Enhanced cortical reperfusion protects coagulation factor XII-deficient mice from ischemic stroke as revealed by high-field MRI.

Intrinsic coagulation factor XII deficient (FXII(-/-)) mice are protected from ischemic stroke. To elucidate underlying mechanisms we investigated the early ischemic period in vivo by multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 17.6 Tesla. Cerebral ischemia was induced by either transient (60 min) or permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (t/pMCAO). 10 FXII(-/-) mice underwent t- , 10 FXII(-/-) mice p- and 10 Wildtype (Wt) mice tMCAO. Cerebral blood flow (CBF), diffusion-weighted-imaging (DWI) and T2-relaxometry were measured at 2 h and 24 h after MCAO. Outcome measures were evaluated after motion correction and normalization to atlas space. 2 h after tMCAO CBF reduction was similar in FXII(-/-) and Wt mice extending over cortical (CBF (ml/100 g/min) 33.6+/-6.9 vs. 35.3+/-4.6, p=0.42) and subcortical regions (25.7+/-4.5 vs. 31.6+/-4.0, p=0.17). At 24 h, recovery of cortical CBF by +36% was observed only in tMCAO FXII(-/-) mice contrasting a further decrease of -30% in Wt mice after tMCAO (p=0.02, F((1,18))=6.24). In FXII(-/-) mice in which patency of the MCA was not restored (pMCAO) a further decrease of -75% was observed. Cortical reperfusion in tMCAO FXII(-/-) mice was related to a lower risk of infarction of 59% vs. 93% in Wt mice (p=0.04). Subcortical CBF was similarly decreased in both tMCAO groups (Wt and FXII(-/-)) relating to a similar risk of infarction of 89% (Wt) vs. 99% (FXII(-/-), p=0.17). Deficiency of FXII allows neocortical reperfusion after tMCAO and rescues brain tissue by this mechanism. This study supports the concept of FXII as a promising new target for stroke prevention and therapy.

Double-quantum-filtered rotational-resonance MAS NMR in the presence of large chemical shielding anisotropies.

Double-quantum filtration under rotational resonance MAS NMR conditions where the chemical shielding anisotropies involved exceed the differences in isotropic chemical shielding is considered by means of numerical simulations and (13)C MAS NMR experiments. The responses of two different pulse sequences, suitable for double-quantum filtration specifically under rotational resonance conditions, to large chemical shielding anisotropies are compared. In the presence of large chemical shielding anisotropies a very recently introduced pulse sequence (T. Karlsson, M. Edén, H. Luthman, and M. H. Levitt, J. Magn. Reson. 145, 95-107, 2000) suffers losses in double-quantum-filtration efficiencies. The double-quantum-filtration efficiency of another pulse sequence (N. C. Nielsen, F. Creuzet, R. G. Griffin, and M. H. Levitt, J. Chem. Phys. 96, 5668-5677, 1992) is less afflicted by the presence of large chemical shielding anisotropies. Both sequences deliver double-quantum-filtered lineshapes that sensitively reflect chemical shielding tensor orientations. It is further shown that double-quantum-filtered rotational-resonance lineshapes of spin systems composed of more than two spins offer a suitable experimental approach for determining chemical shielding tensor orientations for cases where conventional rotational-resonance experiments are not applicable due to the presence of additional background resonances.

Dynamic hydrogen disorder in yttrium-dihydride phases as seen by variable-temperature 89Y CP MAS NMR.

Variable-temperature solid-state MAS NMR studies on some yttrium-dihydride phases YH2+x are reported and yield evidence that 89Y CP MAS NMR techniques are an experimentally feasible route to investigate order-disorder phenomena in such metal-hydride phases.

Order-disorder phenomena determined by high-resolution powder diffraction: the structures of tetrakis(trimethylsilyl)methane C

The compounds tetrakis(trimethylsilyl)methane C[Si(CH(3))(3)](4) (TC) and tetrakis(trimethylsilyl)silane Si[Si(CH(3))(3)](4) (TSi) have crystal structures with the molecules in a cubic closed-packed (c.c.p.) stacking. At room temperature both structures have space group Fm{\bar 3}m (Z = 4) with a = 13.5218 (1) Å, V = 2472.3 (1) Å(3) for TSi, and a = 12.8902 (2) Å, V = 2141.8 (1) Å(3) for TC. X-ray scattering data can be described by a molecule with approximately sixfold orientational disorder, ruling out a structure with free rotating molecules. Upon cooling, TSi exhibits a first-order phase transition at T(c) = 225 K, as is characterized by a jump of the lattice parameter of Deltaa = 0.182 Å and by an exothermal maximum in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) with DeltaH = 11.7 kJ mol(-1) and DeltaS = 50.0 J mol(-1) K(-1). The structure of the low-temperature phase is refined against X-ray powder data measured at 200 K. It has space group P2(1)3 (Z = 4), a = 13.17158 (6) Å and V = 2285.15 (2) Å(3). The molecules are found to be ordered as a result of steric interactions between neighboring molecules, as is shown by analyzing distances between atoms and by calculations of the lattice energy in dependence on the orientations of the molecules. TC has a phase transition at T(c1) = 268 K, with Deltaa(1) = 0.065 Å, DeltaH(1) = 3.63 kJ mol(-1) and DeltaS(1) = 13.0 J mol(-1) K(-1). A second first-order phase transition occurs at T(c2) = 225 K, characterized by Deltaa(2) = 0.073 Å, DeltaH(2) = 6.9 kJ mol(-1) and DeltaS(2) = 30.0 J mol(-1) K(-1). The phase transition at higher temperature has not been reported previously. New NMR experiments show a small anomaly in the temperature dependence of the peak positions in NMR to occur at T(c2). Rietveld refinements were performed for the low-temperature phase measured at T = 150 K [space group P2(1)3, lattice parameter a = 12.609 (3) Å], and for the intermediate phase measured at T = 260 K [space group Pa{\bar 3}, lattice parameter a = 12.7876 (1) Å]. The low-temperature phase of TC is formed isostructural to the low-temperature phase of TSi. In the intermediate phase the molecules exhibit a twofold orientational disorder.