[THE SERUM LEVEL OF TOTAL AND OLIGOMERIC FRACTIONS OF SOLUBLE MOLECULES CD38 UNDER MALIGNANT TUMORS OF CERVIX AND UTERINE BODY]

The immune-enzyme analysis was applied using anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies to detect serum content of total (sCD38) and oligomeric fractions of soluble molecules CD38 (ol.sCD38) in patients with cervix cancer and malignant neoplasms of uterine body. The three- and four-fold increasing of serum level of sCD38 is demonstrated both under cervix cancer and malignant neoplasms of uterine body. The level of ol.sCD38 decreased in patients with cervix cancer and increased in case of patients with malignant neoplasms of uterine body. The serum content of ol.sCD38 was increased under adenocarcinoma of uterus and glandular epidermoid cancer. The content of sCD38 increased under adenocarcinoma of uterus but decreased under sarcoma of uterus. The highest level of soluble molecules of CD38 was established in patients with highly differentiated tumors and under invasion into endometrium but not into miometrium. On the whole, alterations in content of soluble molecules CD38 are associated with characteristics of tumor process that indicates at their monitoring significance under malignant neoplasms of uterus.

[Action of Combined Magnetic Fields with a Very Weak Low-frequency Alternating Component on Luminol-dependent Chemiluminescence in Mammalian Blood]

It is shown that the exposure of heparinized venous human blood diluted in phosphate buffer saline to extremely weak alternating magnetic fields of the ultralow-frequency (1 Hz, 600 nT; 4.4 Hz, 100 nT; 16.5 Hz, 160 nT) in combination with a collinear static magnetic field of 42 microT at physiological temperatures, causes a sharp 3-4 fold increase in its chemiluminescence after addition of luminol.

Levocarnitine normalizes elevated blood level of soluble Fas mRNA in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Fas-induced apoptosis plays an important role in the mechanisms of tissue injury in myocardial infarction. The level of membrane Fas mRNA was elevated during the postinfarction period in the blood of patients and did not change in response to levocarnitine. The mRNA level of soluble Fas, inhibiting Fas-dependent apoptosis, remained normal during the first 7 days, but increased 14 days after myocardial infarction, which corresponded to previously detected increase of serum level of soluble Fas molecules. Addition of levocarnitine, inhibiting Fas-dependent apoptosis, to therapy caused no changes in the level of soluble Fas mRNA, presumably because of similar effects of soluble Fas and levocarnitine on the apoptotic processes in myocardial infarction.

First iron and cobalt(II) hexabromoclathrochelates: structural, magnetic, redox, and electrocatalytic behavior

Template condensation of dibromoglyoxime with n-butylboronic acid on the corresponding metal ion as a matrix under vigorous reaction conditions afforded iron and cobalt(ii) hexabromoclathrochelates. The paramagnetic cobalt clathrochelate was found to be a low-spin complex at temperatures below 100 K, with a gradual increase in the effective magnetic moment at higher temperatures due to the temperature 1/2↔3/2 spin crossover and a gap caused by the structure phase transition. The multitemperature X-ray and DSC studies of this complex and its iron(ii)-containing analog also showed temperature structural transitions. The variation of an encapsulated metal ion's radius, electronic structure and spin state caused substantial differences in the geometry of its coordination polyhedron; these differences increase with the decrease in temperature due to Jahn-Teller distortion of the encapsulated cobalt(ii) ion with an electronic configuration d(7). As follows from CV and GC data, these cage iron and cobalt complexes undergo both oxidation and reduction quasireversibly, and showed an electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen production in different producing systems.

Cooperative effects of ruthenium micellar catalysts and added surfactants in transfer hydrogenation of ketones in water

Added surfactants S boost the performances of surface-active catalysts RuLⁿ (n = 8, 16) in transfer hydrogenation of hydrophobic ketones in water by forming mixed micelles.

Recent advances in biological applications of cage metal complexes

This review highlights advances in biochemical and medical applications of cage metal complexes (clathrochelates) and related polyhedral compounds.

Molecular design of cage iron(ii) and cobalt(ii,iii) complexes with a second fluorine-enriched superhydrophobic shell

Pentafluorophenylboron-capped iron and cobalt(ii) hexachloroclathrochelate precursors undergo nucleophilic substitution giving the fluorine-enriched cage complexes.

Transition Ion Strikes Back: Large Magnetic Susceptibility Anisotropy in Cobalt(II) Clathrochelates

Transition-metal complexes are rarely considered as paramagnetic tags for NMR spectroscopy due to them generally having relatively low magnetic anisotropy. Here we report cobalt(II) cage complexes with the largest (among the transition-metal complexes) axial anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, reaching as high as 12.6 × 10(-32) m(3) at room temperature. This remarkable anisotropy, which results from an unusual trigonal prismatic geometry of the complexes and translates into large negative value of the zero-field splitting energy, is high enough to promote reliable paramagnetic pseudocontact shifts at the distance beyond 2 nm. Our finding paves the way toward the applications of cobalt(II) clathrochelates as future paramagnetic tags. Given the incredible stability and functionalization versatility of clathrochelates, the fine-tuning of the caging ligand may lead to new chemically stable mononuclear single-molecule magnets, for which magnetic anisotropy is of importance.

[Modulating effect of weak combined magnetic fields on duration of mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor metamorphosis stage]

It is shown that an exposure of pupae of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor to the combined static (42 μT) and very weak alternating (250 nT) magnetic fields exerts different influence, depending on the frequency of the alternating magnetic field, on duration of metamorphosis processes in these insects. For instance, an exposure of pupae to weak combined magnetic fields, adjusted to the frequency of ion cyclotron resonance for glutaminic acid (4,4 Hz), stimulates metamorphosis process--a transitional stage from pupae to imago lasts shorter. An inhibiting effect was observed when adjusted to the frequency of ion cyclotron resonance for Ca2 (32,2 Hz). At some frequencies this effect is not seen. For instance, an exposure at a frequency of ion cyclotron resonance for K+ (16,5 Hz) exerts no noticeable effect on the duration of the pupal metamorphosis stage.

Copper-promoted reductive homocoupling of quasi-aromatic iron(II) clathrochelates: boosting the inhibitory activity in a transcription assay

A copper-promoted reductive homocoupling reaction, for the first time used for a metal complex, allowed obtaining a new kind of complexes with the encapsulated metal ions, C-C conjugated bis-clathrochelates. These compounds demonstrate extremely high transcription inhibition activity in the T7 RNA polymerase system with values of IC50 reaching as low as the submicromolar range, which places them among the most potent metal-based transcription inhibitors.

Copper(I)- and copper(0)-promoted homocoupling and homocoupling-hydrodehalogenation reactions of dihalogenoclathrochelate precursors for C-C conjugated iron(II) bis-cage complexes

Iron(II) dibromo- and diiodoclathrochelates undergo copper(I)-promoted reductive homocoupling in HMPA at 70-80 °C leading to C-C conjugated dibromo- and diiodo-bis-clathrochelates in high yields. Under the same conditions, their dichloroclathrochelate analog does not undergo the same homocoupling reaction, so the target dichloro-bis-cage product was obtained in high yield via dimerization of its heterodihalogenide iodochloromonomacrobicyclic precursor. The use of NMP as a solvent at 120-140 °C gave the mixture of bis-clathrochelates resulting from a tandem homocoupling-hydrodehalogenation reaction: the initial acetonitrile copper(I) solvato-complex at a high temperature underwent re-solvatation and disproportionation leading to Cu(II) ions and nano-copper, which promoted the hydrodehalogenation process even at room temperature. The most probable pathway of this reaction in situ includes hydrodehalogenation of the already formed dihalogeno-bis-clathrochelate via the formation of reduced anion radical intermediates. As a result, chemical transformations of the iron(II) dihalogenoclathrochelates in the presence of an acetonitrile copper(I) solvato-complex were found to depend both on the nature of halogen atoms in their ribbed chelate fragments and on reaction conditions (i.e. solvent and temperature). The C-C conjugated iron(II) dihalogeno-bis-clathrochelates easily undergo nucleophilic substitution with various N,S-nucleophiles giving ribbed-functionalized bis-cage species. These iron(II) complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, IR, UV-Vis, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, and by X-ray diffraction; their electrochemical properties were studied by cyclic voltammetry. The isomeric shift values in (57)Fe Mössbauer spectra of such cage compounds allowed identifying them as low-spin iron(II) complexes, while those of the quadrupole splitting are the evidence for a significant TP distortion of their FeN6-coordination polyhedra. As follows from CV data, the C-C conjugated iron(II) bis-clathrochelates undergo stepwise electrochemical reduction and oxidation giving mixed-valence Fe(II)Fe(I) and Fe(II)Fe(III) bis-cage intermediates.

Chloride ion-aided self-assembly of pseudoclathrochelate metal tris-pyrazoloximates

Chloride ion-aided one-pot template self-assembly of a mixed pyrazoloxime ligand with phenylboronic acid on a corresponding metal(II) ion as a matrix afforded the first boron-capped zinc, cobalt, iron, and manganese pseudoclathrochelate tris-pyrazoloximates. The presence of a pseudocross-linking hydrogen-bonded chloride ion is critical for their formation, as the same chloride-capped complexes were isolated even in the presence of large excesses of bromide and iodide ions. As revealed by X-ray diffraction, all complexes are capped with a chloride ion via three N-H···Cl hydrogen bonds that stabilize their pseudomacrobicyclic frameworks. The MN6 coordination polyhedra possess a distorted trigonal prismatic geometry, with the distortion angles φ between their nonequivalent N3 bases of approximately 0°. Temperature dependences of the effective magnetic moment for the paramagnetic complexes showed the encapsulated metal(II) ions to be in a high-spin state in the temperature range of 2-300 K. In the case of the iron(II) pseudoclathrochelate, density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT calculations were used to assess its spin state as well as the (57)Fe Mössbauer and UV-vis-NIR parameters. Cyclic voltammetry studies performed for these pseudomacrobicyclic complexes showed them to undergo irreversible or quasi-reversible metal-localized oxidations and reductions. As no changes are observed in the presence of a substantial excess of bromide ion, no anion-exchange reaction occurs, and thus the pseudoclathrochelates have a high affinity toward chloride anions in solution.

Spin-Crossover Anticooperativity Induced by Weak Intermolecular Interactions

As a rule, rational design of cooperative spin-crossover (SCO) molecular switches is largely based on consideration of sizes and structures of individual building blocks, whereas a meticulous analysis of crystal packing, including the weakest intermolecular interactions, is often assumed to play a secondary role or is even fully neglected. By investigating cobalt(II) clathrochelates, which do not change the molecular volume upon SCO, we showed that even weak (1.2 kcal/mol) π···Cl intermolecular interactions can cause a pronounced anticooperativity of SCO, being more gradual in the solid state than in solution. Our results clearly demonstrate that the "chemical pressure" concept is not as general as it is thought to be, and the successful design of molecular switches requires in-depth analysis of intermolecular interactions, however weak they seem.

[Frequency of the occurrence of spliced variants of the messenger RNA DR3/LARD in herpesviral infection]

Analysis of frequency of the occurrence of membrane and soluble forms of the mRNA DR3/LARD in blood in herpesviral infection of various etiology was studied. Four forms of the mRNA DR3/LARD were detected with various frequencies in blood cells of healthy volunteers. Patients with herpesviral infection of various etiology were studied using RT-PCR. Two forms encoded membrane molecules (mRNA LARD 1a, mRNA DR3beta) and two other forms accorded soluble forms of receptor (mRNA LARD 3, mRNA soluble DR3beta). It was revealed that the frequency of the occurrence of mRNA soluble DR3beta form decreased in patients with the varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection in comparison with healthy volunteers. However, the patients with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection did not display significant change in occurrence of mRNA soluble DR3beta form. As a whole, changes in frequency of occurrence of spliced variants of mRNA DR3/LARD are directed toward modulation of apoptosis and restraint antiviral immune response.

[DR3/LARD mRNA spliced variants' frequency at colorectal cancer]

There are a lot of "death receptor" DR3/LARD mRNA variants that are formed during the alternative splicing. Membrane and soluble forms of the receptor are encoded with various types of the DR3/LARD mRNA and perform different functions. Using RT-PCR, the DR3/LARD mRNA spliced variants' frequency was measured in colon cancer patients' samples and cancer cell lines. In samples under investigation, four forms of the DR3/LARD mRNA were found with various frequencies. Two of them encoded the membrane receptors (LARD la mRNA and DR3beta mRNA) and other two expressed the soluble molecules (LARD 3 mRNA and soluble DR3beta mRNA). In blood of healthy volunteers 11 combinations (spectrums) of the DR3/LARD mRNA forms were revealed, and the "full" spectrum including all four variants of DR3/LARD mRNA dominated. In blood of colon cancer patients and tumour tissue samples, 6 DR3/LARD mRNA spectrums were found. The diversity of the DR3/LARD mRNA spectrums was decreased in colon cancer patients because of the frequency reduction of soluble DR3beta mRNA. Reduction of a variety of spectrums in cells of the patients was caused by decrease in occurrence of mRNA of the soluble DR3beta form. In samples of the tumor centers the spectrum with absence only mRNA of the soluble DR3beta form dominated. In blood of patients two spectrums prevailed: "full" range and presented mRNA LARD la and mRNA LARD 3. Only these two spectrums of mRNA DR3/LARD were also found in the tumor cell lines. Distinctions in occurrence of spectrums of DR3/LARD mRNA at healthy volunteers and colon cancer patients can define a different susceptibility of immunocompetent and tumor cells for apoptosis signals.