Effect of novel porphyrazine photosensitizers on normal and tumor brain cells

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a clinically approved procedure for targeting tumor cells. Though several different photosensitizers have been developed, there is still much demand for novel photosensitizers with improved properties. In this study we aim to characterize the accumulation, localization and dark cytotoxicity of the novel photosensitizers developed in-house derivatives of porphyrazines (pz I-IV) in primary murine neuronal cells, as well as to identify the concentrations at which pz still effectively induces death in glioma cells yet is nontoxic to nontransformed cells. The study shows that incubation of primary neuronal and glioma cells with pz I-IV leads to their accumulation in both types of cells, but their rates of internalization, subcellular localization and dark toxicity differ significantly. Pz II was the most promising photosensitizer. It efficiently killed glioma cells while remaining nontoxic to primary neuronal cells. This opens up the possibility of evaluating pz II for experimental PDT for glioma

Organosilicon Amidophosphates and Their Eu and Er Complexes in Solutions and Films: Spectral and Luminescence Properties

International audienceFluorescence and fluorescence excitation spectra of phosphorus-containing organosilicon ligands O = PX2NHR (X = NMe2, OPh; R = CH2CH2CH2Si(Oet)3 and their Eu(III) complexes in acetonitrile solutions and in films are studied. In UV region (285–420 nm), bis(dimethylamido)triethoxysilylpropylamidophosphate (X = NMe2) and diphenyltriethoxysilylpropylamidophosphate (X = OPh) exhibit two emission bands, whose position and intensity depend on the nature of substituents at the phosphorus atom. The Eu complexes show the ligand and the cation luminescence. The emission bands of coordinated ligands are shifted to long-wave region. The cation luminescence appears as three or four bands due to f-f transitions from the excited 5 D 0 level to the lower 7 F 1–4 levels. The most intense transition is 5 D 0 → 7 F 2. The emission band in a region of 420 nm appears in solutions and films prepared from both pure ligands and their Eu(III) complexes. This band is due to luminescence of spatially crosslinked nanoparticles of sesquioxane structure. The intensity ratio of the Eu3+ emission bands changes when going from solutions to films, the emission intensity increases in a range of 420 nm. Films containing incorporated Er complexes with amidophosphates show intense luminescence of a matrix at 430 nm and a series of weak narrow bands due to the Er3+ cation at 550–700 nm

Novel highly emissive tetracyanotetraphenylporphyrazine ytterbium complex for optoelectronic and biophotonic applications.

International audienceThe prepn. is described of a novel highly emissive ytterbium complex with a proposed unusual structure obtained by reaction of tricyanovinylbenzene (TCNVB) with bis(indenyl)ytterbium(II) in THF. The reaction occurs under extremely mild conditions, the tetraphenyltetracyanoporphyrazine macrocycle being assembled in high yield from TCNVB building-blocks by Yb3+-template synthesis. The anal., spectral and electrochem. investigations of the obtained ytterbium complex indicate its existence in the form of a binuclear adduct with Yb(TCNVB)3 species in which a one doubly reduced TCNVB mol. bridges two Yb3+ cations. The formation of a disordered polynuclear coordination polymer network including a macrocyclic structure and metal cations bridged through the nitrile nitrogen atoms is proposed. The complex is readily sol. and is compatible with a variety of polymeric matrixes giving doped polymeric glasses and films which are highly luminescent in the biol. relevant optical window covering the visible and near IR range (640-1000 nm). In addn., doped polymeric glasses and films highly emissive at the telecommunication wavelength (1540 nm) including the novel ytterbium complex and originally not luminescent erbium chelate in an equimolar ratio have been obtained. The compd. is found to be an extraordinarily strong sensitizer of near-IR Er3+ emission. Use of the Yb complex as a fluorescent marker for biomedical in vitro investigations has been demonstrate

Reaction of Sodium with Phenyltrichlorosilane

Original Russian Text: V.V. Semenov, A.Yu. Nerovnya, V.A. Egorov, N.F. Cherepennikova, L.G. Klapshina, A.I. Kirillov, T.I. Lopatina, W.E. Douglas, G.A. Domrachev, 2006, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2006, Vol. 407, No. 4, pp. 489–492.International audienc

Imaging tumor microscopic viscosity in vivo using molecular rotors

The microscopic viscosity plays an essential role in cellular biophysics by controlling the rates of diffusion and bimolecular reactions within the cell interior. While several approaches have emerged that have allowed the measurement of viscosity and diffusion on a single cell level in vitro, the in vivo viscosity monitoring has not yet been realized. Here we report the use of fluorescent molecular rotors in combination with Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) to image microscopic viscosity in vivo, both on a single cell level and in connecting tissues of subcutaneous tumors in mice. We find that viscosities recorded from single tumor cells in vivo correlate well with the in vitro values from the same cancer cell line. Importantly, our new method allows both imaging and dynamic monitoring of viscosity changes in real time in live animals and thus it is particularly suitable for diagnostics and monitoring of the progress of treatments that might be accompanied by changes in microscopic viscosity