Syntheses, crystal structures, and electrochemistry of novel Fe₂SN and FeSN carbonyl complexes with pendant bases

<div><p>Reactions of Fe₂(CO)₉ with thioacylhydrazones ArCH=NNHCSPh in THF afford Fe₂(CO)₆(μ-κ²S:κ²N-PhC(S)=NNCHArCHArN(CHAr)N=CSPh) (<b>1</b>, Ar = C₆H₅; <b>3</b>, Ar = 4-CH₃C₆H₄) and Fe(CO)₃(κ²S:N-PhC(=S)NHNCHArCHArN(CHAr)N=CSPh) (<b>2</b>, Ar = C₆H₅; <b>4</b>, Ar = 4-CH₃C₆H₄). They have been characterized by elemental analyses, IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR and structurally determined by X-ray crystallography. Electrochemical studies reveal that when using HOAc as a proton source, they exhibit high catalytic H₂-production.</p></div

MMP-9 degradation of AEF.

<p>Amyloid enhancing factor (AEF) isolated from the AA amyloid-laden spleen was incubated with and without presence of MMP-9, and analyzed by SDS-PAGE (8%) that is stained with Coomassie blue. Migration corresponding to bovine serum albumin (67 kDa) was indicated.</p

Analysis of SAA in blood plasma.

<p>(A) Blood was collected from mice by heart punctuation into citrate-anticoagulation tubes on day 3 post-treatment. After removal of blood cells by centrifugation, the plasma (1 µl) was separated on a 8% SDS-PAGE and probed with the anti-SAA antibody (see Materials and Methods). (B) Quantification of SAA in the plasma with the Mouse SAA ELISA Kit. The standard curve was performed with the reagents included in the kit.</p

Detection of MMP-2 in the spleen.

<p>The sections from the spleen collected 14-days post-treatment were immunostained with anti MMP-2 antibodies (A). Original amplification 400x. The frozen tissues of the corresponding organ were analyzed by Western blot using the same antibodies (B). The band intensity from (B) was quantified with ImageJ and expressed as the ratio with GAPDH (C).</p

Congo red staining of tissue sections.

<p>Hpa-KO and C57bl (Ctr) were treated by injection of AEF (amyloid enhancing factor) and silver nitrate (to stimulate inflammation). Following the treatment, the animals were sacrificed on the days indicated each panel. Paraffin-embedded sections (5 µm) from spleen (A) and liver (B) were stained with Congo red and visualized under polarized light. Spleen sections from non-treated animals are shown in the upper panels. Original amplification 200x.</p

Quantification of SAA amyloid in the spleen.

<p>The mice (n = 6 in each group) were sacrificed on day 14 post-induction. The sections of the spleen (5 µm) were analyzed by Congo red staining (A) and immunohistostaining with anti-SAA antibody (B). Original amplification 400x. The intensity of Congo red staining was quantified under the fluorescence microscopy with Image J (C).</p

Amyloid deposition and MMP expression in the liver.

<p>The sections from the liver collected 14 days post treatment were stained with Congo red and visualized under polarized light (A). The adjacent sections were immunostained with anti MMP-9 antibodies (B). Original amplification 400x. The frozen tissues of the corresponding organ were analyzed by Western blot using the same antibodies (C). The band intensity from (C) was quantified by the ImageJ software and expressed as the ratio with GAPDH (D).</p

Antiviral Activities of Heparan Sulfate Mimetic RAFT Polymers Against Mosquito-borne Viruses

Mosquito-borne viruses are a major worldwide health problem associated with high morbidity and mortality rates and significant impacts on national healthcare budgets. The development of antiviral drugs for both the treatment and prophylaxis of these diseases is thus of considerable importance. To address the need for therapeutics with antiviral activity, a library of heparan sulfate mimetic polymers was screened against dengue virus (DENV), Yellow fever virus (YFV), Zika virus (ZIKV), and Ross River virus (RRV). The polymers were prepared by RAFT polymerization of various acidic monomers with a target MW of 20 kDa (average Mn ∼ 27 kDa by GPC). Among the polymers, poly(SS), a homopolymer of sodium styrenesulfonate, was identified as a broad spectrum antiviral with activity against all the tested viruses and particularly potent inhibition of YFV (IC50 = 310 pM). Our results further uncovered that poly(SS) exhibited a robust inhibition of ZIKV infection in both mosquito and human cell lines, which points out the potential functions of poly(SS) in preventing mosquito-borne viruses associated diseases by blocking viral transmission in their mosquito vectors and mitigating viral infection in patients