First Quantitative Imaging of Organic Fluorine within Angiogenic Tissues by Particle Induced Gamma-Ray Emission (PIGE) Analysis: First PIGE Organic Fluorine Imaging.

PET (Positron Emission Tomography) allows imaging of the in vivo distribution of biochemical compounds labeled with a radioactive tracer, mainly 18F-FDG (2-deoxy-2-[18F] fluoro-D-glucose). 18F only allows a relatively poor spatial resolution (2-3 mm) which does not allow imaging of small tumors or specific small size tissues, e.g.

Sonochemical approach to the synthesis of Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) core-shell nanoparticles with tunable properties.

In this study, we report a rapid sonochemical synthesis of monodisperse nonaggregated Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2) magnetic nanoparticles (NPs). We found that coprecipitation of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in aqueous solutions under the effect of power ultrasound yields smaller Fe(3)O(4) NPs with a narrow size distribution (4-8 nm) compared to the silent reaction. Moreover, the coating of Fe(3)O(4) NPs with silica using an alkaline hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate in ethanol-water mixture is accelerated many-fold in the presence of a 20 kHz ultrasonic field.

Analytical performances of FT-IR spectrometry and imaging for concentration measurements within biological fluids, cells, and tissues.

FT-IR spectrometry has proved to be a useful tool for determining a series of plasma molecular concentrations. Dedicated experiments were first performed to test the analytical performance that could be obtained by FT-IR spectrometry using a synthesized N3-peptide exhibiting a -N3 absorption centered at 2110 cm(-1), a spectral region where no organic material of biological samples absorbs. Further, we investigated whether this technology was able to allow quantification of metabolic parameters (glucose and lactic acid) within plasma, cells, and tissues as an alternative method to the "classical" biochemical approaches, which require sophisticated biological material treatment and expensive reagents.

Structure and inhibitory effects on angiogenesis and tumor development of a new vascular endothelial growth inhibitor.

Blocking angiogenesis is an attractive strategy to inhibit tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. We describe here the structure and the biological action of a new cyclic peptide derived from vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This 17-amino acid molecule designated cyclopeptidic vascular endothelial growth inhibitor (cyclo-VEGI, CBO-P11) encompasses residues 79-93 of VEGF which are involved in the interaction with VEGF receptor-2.