The Insomnia of Neurasthenia.

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Differential effects of depleting agents on cytoplasmic and nuclear non-protein sulphydryls: a fluorescence image cytometry study.

The intracellular distribution of glutathione (GSH) was measured by a quantitative image cytometry method, using the sulphydryl-reactive agent mercury orange. This readily forms fluorescent adducts with GSH and other non-protein sulphydryls (NPSH), but reacts much more slowly with protein sulphydryls. Under optimum staining conditions mean integrated mercury orange fluorescence per cell was closely correlated with a standard biochemical assay for GSH. Use of the DNA dye DAPI as a counterstain allowed measurement of nuclear NPSH. The mean nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio was 0.57 +/- 0.05. Isolation of nuclei under aqueous conditions resulted in the loss of approximately 90% of mercury orange fluorescence, compared with nuclear fluorescence from intact cells, suggesting that background labelling of protein sulphydryls or other macromolecules is low. Depletion of GSH with N-ethylmaleimide or diethylmaleate decreased mercury orange fluorescence in the nucleus and cytoplasm to a similar extent. In contrast, mercury orange fluorescence in the nucleus was much more resistant to DL-buthionine-S,R-sulphoximine (BSO) depletion than that in the cytoplasm. This finding is compatible with a distinct pool of GSH in the nucleus that is comparatively resistant to BSO depletion. Alternatively, the retention of fluorescence in the nucleus following GSH depletion by BSO treatment might be due to accumulation of cysteine. These findings have implications for cancer treatment since the level of NPSH in the nucleus might be a more important determinant of resistance to DNA-damaging agents than that in cytoplasm. The image cytometry method described here is quantitative, allows a measure of tumour cell heterogeneity and can be applied to small biopsy samples obtained by fine-needle aspiration. Thus it appears suitable for prospective clinical studies in cancer patients, and for monitoring the effects of GSH-depleting agents used as adjuncts to cancer chemotherapy or radiotherapy

Flow cytometric measurement of glutathione content of human cancer biopsies.

Rice et al. (1986) have described a flow cytometric method where the non-fluorescent probe monochlorobimane (mBCl) forms a fluorescent adduct with cellular glutathione (GSH) under the action of glutathione-S-transferase. We show here that for EMT6 carcinosarcoma cells there is a close correlation between mean cell fluorescence, expressed as a ratio to that of fluorescence calibration beads, and biochemically determined GSH content over the range 0.2-2.0 fmol cell-1. Single cell suspensions from 14 human cancers were prepared by 23-gauge needle aspiration or mechanical disaggregation of surgical specimens, stained using mBCl and examined by flow cytometry. There was a wide range in individual cell fluorescence, which in contrast to EMT6 cells was not strongly correlated with Coulter volume. By comparing tumour cell fluorescence to that of calibration beads, and assuming that the relationship with GSH content for EMT6 holds for other cells, a mean GSH content of 0.95 fmol cell-1 was derived for nine carcinomas, and 0.21 fmol cell-1 for five non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Although this semi-quantitation needs further validation, the method used here is rapid, gives an indication of heterogeneity of tumour cell GSH content, and can be applied to fine needle biopsy samples. It therefore shows promise as a means for studying prospectively the relationship of GSH content to clinical drug and radiation sensitivity, and for monitoring the effects of agents such as buthionine sulphoximine which are intended to improve treatment results through tumour cell GSH depletion

Ultrafast electronic energy transfer beyond the weak coupling limit in a proximal but orthogonal molecular dyad

Electronic energy transfer (EET) from a donor to an acceptor is an important mechanism that controls the light harvesting efficiency in a wide variety of systems, including artificial and natural photosynthesis and contemporary photovoltaic technologies. The detailed mechanism of BET at short distances or large angles between the donor and acceptor is poorly understood. Here the influence of the orientation between the donor and acceptor on EET is explored using a molecule with two nearly perpendicular chromophores. Very fast EET with a time constant of 120 fs is observed, which is at least 40 times faster than the time predicted by Coulombic coupling calculations. Depolarization of the emission signal indicates that the transition dipole rotates through ca. 64 degrees, indicating the near orthogonal nature of the EET event. The rate of EET is found to be similar to structural relaxation rates in the photoexcited oligothiophene donor alone, which suggests that this initial relaxation brings the dyad to a conical intersection where the excitation jumps to the acceptor.PostprintPeer reviewe