Brain energy rescue:an emerging therapeutic concept for neurodegenerative disorders of ageing

The brain requires a continuous supply of energy in the form of ATP, most of which is produced from glucose by oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria, complemented by aerobic glycolysis in the cytoplasm. When glucose levels are limited, ketone bodies generated in the liver and lactate derived from exercising skeletal muscle can also become important energy substrates for the brain. In neurodegenerative disorders of ageing, brain glucose metabolism deteriorates in a progressive, region-specific and disease-specific manner — a problem that is best characterized in Alzheimer disease, where it begins presymptomatically. This Review discusses the status and prospects of therapeutic strategies for countering neurodegenerative disorders of ageing by improving, preserving or rescuing brain energetics. The approaches described include restoring oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis, increasing insulin sensitivity, correcting mitochondrial dysfunction, ketone-based interventions, acting via hormones that modulate cerebral energetics, RNA therapeutics and complementary multimodal lifestyle changes

Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of adenine and adenosine in aqueous solution

Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is applied to study the excited state dynamics of the DNA base adenine and its ribonucleoside adenosine in aqueous solution for pump and probe photon energies in the range between 4.66 eV and 5.21 eV. We follow the evolution of the prepared excited state on the potential energy surface and retrieve lifetimes of the S1 state under different excitation conditions

Excimer states in microhydrated adenine clusters

We present femtosecond pump-probe mass and photoelectron spectra for adenine (A) and microhydrated A(m)(H(2)O)(n) clusters. Three distinct relaxation processes of photoexcited electronic states were distinguished: in unhydrated A, relaxation of the optically bright pi pi* state occurred via the dark n pi* state with respective lifetimes of <0.1 and 1.3 ps. In microhydrated clusters A(H(2)O)(n), relaxation via the n pi* state is quenched by a faster relaxation process, probably involving pi sigma* states. For the predominantly hydrogen-bonded adenine dimer (A(2)), excited state relaxation is dominated by monomer-like processes. When the adenine dimer is clustered with several water molecules, we observe a nanosecond lifetime from excimer states in pi-stacked clusters. From the electron spectra we estimate adiabatic ionization potentials of 8.32 eV (A), 8.27 eV (A(H(2)O)(1)), 8.19 eV (A(H(2)O)(2)), 8.10 eV (A(H(2)O)(3)), 8.18 eV (A(2)), and 8.0 eV (A(2)(H(2)O)(3-5)).close131

Ultrafast dynamics in the excited hydrogen atom transfer states of ammonia clusters

Neutral ammonia clusters (NH3)m are photo-excited to the electronic $\tilde{A}$ state by a deep UV femtosecond laser pump pulse. Within a few hundred femtoseconds a significant fraction of the clusters rearrange to form an H-transfer state (NH3)$_{m-2}$NH4(3s)NH2 with the subunit NH4 in its 3s electronic ground state. This state is then electronically excited by a time-delayed infrared control pulse of variable wavelength. Finally, a third (probe) pulse in the UV ionizes the clusters for detection. The lifetime of the excited (NH3)$_{m-2}$NH4(3p )NH2 states is found to vary between 2.7 and 0.13 ps depending on cluster size and excitation energy. It increases drastically upon deuteration. The corresponding cluster size-dependent photoelectron spectra allow us to disentangle the underlying energetics of the excitation and ionization process and reveal additional processes, such as nonresonant ionization or dissociative ionization. The experimental findings suggest that the excited H-transfer ammonia complexes with m>2 are deactivated by an internal conversion process back to the electronically lowest H-transfer state followed by fast dissociation

Ultrafast deactivation processes in aminopyridine clusters: Excitation energy dependence and isotope effects

Fast excited-state relaxation in H-bonded aminopyridine clusters occurs via hydrogen transfer in the excited state. We used femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy to characterize the excited-state reaction coordinate. Considerable isotope effects for partially deuterated clusters indicate that H-transfer is the rate-limiting step and validate ab initio calculations in the literature. A nonmonotonous dependence on the excitation energy, however, disagrees with the picture of a simple barrier along the reaction coordinate. An aminopyridine dimer serves as a model for Watson-Crick base pairs, where similar reactions have been predicted by theory.close121

Excited-state dynamics of guanosine in aqueous solution revealed by time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy: experiment and theory

Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is performed on aqueous guanosine solution to study its excited-state relaxation dynamics. Experimental results are complemented by surface hopping dynamic simulations and evaluation of the excited-state ionization energy by Koopmans' theorem. Two alternative models for the relaxation dynamics are discussed. The experimentally observed excited-state lifetime is about 2.5 ps if the molecule is excited at 266 nm and about 1.1 ps if the molecule is excited at 238 nm. The experimental probe photon energy dependence of the photoelectron kinetic energy distribution suggests that the probe step is not vertical and involves a doubly-excited autoionizing state