Studies About the Effect of Halogenated Solvents on the Fluorescence Properties of 9-Aryl-Substituted Isoquinolinium Derivatives - A Case Study.

It was demonstrated that 9-aryl-substituted isoquinolinium derivatives have significantly increased fluorescence quantum yields in halogenated solvents, mostly pronounced in chloroalkanes, which appears to be specific for this type of solvents. Further analysis with selected halogenated solvents revealed that the type and number of halogen substituents and the dielectric constant of the solvent have a distinct impact on the emission quantum yield. The solvent effect is explained by a solvation of the charge shift (CS) state by attractive halogen-π interactions (halogen bond), which impedes the torsional relaxation of the excited state.

In Vivo Metabolic Imaging of [1- C]Pyruvate-d Hyperpolarized By Reversible Exchange With Parahydrogen.

Metabolic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using hyperpolarized (HP) pyruvate is becoming a non-invasive technique for diagnosing, staging, and monitoring response to treatment in cancer and other diseases. The clinically established method for producing HP pyruvate, dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization, however, is rather complex and slow. Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) is an ultra-fast and low-cost method based on fast chemical exchange.

Inducing a stressed phenotype in healthy recipient mice by adoptively transferring CD4 lymphocytes from mice undergoing chronic psychosocial stress.

Although chronic stress is an acknowledged risk factor for the development of somatic and affective disorders, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying stress-induced pathologies are not fully understood. Interestingly, rodent studies involving immune cell transfer suggest that CD4 T cells might be at least in part involved in reactivation of a chemically-induced colitis by stress. However, until now evidence is lacking that these immune cell types are indeed involved in the development of a "stressed phenotype".

C1q/TNF-related protein-3 represents a novel and endogenous lipopolysaccharide antagonist of the adipose tissue.

Proteins secreted by adipocytes (adipokines) play an important role in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and the associated chronic and low-grade state of inflammation. It was the aim to characterize the antiinflammatory potential of the new adipocytokine, C1q/TNF-related protein-3 (CTRP-3), which shows structural homologies to the pleiotropic adipocytokine adiponectin. mRNA and protein expression of CTRP-3 was analyzed by RT-PCR and Western blot.

Lipopolysaccharide-trap-Fc, a multifunctional agent to battle gram-negative bacteria.

The family of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) plays a pivotal role in host defense against pathogens. However, overstimulation of these receptors may lead to uncontrolled general inflammation and eventually to systemic organ dysfunction or failure. With the intent to control overwhelming inflammation during gram-negative bacterial sepsis, we constructed soluble fusion proteins of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-receptor complex to modulate TLR signaling in multiple ways.

A TLR4/MD2 fusion protein inhibits LPS-induced pro-inflammatory signaling in hepatic stellate cells.

Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a key role in hepatic fibrogenesis. In injured liver they are the main extracellular matrix protein producing cell type and further perpetuate hepatic injury by secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators. Since LPS-mediated signaling through toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been identified as key fibrogenic signal in HSCs we aimed to test TLR4 as potential target of therapy via ligand-binding soluble receptors.

Fatty acid-induced induction of Toll-like receptor-4/nuclear factor-kappaB pathway in adipocytes links nutritional signalling with innate immunity.

To study the effects of fatty acids and the involvement of the Toll-like receptor-4/nuclear factor-kappaB (TLR-4/NF-kappaB) pathway with respect to the secretion of adipokines from adipocytes 3T3-L1 adipocytes were stimulated with increasing doses of fatty acids. The secretion of adiponectin, resistin and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The NF-kappaB p65 nuclear translocation and TLR-4 expression were investigated by Western blot.