Kateryna D. Volkova

Fluorescent Properties of Pentamethine Cyanine Dyes with Cyclopentene and Cyclohexene Group in Presence of Biological Molecules

A series of pentamethine cyanine dyes with cyclohexene or cyclopentene group in polymethyne chain, assumed as DNA groove-binders, were studied as fluorescent probes for nucleic acids as well as for native and denatured proteins. It was revealed that the presence of methyl or dimethyl substituent in 5 position of the cyclohexene group hinders the formation of dye–DNA fluorescent complex, while the methyl substituent in 2 position leads to the increasing of the dye–DNA complex fluorescence intensity. The dyes SL-251, SL-1041, and SL-1046 containing methyl group in the 2 position of the cyclic group, are reported as bright DNA-sensitive dyes. The study of the dyes DNA-binding specificity demonstrated significant AT-preference that points to the groove-binding interaction mode. At the same time, the dyes SL-251, SL-377, and SL-957 with the 2-methyl substituted cyclohexene group were shown to be sensitive fluorescent dyes both for nonspecific (in SDS presence) proteins detection and for native BSA.

Studies of anti-fibrillogenic activity of phthalocyanines of zirconium containing out-of-plane ligands

Series of phthalocyanines of zirconium containing lysine, citric, nonanoic acid residues and dibenzolylmethane groups as out-of-plane ligands are firstly studied as inhibitors of fibrillogenesis using cyanine-based fluorescent inhibitory assay. It was shown that studied phthalocyanines at concentration of 20μM inhibited aggregation reaction on 38.5-57.6% and inhibitory activity of phthalocyanines depended on the chemical nature of out-of-plane ligand. For the most active compound PcZrLys(2) (zirconium phthalocyanine containing lysine fragment) the efficient inhibitor concentration was estimated to be 37μM. AFM studies have shown that in the presence of PcZrLys(2) the inhibition of fibrils formation and formation of spherical oligomeric aggregates took place. Due to the ability of phthalocyanines to decrease efficiently protein aggregation into the amyloid fibrils, modification of phthalocyanine molecules via out-of-plane substitutions was proposed as approach for design of anti-fibrillogenic agents with required properties.

Novel fluorescent trimethine cyanine dye 7519 for amyloid fibril inhibition assay

Abstract Fluorescence spectroscopy was used to study the ability of dye 7519 to follow the transition of monomeric insulin into fibrils and applicability of the dye to the insulin aggregation inhibition assay. The commercially available classic amyloid stain, thioflavin T, was used as the reference dye. For selecting potential inhibitors, the QSAR approach was applied. Dye 7519 appeared to be suitable for monitoring insulin aggregation into fibrils in vitro. The properties of the dye allowed us to test it as a potential probe in the screening assay of potential inhibitors of insulin fibrillization. One hundred forty-four flavonoids were tested as potential inhibitors of amyloid fibril formation using the quantitative structure activity relationship approach. Among them, 10 candidates with high indexes of inhibition were selected for tests in vitro using dye 7519 and the reference amyloid dye thioflavine T. Using dye 7519 fluorescence, we found that two compounds had inhibitory effects on insulin amyloid formation. These results agree with inhibition data using the thioflavine T assay. Our studies demonstrated that the fluorescent cyanine dye 7519 is a sensitive probe for quantitative detection of insulin amyloid formation and can be applied to screen agents capable of affecting aggregation of amyloid proteins.

Hydroxy and Methoxy Substituted Thiacarbocyanines for Fluorescent Detection of Amyloid Formations

In present paper series of trimethine cyanines modified in 5,5′- or 6,6′- position with hydroxy- or methoxy- substituents is studied for their ability to interact selectively with fibrillar formations. Processes of dye aggregation that accompany this interaction were also investigated. Meso-methyl trimethynecyanines with 5,5′- methoxy (7519) and hydroxy (7515) substituents strongly (up to 40 times) increase fluorescence intensity in the presence of fibrillar insulin, and also give noticeable fluorescent response on the presence of various aggregated proteins (lysozyme, β-lactoglobulin, α-synuclein A53T). 7519 and 7515 dyes can be used for fluorometric detection of fibrillar insulin at concentrations of approximately 1.5–120 microg/ml. For meso-ethyl substituted dye 7514 the ability to form H- and J-aggregates upon interaction with insulin fibrils was suggested. The model of the H- and J-aggregate packing in the protein fibrillar structure has been proposed.

Optimized Dyes for Protein and Nucleic Acid Detection

Fluorescent homogeneous detection is widely used in modern biomedical techniques for analysis and quantification of nucleic acids and proteins. This method is based on the ability of low-fluorescent dye to bind noncovalently with target biomolecule with significant increase of dye’s emission intensity. A wide range of probes for homogeneous detection developed during last decades are reviewed here. Series of cyanine dyes were developed for using in visualization of nucleic acids in living cells and detection of amplification products in real-time PCR. Besides, the cyanines, and triphenylmethane dyes that are able to detect certain nucleic acid structures (double stranded, triplex, and quadruplex DNA) and styrylcyanine dyes for two-photon excited fluorescent detection and imaging of DNA are described. Dyes applied for nonspecific proteins detection belong to different classes, among them are complexes of Ru2+, merocyanines, and trimethine cyanines. Moreover, cyanine dyes sensitive to amyloid β-pleated protein formations and albumin-specific squaraine dyes are discussed here.