Inhibition of Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 Has Neuroprotective Effects on Motoneuron and Muscle Atrophy after Spinal Cord Injury.

Surviving motoneurons undergo dendritic atrophy after spinal cord injury (SCI), suggesting an important therapeutic target for neuroprotective strategies to improve recovery of function after SCI. Our previous studies showed that cytosolic phospholipase A2 (PLA2) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of SCI. In the present study, we investigated whether blocking cytosolic PLA2 (cPLA2) pharmacologically with arachidonyl trifluoromethyl ketone (ATK) or genetically using cPLA2 knockout (KO) mice attenuates motoneuron atrophy after SCI. C57BL/6 mice received either sham or contusive SCI at the T10 level. At 30 min after SCI, mice were treated with ATK or vehicle. Four weeks later, motoneurons innervating the vastus lateralis muscle of the quadriceps were labeled with cholera toxin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase, and dendritic arbors were reconstructed in three dimensions. Soma volume, motoneuron number, lesion volume, and tissue sparing were also assessed, as were muscle weight, fiber cross-sectional area, and motor endplate size and density. ATK administration reduced percent lesion volume and increased percent volume of spared white matter, compared to the vehicle-treated control animals. SCI with or without ATK treatment had no effect on the number or soma volume of quadriceps motoneurons. However, SCI resulted in a decrease in dendritic length of quadriceps motoneurons in untreated animals, and this decrease was completely prevented by treatment with ATK. Similarly, vastus lateralis muscle weights of untreated SCI animals were smaller than those of sham surgery controls, and these reductions were prevented by ATK treatment. No effects on fiber cross-sectional areas, motor endplate area, or density were observed across treatment groups. Remarkably, genetically deleting cPLA2 in cPLA2 KO mice attenuated dendritic atrophy after SCI. These findings suggest that, after SCI, cord tissue damage and regressive changes in motoneuron and muscle morphology can be reduced by inhibition of cPLA2, further supporting a role for cPLA2 as a neurotherapeutic target for SCI treatment.

Synthesis of the Aminocyclitol Core of Jogyamycin via an Enantioselective Pd-Catalyzed Trimethylenemethane (TMM) Cycloaddition.

The use of ß-nitroenamines as a new class of acceptors in the enantioselective Pd-catalyzed trimethylenemethane cycloaddition afforded differentiated 1,2-dinitrogen bearing cyclopentanes with three contiguous stereocenters. The utility of these acceptors was demonstrated with the efficient construction of the core of jogyamycin and aminocyclopentitols. Further elaboration of the cycloadducts provided a concise synthetic approach toward joygamycin.

Regio- and enantioselective synthesis of pyrrolidines bearing a quaternary center by palladium-catalyzed asymmetric [3 + 2] cycloaddition of trimethylenemethanes.

Herein we describe the first use of disubstituted donors in the palladium-catalyzed trimethylenemethane (TMM) cycloaddition resulting in an enantioselective synthesis of highly substituted pyrrolidines. These cyanoalkyl donors 1 form all-carbon quaternary centers in a catalytic, asymmetric, and intermolecular manner uniquely using diamidophosphite ligands L2 and L3, generating synthetically important chiral building blocks in good yields and selectivities.

Development of diamidophosphite ligands and their application to the palladium-catalyzed vinyl-substituted trimethylenemethane asymmetric [3 + 2] cycloaddition.

A palladium-catalyzed asymmetric [3 + 2] cycloaddition of a vinyl-substituted trimethylenemethane (TMM) donor with α,ß-unsaturated acyl imidazoles is described. A newly designed bisdiamidophosphite ligand derived from (S,S)-trans-1,2-cyclohexanediamine and (2R,4R)-pentanediol has been instrumental for the development of this process. This transformation generates tetrasubstituted cyclopentanes bearing three contiguous stereocenters in high yields, with good diastereo- and enantioselectivity.

Novel epoxide formation in the reaction of 2-bromo-3-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone with 1,3-propanedithiol.

A novel epoxide 2 was formed as the major product in the reaction of 2-bromo-3-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone with 1,3-propanedithiol in the presence of triethylamine in 92% yield. Molecular oxygen is suggested to be the source of the added oxygen in 2, an oxidation product of its precursor 3. A strong base such as triethylamine is required to abstract the methyl hydrogen of 1,4-naphthoquinones, leading to the formation of 3 as well as 2.

Evidence for a susceptibility gene (SLEH1) on chromosome 11q14 for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) families with hemolytic anemia.

Hemolytic anemia is a forme fruste of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), being observed months or even years before the onset of other clinical manifestations in some patients. We hypothesized that hemolytic anemia in those SLE-affected patients would identify a group of SLE pedigrees that share a high degree of genetic homogeneity. From 160 multiplex SLE pedigrees, we sought evidence for linkage in 35 (16 African-American, 17 European-American, and 2 Hispanic) who had at least one SLE-affected patient with hemolytic anemia. Significant linkage was present at 11q14 in the 16 African-American pedigrees, yielding a maximum two-point logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 4.5 at D11S2002. The segregation pattern of SLE in these African-American pedigrees suggested a dominant mode of inheritance and, when maximized across penetrance and disease allele frequencies, produced a multipoint LOD of 4.7. Multipoint analysis yielded a multipoint heterogeneity LOD score of 3.6 (alpha = 0.63), again with maximum LOD at D11S2002. Finally, markers typed 7 centimorgans to either side of D11S2002 achieved LOD scores of 3 or better by using the maximized model, supporting linkage to 11q14. Clearly, pedigree ascertainment based on select clinical manifestations is an important tool, capable of revealing otherwise cryptic genetic linkages in complex genetic diseases. Thus, we show strong evidence for an SLE susceptibility gene, SLEH1, near D11S2002 in African-American pedigrees multiplex for SLE that have at least one SLE-affected patient with hemolytic anemia.

SLEB3 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is strongly related to SLE families ascertained through neuropsychiatric manifestations.

Seizures and psychosis are neuropsychiatric (NP) manifestations of a large number of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Since NP manifestations were part of the SLE phenotype for some, but not all SLE affecteds, we hypothesized that those SLE patient families with NP manifestations might be more genetically homogeneous at loci important to NP-related SLE, and hence have increased power to detect linkage. We identified 23 families of European-American (EA) origin and 20 families of African-American (AA) origin, in which at least one SLE patient in each family was diagnosed with the presence of NP manifestations. A total of 318 microsatellite markers at an average marker density of 11 cM were genotyped. Uncertainty of the genetic model led us to perform the initial genome scan by a multipoint non-parametric allele sharing linkage method. Once the evidence of linkage was suggestive, we then performed parametric model-based linkage by maximizing the relevant parameters to define a parsimonious genetic model. We found the maximum multipoint parametric LOD score was 5.19 and the non-parametric linkage score (Zlr) was 3.12 ( P=9x10(-4)) for EA NP pedigrees at 4p16, previously identified as SLEB3. The segregation behavior of this linked locus suggests a dominant mode of inheritance with an almost 100% homogeneous genetic effect in these pedigrees. The results demonstrated a significant increase of LOD score to detect SLEB3 when the families were further ascertained through NP, compared with the analysis of all EA SLE families together.