It is well established that atherosclerosis, an inflammatory response to chronic injury in the blood vessel wall, plays a leading role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) over-activation has been implicated in atherosclerosis. In mineralocorticoid-target tissues, 11β- Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2) inactivates glucocorticoids, conferring aldosterone specificity upon the normally unselective MR. Recent evidence suggests that 11β-HSD2 may also afford protection of MR in the cells of the vasculature, providing possible mechanisms by which MR activation may directly promote atherosclerosis. Consistent with this, Apoe-/-/11β-HSD2-/- double knockout (DKO) mice show accelerated atheroma development. The present thesis tested the hypothesis that inactivation of 11β-HSD2, allowing inappropriate activation of MR in cells of the vasculature, accelerates atherogenesis through promotion of a pro-inflammatory environment with increased endothelial cell expression of adhesion molecules and subsequent macrophage infiltration into plaques. DKO mice received either the MR antagonist eplerenone (200mg/kg/day) or vehicle in normal chow diet from 2 months of age for 12 weeks. Eplerenone significantly decreased atherosclerotic burden in brachiocephalic arteries of DKO mice, an effect that was accompanied by alterations in the cellular composition of plaques such that a more stable collagen- and smooth muscle cell- rich plaque was formed. Eplerenone treatment was also associated with a reduction in vascular inflammation as demonstrated by a significant reduction in macrophage infiltration into DKO plaques. The accelerated atherogenesis in DKO mice was clearly evident by 3 months of age, a time point at which Apoe-/- mice were completely lesion free. By 6 months, some Apoe-/- mice had developed lesions whilst all DKO mice at this age showed much larger plaques. Compared to Apoe-/- mice, the cellular composition of DKO plaques was altered favouring vulnerability and inflammation, with increased macrophage and lipid content and decreased collagen content. To investigate the possible underlying mechanisms responsible for increased inflammatory cell content, the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) was compared in DKO and Apoe-/- brachiocephalic arteries. VCAM-1 immunostaining was significantly greater on the endothelial cells of DKO arteries at 3 months compared to age-matched Apoe-/- mice. At 6 months, DKO and Apoe-/- mice had similar expression of VCAM-1. Finally, mouse aortic endothelial cells (MAECs) were used to investigate the mechanism of adhesion molecule up-regulation in the absence of 11β-HSD2. Both aldosterone and TNF-α, included as a positive control, dramatically increased VCAM-1 expression in MAECs. Spironolactone pre-treatment blocked the effect of aldosterone, suggesting an MR-mediated mechanism. Corticosterone alone had no effect on VCAM-1 expression. However, inhibition of 11β-HSD2 by pre-treatment with glycyrrhetinic acid allowed corticosterone to induce a significant increase in the number of VCAM-1-stained MAECs, demonstrating functional expression of 11β- HSD2 in MAECs. Consistent with 11β-HSD2 involvement, VCAM-1 up-regulation by corticosterone in the presence of glycyrrhetinic acid was reversed by blockade of MR with spironolactone. In conclusion, loss of 11β-HSD2 activity leading to inappropriate activation of MR in atherosclerotic mice promotes plaque vulnerability and increases vascular infiltration of macrophages which accelerates plaque growth, possibly through enhanced MR- mediated endothelial cell expression of VCAM-1.

<p>The optimal way to detect and treat cancer is to target cancer cells exclusively without affecting the surrounding tissue. One promising approach is to use radiolabelled molecules to target receptors that are overexpressed in cancer cells. Since the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family is overexpressed in many types of cancer, it is an attractive target for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications.</p><p>This thesis can be divided into two parts. In part one (paper I), studies were conducted to modulate radionuclide uptake in tumour cells. The results showed that it was possible to modulate the cellular uptake of ¹²⁵I delivered by trastuzumab (targeting HER2) by adding EGF (targeting EGFR).</p><p>In part two (papers II-V) a high affinity EGFR-targeting affibody molecule (Z_EGFR:955)₂ was selected and analysed both <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. In papers II, III and V, the results obtained when using (Z_EGFR:955)₂ were compared with those obtained with the two EGFR-binding molecules, EGF and cetuximab. These studies demonstrated that the affibody molecule bound specifically to EGFR (probably to subdomain III) with high affinity (~50 nM in biosensor analysis and ~1 nM in cellular studies) and produced intracellular signalling changes similar to those with cetuximab. In paper IV, <i>in vivo</i> studies were made, demonstrating that [¹¹¹In](Z_EGFR:955)₂ gave a tumour-specific ¹¹¹In uptake of 3.8±1.4% of injected dose per gram tumour tissue, 4 h post-injection. The tumours could be easily visualized with a gamma camera at this time-point. </p><p>The results of these studies indicated that the affibody molecule (Z_EGFR:955)₂ is a possible candidate for radionuclide-based imaging of EGFR-expressing tumours. The biological effects of (Z_EGFR:955)₂ might be of interest for therapy applications.</p>

Kinetic data is presented for a variety of ion-neutral reactions which are relevant to the atmosphere of Titan and to the chemistry occurring in interstellar clouds. The data were recorded with a Selected Ion Flow Tube (SIFT) operating at room temperature (294 ± 4 K) and at a pressure of 0.46 Torr. Results of the recent Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan have identified several species in the atmosphere of Titan not predicted by pre-Cassini models of the atmosphere. In order to determine the fate of three of these species (methylenimine, propionitrile and cyanodiacetylene) in Titan's ionosphere, their reactivity with the principal ions in Titan's upper ionosphere has been examined. As expected, collision rate proton transfer reactions dominate the chemistry with association channels also observed with many of the hydrocarbon ions. The results of the Cassini mission also identified several individual reactions as being of potential importance to models of Titan's atmosphere and this chemistry has also been examined. The above studies are also relevant to the interstellar medium where each of the neutral reactants have also been detected. The results of some proton transfer equilibrium studies are also presented. The gas phase basicities of propyne and acetylene have been determined to be 681 kJ mol⁻¹ and 617.4 kJ mol⁻¹ respectively. Their relative proton affinities can be estimated from these values. A combined experimental/theoretical study of the proton affinity of cyanodiacetylene (HC₅N) has enabled this value to be estimated at 770 ± 20 kJ mol⁻¹. Details of an attempt to complete the first laboratory measurement of the crucial reaction between H₃⁺ and atomic carbon are presented. The generation of atomic carbon in sufficient quantities for reaction in the SIFT was not possible with the microwave discharge source used. Other generation methods have also been explored with the laser photolysis of carbon suboxide expected to provide a possible solution to the problems encountered. The results of an investigation into the applicability of lithium ions (Li⁺) to SIFT-MS are presented. The lithium ions associated with each of the twenty-one neutral analytes examined to form pseudo-molecular ions. The association reactions were rapid (k ~ 10⁻⁹ cm³ s⁻¹) for large hydrocarbons but were much slower for smaller analytes (k < 10⁻¹¹ cm³ s⁻¹). In order to clarify some unusual experimental observations, the effect of water molecules on the observed chemistry has been examined in detail. The measured chemistry has important consequences for the applicability of Li⁺ to SIFT-MS where the presence and detection of an identifiable ion of the analyte is essential. Details of new SIFT operating software which can be run on a modern computer are given. Mass spectra and kinetic data recorded with the new software are also presented.

No description available.

Small molecule libraries have become essential for the development of drug discovery campaigns and chemical genetics. The studies towards the synthesis of a small molecule library, based upon the cis-ring fused phenanthridine core I, will be described. The first section of this thesis examines the development and application of a novel intramolecular Heck cyclisation to the synthesis of core phenanthridine structure II, via precursor III (Chapter 2).The second section (Chapter 3) describes the extension of this methodology towards the development of a library of phenanthridines IV. This includes methodology designed to incorporate the key principles of diversity-oriented synthesis, namely appendage, stereochemical and skeletal diversity. The final part of this thesis (Chapter 4) describes the merging of these various methodologies to generate a small library of novel phenanthridine analogues. Preliminary biological evaluation of the phenanthridine library using whole organism zebrafish phenotyping, will also be discussed.

Photoreactive groups have been used in photoaffinity labelling of chemical macromolecules via the generation of highly reactive species upon short wave light irradiation. One of the most efficient photoreactive functional groups is trifluoromethyl aryldiazirine (TFMAD). This compound was synthesised as part of the work discussed in this thesis, making use of microwave irradiation to shorten reaction times (Chapter I). An investigation of properties allowed the development of three different applications for conjugation to biomolecules. The first application consisted of the development of an approach for generation of small-molecule microarrays, where a 2,000 compound library was immobilised onto the glass surface through carbene insertion. The microarray was then used to screen for potential binders to beta-transducin repeat containing protein (b-TrCP1) allowing the reduction of possible candidates to less than 25 compounds (Chapter II). The second application was the synthesis of two probes to allow the selective delivery of active compounds inside specific organelles or cells. The diazirine moiety was used as a rapid way to covalently capture a number of cargos. The approach allowed a peptoid and an anticancer drug to be conjugated to the two probes and their cell penetrability properties and therapeutic effect were studied, respectively (Chapter III). Finally, the insertion properties of TFMAD were used to develop approaches to attach DNA onto microspheres and the efficiency of this delivery system was evaluated (Chapter IV).

The synthesis and characterisation of a large family of hexametallic [MnIII 6] Single-Molecule Magnets with general formula [MnIII 6O2(R-sao)6(X)2(L)4-6] (where sao2- = dianion of salicylaldoxime; R = H, Me, Et, Ph; X = O2CR' (R' = H, Me, Ph etc), Hal , O2PHPh or O2P(Ph)2; L = solvent) are presented. Deliberate structural distortions of the [Mn3O] trinuclear moieties within the complexes are used to tune the observed magnetic properties. These findings highlight a qualitative magnetostructural correlation whereby the type (anti- or ferromagentic) of each Mn2 pairwise magnetic exchange is dominated by the magnitude of each individual Mn-N-O-Mn torsion angle. To shed further light on this intriguing family of nanomagnets, a large family of the analogous “half” molecules has been synthesised and fully characterised. These trimetallic [MnIII 3] complexes can be divided into three categories with general formulae (type 1) [MnIII 3O(R-sao)3(X)(sol)3-4] (where R = H, Me, tBu; X = O2CR (R = H, Me, Ph etc); sol = py and / or H2O), (type 2) [MnIII 3O(R-sao)3(X)(sol)3-5] (where R = Me, Et, Ph, tBu; X = O2CR (R = H, Me, Ph etc); sol = MeOH, EtOH and / or H2O), and (type 3) [MnIII 3O(R-sao)3(sol)3](XO4) (where R = H, Et, Ph, Naphth; sol = py, MeOH, -pic, Et-py, tBu-py; X = Cl, Re). In the crystals the ferromagnetic triangles are involved in extensive inter-molecular H-bonding which is clearly manifested in the magnetic behaviour, producing exchange-biased SMMs. These interactions can be removed by ligand replacement to give “simpler” SMMs. The [MnIII 6] and [MnIII 3] molecular nanomagnets are then exploited as building blocks to construct supramolecular architectures by means of host-guest interactions and coordination driven self-assembly. A number of discrete and infinite architectures based on the molecular triangle [Mn3] and various pyridyl-type ligands were obtained and structurally and magnetically characterised.

The effect of pressure on a number of magnetically interesting compounds such as single-molecule magnets and dimeric copper and manganese molecules has been investigated to probe the validity of ambient magneto-structural correlations. The first chapter is an introduction to the equipment and methodologies that have been adopted to carry out the experimental high-pressure work. The second chapter reports the first combined high-pressure single crystal X-ray diffraction and high pressure magnetism study of four single-molecule magnets (SMMs). At 1.5 GPa the structures [Mn6O2(Et-sao)6(O2CPh(Me)2)2(EtOH)6] (1) – an SMM with a record effective anisotropy barrier of ~86 K – and [Mn6O2(Etsao) 6(O2C-naphth)2(EtOH)4(H2O)2] (2) both undergo significant structural distortions of their metallic skeletons which has a direct effect upon the observed magnetic response. Up to 1.5 GPa pressure the effect is to flatten the Mn-N-O-Mn torsion angles weakening the magnetic exchange between the metal centres. In both compounds one pairwise interaction switches from ferro- to antiferromagnetic, with the Jahn-Teller (JT) axes compressing (on average) and re-aligning differently with respect to the plane of the three metal centres. High pressure dc χMT plots display a gradual decrease in the low temperature peak value and slope, simulations showing a decrease in |J| with increasing pressure with a second antiferromagnetic J value required to simulate the data. The “ground states” change from S = 12 to S = 11 for 1 and to S = 10 for 2. Magnetisation data for both 1 and 2 suggest a small decrease in |D|, while out-of-phase (χM //) ac data show a large decrease in the effective energy barrier for magnetisation reversal. The third SMM is the complex [Mn3(Hcht)2(bpy)4](ClO4)3·Et2O·2MeCN (3·Et2O·2MeCN) that at 0.16 GPa loses all associated solvent in the crystal lattice, becoming 3. At higher pressures structural distortions occur changing the distances between the metal centres and the bridging oxygen atoms making |J| between the manganese ions weaker. No significant variations are observed in the JT axis of the only MnIII present in the structure. Highpressure dc χMT plots display a gradual decrease in the low temperature peak value and slope. Simulations show a decrease in J with increasing pressure although the ground state is preserved. Magnetisation data do not show any change in |D|. The fourth SMM, [(tacn)6Fe8O2(OH)12](ClO4)3.9Br4.1⋅6H2O, (4) is the largest inorganic compound ever studied at high-pressure. Up to 2.0 GPa the conformation of the complex remains largely unaffected, with the counter ions and water molecules moving around to accommodate a compression of the unit cell volume. High pressure magnetic susceptibility data collected up to 0.93 GPa confirm minimal changes in the intra-molecular exchange interactions. The third chapter focuses on three hydroxo-bridged CuII dimers: [Cu2(OH)2(H2O)2(tmen)2](ClO4)2 (5), [Cu2(OH)2(tben)2](ClO4)2 (6) and [Cu2(OH)2(bpy)2](BF4)2 (7) have been structurally determined up to 2.5, 0.9 and 4.7 GPa, respectively. 6 and 7 have never been reported before. Pressure imposes important distortions in the structures of all three complexes, particularly on the bond distances and angles between the metal centres and the bridging hydroxo groups. 5 undergoes a phase transition between 1.2 and 2.5 GPa caused by the loss of a coordinated water molecule. This leads to a loss of symmetry and dramatic changes in the molecular structure of the complex. The structural changes are manifested in different magnetic behaviours of the complexes as seen in dc susceptibility measurements up to ~0.9 GPa: J becomes less antiferromagnetic in 5 and 6 and more ferromagnetic in 7. The fourth chapter shows the compression of two oxo-bridged MnII/MnIII mixed valence dimers: [Mn2O2(bpy)4](ClO4)3⋅3CH3CN, (8) has been squeezed up to 2.0 GPa whilst [Mn2O2(bpy)4](PF6)3⋅2CH3CN⋅1H2O, (9) could be measured crystallographically up to 4.55 GPa. 9 has never been reported before, while 8 has been reported in a different crystallographic space group. The application of pressure imposes significant alterations in the structures of both complexes. In particular, in 8 the Mn-Mn separation is reduced by the contraction of some of the Mn-O bond distances, 9 shows essentially analogous behaviour: the Mn-Mn distance and nearly all the Mn-N bonds shrink significantly. The magnetic behaviour of the complexes has been measured up to 0.87 GPa for 8 and 0.84 GPa for 9, but neither display any significant differences with respect to their ambient data.

Nanoaperture optical tweezers are emerging as useful tools for the detection and identification of biological molecules and their interactions at the single molecule level. Nanoaperture optical tweezers provide a low-cost, scalable, straight-forward, high-speed platform for single molecule studies without the need to use tethers or labeling. This thesis gives a general description of conventional optical tweezers and how they are limited in terms of their capability to trapping biological molecules. It also looks at nanoaperture-based optical tweezers which have been suggested to overcome the limitations of conventional optical tweezers. The thesis then focuses on the double nanohole optical tweezer as a tool for trapping biological molecules and studying their behaviour and interactions with other molecules. The double nanohole aperture trap integrated with microfluidic channels has been used to detect single protein binding. In that experiment a double-syringe pump was used to deliver biotin-coated polystyrene particles to the double nanohole trapping site. Once stable trapping of biotin-coated polystyrene particle was achieved, the double-syringe pump was used to flow in streptavidin solution to the trapping site and binding was detected by measuring the transmission through the double nanohole aperture. In addition, the double nanohole optical tweezer has been used to observe the real-time dynamic variations in protein-small molecule interaction (PSMI) with the primary focus on the effect of single and multiple binding events on the dynamics of the protein in the trap. Time traces of the bare form of the streptavidin showed slower timescale dynamics as compared to the biotinylated forms of the protein. Furthermore, the double nanohole aperture tweezer has been used to study the real-time binding kinetics of PSMIs and to determine their disassociation constants. The interaction of blood protein human serum albumin (HSA) with tolbutamide and phenytoin was considered in that study. The dissociation constants of the interaction of HSA with tolbutamide and phenytoin obtained using our technique were in good agreement with the values reported in the literature. These results would open up new windows for studying real-time binding kinetics of protein-small molecule interactions in a label-free, free-solution environment, which will be of interest to future studies including drug discovery. / Graduate

No description available.