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For the first time, a prototype of a portable device for the potentiometric determination of antioxidant capacity based on a new measurement principle is proposed. A feature of the approach is the use of an electrochemical microcell with separated spaces and two identical electrodes with immobilized reagents. An antioxidant solution is introduced into one half-cell, and the antioxidants interact with the reagents. The other half-cell contains only reagents. The potential difference between the electrodes is due to the change in the ratio of the oxidized and reduced form of the reagents, which occurs as a result of the reaction with the antioxidants in one of the half-cells and is related to their concentration. The range of linearity of the microcell with immobilized reagents is 40–4000 μM-eq, and the limit of detection is 20 μM-eq. The device was successfully tested in the analysis of standard antioxidant solutions. The recoveries were (92–113)%, and the relative standard deviation did not exceed 15%. A good correlation was found between the data obtained by the approach and the potentiometric method in a macrocell for fruit juice analysis. Pearson’s coefficient for the obtained experimental data was 0.9955. The proposed portable device is promising and can be used in field conditions.

The results of this study of the electrochemical transformation of 3-R-4-hydroxy-1,4-dihydro-7-X-1,2,4-triazolo[5,1-c][1,2,4] obtained by voltammetry are presented. It was found that 3-R-4-hydroxy-1,4-dihydro-7-X-1,2,4-triazolo[5,1-c][1,2,4] derivatives are capable of electrochemical reduction in the potential range of –0.28 to –0.33 V (relative to Ag/AgCl) in Britton–Robinson buffer at pH = 2. The electrochemical behavior of the sodium salt of 3-nitro-4-hydroxy-7-methylthio-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[5,1-c][1,2,4]triazinide monohydrate (compound 1), which in silico modeling predicted possible biological activity against various tick-borne encephalitis and Coxsackie B3 viruses. At the potentials of the first stage of electroreduction at pH = 2, the main transformation process is the three-electron reduction scheme of the nitro group of compound 1. It was established that compound 1 in an aprotic medium is reduced in ionic form, most likely in the form of an ion pair with the Na+ cation, and in an aqueous medium in the form of a protonated particle. Based on this, a scheme was proposed for the probable electrochemical transformation of the studied compound.

Tightly regulated and robust mitochondrial activities are critical for normal hearing. Previously, we demonstrated that Fus1/Tusc2 KO mice with mitochondrial dysfunction exhibit premature hearing loss. Molecular analysis of the cochlea revealed hyperactivation of the mTOR pathway, oxidative stress, and altered mitochondrial morphology and quantity, suggesting compromised energy sensing and production. Here, we investigated whether the pharmacological modulation of metabolic pathways using rapamycin (RAPA) or 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) supplementation can protect against hearing loss in female Fus1 KO mice. Additionally, we aimed to identify mitochondria- and Fus1/Tusc2-dependent molecular pathways and processes critical for hearing. We found that inhibiting mTOR or activating alternative mitochondrial energetic pathways to glycolysis protected hearing in the mice. Comparative gene expression analysis revealed the dysregulation of critical biological processes in the KO cochlea, including mitochondrial metabolism, neural and immune responses, and the cochlear hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis signaling system. RAPA and 2-DG mostly normalized these processes, although some genes showed a drug-specific response or no response at all. Interestingly, both drugs resulted in a pronounced upregulation of critical hearing-related genes not altered in the non-treated KO cochlea, including cytoskeletal and motor proteins and calcium-linked transporters and voltage-gated channels. These findings suggest that the pharmacological modulation of mitochondrial metabolism and bioenergetics may restore and activate processes critical for hearing, thereby protecting against hearing loss.

Acute and chronic kidney injuries induce increased cell cycle progression in renal tubules. While increased cell cycle progression promotes repair after acute injury, the role of ongoing tubular cell cycle progression in chronic kidney disease is unknown. Two weeks after initiation of chronic kidney disease, we blocked cell cycle progression at G1/S phase by using an FDA-approved, selective inhibitor of CDK4/6. Blocking CDK4/6 improved renal function and reduced tubular injury and fibrosis in 2 murine models of chronic kidney disease. However, selective deletion of cyclin D1, which complexes with CDK4/6 to promote cell cycle progression, paradoxically increased tubular injury. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) for CCND1 (cyclin D1) and the CDK4/6 inhibitor CDKN2B were associated with eGFR in genome-wide association studies. Consistent with the preclinical studies, reduced expression of CDKN2B correlated with lower eGFR values, and higher levels of CCND1 correlated with higher eGFR values. CDK4/6 inhibition promoted tubular cell survival, in part, through a STAT3/IL-1β pathway and was dependent upon on its effects on the cell cycle. Our data challenge the paradigm that tubular cell cycle progression is beneficial in the context of chronic kidney injury. Unlike the reparative role of cell cycle progression following acute kidney injury, these data suggest that blocking cell cycle progression by inhibiting CDK4/6, but not cyclin D1, protects against chronic kidney injury.

The synthesis of inhibitors for oxidative stress-associated destructive processes based on 2H-imidazole-derived phenolic compounds affording the bifunctional 2H-imidazole-derived phenolic compounds in good-to-excellent yields was reported. In particular, a series of bifunctional organic molecules of the 5-aryl-2H-imidazole family of various architectures bearing both electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents in the aryl fragment along with the different arrangements of the hydroxy groups in the polyphenol moiety, namely derivatives of phloroglucinol, pyrogallol, hydroxyquinol, including previously unknown water-soluble molecules, were studied. The structural and antioxidant properties of these bifunctional 5-aryl-2H-imidazoles were comprehensively studied. The redox transformations of the synthesized compounds were carried out. The integrated approach based on single and mixed mechanisms of antioxidant action, namely the AOC, ARC, Folin, and DPPH assays, were applied to estimate antioxidant activities. The relationship “structure-antioxidant properties” was established for each of the antioxidant action mechanisms. The conjugation effect was shown to result in a decrease in the mobility of the hydrogen atom, thus complicating the process of electron transfer in nearly all cases. On the contrary, the conjugation in imidazolyl substituted phloroglucinols was found to enhance their activity through the hydrogen transfer mechanism. Imidazole-derived polyphenolic compounds bearing the most electron-withdrawing functionality, namely the nitro group, were established to possess the higher values for both antioxidant and antiradical capacities. It was demonstrated that in the case of phloroglucinol derivatives, the conjugation effect resulted in a significant increase in the antiradical capacity (ARC) for a whole family of the considered 2H-imidazole-derived phenolic compounds in comparison with the corresponding unsubstituted phenols. Particularly, conjugation of the polyphenolic subunit with 2,2-dimethyl-5-(4-nitrophenyl)-2H-imidazol-4-yl fragment was shown to increase ARC from 2.26 to 5.16 (104 mol-eq/L). This means that the considered family of compounds is capable of exhibiting an antioxidant activity via transferring a hydrogen atom, exceeding the activity of known natural polyphenolic compounds.

This article presents the results of a study of electrochemical transformations in aqueous and aprotic media of 5-methyl-6-nitro-7-oxo-4,7-dihydro-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidinide l-arginine monohydrate (1a, Triazid) obtained by electrochemical methods and ESR spectroscopy. The effect of pH on the current and the reduction potential of 1a in an aqueous Britton–Robinson buffer solution was studied. It was found that 1a is irreversibly reduced in aqueous acidic media on a glassy carbon electrode in one stage with the participation of six electrons and the formation of 5-methyl-6-amino-7-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin. The electroreduction of 1a in DMF on a background of tetrabutylammonium salts proceeds in two stages, controlled by the kinetics of second-order reactions. In the first stage, the reduction of 1a is accompanied by protonation by the initial compound of the basic intermediate products formed in the electrode reaction (self-protonation mechanism). The second quasi-reversible stage of the electroreduction 1a corresponds to the formation of a dianion radical upon the reduction of the heterocyclic anion 5-methyl-6-nitro-7-oxo-4,7-dihydro-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin, which is formed upon the potentials of the first peak. The ESR spectrum of the radical dianion was recorded upon electroreduction of Triazid in the presence of Bu4NOH. The effect of the formation of ion pairs on the reversibility of the second peak of the 1a transformation is shown. A change in the rate and regioselectivity of the protonation of the dianion radical in the presence of Na+ and Li+ ions is assumed. The results of studying the electroreduction of 1a by ESR spectroscopy with a TEMPO trap make it possible to assume the simultaneous formation of both a nitroxyl radical and a radical with the spin density localized on the nitrogen at the 4 position of the six-membered ring.

Insufficient advances in the development of effective therapeutic treatments of sporadic Alzheimer's Disease (sAD) to date are largely due to the lack of sAD-relevant animal models. While the vast majority of models do recapitulate AD's hallmarks of plaques and tangles by virtue of tau and/or beta amyloid overexpression, these models do not reflect the fact that in sAD (unlike familial AD) these genes are not risk factors per se and that other mechanisms like oxidative stress, metabolic dysregulation and inflammation play key roles in AD etiology. Here we characterize and propose the Fus1 KO mice that lack a mitochondrial protein Fus1/Tusc2 as a new sAD model. To establish sAD relevance, we assessed sAD related deficits in Fus1 KO and WT adult mice of 4-5 months old, the equivalent human age when the earliest cognitive and olfactory sAD symptoms arise. Fus1 KO mice showed oxidative stress (increased levels of ROS, decreased levels of PRDX1), disruption of metabolic homeostasis (decreased levels of ACC2, increased phosphorylation of AMPK), autophagy (decreased levels of LC3-II), PKC (decreased levels of RACK1) and calcium signaling (decreased levels of Calb2) in the olfactory bulb and/or hippocampus. Mice were behaviorally tested using objective and accurate video tracking (Noldus), in which Fus1 KO mice showed clear deficits in olfactory memory (decreased habituation/cross-habituation in the short and long term), olfactory guided navigation memory (inability to reduce their latency to find the hidden cookie), spatial memory (learning impairments on finding the platform in the Morris water maze) and showed more sleep time during the diurnal cycle. Fus1 KO mice did not show clear deficits in olfactory perception (cross-habituation), association memory (passive avoidance) or in species-typical behavior (nest building) and no increased anxiety (open field, light-dark box) or depression/anhedonia (sucrose preference) at this relatively young age. These neurobehavioral deficits of the Fus1 KO mice at this relatively young age are highly relevant to sAD, making them suitable for effective research on pharmacological targets in the context of early intervention of sAD.