Malformin-A1 (MA1) Sensitizes Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancer Cells to Cisplatin-Induced Apoptosis

High-grade epithelial ovarian cancer is a fatal disease in women frequently associated with drug resistance and poor outcomes. We previously demonstrated that a marine-derived compound MalforminA1 (MA1) was cytotoxic for the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. In this study, we aimed to examine the effect of MA1 on human ovarian cancer cells. The potential cytotoxicity of MA1was tested on cisplatin-sensitive (A2780S) and cisplatin-resistant (A2780CP) ovarian cancer cell lines using AlamarBlue assay, Hoechst dye, flow cytometry, Western blot, and RT-qPCR. MA1 had higher cytotoxic activity on A2780S (IC50 = 0.23 µM) and A2780CP (IC50 = 0.34 µM) cell lines when compared to cisplatin (IC50 = 31.4 µM and 76.9 µM, respectively). Flow cytometry analysis confirmed the cytotoxic effect of MA1. The synergistic effect of the two drugs was obvious, since only 13% of A2780S and 7% of A2780CP cells remained alive after 24 h of treatment with both MA1 and cisplatin. Moreover, we examined the expression of bcl2, p53, caspase3/9 genes at RNA and protein levels using RT-qPCR and Western blot, respectively, to figure out the cell death mechanism induced by MA1. A significant down-regulation in bcl2 and p53 genes was observed in treated cells compared to non-treated cells (p < 0.05), suggesting that MA1 may not follow the canonical pathway to induce apoptosis in ovarian cancer cell lines. MalforminA1 showed promising anticancer activity by inducing cytotoxicity in cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant cancer cell lines. Interestingly, a synergistic effect was observed when MA1 was combined with cisplatin, leading to it overcoming its resistance to cisplatin.     

Nonspecific solvation and oscillator strengths for the long-wavelength vibronic absorption band of 4-dimethylaminochalcone solutions

The 4-dimethylaminochalcone molecule is one of the most efficient spectral-luminescent probes widely used in various medical and biological studies. Experimental data on the oscillator strengths in the long-wavelength vibronic band of 4-dimethylaminochalcone solutions in a series of individual solvents of different chemical nature are analyzed using the earlier derived refined equation describing the influence of nonspecific solvation processes on the matrix elements of the dipole moment of a purely electronic transition in organic dye molecules. It is shown that the semiempirical theory developed gives a satisfactory quantitative explanation to experimentally observed regularities indicative of a relatively weak influence of the solvent reaction field (orientation and induction forces) and dispersion interactions on the integrated intensity of the studied band belonging in the category of intramolecular charge transfer bands.     

Electronically excited states of membrane fluorescent probe 4-dimethylaminochalcone. Results of quantum chemical calculations

Quantum-chemical calculations of ground and excited states for membrane fluorescent probe 4-dimethylaminochalcone (DMAC) in vacuum were performed. Optimized geometries and dipole moments for lowest-lying singlet and triplet states were obtained. The nature of these electronic transitions and the relaxation path in the excited states were determined; changes in geometry and charge distribution were assessed. It was shown that in vacuum the lowest existed level is of (n, π*) nature, and the closest to it is the level of (π, π*) nature; the energy gap between them is narrow. This led to an effective (1)(π, π*) →(1)(n, π*) relaxation. After photoexcitation the molecule undergoes significant transformations, including changes in bond orders, pyramidalization angle of the dimethylamino group, and planarity of the molecule. Its dipole moment rises from 5.5 Debye in the ground state to 17.1 Debye in the (1)(π, π*) state, and then falls to 2 Debye in the (1)(n, π*) state. The excited (1)(n, π*) state is a short living state; it has a high probability of intersystem crossing into the (3)(π, π*) triplet state. This relaxation path explains the low quantum yield of DMAC fluorescence in non-polar media. It is possible that (3)(π, π*) is responsible for observed DMAC phosphorescence.     

Nature of the influence of a solvent on the fluorescence quantum yield of solutions of the fluorescent probe 4-dimethylaminochalcone

The fluorescence quantum yields of solutions of 4-dimethylaminochalcone (DMC) in a series of individual solvents of different chemical nature have been measured using a technique based on studying the kinetics of fluorescence decay. A new quantitative regularity, namely, the dependence of the fluorescence quantum yield on the absolute solvation shift in the fluorescence spectrum due to the gas-solution phase transition, has been revealed. The opinion has been advanced and justified that the revealed regularity has a fundamental character, which is determined by the dominant contribution from the universal intermolecular interactions to the formation of the properties of the solvated DMC molecule in the excited electronic state.     

4-Dimethylaminochalcone as a f luorescent probe: Quantum chemical calculations of its interaction with the environment

Ground-state RHF/6-311G(d,p) and density functional B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) quantum chemical calculations of 4-dimethylaminochalcone (DMAC), a sensitive fluorescent probe, were carried out for vacuum and for solvents of different polarity. The effect of the medium was included by the SCRF method in the framework of the polarization continuum model. The DMAC fragment comprising the aniline and propenone groups has a nearly planar conformation. The phenyl group can lie in the same plane or rotate by an angle within the limits of ±20° with a low barrier at 293 K. The results of calculations were confirmed by the data of X-ray study, according to which the phenyl group in the crystal is rotated by 20°. Calculations with allowance for solvation effects predict charge transfer from the dimethylamino group to the oxygen atom; the higher the medium polarity, the larger the degree of charge transfer (atomic charge of oxygen increases by 0.07 e in acetone). The calculated dipole moment of the DMAC molecule increases from 5.2 D (vacuum) to 5.9 D (heptane) and 6.9 D (acetone), which is in agreement with spectroscopic data. The energy of the DMAC—environment interaction was calculated. Due to large dipole moment of the DMAC molecule, the electrostatic component of this energy strongly depends on the environment polarity, which can be related to redistribution of the probe between the aqueous phase and cells and lipid structures of lipoproteins. The electronic absorption spectra of DMAC in solvents of different polarity were calculated; differences between the calculated and experimentally measured values are at most 15 nm. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 1674–1679, October, 2006.     

Composition,structure and substrate properties of reconstituted discoidal HDL with apolipoprotein A-I and cholesteryl ester

To investigate the influence of lipid unsaturation and neutral lipid on the maturation of high density lipoproteins, the discoidal complexes of apoA-I, phosphatidylcholine and cholesteryl ester (CE) were prepared. Saturated dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and unsaturated palmitoyllinoleoylphosphatidylcholine (PLPC), palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC), and fluorescent probe cholesteryl 1-pyrenedecanoate (CPD) that forms in a diffusion- and concentration-dependent manner short-lived dimer of unexcited and excited molecules (excimer) were used. The apoA-I/DPPC/CPD complexes were heterogeneous by size, composition and probe location. CPD molecules incorporated more efficiently into larger complexes and accumulated in a central part of the discs. The apoA-I/POPC(PLPC)/CPD were also heterogeneous, however, probe molecules distributed preferentially into smaller complexes and accumulated at disc periphery. The kinetics of CPD transfer by recombinant cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) to human plasma LDL is well described by two-exponential decay, the fast component with a shorter transfer time being more populated in PLPC compared to DPPC complexes. The presence of CE molecules in discoidal HDL results in particle heterogeneity. ApoA-I influences the CETP activity modulating the properties of apolipoprotein–phospholipid interface. This may include CE molecules accumulation in the boundary lipid in unsaturated phosphatidylcholine and cluster formation in the bulk bilayer in saturated phosphatidylcholine.     

Munucleon atoms

The paper presents the consideration of problems concerning formation and observation of munucleon atoms produced by the capture of negative muon by atoms of noble gases by means of theSR-method.     

Kinetic processes of muonic atom and ion formation in rare gases (spur model)

The possibility of_µF^– formation due to electron attachment to a Xe_µF molecule in_µSR-experiments with a gaseous Ne/Xe mixture is considered. This model explains the results of experiments in Ar and Ne with and without an external electric field.     

Longitudinal polarization of direct muons with p⊥ = 1.9 GeV/c produced in NN collisions

The longitudinal polarization of direct muons with 1.9 GeV/c transverse momentum produced by 70 GeV protons on the copper target has been measured to be η = ?0.41 ± 0.17.