Sonja Visentin

Determination of carnosine, anserine, homocarnosine, pentosidine and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances contents in meat from different animal species

The aim of this research was to determine the content of the histidinic antioxidants, advanced glycation end products (pentosidine) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) in the meat from different animal species. Carnosine, anserine, homocarnosine and pentosidine were quantified by HPLC/MS, while TBARS was determined by photometric measurements. The total CRCs (carnosine+anserine+homocarnosine) content was in the increasing order: beef<rabbit<pork<horse<chicken<turkey. The analysis showed traces of pentosidine above the instrumental determination limits in all the meat samples, while the susceptibility of these meat to lipid oxidation decreased from beef to chicken, with the exception of turkey meat, which presented a high TBARS content towards even though its total CRCs was the highest. The structure of homocarnosine was elucidated by high resolving power multistage mass spectrometry.

Effect of cooking method on carnosine and its homologues, pentosidine and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance contents in beef and turkey meat.

Commercial samples of beef and turkey meat were prepared by commonly used cooking methods with standard cooking times: (1) broiled at 200°C for 10min, (2) broiled at a medium temperature (140°C) for 10min, (3) cooked by microwave (MW) for 3min and then grilled (MW/grill) for 7min, (4) cooked in a domestic microwave oven for 10min, and (5) boiled in water for 10min. The raw and cooked meats were then analysed to determine the carnosine, anserine, homocarnosine, pentosidine, and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) contents. It was observed that boiling beef caused a loss of approximately 50% of the carnosine, probably because of the high water solubility of carnosine and its homologues; cooking by microwave caused a medium loss of the anti-oxidants of approximately 20%; cooking by MW/grill led to a reduction in carnosine of approximately 10%. As far as the anserine and homocarnosine contents were concerned, a greater loss was observed for the boiling method (approximately 70%) while, for the other cooking methods, the value ranged from 30% to 70%. The data oscillate more for the turkey meat: the minimum carnosine decrease was observed in the cases of MW/grill and broiling at high temperature (25%). Analogously, the anserine and homocarnosine contents decreased slightly in the case of MW/grill and broiling at a high temperature (2-7%) and by 10-30% in the other cases. No analysed meat sample showed any traces of pentosidine above the instrumental determination limits. The cooked beef showed an increased TBARS value compared to the raw meat, and the highest values were found when the beef was broiled at a high temperature, cooked by microwave or boiled in water. The TBARS value of the turkey meat decreased for all the cooking methods in comparison to the TBARS value of the fresh meat.

NO donor and biological properties of different benzofuroxans.

AbstractPurpose. To investigate the effect of benzofusion on NO donor properties and related biological activities of the furoxan system. The biological properties considered were the ability to increase the cytosolic levels of cGMP in C6 cells and vasodilation. Methods. NO donor properties were investigated either in the presence or the absence of cysteine by using the Griess reaction, chemiluminescence, and gas chromatography. Increase of cytosolic cGMP levels were evaluated by radioimmunoassay. Vasodilating activity was assessed on rat aorta strips precontracted with noradrenaline, in the presence and the absence of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and methylene blue (MB), respectively. Results. Benzofuroxan and its methyl and cyano derivatives were unable to release NO under the experimental conditions. Generally these compounds displayed feeble vasodilating properties and were able to weakly stimulate soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC). By contrast, benzodifuroxan and benzotrifuroxan were able to produce both NO• and its reduced form NO−, the nitroxyl anion. They displayed potent vasodilating properties and were able to increase cytosolic levels of cGMP in a concentration-dependent manner. Conclusions. The simple benzofuroxans considered here are devoid of the capability to release NO, they weakly stimulate sGC as well as manifest feeble vasodilating properties by a mechanism that does not involve a thiol-induced NO production. By contrast, benzodifuroxan and benzotrifuroxan behave as typical NO donor furoxans.

3D Mass Spectrometry Imaging Reveals a Very Heterogeneous Drug Distribution in Tumors

Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) is a widespread technique used to qualitatively describe in two dimensions the distribution of endogenous or exogenous compounds within tissue sections. Absolute quantification of drugs using MSI is a recent challenge that just in the last years has started to be addressed. Starting from a two dimensional MSI protocol, we developed a three-dimensional pipeline to study drug penetration in tumors and to develop a new drug quantification method by MALDI MSI. Paclitaxel distribution and concentration in different tumors were measured in a 3D model of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM), which is known to be a very heterogeneous neoplasm, highly resistant to different drugs. The 3D computational reconstruction allows an accurate description of tumor PTX penetration, adding information about the heterogeneity of tumor drug distribution due to the complex microenvironment. The use of an internal standard, homogenously sprayed on tissue slices, ensures quantitative results that are similar to those obtained using HPLC. The 3D model gives important information about the drug concentration in different tumor sub-volumes and shows that the great part of each tumor is not reached by the drug, suggesting the concept of pseudo-resistance as a further explanation for ineffective therapies and tumors relapse.

Microwave-assisted Maillard reactions for the preparation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs)

The application of microwaves as an efficient form of volumetric heating to promote organic reactions was recognized in the mid-1980 s. It has a much longer history in the food research and industry where microwave irradiation was studied in depth to optimize food browning and the development of desirable flavours from Maillard reactions. The microwave-promoted Maillard reaction is a challenging synthetic method to generate molecular diversity in a straightforward way. In this paper we present a new rapid and efficient one-pot procedure for the preparation of pentosidine and other AGEs under microwave irradiation.

Squaraines bearing halogenated moieties as anticancer photosensitizers: Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation

We report the synthesis and characterization of a series of symmetrical indolenine-based squaraine dyes along with the evaluation of their singlet oxygen generation efficiency. The photodynamic activity of these new photosensitizers has been evaluated on a human tumor fibrosarcoma (HT-1080) cell line. The cytotoxicity increased over time and is induced by the photoactivation of bromo (Br-C4) and iodio (I-C4) long carbon chain squaraine dyes and the consequent increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production (p < 0.001), which leads to necrosis 6 h after treatment. Induction of cytochrome c release, DNA damage and up-regulation of GPX1, NQO1 and SOD2 mRNA gene expression after PDT were investigated.

GRIND-based 3D-QSAR and CoMFA to investigate topics dominated by hydrophobic interactions: The case of hERG K+ channel blockers

The study compares GRIND-based 3D-QSAR and CoMFA [A. Cavalli, E. Poluzzi, F. De Ponti, M. Recanatini, J. Med. Chem, 45(2002), 3844-53] to investigate a biological topic dominated by hydrophobic interactions, e.g. hERG K(+) channel blocking activity. As expected, models are found by both methods and there is a fine agreement between statistical and graphical results as well. However, a closer inspection revealed that failures in the prediction of hERG blocking activity for lipophilic compounds were registered for both methods. The study explores the reasons for these failures which are strongly dependent on the chosen method, and gives some suggestions to handle with these topics.

Studies on agents with mixed NO-dependent and calcium channel antagonistic vasodilating activities.

AbstractPurpose. To obtain new cardiovascular agents with mixed Ca2+-channel antagonistic and NO-donor properties, a series of “hybrid” 1,4-dihydropyridines (1,4-DHPs), bearing NO-donating furoxan moieties on the 3-positioned lateral ester chain were synthesized and pharmacologically characterized. Furazan analogues were also prepared and investigated for control purposes, because they are unable to release NO.4Methods. Synthesis of the models was achieved by a modified Hantzsch approach. All of the final furoxan 1,4-DHPs were assessed for their ability to produce nitrite in the presence of a large excess of cysteine by the Griess reaction. Vasodilating activity was evaluated on rat aorta and expressed as EC50 and EC50MB values, obtained in the absence and in the presence of methylene blue (MB) respectively, a well-known guanylate cyclase inhibitor. Affinities to 1,4-DHP receptor on Ca2+-channels, expressed as IC50 values, were determined through displacement experiments of [3H]-nitrendipine on rat cortex homogenates. Results. Some hybrid compounds (derivatives 15a, 15b, 16a, and 16b) displayed vasodilating activity depending predominantly on their Ca2+-channel blocker properties. By contrast, some others (derivatives 17a, 17b, and 21) behaved as well-balanced hybrids with mixed Ca2+-channel blocking and NO-dependent vasodilating activities. Conclusion. This work demonstrates the possibility of obtaining well-balanced hybrids endowed with mixed NO-donor and Ca2+-channel blocker properties using appropriate 1,4-DHP and furoxan moieties. A procedure for the individual evaluation of the NO-dependent vasodilator component and that due to Ca2+-channel blocking is proposed.

Searching for balanced hybrid NO-donor 1,4-dihydropyridines with basic properties.

AbstractPurpose. Model compounds containing NO-donor furoxan moieties at the 3-positioned basic lateral chain of 1, a 1,4-dihydropyridine related to nicardipine, were synthesized in order to study their vasodilating activity as well as their basic and lipophilic behaviour. Methods. All the compounds were obtained by a modified Hantzsch approach. Potentiometry was used to determine pKa and lipophilicity descriptors. The furoxan 4-aryl-1,4-dihydropyridines were assessed for their ability to release nitrite, in the presence of a large excess of cysteine, by the Griess reaction. Vasodilating activity of the products in the absence and in the presence of ODQ, a well-known guanylate cyclase inhibitor, was evaluated on rat thoracic aorta. Results. The compounds display low basicity values and for this reason their log Ds at physiological pH are identical to the log Ps of the neutral forms. Products 2, 3 display vasodilating action principally dependent on their Ca2+-antagonist properties, whereas 4 behaves as a well-balanced hybrid with mixed Ca2+-channel blocker and NO-dependent vasodilator activities. Conclusions. Nitrogen containing lateral chain at the 3-position of 1 is a suitable molecular region to be modified in order to obtain well-balanced furoxan NO-donor 1,4-DHPs. This manipulation produces a decrease in the basicity. General analysis of pKa and lipophilicity descriptors of these new DHPs suggest that molecular flexibility could influence both their basicity and log PI.

Structural investigation of Ca2+ antagonists benzofurazanyl and benzofuroxanyl-1,4-dihydropyridines

Abstract The structure of Ca 2+ channel blockers benzofurazanyl- and benzofuroxanyl-1,4-dihydropyridines (1,4-DHPs) was investigated by an integrated NMR, X-ray diffraction and molecular graphics study. 1 H- and 13 C-NMR showed that all the benzofuroxan derivatives exist in solution as tautomeric mixtures. Δ G ° and Δ G ∗ for 4′⇄7′ and 5′⇄7′ benzofuroxanyl tautomeric equilibria were determined for the benzofuroxan derivatives VI and VII . These figures are close to those observed for other substituted benzofuroxans known from literature including DHP derivatives. The conformational domain of all the compounds was analyzed, showing two sets of energetically accessible arrangements of the heterocyclic substructure with respect to C(4)H–DHP hydrogen, antiperiplanar and synperiplanar . Rotameric preference in solution around the C(4)–C(4′) bond in benzofurazanyl derivative IV was sought by normalized transient ΔNOE spectra using interatomic distances derived from AM1 energy minimized structures. A synperiplanar fraction of ca. 75% was calculated, in keeping with results obtained by Rovnyak for Nifedipine. Finally, the solid state preferred conformation was assessed by X-ray analysis for 5′-benzofurazanyl ( V ) and 5′(6′)-benzofuroxanyl ( VII ) derivatives. The latter in the solid state prefers the 5′-form ( VIIa ). The pentatomic ring systems always lie on the same side of the C(4)H–DHP hydrogen. This was also found to be the case for 4′-substituted derivatives and a large number of dihydropyridine derivatives.