Dimethylarsinic acid targets tubulin in mitotic cells to induce abnormal spindles

Dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) is the most effective inducer of cell‐cycle disruption among the arsenic compounds and their metabolites. The present study was conducted to gain further insight into cell‐cycle disruption induced by DMA. The inhibition of cell proliferation and the mitotic arrest induced by DMA were significant and dose‐dependent in Chinese hamster V79 cells and the two seemed to be closely related. At less than 140 µM the DMA did not inhibit the proliferation of cells, but it significantly induced mitotic arrest. An indirect immunofluorescence assay using anti‐α‐tubulin antibodies revealed that DMA induced the formation of abnormal spindles in the metaphase cells even at 350 µM with 5 h of treatment. At 1.4 mM DMA no metaphase cells could form a definite spindle structure. The spindle figures were similar to those induced by colchicine (125 nM ) or vinblastine (110 nM ), major antimitotic agents. In DMA‐treated interphase cells, the microtubule networks were indistinguishable from those of normal cells. With the tubulin‐assembly assay estimated by turbidity, DMA at less than 200 µM suppressed tubulin assembly in a dose‐dependent manner, whereas at more than 700 µM it enhanced tubulin polymerization remarkably with or without addition of excess guanosine‐5′‐triphosphate. According to the above findings, we discussed the possibility that DMA, a primary metabolite of inorganic arsenic in mammals, is related to arsenic carcinogenicity. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design and fabrication of a dielectrophoresis-based cell-positioning and cell-culture device for construction of cell networks

In this paper, we describe the design and fabrication of a dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based cell-positioning and cell-culture device for the construction of cell networks. This device enables both individual cell positioning and cell culture. Titanium electrodes were fabricated by deposition. Furthermore, microchambers and microchannels composed of SU-8, which is a negative photoresist, were used to carry out cell culture and enable cell differentiation. Using our device, N1E-115 cells were individually positioned in the microchambers, and the positioning yield was 45%. After positioning, the cells could be continuously cultured in the microchambers. Furthermore, the cells differentiated, and their neurites extended through the microchannels after cultivation for several days. These results indicate that our device greatly increases the prospects for individual cell positioning and can be used to construct cell networks that have several applications in the medical field, for example, in drug screening.     

A new method for the high performance liquid chromatographic determination of TA-870, a dopamine prodrug (catechol ester compound)

A new method for the high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) determination of N-(N-acetyl-L-methionyl)-O,O-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)dopamine (TA-870), a dopamine prodrug, in biological fluid has been developed. In order to measure with an electrochemical detector (ECD), TA-870 was passed first through an immobilized carboxylesterase column to be converted to the electrochemically active deethoxycarbonylated TA-870 (DEC-TA-870). The properties of this carboxylesterase immobilized on Sepharose 4B were examined by this flow injection system. Hydrolysis of TA-870 with this immobilized carboxylesterase was a maximum at pH 7-8 and 50 degrees C, and the activity decreased in the presence of organic solvent such as acetonitrile. For the determination of TA-870 in biological fluids, an HPLC-immobilized enzyme-ECD system using a column-switching technique was developed. The blood was deproteinized with ethanol, and TA-870 in the ethanol extracts was adsorbed in Bond Elut C18. The dichloromethane eluate from Bond Elut C18 was injected into the HPLC system. The HPLC apparatus was composed of three pumps, two separation columns (LiChrosorb Si 60 and mu Bondasphere), a trap column (Bond Elut), an enzyme column, ECD and the column-switching system. The calibration curve for TA-870 in blood was linear in the range from 2 to 200 ng/mL. This new assay method might be useful also for the determination of other catechol ester compounds.     

Anionic polymerization of methacrylates by samarium (III) enolate on networked polystyrene: Effects of its sterically confined environment on polymerization behavior

Anionic polymerization of methacrylates under sterically confined environment in a spherical beads‐shaped networked polystyrene (NwPS) matrix is described. The initiator used herein is a samarium (Sm) (III) enolate, which was formed by treatment of 2‐bromoisobutylate immobilized in the side chain of NwPS with Sm (II) iodide. By using this NwPS‐bound initiator, polymerization of a series of methacrylates (=solid‐supported polymerization) was studied to find its two aspects: (1) In the early stages, the rate constant for each methacrylate was comparable to that for its conventional solution‐phase polymerization using a Sm (III) enolate, suggesting that methacrylate can be efficiently supplied to the propagating end by its free permeation without any interference by the networked structure of the matrix. (2) After the early stages, the rate constant decreased remarkably, implying that permeation of methacrylate was sterically interfered by the formed poly(methacrylate) that filled the confined space in NwPS, as supported by a SEM image of the resulting beads, of which pores were filled with the formed polymers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 1510–1521, 2009     

Electron transport membrane: Preparation of polypeptide membrane with spacers between the polymer matrix and viologen moiety and their application to an electron transfer reaction

Polypeptide membranes with several lengths of spacers [? (CH₂)_n? ; n = 3, 6, 12] between the polymer matrix and viologen moiety as a functional group were prepared. Reduction of K₃Fe(CN)₆ with Na₂S₂O₄ across the obtained membrane in aqueous media were carried out and reduction rate of K₃Fe(CN)₆ across the membrane of n = 6 was faster than that of n = 3. However, the reduction of the membrane (n = 12) did not proceed chemically and electrochemically at all.     

Anionic alternating copolymerization behavior of bifunctional six‐membered lactone and glycidyl phenyl ether

A copolymerization of 10‐methyl‐2H,8H‐benzo‐[1,2‐b:5,4‐b′]bipyran‐2,8‐dione ( 1 ) and glycidyl phenyl ether (GPE) was studied. 1 was a bislactone designed as a bifunctional analogue of 3,4‐dihydrocoumarin (DHCM), of which anionic 1:1 alternating copolymerization with GPE has been reported by us, previously. This alternating nature was inherited by the present copolymerization of 1 and GPE, leading to an intriguing copolymerization behavior in contrast to the ordinary statistical copolymerizations of monofunctional monomers and bifunctional monomers usually controlled by the proportional dependence of the crosslinking density on the monomer feed ratio: (1) When the feed ratio [GPE]₀/[ 1 ]₀ was 1, the two monomers underwent the 1:1 alternating copolymerization. In this case, 1 behaved as a monofunctional monomer, that is, only one of the two lactones in 1 participated in the copolymerization allowing the other lactone moiety to be introduced into the side chain almost quantitatively. (2) Increasing the feed ratio [GPE]₀/[1]₀ to larger than 4 allowed almost all of the lactone moieties to participate in the copolymerization system to give the corresponding networked polymers efficiently. The compositions of the copolymers [GPE unit]/[ 1 ‐derived acyclic ester unit] were always biased to smaller values than the feed ratios [GPE]₀/[lactone moiety in 1 ]₀ by the intrinsic 1:1 alternating nature of the copolymerization. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 3662–3668, 2009     

Polymerization of 2‐pentene with Ni(II) α‐diimine complex/M‐MAO catalyst and structure of the polymer

Polymerization of 2‐pentene with [ArN?C(An)C(An)·NAr)NiBr₂ (Ar?2,6‐iPr₂C₆H₃)] ( 1‐Ni) /M‐MAO catalyst was investigated. A reactivity between trans‐2‐pentene and cis‐2‐pentene on the polymerization was quite different, and trans‐2‐pentene polymerized with 1‐Ni /M‐MAO catalyst to give a high molecular weight polymer. On the other hand, the polymerization of cis‐2‐butene with 1‐Ni /M‐MAO catalyst did not give any polymeric products. In the polymerization of mixture of trans‐ and cis‐2‐pentene with 1‐Ni /M‐MAO catalyst, the M_n of the polymer increased with an increase of the polymer yields. However, the relationship between polymer yield and the M_n of the polymer did not give a strict straight line, and the M_w/M_n also increased with increasing polymer yield. This suggests that side reactions were induced during the polymerization. The structures of the polymer obtained from the polymerization of 2‐ pentene with 1‐Ni /M‐MAO catalyst consists of ? CH₂? CH₂? CH(CH₂CH₃)? , ? CH₂? CH₂? CH₂? CH(CH₃)? , ? CH₂? CH(CH₂CH₂CH₃)? , and methylene sequence ? (CH₂)_n? (n ≥ 5) units, which is related to the chain walking mechanism. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 2858–2863, 2008     

Regio-selective cyanation of (Z)-(1,2-dibromo-2-arylvinyl)triisopropylsilane with suppression of halogen elimination

Highly regio-selective cyanation of vicinal (Z)-dibromoalkenyl silanes was achieved by a vinylic Rosenmund-von Braun reaction, significantly suppressing side-production of alkyne. The alkyne was generated by a halogen elimination side-reaction that is an intrinsic problem in metal-activation of vicinal dihaloalkenes. We have studied to overcome the problem, and finally found the combination of CuCN and O = PPh₃ in toluene solvent effectively controlled the production of byproducts. The resultant single isomer has significance in potentially application as a multi-tunable synthetic scaffold.     

Conformational control of benzyl-o-carboranylbenzene derivatives and molecular encapsulation of acetone in the dynamically formed space of 1,3,5-tris(2-benzyl-o-carboran-1-yl)benzene

A 1,3,5-substituted benzene platform has been widely used in the fields of supramolecular chemistry and molecular recognition. Here, we show that 1,3,5-tris(2-benzyl-o-carboran-1-yl)benzene 6 exhibits solvent-dependent conformation in the crystalline state. Recrystallization from dichloromethane-n-pentane gave the anti conformation 6-anti, while recrystallization from methanol-acetone gave the syn conformation 6-syn, in which the three benzyl-o-carboranyl moieties are located to one side of the central benzene ring. Interestingly, one acetone molecule is captured in the π-rich space of 6-syn and two complexes facing each other encapsulate two acetone molecules in a π-rich container formed by the eight benzene rings. The inclusion involves several weak interactions, that is, T-shaped C-H···π interactions, and C-H···O and C-H···π interactions. Two C-H···O interactions involving benzylic C-H hydrogens activated by the electron-withdrawing character of the o-carborane cage and the oxygen atom of the acetone seem to be the most important. DFT calculations indicate that the binding energy for entrapment of acetone is 6.6 kcal/mol. Inclusion of acetone is achieved through not only multiple C-H···O interactions but also a number of C-H···π interactions. The third benzyl-o-carborane moiety is fixed in the syn conformation by intramolecular and intermolecular C-H···π interactions.