Evaluating glycogen signal contamination in muscle by (13)C MRS of the liver

To evaluate the contamination of glycogen signal synthesized in skeletal muscle by that in the liver, long-term monitoring of over 7 h of in vivo [1-¹³C] glycogen synthesis/degradation at the right abdomen and left shoulder was achieved using a 3.0-T clinical MR system. ¹³C MR spectra without localization were obtained from five healthy volunteers before and after oral administration of 85 g of d-glucose, including 10 g of 99% [1-¹³C] glucose. In all volunteers, the relative signal intensities at the abdomen to those at shoulder were about two- to fivefold, and those of time-course changes at the abdomen and shoulder were dissimilar. It is considered that the quantity of muscle-synthesized glycogen signal at the abdomen is less than that at the shoulder because of the lesser muscle volume at the abdomen, and it may be less affected for evaluating glycogen synthesis/degradation in the liver even without localization pulses.     

A,B,D,F-tetrasubstituted β-cyclodextrin as artificial channel compound

As a channel forming compound, β-cyclodextrin having four hydrophobic tails and three metal binding sites, 1, [A,C,D,F,-tetra-6-(6-n-butyrylamino-n-hexylsulfenyl)-β-cyclodextrin] was synthesized as a “half channel”. Artificial liposome modified with 1 transported Co⁺⁺ efficiently with the rate, 4.5 × 10^?4sec^?1 for 55 μM 1, much faster tahn the rate for the unmodified liposome.     

Discotic Liquid Crystals of Transition Metal Complexes VI. Monotropic Lamella Mesomorphism of Tetrakis(N-Alkyldithiolato)Dinickel(II) and Bis(N-Alkylxanthato)Nickel(II) Complexes

It was found that each of the tetrakis(n-alkyldithiolato)dinickel(II), (C_n-DTA)₄-Ni₂, complexes where n-alkyl is n-pentyl through n-dodecyl, exhibits a broken-fan texture on cooling from an isotropic liquid, and that the phase gave a characteristic lamella structure X-ray diffraction powder pattern. Furthermore, the infrared spectrum of this phase is more similar to that of the isotropic liquid than that of the crystal. Therefore, the phase can be described as a monotropic lamella mesophase. Interestingly, each of the complexes of bis(n-alkylxanthato)nickel(II), (C_n-Xan)₂Ni, (n = 5, 7, 9, 11) exhibits double (triple) melting behavior via the isotropic liquid, whereas each of the complexes of (C_n-Xan)₂Ni (n = 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) shows ordinary single melting behavior. Such unique double melting accompanied by an even-odd effect appears to be the first example of this in the long chain substituted compounds. Each of the complexes of (C_n-Xan)₂ Ni (n = 9, 11, 12) has a monotropic lamella mesophase exhibiting a large broken fan texture.