Search results for "Mechanism"

Elimination of a bacterial pore-forming toxin by sequential endocytosis and exocytosis

2008

Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin is the archetype of bacterial pore forming toxins and a key virulence factor secreted by the majority of clinical isolates of S. aureus. Toxin monomers bind to target cells and oligomerize to form small beta-barrel pores in the plasma membrane. Many nucleated cells are able to repair a limited number of lesions by unknown, calcium-independent mechanisms. Here we show that cells can internalize alpha-toxin, that uptake is essential for cellular survival, and that pore-complexes are not proteolytically degraded, but returned to the extracellular milieu in the context of exosome-like structures, which we term toxosomes.

Selective killing of human monocytes and cytokine release provoked by sphingomyelinase (beta-toxin) of Staphylococcus aureus.

1996

The best-known activity of Staphylococcus aureus sphingomyelinase C, alias beta-toxin, is as a hemolysin that provokes hot-cold lysis of erythrocytes which contain substantial amounts of sphingomyelin in the plasma membrane. Sheep erythrocytes are most susceptible, and we found that one hemolytic unit, representing the toxin concentration that elicits 50% hemolysis of 2.5 X 10(8) erythrocytes per ml, corresponds to 0.05 enzyme units or to approximately 0.25 microg of sphingomyelinase per ml. The cytotoxic action of beta-toxin on nucleated cells has not been described in any detail before, and the present investigation was undertaken to fill this information gap. We now identify beta-toxin a…

Morphology changes induced by intercellular gap junction blocking: A reaction-diffusion mechanism.

2021

Complex anatomical form is regulated in part by endogenous physiological communication between cells; however, the dynamics by which gap junctional (GJ) states across tissues regulate morphology are still poorly understood. We employed a biophysical modeling approach combining different signaling molecules (morphogens) to qualitatively describe the anteroposterior and lateral morphology changes in model multicellular systems due to intercellular GJ blockade. The model is based on two assumptions for blocking-induced patterning: (i) the local concentrations of two small antagonistic morphogens diffusing through the GJs along the axial direction, together with that of an independent, uncouple…

Estimating the decomposition of predictive information in multivariate systems

2015

In the study of complex systems from observed multivariate time series, insight into the evolution of one system may be under investigation, which can be explained by the information storage of the system and the information transfer from other interacting systems. We present a framework for the model-free estimation of information storage and information transfer computed as the terms composing the predictive information about the target of a multivariate dynamical process. The approach tackles the curse of dimensionality employing a nonuniform embedding scheme that selects progressively, among the past components of the multivariate process, only those that contribute most, in terms of co…

The Mechanism of Cleavage

1973

In vivo and in vitro anti-leishmanial activities of 4-nitro-N-pyrimidin- and N-pyrazin-2-ylbenzenesulfonamides, and N2-(4-nitrophenyl)-N1-propylglyci…

2009

A series of compounds containing the nitrobenzene and sulfonamido moieties were synthesized and their leishmanicidal effect was assessed in vitro against Leishmania infantum promastigotes. Among the compounds evaluated, the p-nitrobenzenesulfonamides 4Aa and 4Ba, and the p-nitroaniline 5 showed significant activity with a good selectivity index. In a Balb/c mice model of L. Infantum, administration of compounds 4Aa, 4Ba or 5 (5 mg/kg/day for 10 days, injected ip route) led to a clear-cut parasite burden reduction (ca. 99%). In an attempt to elucidate their mechanism of action, the DNA interaction of 4Aa and 5 was investigated by means of viscosity studies, thermal denaturation and nuclease …

Synthesis and in vitro antileukemic activity of new 4-triazenopyrazole derivatives

2003

Several new 4-(3,3-dimethyltriazeno)-5-benzamidopyrazole derivatives were prepared by reacting 4-diazo-5-benzamidopyrazole derivatives with dimethylamine. The compounds were tested at 10 microM for their vitro antileukemic activity against K562 (Human chronic myelogenous leukemia) and Raji (human Burkitt limphoma ) cell lines. Dacarbazine and methotrexate were used for comparative purpose. The 3-methyl-4-(3,3-dimethyltriazeno)-5-(substituted benzamido)pyrazoles, bearing the pyrazole nucleus free at 1 position, resulted more active than the 1-(substituted phenyl)-3-methyl-4-(3,3-dimethyltriazeno)-5-benzamidopyrazoles. Dacarbazine at 10 microM showed no activity in the above tests. The observ…

Application of palladium complexes bearing acyclic amino(hydrazido)carbene ligands as catalysts for copper-free Sonogashira cross-coupling

2015

Abstract Metal-mediated coupling of one isocyanide in cis-[PdCl2(CNR1)2] (R1 = C6H11 (Cy) 1, tBu 2, 2,6-Me2C6H3 (Xyl) 3, 2-Cl-6-MeC6H3 4) and various carbohydrazides R2CONHNH2 [R2 = Ph 5, 4-ClC6H4 6, 3-NO2C6H4 7, 4-NO2C6H4 8, 4-CH3C6H4 9, 3,4-(MeO)2C6H3 10, naphth-1-yl 11, fur-2-yl 12, 4-NO2C6H4CH2 13, Cy 14, 1-(4-fluorophenyl)-5-oxopyrrolidine-3-yl 15, (pyrrolidin-1-yl)C(O) 16, 3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propane-1-yl 17, EtNHC(O) 18] or sulfohydrazides R3SO2NHNH2 [R3 = Ph 19, 4-MeC6H4 20] led to a series of (hydrazido)(amino)carbene complexes cis-[PdCl2{ C (NHNHX) N(H)R1}(CNR1)]; X = COR2, SO2R3 (21–48, isolated yields 60–96%). All prepared species were characterized by elemental…

New complex polycyclic compounds: Synthesis, antiproliferative activity and mechanism of action

2020

Abstract Polycyclic or O-glycoconiugate polycyclic compounds 1a-g were previously tested for their in vitro antiproliferative activity. In this series of compounds, activity increases as log P decreases. Specifically, compounds 1d and 1g showed lower log P values together with the best antiproliferative profiles. With the aim of extending our understanding of the structure–activity relationship (SAR) of this class of compounds, we prepared new polycyclic derivatives 2a-c, which bear on each of the two phenyl rings hydrophilic substituents (OH, SO2NH2 or NHCOCH3). These substituents are able to form hydrogen bonds and to decrease the partition coefficient value as compared with compound 1d. …

Hydrolysis of Phosphotriesters: A Theoretical Analysis of the Enzymatic and Solution Mechanisms

2012

A theoretical study on the alkaline hydrolysis of paraoxon, one of the most popular organophosphorus pesticides, in aqueous solution and in the active site of Pseudomonas diminuta phosphotriesterase (PTE) is presented. Simulations by means of hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) potentials show that the hydrolysis of paraoxon takes place through an A(N)D(N) or associative mechanism both in solution and in the active site of PTE. The results correctly reproduce the magnitude of the activation free energies and can be used to rationalize the observed kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for the hydrolysis of paraoxon in both media. Enzymatic hydrolysis of O,O-diethyl p-chlorophenyl …