Perspectives of Electroacupuncture as a New Option for the Treatment of Denervated Muscles.

Introduction: Conservative treatment of peripheral nerve injuries is based on physical therapy approaches, including electrostimulation of denervated muscle. Electrostimulation retards denervation atrophy and prolongs the time window for axon reinnervation.

Aim: This article focuses on the potential of electroacupuncture, which combines electrostimulation with acupuncture, in the context of the latest knowledge on the mechanisms of axonal regeneration.

Three types of induced tryptophan optical activity compared in model dipeptides: theory and experiment.

The tryptophan (Trp) aromatic residue in chiral matrices often exhibits a large optical activity and thus provides valuable structural information. However, it can also obscure spectral contributions from other peptide parts. To better understand the induced chirality, electronic circular dichroism (ECD), vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), and Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra of Trp-containing cyclic dipeptides c-(Trp-X) (where X = Gly, Ala, Trp, Leu, nLeu, and Pro) are analyzed on the basis of experimental spectra and density functional theory (DFT) computations.

Succinobucol's new coat--conjugation with steroids to alter its drug effect and bioavailability.

Synthesis, detailed structural characterization (X-ray, NMR, MS, IR, elemental analysis), and studies of toxicity, antioxidant activity and bioavailability of unique potent anti-atherosclerotic succinobucol-steroid conjugates are reported. The conjugates consist of, on one side, the therapeutically important drug succinobucol ([4-{2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-[(1-{[3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-5-(propan-2-yl)phenyl]sulfanyl}ethyl)sulfanyl]phenoxy}-4-oxo-butanoic acid]) possessing an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, and on the other side, plant stanol/sterols (stigmastanol, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol) possessing an ability to lower the blood cholesterol level. A cholesterol-succinobucol prodrug was also prepared in order to enhance the absorption of succinobucol through the intestinal membrane into the organism and to target the drug into the place of lipid metabolism-The enterohepatic circulation system.

Intramolecular proton transfer in calixphyrin derivatives.

Calix[4]phyrins are convenient models for porphyrin metabolism intermediates. They also attract attention as complexation agents in macromolecular chemistry. For the biological function and chemical properties, their flexibility plays an important role.

Solvent dependence of the N-methylacetamide structure and force field.

The N-methylacetamide molecule (NMA) is an important model for peptide and protein vibrational spectroscopy as it contains the main amide chromophore. In the past, some observed NMA geometry and spectral features could not be entirely explained at the harmonic level or by a single-conformer model. In particular, the spectra were found to be very dependent on molecular environment.