Kinetic Intricacies of the Light Emission and Antiradical Influence of Exogenous Bioantioxidants Transformation Products in the Chemiluminescence Bioantioxidant Assay

The subject matter of the reported work refers to studying the interactions followed by the excited-state generation, which are chemical models of oxidative processes leading to a weak light emission emerging from living cells, and to explore the possibilities of using them as tools for evaluating the activity of oxygen-metabolism modulators, most prominently, natural bioantioxidants of biomedical value in particular. Methodologically, major attention is paid to analyzing the shapes of the time profiles of the light emission derived from a model sensory system in the presence of lipid samples of vegetable and animal (fish) origin rich in bioantioxidants. As a result, a modified reaction mechanism involving 12 elementary steps is proposed to rationalize the light-emission kinetics in the presence of natural bioantioxidants. We conclude that free radicals formed from bioantioxidants and their dimerization products contribute significantly to the general antiradical activity of lipid samples, which should be taken into account in developing efficient bioantioxidant assays for biomedical applications and while establishing the mechanisms of bioantioxidant effects on metabolic processes in vivo.

Chemical, Biological and Biomedical Aspects of Bioantioxidants

Bioantioxidants are biologically important antioxidants, a heterogeneous variety of molecules, which are difficult to classify using commonly shared structural features [...].

Influence of Nicotine from Diverse Delivery Tools on the Autonomic Nervous and Hormonal Systems

Background: Through measurements of the heart rate variability (HRV) accompanied by the pertinent biomarker assays, the effects of nicotine and byproducts derived from alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS) on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hormonal system have been investigated. Methods: HRV was studied in a group of volunteers (17 people), involving non-smokers, i.e., who never smoked before (11), ex-smokers (4) and active smokers (2). ANDS and smoking simulators, including regular, nicotine-free and electronic cigarettes; tobacco heating systems; chewing gums and nicotine packs of oral fixation (nic-packs), were used. Blood pressure, levels of stress hormones in saliva and catecholamines in the blood were also monitored. Results: HRV analysis showed relatively small changes in HRV and in the other studied parameters with the systemic use of nic-packs with low and moderate nicotine contents (up to 6 mg) compared to other ANDS. Conclusions: The HRV method is proven to be a promising technique for evaluation of the risks associated with smoking, dual use of various ANDS and studying the biomedical aspects of smoking cessation. Nic-packs are shown to be leaders in biological safety among the studied ANDS. A sharp surge in the activity of the sympathetic division of the ANS within the first minutes of the use of nicotine packs implies that nicotine begins to act already at very low doses (before entering the blood physically in any significant amount) through fast signal transmission to the brain from the nicotinic and taste buds located in the mouth area.

Chemiluminescence of Cigarette Smoke: Salient Features of the Phenomenon

The study disclosed herein provides for the first time a detailed experimental support for the general mechanism of the cigarette-smoke-derived chemiluminescence, as an example par excellence of the excited-state generation in a chemically complex aerosol medium. The mechanism involves chemiexcitation in a unimolecular transformation of the smoke-borne free radical species. However, the concentration of these radicals, [r∙], obeys a bimolecular (second-order) kinetics and depends on a particulate-phase content (total particulate matter, TPM) of the cigarette smoke. The decrease in [r∙] with increasing the TPM amount manifests radical-scavenging propensity of the smoke particulate phase. Astonishingly, no energy transfer takes place from the primary excited light-emitting species to luminophoric molecules abundant in the smoke. The reported results build up fundamentals of a facile chemiluminescence assay for free radical properties of the smoke. The experimental approaches developed for this study are of general scope and may be used for mechanistic elucidation of the excited-state generation in chemical systems and environments of an arbitrary complexity.