Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:33:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:33:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:35:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:45:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:59:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 07292.pdf: 3690295 bytes, checksum: fe8b400565cb5d797d3469e34c937568 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP / FAPESP:99/00117-6

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:33:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / O 123I e 131I são dois radioisótopos de iodo amplamente utilizados em medicina nuclear. O 123I é utilizado para diagnóstico através da técnica de SPECT e produzido no IPEN em cíclotron a partir da reação 124Xe (p,2n)123Cs->123Xe-> 123I. Já o 131I pode ser utilizado tanto para o diagnóstico quanto para o tratamento devido às suas características físicas de decaimento β- e sua elevada emissão de raios-γ. Sua produção no IPEN é realizada utilizando um reator nuclear a partir da reação indireta: 130Te(n, γ)->131Te->131I, onde são irradiados alvos contendo Te. Os radiofármacos preparados com estes radioisótopos passam por um rigoroso controle de qualidade onde a pureza química dos radioisótopos primários 123I e 131I está dentro dos limites estabelecidos atualmente. Entretanto, a presença de alguns contaminantes químicos prejudica a marcação de biomoléculas (anticorpos monoclonais e peptídeos) que produziriam radiofármacos de primeira geração para a área de oncologia. Com isso, o objetivo deste trabalho consiste na obtenção de um método de purificação dos radionuclídeos 123I e 131I para uma maior eficiência na marcação de biomoléculas, estabelecendo também controle do processo nos métodos de produção destes radioisótopos. A metodologia foi dividida em 3 etapas: Determinação da pureza radionuclídica através da análise de amostras de 123I e 131I no detector de germânio-hiperpuro (HPGe), determinação da pureza química de 123I e 131I através da técnica de ICP-OES e análise do comportamento de 131I em diversos adsorvedores para posterior utilização dos adsorvedores mais adequados para os testes de purificação, analisando o comportamento dos possíveis contaminantes. Quanto a pureza radionuclídica, pode-se observar a presença de radionuclídeos de Te e Co nas amostras de 131I e radionuclídeos de Te, Tc e Co para 123I. A análise de pureza química determinou a presença principalmente de Al e Mo nas amostras de 123I, provenientes do material do porta-alvo e da janela do porta-alvo e Al e Te nas amostras de 131I, provenientes da cápsula de Al utilizada na irradiação e do alvo, respectivamente. O estudo de retenção e eluição de 131I selecionou os meios adsorvedores mais promissores para sua purificação, no caso a resina catiônica Dowex 50WX4 que apresentou excelente eluição de 131I e retenção das impurezas radionuclídicas presentes em sua solução. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:35:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Staphylococcus aureus é um dos principais microorganismos causadores de infecção em humanos, podendo causar inclusive bacteremia e endocardite nos indivíduos infectados. Diversas cepas desta bactéria apresentam resistência a diferentes tipos de antibióticos, dentre eles os antibióticos meticilina e amoxicilina, como no caso da bactéria Staphylococcus aureus resistente à meticilina (MRSA). A Proteína ligadora de Penicilina 2a (PBP2a) é a enzima responsável por conferir resistência para a MRSA aos antibióticos β-lactâmicos, sendo uma molécula promissora para terapia com AcM. No entanto, além das terapias os métodos de diagnóstico também são ineficientes, pois atualmente o diagnóstico leva vários dias para produzir um resultado confiável. O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver um radiofármaco utilizando o AcM anti-PBP2a, desenvolvido em Bio-Manguinhos/FioCruz, marcado com 99mTc, para identificação in situ do foco infeccioso causado por MRSA. Neste trabalho, incialmente o AcM anti-PBP2a foi reduzido com o agente redutor 2-mercaptoetanol (2-ME), para gerar grupos sulfidrilas (- SH). Logo após foram utilizados dois diferentes métodos da Marcação Direta: o Método 1, utilizando o reagente tartarato e o ácido gentísico, que atuam como agente transquelante e estabilizador, respectivamente; e o Método 2, utilizando um kit comercial de MDP, no qual o MDP atua como agente transquelante. Após a marcação do anticorpo, o radiofármaco foi submetido a ensaios de avaliação funcional, utilizando os métodos de eletroforese em gel SDS-PAGE não redutor; Immunoblotting; ELISA e o Ensaio de Neutralização in vitro. Como resultado foi visto que a quantidade média de grupos sulfidrilas produzida por AcM foi considerada satisfatória, cerca de 5 grupos SH por IgG, utilizando para isto a relação molar de 6.500:1 de 2-ME:AcM. O Método 2 foi o método que obteve melhor rendimento de marcação, com 73,5%, apresentando boa estabilidade depois de 2 horas (73,2%). A melhor formulação utilizada foi a seguinte: 0,5 mg de AcM anti-PBP2a; 10 μL do kit do MDP, depois de ser resuspendido com 5 mL de solução salina; e 75,48 MBq (2,04 mCi) de 99mTc, a reação ocorrendo em 15 minutos. Os Ensaios de Avaliação Funcional demonstraram que o AcM manteve a especificidade e afinidade de ligação à PBP2a. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

The kinetics of protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation are tightly controlled by specific kinases and phosphatases; disturbances are often disease-causing. Phosphorylation kinetics are normally monitored using radioactive isotopes of phosphorus, or by using stop-flow techniques. Approaches using mass spectrometry are severely limited by the lack of a stable isotope of phosphorus (other than 31P). The principal aim of this study is to develop a new method to incorporate 18O label into phosphorylation sites of phosphoproteins with a view of applying this method to enhance the detection of phosphorylation by mass spectrometry and to analyze the phosphorylation kinetics of proteins. Aurora-A kinase was selected to explore the possibility of using 18O-labelling to monitor phosphorylation kinetics. The kinase is well characterized, phosphorylated both in human cells and when expressed in recombinant form in E. coli and it contributes to development of some cancers when deregulated. Applying different mass spectrometric approaches resulted in the identification of 19 phosphorylation sites of Aurora-A including five new sites. Using H3P18O4 as a label donor to incorporate 18O into Aurora-A phosphorylation sites showed partial and inconsistent label incorporation. Alternatively, H218O was used to investigate the possibility of label incorporation. Preliminary results, however, showed high complex data which hampered precise identification of phosphopeptides and their labelling state. The labelling experiment was then redesigned in which induction took place in label free medium to allow the light version of the kinase to accumulate, before chasing with 18O label. This design successfully introduced fully labelled P18O3 into Aurora-A phosphorylation sites. LC ESI Q-ToF analysis of 18O labelled Aurora-A sample isolated according to this protocol identified 30 phosphopeptides showing label incorporation, which is double the number of phosphopeptides identified by MASCOT using the same MS analysis. The method was also used to investigate phosphorylation kinetics of Aurora-A. The results suggested differential regulation of phosphorylation sites of Aurora-A as some sites showed early phosphorylation while others were phosphorylated at later stages. Overall, a new approach was developed for enhanced detection of phosphorylation sites and analysis of phosphorylation kinetics.

Chemical transformations that join two molecular components together rapidly while remaining highly efficient and selective are valued for their elegant simplicity and effectiveness in a myriad of applications. By applying the principles of ‘click’ chemistry to biology, information about molecular interactions in vivo can therefore be gained from minimally perturbing bioorthogonal coupling reactions. Developing bioorthogonal ‘click’ reactions – reactions that do not cross-react with biological components – provides new ways to accurately study biological systems at the molecular level. This thesis describes the development of such tools. Strain-promoted alkyne-nitrone cycloadditions (SPANC) represent rapid, efficient, selective, and tunable conjugation strategies that are applicable to biomolecular labelling experiments. Herein, SPANC reactions with bicyclo[6.1.0]nonyne are examined using physical organic methods to determine the stereoelectronic factors governing SPANC reactivity. Second-order rate constants (k2) of up to 1.49 M-1s-1 were measured and the resulting cycloadditions are applied to the design and synthesis of nitrone-based molecular probes. The first example of SPANC-mediated metabolic labelling in live-cell bacteria is reported, establishing SPANC as an efficient and bioorthogonal metabolic labelling strategy for cellular labelling.

Fluorescent protein labelling is a powerful tool for the sensitive visualization of proteins in living cells, allowing the elucidation of their localization, trafficking and ultimately their cellular function. We have developed a novel labelling technique based on the genetic fusion of a protein of interest to a small helical peptide sequence containing two Cys residues (dC10). This tag can undergo an efficient reaction with small fluorogenic labelling agents composed of a fluorophore and a dimaleimide core (dM10) that confers high reaction specificity, and quenches the latent fluorescence through photo-induced electron transfer, until both of its maleimide groups have formed robust covalent bonds with the tag Cys thiol groups. Our initial efforts at intracellular protein labelling demonstrated the importance of the selectivity of the labelling reaction, which is dependent on the reactivity of the dC10 tag. To that end, we re-engineered the dC10 tag through rational protein design. Mutant libraries were prepared through combinatorial mutation at specific positions of the helical tag sequence, and screened for their fluorogenic reactivity. In this way, we identified a novel sequence for a next-generation dC10 tag that confers 10-fold greater selectivity that we then applied to in cellulo labelling. Subsequent mechanistic studies revealed the basis for this dramatic increase in reactivity. Current applications of this powerful labelling technique, including the site-specific chelation of lanthanide ions for NMR spectroscopy and site-specific covalent heavy-atom labelling for X-ray crystallography, will also be discussed.

In recent years, natural health products in food formats with higher levels of added vitamins and minerals, amino acids, herbal ingredients and bioactives sought and were granted market access in Canada. Since these food products, referred to as supplemented foods (SFs), are sold alongside conventional foods and lack features that clearly distinguish them from other foods, there is a potential for confusion among consumers as to the appropriate use of these products. There is no research evaluating the nutrition labelling approaches for these foods, and what consumers need in a labelling approach to be able to identify these food products and distinguish them from other foods, determine what the supplemental ingredients are and understand any directions or cautions for use of these foods. To determine key components of an appropriate labelling approach, interviews and discussion groups were conducted in the National Capital Region and the surrounding area to assess consumer access, understanding and appraisal of these foods, using current and tested labelling strategies. Consumer feedback consistently indicated that the current labelling is insufficient for awareness, understanding, appraisal and appropriate use of supplemented foods. Tested labelling components that facilitated awareness, understanding, and appraisal of supplemented foods included a symbol based supplemented food product identifier with the wording “Supplemented” on the front of the package, a “Supplemented” information box containing a listing of the name and amount of each supplemental ingredient and cautionary labelling in proximity to the supplemental ingredient labelling. These key labelling components are to be integrated into a web-based mock-package trial that will objectively test these labelling tools on a large sample of Canadian consumers (n=4000).