Chiral symmetry breaking: Experimental results and computer analysis of a liquid-phase autoxidation

The autoxidation of tetralin is treated as a model reaction system to define the applicability of stereospecific autocatalysis. This concept, predicting a spontaneous amplification of enantiomeric excess generated by an autocatalytic chemical reaction, is used in several theoretical models as an explanation for the origin of natural optical activity. The reaction system investigated obeys the basic criteria of these models: a chiral intermediate (tetralin hydroperoxide) is produced from an achiral substrate (tetralin) via an autocatalytic pathway where the feedback mechanism is expected to generate a state of broken chiral symmetry. In order to test the amplification capacity of this reaction a computer analysis of the kinetic scheme is performed. This simulation is derived from the known kinetic scheme of autoxidation and is validated by fitting the experimentally observed data of hydroperoxide evolution. Calculations show that this model allows powerful amplification of enantiomeric excess and a transient amplification of the optical rotation. It is also demonstrated that the model system exhibits pronounced sensitivity toward any loss of absolute configuration of the involved chiral species. Since an amplification effect results exclusively at a high degree of stereoselectivity, it is concluded that stereospecific autocatalysis is possible in systems which show template reactions, crystallization, or colloidal effects. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Kinetic analysis of artificial peptide self-replication. Part I: the homochiral case

Computational kinetic analysis of a lately discovered homochiral peptide self-replicator is presented. A 6-step kinetic model was designed that addresses the main reactions and hydrophobic interactions involved in this template-directed, autocatalytic system and that gave rise to excellent fitting of 4 previously published independent experimental series. The model sheds light on the mechanistic principle of the reaction system and illustrates directly a number of dynamic properties such as the observed autocatalytic efficiency. It was found that the dynamics are basically governed by two reversible hydrophobic interactions: between the template and a peptide fragment and between two template species. The later association was determined to be considerably more favored, which leads to the predominant presence of the catalytically inactive template dimer in the reaction system. Our results show that the involvement of a template trimer is not necessary to obtain the observed fittings.     

FIP/AAPS Joint Workshop Report: Dissolution/In Vitro Release Testing of Novel/Special Dosage Forms

In 2003, the FIP Dissolution Working group published a position paper on dissolution/drug release testing for special/novel dosage forms that represented the scientific opinions of many experts in the field at that time (1). The position paper has supported activities, programs, and decisions in the scientific, technical, and regulatory community. Due to the rapid evolution of new practices and techniques for in vitro testing, the FIP Special Interest Group (SIG) on Dissolution/Drug Release decided to revise the previous paper and added proposals for further harmonization of in vitro release testing practices for different pharmaceutical dosage forms. This article represents the current updates to the previously published paper. This revision has been aligned to coincide with the USP taxonomy including route of administration, intended site of drug release, and dosage form. The revised paper includes information from current literature, expert discussions, and presentations from recent workshops (2,3). The authors acknowledge and expect further updates to be made as additional progress is made in the relevant areas. Thus, comments and additional contributions are welcome and may be considered for the next revision of the position paper.     

Oversulfated chondroitin sulfate is a contaminant in heparin associated with adverse clinical events

Recently, certain lots of heparin have been associated with an acute, rapid onset of serious side effects indicative of an allergic-type reaction. To identify potential causes for this sudden rise in side effects, we examined lots of heparin that correlated with adverse events using orthogonal high-resolution analytical techniques. Through detailed structural analysis, the contaminant was found to contain a disaccharide repeat unit of glucuronic acid linked beta1-->3 to a beta-N-acetylgalactosamine. The disaccharide unit has an unusual sulfation pattern and is sulfated at the 2-O and 3-O positions of the glucuronic acid as well as at the 4-O and 6-O positions of the galactosamine. Given the nature of this contaminant, traditional screening tests cannot differentiate between affected and unaffected lots. Our analysis suggests effective screening methods that can be used to determine whether or not heparin lots contain the contaminant reported here.     

Hyperosmosis enhances radiation and hydroxyurea resistance of Schizosaccharomyces pombe checkpoint mutants through the spindle checkpoint and delayed cytokinesis

The DNA damage and stress response pathways interact to regulate cellular responses to genotoxins and environmental stresses. How these pathways interact in Schizosaccharomyces pombe is not well understood. We demonstrate that osmotic stress suppresses the DNA damage sensitivity of checkpoint mutants, and that this occurs through three distinct cell cycle delays. A delay in G2/M is dependent on Srk1. Progression through mitosis is halted by the Mad2‐dependent spindle checkpoint. Finally, cytokinesis is impaired by modulating Cdc25 expression. These three delays, imposed by osmotic stress, together compensate for the loss of checkpoint signalling.     

Effect of the Volume-to-Surface Ratio of Cultures on Escherichia coli Growth: An Experimental and Theoretical Analysis

Daidzein (4′,7-dihydroxyisoflavone), a phytoestrogen found in soybeans mainly in the form of its glycoside daidzin, is metabolized by colonic bacteria to compounds with altered estrogenic activities, which may affect human health. Antibacterial agents used for the treatment of infections can alter the composition of bacterial populations in the colon and therefore can affect daidzein metabolism. To rapidly detect the effects of different concentrations of antibiotics on daidzein metabolism by colonic bacteria of monkeys and identify the subpopulation involved in daidzein metabolism, Etest strips containing antibacterial agents from three classes (tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, and β-lactams) were used to eliminate the colonic bacteria that were susceptible to 0–32 μg/ml of each antibacterial agent and test the surviving bacteria for their ability to metabolize daidzein. The metabolism of daidzein by the colonic microflora was measured before and after the colonic bacterial population was exposed to antibacterial agents. The metabolites were detected by high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry after incubation of the cultures for various times. Exposure of colonic microflora to antibiotics had various effects on daidzein metabolism. Tetracycline completely removed the bacteria metabolizing daidzein, metabolism of daidzein was not changed in cultures of bacteria after ceftriaxone treatment, and ciprofloxacin enriched for the bacteria metabolizing daidzein. In liquid cultures treated with various concentrations of ciprofloxacin, 4 μg/ml of ciprofloxacin favored the growth of bacteria that metabolized daidzein. This is the first time in which the Etest has been used to show that, whereas some antibiotics eliminate phytoestrogen-metabolizing bacteria in colonic microflora, others enrich them by eliminating the non-metabolizing strains in the population.     

Non-stochastic behavior in sodium chlorate crystallization

NaClO₃ is achiral in solution. If crystallization is performed under a static set-up, it is recognized that the stochastic nucleation probability results in a racemic mixture of the conglomerate. In this paper, we report a reexamination of the crystallization of NaClO₃ from static solution in petri dishes that was conducted over a number of years and is based on the count and analysis of several thousand d- vs. l-NaClO₃ crystals. Remarkably, instead of an expected nearly 50/50 coin-tossing situation for the d/l crystal frequency, in most of our experiments a statistically significant bias in favor of d- over l-NaClO₃ crystals was found. The experiments also showed that the NaClO₃ system was relatively insensitive regarding the intentional addition of a variety of optically active agents. Only in some cases, the persisting d-bias observed in the unseeded experiments slightly increased upon the presence of such additives. Nevertheless, experiments in plastic petri dishes or in presence of fungal spores were able to reverse this bias. A literature survey shows that mainly d-directed non-stochastic behavior in the NaClO₃ system has been previously observed in other laboratory settings and by the application of different crystallization techniques. So far, the kind of chiral influence that could be at the origin of the observed bias remains unknown. After the examination of several possible chiral influences of physical, chemical and biological origin, we carefully consider the presence of bio-contaminants as most likely for the cause of this effect.     

On the Regularities of the Polar Profiles of Proteins Related to Ebola Virus Infection and their Functional Domains

The number of fatalities and economic losses caused by the Ebola virus infection across the planet culminated in the havoc that occurred between August and November 2014. However, little is known about the molecular protein profile of this devastating virus. This work represents a thorough bioinformatics analysis of the regularities of charge distribution (polar profiles) in two groups of proteins and their functional domains associated with Ebola virus disease: Ebola virus proteins and Human proteins interacting with Ebola virus. Our analysis reveals that a fragment exists in each of these proteins—one named the “functional domain”—with the polar profile similar to the polar profile of the protein that contains it. Each protein is formed by a group of short sub-sequences, where each fragment has a different and distinctive polar profile and where the polar profile between adjacent short sub-sequences changes orderly and gradually to coincide with the polar profile of the whole protein. When using the charge distribution as a metric, it was observed that it effectively discriminates the proteins from their functional domains. As a counterexample, the same test was applied to a set of synthetic proteins built for that purpose, revealing that any of the regularities reported here for the Ebola virus proteins and human proteins interacting with Ebola virus were not present in the synthetic proteins. Our results indicate that the polar profile of each protein studied and its corresponding functional domain are similar. Thus, when building each protein from its functional domai—adding one amino acid at a time and plotting each time its polar profile—it was observed that the resulting graphs can be divided into groups with similar polar profiles.