Orientador: Iracilda Zeppone Carlos / Banca: Alexandre Duharte / Banca: Filipe Vieira Rocha / Resumo: O câncer, manifestação originada pelo crescimento descontrolado de células, afeta milhões de indivíduos e é uma das principais causas de morte em todo mundo. Tendo em vista que os fármacos atualmente disponíveis para o tratamento apresentam eficácia limitada (como a cisplatina) comumente atrelada à alta toxicidade, a busca por novos compostos capazes de combater células cancerígenas é uma necessidade premente. Com isso, cresce o interesse de se investigar novas substâncias que não sejam tóxicas, mas sim seletivas. Os compostos de paládio(II) têm sido estudados como uma alternativa aos fármacos disponíveis, mostrando-se promissores por sua menor toxicidade e capacidade de estimular a resposta imune antitumoral. Os macrófagos são as primeiras células a serem ativadas para participar de uma resposta imunológica propriamente dita e são células capazes de secretar mais de cem produtos biologicamente ativos, entre esses, espécies reativas de nitrogênio e citocinas atuantes na resposta imunológica e na formação tecidual. Neste trabalho foram testados sete compostos de paládio(II) quanto ao potencial imunológico e antitumoral, sendo eles: [Pd(dmba)(μ-Cl)]2 (1), [Pd(dmba)(μ-N3)]2•H2O (2), [Pd(dmba)(μ-NCO)]2 (3), [Pd(dmba)Cl(isn)] (4), [Pd(dmba)(N3)(isn)] (5), [Pd(dmba)(NCO)(isn)] (6) {DMBA= N,Ndimetilbenzilamina; ISN= isonicotinamida; Cl= cloro; N3= azida; e NCO= cianato}; e [Pd(Cdmba)( NCS)(dppp)] (7) {DMBA = N,N-dimetilbenzilamina; NCS = tiocianato e DPPP = difenilfosfinapropano}. Os compostos foram testados quanto pelo teste colorimétrico de MTT, brometo de 3-[4,5-dimetiltiazol-2-il]-2,5-difenil-tetrazólio. Os compostos que apresentaram melhores resultados (3,4 e 7, em comparação com a cisplatina), foram submetidos ao teste do MTT a fim de traçar seu perfil citotóxico e citostático frente a linhagem celular LM3 (carcinoma mamário murino), além de quantificar citocinas e analisar a apoptose por Citometria ... / Abstract: The cancer manifestation caused by uncontrolled growth of cells, affects millions of individuals and is a major cause of death worldwide. Considering that the drugs currently available for the treatment of limited efficacy (such as cisplatin) commonly linked to high toxicity, the search for new compounds capable of fighting cancer cells is urgently needed. With this growing interest in investigating new substances that are not toxic, but selective. Compounds of palladium(II) have been studied as an alternative to available drugs showing be promising for its low toxicity and ability to stimulate antitumor immune response. Macrophages are the first cells to be activated to participate in an immune response itself and cells are able to secrete more than hundred biologically active products, among these, reactive nitrogen species and active cytokines in the immune response and tissue formation. In this work seven compounds of palladium(II) were tested for potential antitumor and immune being: [Pd(dmba) (μ-Cl)]2 (1), [Pd(dma)(μ-N3)]2•H2O (2), [Pd (dmba)(μ-NCO)]2 (3), [Pd(dmba)Cl(isn)] (4), [Pd(dmba)(N3)(isn)] (5), [Pd(dmba)(NCO)(isn)] (6) {DMBA = N, Ndimethylbenzylamine; ISN = -isonicotinamide; Cl = chloro; N3 = azide; and NCO = cyanate}; and [Pd(C-dmba)(NCS)(dppp)] (7) = {DMBA = N,N‟ - dimethylbenzylamine; NCS= thiocyanate and DPPP = difenilfosfinapropano}. The compounds were tested by colorimetric assay of MTT, 3 [4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl] -2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium. Compounds that showed better results (3.4 and 7, compared with cisplatin) were subjected to the MTT assay in order to trace their cytostatic and cytotoxic profile against LM3 cell line (murine mammary carcinoma), and analysis of apoptosis Flow Cytometry results involving cytotoxicity on these two cell types showed that each compound acts differently. Featured, against LM3 lineage compound 3 showed efficacy at a concentration of 25 mg / mL, as compound 4 showed the best ... / Mestre

Muitas naftoquinonas como o lapachol, podem ser encontradas em plantas da família Bignoniaceae e são conhecidas por desempenharem diversas atividades biológicas, acompanhadas, entretanto, por efeitos indesejáveis. A atividade citotóxica apresentada pelas naftoquinonas está relacionada ao aparecimento de espécies reativas de oxigênio in vivo que causam severo estresse oxidativo no interior das células. O isolapachol e a atovaquona são análogos estruturais do lapachol, sendo que a atovaquona é comercializada como fármaco para o tratamento de malária e certos tipos de pneumonia. Devido ao grande potencial biológico apresentado pelas naftoquinonas, várias tentativas no sentido de obtenção de derivados desprovidos de efeitos colaterais vêm sendo realizadas. Além disso, a determinação da segurança e eficácia dos fármacos está intimamente ligada ao estudo da formação de derivados in vivo por ocasião do metabolismo. A utilização de fungos filamentosos na predição do metabolismo que os fármacos sofreriam após administração oral, bem como de bactérias do trato gastrointestinal, pode contribuir substancialmente para a elucidação da rota metabólica de fármacos fornecendo informações sobre a geração de substâncias farmacologicamente ativas, inativas ou tóxicas e ainda sobre a produção de substâncias capazes de inibir a biotransformação de outros fármacos. Estudos de biotransformação também podem contribuir para a obtenção de novos esqueletos químicos. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho relata estudos do metabolismo microbiano do lapachol e do seu sal de potássio por bactérias do trato gastrointestinal e fungos filamentosos, além da correlação desses com as reações que ocorrem quando o isolapachol e a atovaquona são utilizados como substratos para os mesmos micro-organismos. Os experimentos de biotransformação utilizando lapachol e seu sal de potássio foram conduzidos por até dez dias, em diferentes meios de cultura, empregando-se quatro linhagens de bactérias presentes no trato gastrointestinal, além de 11 linhagens de fungos filamentosos. Foram obtidos sete metabólitos, sendo dois inéditos e dois anteriormente detectados em estudos sobre o metabolismo do lapachol em mamíferos. Durante a realização dos experimentos com o fungo filamentoso Aspergillus brasiliensis verificou-se a capacidade desse fungo em mimetizar uma reação muito importante em química orgânica, conhecida como oxidação de Hooker. As condições mais promissoras para a biotransformação do lapachol foram utilizadas nos estudos com a atovaquona e o isolapachol. A biotransformação da atovaquona possibilitou, pela primeira vez, a caracterização estrutural de um metabólito desse fármaco. Já os estudos realizados com o isolapachol permitiram inferências sobre a especificidade enzimática apresentada pelos micro-organismos avaliados. Todos os metabólitos obtidos foram submetidos aos ensaios de citotoxicidade frente a linhagens celulares normais e tumorais, o que possibilitou obter conclusões sobre a relação estrutura-atividade e sobre a citotoxicidade seletiva apresentada pelos metabólitos. Destaca-se o resultado obtido com um dos metabólitos do lapachol, ?-xiloidona, o qual se mostrou mais tóxico para a linhagem tumoral que o lapachol e não apresentou toxicidade frente à linhagem normal. O metabólito obtido a partir da biotransformação da atovaquona apresentou maior toxicidade não seletiva que a substância de partida. / Several naphthoquinones, as lapachol, can be found in the Bignoniaceae family and they present several biological activities with some unwanted effects. The cytotoxic activity displayed by naphthoquinones is correlated to the presence of reactive oxygen species, which are formed in vivo and cause severe oxidative stress within cells. Isolapachol and atovaquone are structural analogs of lapachol, and atovaquone is in the market as a drug for the treatment of malaria and some types of pneumonia. Because of the great biological potential presented by naphthoquinones, several studies have been carried out to obtain derivatives without side effects. Furthermore, the drug safety and efficacy are closely related to the study of the formation of in vivo derivatives during metabolism. The filamentous fungi and the bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract can be used in the prediction of drug metabolism after oral administration, which is an interesting tool to elucidation of the metabolic pathway of drugs, providing information on the generation of pharmacologically active, inactive or toxic substances and still on the production of compounds able to inhibit the biotransformation of other drugs. Biotransformation studies can also contribute to the obtention of new chemical skeletons (hits). Thus, the present work reports the study about the microbial metabolism of lapachol and its potassium salt by filamentous fungi and bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract, beyond the correlation of the reactions that occur when the isolapachol and atovaquone are used as substrates for the same microorganisms. The biotransformations of lapachol and its potassium salt were evaluated for up to ten days, in different culture media, catalyzed by four bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract and 11 filamentous fungi strains. Seven metabolites were obtained, from which two are new and two were previously detected in the mammals metabolism of lapachol. The filamentous fungus Aspergillus brasiliensis showed to be capable of mimicking the Hooker oxidation, an important organic chemistry reaction. The best conditions for the lapachol biotransformation have been used in the studies with isolapachol and atovaquone. The atovaquone biotransformation provided, for the first time, the structural characterization of a metabolite from this drug. The studies with isolapachol allowed inferences about the enzyme specificity shown by the evaluated microorganisms. All obtained metabolites were submitted to cytotoxicity assays against human cancer and tumoral cell lines. Several conclusions about the structure activity relationship and about the selective cytotoxicity showed by the metabolites were taken. It should be highlighted the obtained result with a lapachol metabolite, ?-xyloidone, which showed to be more toxic than lapachol against tumoral cell line and did not show cytotoxicity to normal cell line. The atovaquone metabolite displayed higher toxicity than pattern structure, and this activity was not selective.

No description available.

Magister Scientiae (Medical Bioscience) - MSc(MBS) / This study investigated the effect of the C. capensis extract (0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 1000 μg/ml) on LNCaP prostate cancer, TM3 Leydig and TM4 Sertoli cells for 24 and 96 hours. The following parameters were investigated: morphology, cell viability (XTT), testosterone modulation, DNA fragmentation (TUNEL), lactate dehydrogenase activity (LDH), testosterone production, anti-cancer drug combination. In a separate set of experiments, parameters affecting the initiation, progression and metastasis of cancer were investigated. These included the ability of the aqueous C. capensis rhizome extract to inhibit of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) production, and to inhibit collagenase and elastase activity.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developed and developing nations. It is estimated that 86% of new cases and 64% of death due to cancer are from Africa and 13.1 million deaths are estimated to occur worldwide by the year 2030. Cancer death rates have not subsided despite recent advances in cancer drug development and treatment. Present cancer drug regimens are limited due to unpredictable efficiency, severe side effects, resistance and high cost. Plants provide a vast array of natural compounds such as terpenoids, phenolics and alkaloids with antiproliferative pro-apoptotic and antioxidant effects. Plants are principal sources of compounds for drug discovery and development of several clinically proven useful anticancer drugs. The present study focused on the isolation of compounds from the Holarrhena floribunda (H. floribunda) leaves for their potential anticancer activities. Standard methods were employed to assess the antiproliferative potential, apoptosis, cell cycle analysis and reactive oxygen species of the methanolic leaf extract (MLE) of H. floribunda. The standard methods of isolation such as column chromatography, thin layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were used to isolate and purify bioactive compounds from the leaves. To elucidate the mechanism of cytotoxicity of the isolated compounds, apoptosis effect was studied by flow cytometry analysis using the ApopercentageTM dye, Annexin-V/PI stain, induction of caspase-3 using the Caspase-3/7 Glo assay kit and PARP-1 deactivation using Western blot analysis. The mode of action was further assessed by evaluating reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial toxicity, light and fluorescent microscopic morphological evaluations of F-actin and topoisomerase-I relaxation assay. In addition, potential cancer prevention of the plant was also evaluated by assessing the antioxidant activity of the flavonoids compounds isolated from the MLE.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The emergence of multiple drug resistant microorganisms poses a major threat to human life. These microorganisms have made the currently used antibiotics ineffective and therefore continue to thrive. Therefore, there is a need for development of new, broad-secptrum antibiotics which is effective against almost every infectious microorganism. These antibiotics should ensure high effectiveness against the infectious pathogens while it is less detrimental to human health. Thus the search is channelled in nanoscience and nanotechnology in order to develop antibiotics that can kill infectious microorganisms effectively and hindering the development of drug resistance by these microorganisms. Nanoscience is the study of properties of a material when reduced to it smallest size (below 100 nm). It is a newly developing field of science which includes chemistry, physics and biology and has made it easy to synthesise nanomaterials for applications in many sectors of life including in medicine. The synthesis of nanoparticles can be achieved by physical and chemical methods. However, these methods are energy and capital intensive. Additionally, chemical method of synthesis uses chemicals that may be toxic which restrict the use of resultant nanoparticles in medicine. Therefore, there is a need for the use of eco-friendly methods of nanoparticle synthesis. The synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles in this study was carried out by a green synthesis method, at room temperature, using an aqueous extract from the endemic brown alga Sargassum incisifolium. For comparison, commercially available brown algal fucoidans were also used to synthesise these nanoparticle, in addition to conventional methods of synthesis. The formation of nanoparticles was followed by the use of UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The characterization of the nanoparticles was done by TEM, XRD, DLZ and FT-IR. The rate of nanoparticle formation varied with specific reducing agent used. The faster reaction rate was recorded with S. incisifolium aqueous extracts pretreated with organic solvents while extracts obtained without this pretreatment produced slightly slower reaction rates. However, the commercially available fucoidans were less effective and required elevated temperatures for nanoparticle formation. Sodium borohydride reduction of silver nitrate was faster than the biological methods while the reduction of auric chloride by the S. incisifolium extracts and sodium citrate proceeded at similar rates. The nanoparticles synthesised with the help of the untreated aqueous extract were bigger than those synthesised from pre-treated extracts with both giving irregular shaped of nanoparticles. Also the nanoparticles formed from commercially available fucoidans were not of the same size, with bigger sizes recorded with Macrocystis fucoidan and smaller sizes with Fucus fucoidan. The shapes of nanoparticles from these fucoidans were spherical. From the conventional method, the nanoparticle sizes were smaller compared to the green synthesised nanoparticles and were predominantly spherical. The silver nanoparticles synthesised from the Sargassum aqueous extracts showed excellent antimicrobial activity against five pathogenic microorganisms including A. baumannii, K. pneumoniae, E. faecalis, S. aureus, and C. albicans. The gold nanoparticles were much less effective. To adequately assess the antimicrobial activities of the nanoparticles, it is or paramount importance to also asses their cytotoxicity activity. Three cell lines were used in this study namely, MCF-7, HT-29 and MCF-12a. The silver nanoparticles were found to be toxic to HT-29 and MCF-7 cell lines, exhibiting sligtly less toxicity against MCF-12a cells. The gold nanoparticles showed lower toxicity but a similar trend was observed.

Please read the abstract in the dissertation Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Physiology / unrestricted

Targeting the mutant BRAF and immunotherapy are new approaches to the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma that has significantly improved survival but is associated with significant toxicity and cost. Potent and specific BRAF inhibitors like vemurafenib and dabrafenib are superior to chemotherapy in treatment of BRAF mutant melanomas which represent nearly 50% of all melanomas. A less toxic approach to treatment of malignant melanoma is hence appealing. Delta-tocotrienol (DT3), an unsaturated vitamin E isoform, and simvastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor have been shown to have anti-neoplastic properties. We studied the effects of these chemicals in both BRAF-mutated SK-MEL-28 and BRAF-wild type SK-MEL-2 melanoma cells. MTS assays were used to analyze cytotoxicity. SK-MEL-28 and SK-MEL-2 cells were cultured in MEM media containing 10% serum and plated in 96-well culture plates for 48 hours then treated with DT3 (0-80 µM), simvastatin (0-10 µM), or a combination and dosed again at 72 hours. SK-MEL-28 and SK-MEL-2 cells were grown in 60 mm plates and treated with DT3 at concentrations of 30 µM, simvastatin at concentrations of 10 µM and combination of DT3 and simvastatin at concentrations of 10 µM and 2 µM. Cell were lysed with RIPPA buffer with protease and phosphatase inhibitor after 6 hours of treatment. Protein concentration of cell lysates was measured spectrophotometrically (GLO Max Multi+, Promega), using a BCA protein assay kit. The samples were run in SDS PAGE and blotted onto nitrocellulose membranes. Membranes were incubated with antibodies against Hsp 70 (Enzo Life Sciences, Farmingdale, NY), Hsp 90 (Santa Cruz, Dallas, TX), pS6 and pERK (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA) and pAKT. Using MTS assay, we found that DT3 (IC50 75.2 μM) and simvastatin (IC50 8.3μM) have cytotoxic effects on melanoma cell line SK-MEL-2, but not on the SK-MEL-28 cells DT3 and simvastatin at the concentrations studied (10-80 μM DT3) and (0.625- 10 μM simvastatin). Further studies determined that simvastatin decreased expression of pS6, pERK on SK-MEL-2 and not DT3. However, these effects are different in SK-MEL-28 cells where there is only decrease in expression of pS6; treated SK-MEL-2 cells also show over-expression of Hsp70 suggestive of a rescue effect leading to lesser cytotoxic activity. The selective cytotoxicity observed in wild type BRAF melanoma cell lines by DT3 and simvastatin warrants further research into the potential therapeutic use of these drugs. A differential cytotoxicity is shown by DT3 and simvastatin in malignant melanoma cells with selective more potency in wild type BRAF melanoma compared to mutant BRAF melanoma cells. Further studies will be undertaken to dissect the mechanistic basis of this differential response.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Introduction: Biocompatibility of all kinds of dental materials is of paramount importance In order to prevent/limit irritation or degeneration of the surrounding tissues where it is applied. Some researchers suggested that dentine bonding agents may be used for pulpal protection, while pulpal inflammation and inhibition of pulpal repair following the use of dentine bonding agents were also reported. Objectives: The first part of this study compared the cytotoxicity of human pulp cell lines to a mouse 3T3 cell line to cytotoxic challenges from dentine bonding agents. The second part of the study compared the cytotoxicity of recent dentine bonding agents namely, Scotchbond 1, Prime & Bond NTand Xeno III through artificial membranes as well as thin dentine discs (after its reaction with apatite) and Clearfil Protect Bond (CPB)as such, as well as the primer part of CPBand the bond part of CPB separately. Methods and Materials: Near confluent human pulp cells and 3T3 cells were exposed to culture medium (DMEM)extractions from the various polymerized agents mentioned above and the cell viability (survival rate) was measured using the standard MTTassay and related to the non-exposed controls. Results: Two human pulp cells lines were more sensitive to 3T3 cell lines while the other human cell line was less sensitive to the 3T3 cell line. All bonding agents as such were found to be cytotoxic towards the 3T3 cells with Xeno III (25%survival rate) and CPB (35%)the most cytotoxic. Of the two parts from CPB the bond part was the least toxic (91% survival rate), but the primer part (containing the anti-bacterial pyridinium molecule) was very toxic (30% survival rate). ScotchBond 1 (59% survival rate) and Prime & Bond NT (62% survival rate) were not statistically different (Kruskal-Wallis Test, p>0.05). However,the survival rate of Xeno III (25% through membrane as well as dentine discs) and Clearfil Protect Bond (35%) were significantly lower than that of the other two bonding agents, with Xeno III significantly the most toxic (p<0.05 ) Conclusion: In general, all 4 dentine bonding agents were cytotoxic of which Xeno III was the most toxic even after its reaction with apatite (through dentine discs). The most toxic part of CPB was found to be the primer part containing the pyridinium linked molecule. If human pulp fibroblasts are used for cytotoxicity testing of dentine bonding agents many cell lines must be used.

This study evaluated the potential toxicity, genotoxicity, and cellular uptake of various sizes and concentrations of chitosan (CS) nanoparticles cultured with normal human dental pulp cells. Normal human dental pulp cells (hDPCs) were derived from human dental pulp tissues and cultured with (50–67) nm and (318–350) nm CS-nanoparticles in concentrations of 0.1 mg/mL, 0.5 mg/mL, 1 mg/mL, 2 mg/mL, and 4 mg/mL as study groups and 0 mg/mL as a control group for time intervals of 16 hours, 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days and 14 days. Attachment efficiency and proliferation rate were assessed by measuring the optical density of crystal violet-stained cells. Cell viability was determined by the activity of mitochondrial dehydrogenase enzymes. Genotoxicity was assessed using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus method and by measuring the fluorescent intensity of phosphorylated H2AX nuclear foci. Cellular uptake was determined by tagging chitosan nanoparticles with FITC stain and then measuring the fluorescence intensity of FITC-tagged chitosan nanoparticles using a spectrophotometer. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square, one-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey tests. All concentrations of the (50–67) nm group significantly reduced attachment efficiency in comparison with control (P< 0.01) and with (318–350) nm group (p<0.01). Proliferation rate and cell viability were significantly reduced in cells exposed to various concentrations of (50-67) nm chitosan when compared to (318-350) nm group (P<0.05) and control group (P<0.05). For both size groups, higher concentrations significantly showed lower proliferation rate and cell viability when compared to lower concentration (P< 0.01). CS-nanoparticles were able to internalize hDPCs and significantly induced micronuclei, nuclear buds, and pH2AX at concentrations of 0.5 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL as compared to 0.1 mg/mL (P<0.01) and control groups (P< 0.01). At both the 0.5 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL concentrations, (50–67) nm chitosan significantly induced higher proportions of micronuclei (P= 0.001), nuclear buds (P= 0.009), and pH2AX nuclear foci (P= 0.00004) compared to (318–350) nm chitosan. In conclusion, CS-nanoparticles at sizes (50–67) nm and (318–350) nm at a concentration of (0.5–4) mg/mL internalized hDPCs and exhibited cytotoxic and genotoxic effects in dose-dependent and size-associated manners.