Paweł Berczyński

Phenolic Compounds: the Role of Redox Regulation in Neurodegenerative Disease and Cancer

Much work has been carried out in the last two decades on the role of oxidative stress and antioxidants deficiency in the pathophysiology of civilization diseases. A considerable amount of chemical, biochemical, epidemiological and clinical evidence indicates that (poly)phenolic compounds widely distributed in the plant kingdom, exhibit a wide range effects on biomolecules. The beneficial effects on human health, many of phenolics have been described to their reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen species (RNS) scavenging and antioxidant capacity. The consumption of vegetables, fruits and flavonoid-rich beverages has been reported to prevent against neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and ageing. This paper reviews the recent data on (1) the role oxidative stress in the pathology of civilization diseases; (2) the protection against oxidative damage due to the toxicity of ROS/RNS; (3) the cellular and molecular interactions of the (poly)phenolic compounds relevant to the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, and (4) the methods for assessing antioxidant capacity.

Diffraction of a Gaussian beam in a three-dimensional smoothly inhomogeneous medium: an eikonal-based complex geometrical-optics approach

We present an ab initio account of the paraxial complex geometrical optics (CGO) in application to scalar Gaussian beam propagation and diffraction in a 3D smoothly inhomogeneous medium. The paraxial CGO deals with quadratic expansion of the complex eikonal and reduces the wave problem to the solution of ordinary differential equations of the Riccati type. This substantially simplifies the description of Gaussian beam diffraction as compared with full-wave or parabolic (quasi-optics) equations. For a Gaussian beam propagating in a homogeneous medium or along the symmetry axis in a lenslike medium, the CGO equations possess analytical solutions; otherwise, they can be readily solved numerically. As a nontrivial example we consider Gaussian beam propagation and diffraction along a helical ray in an axially symmetric waveguide medium. It is shown that the major axis of the beams elliptical cross section grows unboundedly; it is oriented predominantly in the azimuthal (binormal) direction and does not obey the parallel-transport law.

Chemiluminescence investigations of antioxidative activities of some antibiotics against superoxide anion radical

A chemiluminescent technique was applied to determine antioxidative activities of adriamycin, farmorubicin, mitomycin C and bleomycin against superoxide anion radical (O(2)(•)) in aprotic medium. The antioxidant capacity was expressed as the decrease in light emission from the O(2)(•) solution by and antibiotic. A KO(2) solution in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and 18-crown-6 ether were used for the generation of O(2)(•). The results showed that the examined compounds decreased the chemiluminescence (CL) sum from the O(2)(•)-generating system in a dose-dependent manner. Among the antibiotics examined, adriamycin, farmorubicin and bleomycin exhibited antioxidant activity almost comparable to that of 1,2-dihydroxy benzene-3,5-disulphonic acid (tiron), an efficient of the O(2)(•) inhibitor. Mitomycin C was two-times less effective as tiron in decreasing the initial CL intensity. The proposed assay with usage of ultraweak CL technique and the KO(2)-DMSO-crown ether system was useful for the evaluation of antioxidant activity in aprotic solvents.

Characterization of the superoxide anion radical scavenging activity by tetracycline antibiotics in aprotic media

The tetracycline family antibiotics are widely used as human and veterinary treatments. The drugs are effective as antibiotics and also show antimicrobial and non-microbial action. However, the antioxidant properties of tetracyclines have not been characterized in aprotic media. To better understand their biological functions, the in vitro superoxide anion radical (O2•¯) scavenging activities of tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline and methacycline were characterized, along with a very efficient O2•¯ scavenger, tiron, in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), using ultra-weak chemiluminescence (CL). We found that tetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline efficiently inhibited CL from the O2•¯-generating system at concentration levels of 0.02-1.0 mmol/L. Methacycline and oxytetracycline were the O2•¯ scavengers at concentration levels of 0.01-0.1 mmol/L, whereas when their concentration was lowered the drugs were capable of generating O2•¯, leading to CL enhancement. For all the data obtained in this study, the scavenging activity for the compounds tested decreased in the following order: tetracycline > doxycycline > chlortetracycline > tiron methacycline > oxytetracycline. These results indicate that the tetracycline drugs directly alter O2•¯ redox chemistry in aprotic media.

Evaluation of the antioxidant activity of tetracycline antibiotics in vitro

Tetracyclines are the second most common antibiotic family in medicine usage. These antibiotics exhibit antioxidant potential; however, the exact mechanism remains unclear. The antiradical activity of the seven tetracyclines (TCs; tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxocycline, methacycline, demeclocycline, minocycline) was determined using the free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH(•)) and hydroxyl radicals (HO(•)) generated in a Fenton reaction. Electron spin resonance (ESR), ESR spin-trapping, chemiluminescence and spectrophotometry techniques were applied. It was found that the TCs showed high DPPH antiradical activity in the range 26-96% at 2.5 mmol/L concentration. The second-order rate constants for the reaction between HO(•) and TCs were calculated, in the range (3.6-9.6) × 10(9)  L/mol/s. The tetracycline compounds also exhibited a strong decrease in light emission (range 61-85% at concentration of 1 mmol/L). This study also showed that TCs promote the generation of singlet oxygen in the presence of H(2)O(2) and Fe(II)/Fe(III) ions. Our findings suggest direct scavenging activity of the examined tetracyclines towards free radicals, and may be relevant to therapeutic strategy.

Gaussian beam diffraction in inhomogeneous and nonlinear media: analytical and numerical solutions by complex geometrical optics

The method of paraxial complex geometrical optics (CGO) is presented, which describes Gaussian beam diffraction in arbitrary smoothly inhomogeneous media, including lens-like waveguides. By way of an example, the known analytical solution for Gaussian beam diffraction in free space is presented. Paraxial CGO reduces the problem of Gaussian beam diffraction in inhomogeneous media to the system of the first order ordinary differential equations, which can be readily solved numerically. As a result, CGO radically simplifies the description of Gaussian beam diffraction in inhomogeneous media as compared to the numerical methods of wave optics. For the paraxial on-axis Gaussian beam propagation in lens-like waveguide, we compare CGO solutions with numerical results for finite differences beam propagation method (FD-BPM). The CGO method is shown to provide 50-times higher rate of calculation then FD-BPM at comparable accuracy. Besides, paraxial eikonal-based complex geometrical optics is generalized for nonlinear Kerr type medium. This paper presents CGO analytical solutions for cylindrically symmetric Gaussian beam in Kerr type nonlinear medium and effective numerical solutions for the self-focusing effect of Gaussian beam with elliptic cross section. Both analytical and numerical solutions are shown to be in a good agreement with previous results, obtained by other methods.

Magnetic properties of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles

Fine particles of ZnFe2O4 were synthesized by a wet chemical method in the (80 wt.% Fe2O3 + 20 wt.% ZnO) system. The morphological and structural properties of the mixed system were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The major phase was determined to be the ZnFe2O4 spinel with particle size of 11 nm. The magnetic properties of the material were investigated by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in the temperature range from liquid helium to room temperature. A very intense, asymmetric FMR signal from ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles was recorded, which has been analyzed in terms of two Callen-lineshape lines. Temperature dependence of the FMR parameters was obtained from fitting the experimental lines with two component lines. Analysis of the FMR spectra in terms of two separate components indicates the presence of strongly anisotropic magnetic interactions.

Superoxide anion radical scavenging property of catecholamines

The direct effect of the four catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine and isoproterenol) on superoxide anion radicals (O2•) was investigated. The reaction between 18-crown-6-ether and potassium superoxide in dimethylsulfoxide was used as a source of O2•. The reactivity of catecholamines with O2• was examined using chemiluminescence, reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium and electron paramagnetic resonance spin-trapping techniques. 5,5-Dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide was included as the spin trap. The results showed that the four catecholamines were effective and efficient in inhibiting chemiluminescence accompanying the potassium superoxide/18-crown-6-ether system in a dose-dependent manner over the range 0.05-2 mM in the following order: adrenaline > noradrenaline > dopamine > isoproterenol, with, IC50 = 0.15 ± 0.02 mM 0.21 ± 0.03 mM, 0.27 ± 0.03 mM and 0.50 ± 0.04 mM, respectively. The catecholamines examined also exhibited a strong scavenging effect towards O2• when evaluated this property by the inhibition of nitroblue tetrazolium reduction (56-73% at 1 M concentration). A very similar capacity of O2• scavenging was monitored in the 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide spin-trapping assay. The results suggest that catecholamines tested may involve a direct effect on scavenging O2- radicals.

Gaussian beam diffraction in inhomogeneous and logarithmically saturable nonlinear media

G. Lach, 2 M. DeKieviet, and U. D. Jentschura 4 Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 1, 02093 Warsaw, Poland Physikalisches Institut der Universität, Albert-Ueberle-Strasse 3-5, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany Department of Physics, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri 65409-0640, USA Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg, GermanyThe method of paraxial complex geometrical optics (PCGO) is presented, which describes Gaussian beam (GB) diffraction and self-focusing in smoothly inhomogeneous and nonlinear saturable media of cylindrical symmetry. PCGO reduces the problem of Gaussian beam diffraction in nonlinear and inhomogeneous media to the system of the first order ordinary differential equations for the complex curvature of the wave front and for GB amplitude, which can be readily solved both analytically and numerically. As a result, PCGO radically simplifies the description of Gaussian beam diffraction in inhomogeneous and nonlinear media as compared to the numerical and analytical methods of nonlinear optics. The power of PCGO method is presented on the example of Gaussian beam evolution in logarithmically saturable medium with either focusing and defocusing refractive profile. Besides, the influence of initial curvature of the wave front on GB evolution in nonlinear saturable medium is discussed in this paper.

Nonlinear evolution of two fast-particle-driven modes near the linear stability threshold

A system of two coupled integro-differential equations is derived and solved for the non-linear evolution of two waves excited by the resonant interaction with fast ions just above the linear instability threshold. The effects of a resonant particle source and classical relaxation processes represented by the Krook, diffusion, and dynamical friction collision operators are included in the model, which exhibits different nonlinear evolution regimes, mainly depending on the type of relaxation process that restores the unstable distribution function of fast ions. When the Krook collisions or diffusion dominate, the wave amplitude evolution is characterized by modulation and saturation. However, when the dynamical friction dominates, the wave amplitude is in the explosive regime. In addition, it is found that the finite separation in the phase velocities of the two modes weakens the interaction strength between the modes.