Präkanzerosen des Urothels

Zusammenfassung In der Fluoreszenzdiagnostik [Lichtanregung nach Gabe des physiologischen Hämmetaboliten 5-Aminolävulinsäure (ALA)] erscheinen Präneoplasien und Neoplasien rot fluoreszierend, was wahrscheinlich auf eine tumorzellselektive Anreicherung des intrazellulär aus ALA gebildeten Metaboliten Protoporphyrin IX zurückzuführen ist. Die mit dieser Methode mögliche frühe Detektion von Tumoren und Präneoplasien erlaubt deren genetische Analyse und damit Vergleiche von Aussagen der Fluoreszenz-in-situ-Hybridisierung und Loss-of-heterozygosity-Analyse hinsichtlich Deletionsnachweis und Gensequenzierung. Neue Daten zu Deletionen und Chromosomenaberrationen sowie eine etwa 30%ige Oligoklonalität von Tumoren werden dargestellt. Die tumorselektive Fluoreszenz scheint biochemisch durch Unterschiede im Hämmetabolismus bedingt zu sein. Durch Gen- und Proteinexpressionsanalysen können evtl. weitere, mit dem Hämmetabolismus assoziierte, tumorspezifische Moleküle identifiziert werden.Die geschilderten Arbeiten erfolgten im Rahmen von Unterstützungen durch die Deutsche Krebshilfe 10-1096-Ha und 70.2200-Ba sowie Industriekooperationen von Medac GmbH und metaGen Pharmaceuticals.     

Self-organization of a liquid crystalline methacrylate-monofunctionalized crown-ether compound in low-shrinkage acrylate mixtures

Crystallization and supramolecular aggregation of 1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane-2-ylmethyl 3,4-bis[4-(dodecyl-1-oxy)benzyloxy]-5-(11-methacryloyloxyundecyl-1-oxy)benzoate ( 1 ) and its complexes with sodium triflate are described in solutions of the methacrylate monomers. Formation of a gel was observed covering a rather wide concentration range in the pseudo-binary phase diagram. In the low concentration regime and at low temperatures, gel formation by elongated crystals of 1 was observed. It was demonstrated that the formation of a crystalline network and the shape of the crystals strongly depend on the cooling rate.     

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Detection of DNA damage after hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen HBO therapy is successfully used for the treatmentof a variety of conditions. However, exposure to high concentrationsof oxygen is known to induce damage to cells, possibly due toan increased oxygen radical production. As reactive oxygen speciesalso cause DNA damage, we investigated the DNA-damaging effectof HBO with the alkaline version of the single cell gel testcomet assay. Oxidative DNA base modifications were determinedby converting oxidized DNA bases to strand breaks using bacterialformamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase FPG, a DNA repair enzyme,which specifically nicks DNA at sites of 8-oxo-guanines andformamidopyrimidines. HBO treatment under therapeutic conditionsclearly and reproducibly induced DNA damage in leukocytes ofall test subjects investigated. Increased DNA damage was foundimmediately at the end of the treatment, while 24 h later, noeffect was found. Using FPG protein we detected significantoxidative base damage after HBO treatment DNA damage was detectedonly after the first treatment and not after further treatmentsunder the same conditions, indicating an increase in antioxidantdefences. DNA damage did not occur when the HBO treatment wasstarted with a reduced treatment time which was then increasedstepwise. ³To whom correspondence should be addressed     

Impaired Ca-signaling in astrocytes from the Ts16 mouse model of Down syndrome

The trisomy 16 mouse model of Down syndrome has been used to compare calcium (Ca)-homeostasis and Ca-signaling in astrocytes from trisomic mice and from diploid littermates. Ratio calcium-imaging of Fura-2/AM loaded primary astroglial cultures prepared from the hippocampus shows that resting Ca levels are on average significantly higher in trisomic than in the control astrocytes (280 vs. 120 nM). Serotonin (3 μM) and glutamate (30–300 μM) evoked transient Ca-increases from 400 to 600 nM in euploid but from only 20 to 150 nM in trisomic astrocytes. Imaging of ATP-driven Ca-accumulation in cellular organelles revealed a significantly stronger uptake of Ca in trisomic astrocytes that might buffer cytosolic Ca-increases. Our results demonstrate major disturbances in Ca-signaling in trisomic astrocytes that are likely to be of pathophysiological relevance.     

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Synthesis and characterization of monomethacrylate-functionalized self-organizing crown ether compounds

Synthesis and characterization of methacrylate-monofunctionalized crown ether compounds based on derivatives of 2-hydroxymethyl-1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane and 4′-hydroxymethyl-1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxabenzocyclopentadecane is described. By differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermooptical analysis (TOA) it is shown that the synthesized compounds and their sodium triflate complexes exhibit columnar mesophases.