索是聚合物结构与其电致发光性能之间的构效关系。通过化学修饰,可以调节材料的前线分子轨道、热和光谱稳定性,进而开发新的发光材料。文中首先简单介绍了聚芴类发光材料的聚合方法,然后把这些聚合物按结构不同分成两个部分介绍：一部分是主链仅含有共轭芴单元的聚合物,它们的化学修饰依赖于芴9位的活性碳原子;另一部分是通过共聚方法得到的主链含有芴和其它基团的聚合物。     

神经肽FF的构效关系研究

多肽在机体中具有重要的生理功能,并且它具有化学合成和修饰的便利性,因此它吸引了越来越多的化学、生物学及其交叉领域研究人员的研究兴趣。神经肽FF(NPFF)作为阿片调节肽在阿片耐受等药理学方面具有重要的调节作用,然而迄今为止仍缺乏NPFF受体高选择性的激动剂和拮抗剂,从而阻碍了NPFF药理学功能及其作用机制的研究。本文简述了NPFF的发现,并综述了近几年来在NPFF的前体、受体和生理学功能等方面所取得的最新进展,结合本实验室的工作重点介绍了NPFF构效关系方面的研究,并展望了该研究方向今后的发展趋势。     

液相电化学沉积类金刚石薄膜的研究进展

采用电化学沉积法开展液相中类金刚石薄膜的制备工艺和理论的研究,对于完善类金刚石薄膜的合成技术,开拓类金刚石薄膜的应用领域,具有很重要的理论意义和实用价值。本文概述了液相电沉积技术的基本原理和方法,重点从四个方面介绍了电化学方法制备类金刚石薄膜的研究进展,总结了该方法所制备样品的性能,并对可能的反应机制作了综合性的阐述,最后对液相电沉积类金刚石薄膜的发展前景进行了展望。     

疏水化淀粉衍生物研究进展

淀粉化学品已广泛应用于各行各业,但由于传统淀粉化学品只有单一的亲水性,应用受到限制。淀粉的疏水化改性是提高淀粉化学品应用性能、赋予淀粉新的性能和功能性、进而拓宽淀粉化学品应用领域的重要方法,淀粉的疏水化改性已成为目前国内外的研究热点。本文综述了近年来制备的新的疏水化淀粉衍生物及其制备新工艺和性能研究方面的进展。