RESUMO
Tuberculosis (TB) is a top-ten cause of death worldwide. Successful treatment is often limited by insufficient diagnostic capabilities, especially at the point of care in low-resource settings. The ideal diagnostic must be fast, be cheap, and require minimal clinical resources while providing high sensitivity, selectivity, and the ability to differentiate live from dead bacteria. We describe here the development of a fast, luminescent, and affordable sensor of Hip1 (FLASH) for detecting and monitoring drug susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). FLASH is a selective chemiluminescent substrate for the Mtb protease Hip1 that, when processed, produces visible light that can be measured with a high signal-to-noise ratio using inexpensive sensors. FLASH is sensitive to fmol of recombinant Hip1 enzyme in vitro and can detect as few as thousands of Mtb cells in culture or in human sputum samples within minutes. The probe is highly selective for Mtb compared to other nontuberculous mycobacteria and can distinguish live from dead cells. Importantly, FLASH can be used to measure antibiotic killing of Mtb in culture with greatly accelerated timelines compared to traditional protocols. Overall, FLASH has the potential to enhance both TB diagnostics and drug resistance monitoring in resource-limited settings.
RESUMO
Allosteric modulators of ion channels typically alter the transitions rates between conformational states without changing the properties of the open pore. Here we describe a new class of positive allosteric modulators of N-methyl D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) that mediate a calcium-permeable component of glutamatergic synaptic transmission and play essential roles in learning, memory and cognition, as well as neurological disease. EU1622-14 increases agonist potency and channel-open probability, slows receptor deactivation and decreases both single-channel conductance and calcium permeability. The unique functional selectivity of this chemical probe reveals a mechanism for enhancing NMDAR function while limiting excess calcium influx, and shows that allosteric modulators can act as biased modulators of ion-channel permeation.
Assuntos
Pirrolidinas/farmacologia , Receptores de N-Metil-D-Aspartato/metabolismo , Regulação Alostérica/efeitos dos fármacos , Animais , Cálcio/metabolismo , Células Cultivadas , Feminino , Ácido Glutâmico/metabolismo , Ácido Glutâmico/farmacologia , Glicina/metabolismo , Glicina/farmacologia , Células HEK293 , Ensaios de Triagem em Larga Escala/métodos , Humanos , Ativação do Canal Iônico/efeitos dos fármacos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Neurônios/efeitos dos fármacos , Neurônios/metabolismo , Oócitos/efeitos dos fármacos , Oócitos/fisiologia , Receptores de N-Metil-D-Aspartato/agonistas , Receptores de N-Metil-D-Aspartato/genética , Xenopus laevisRESUMO
Imaging agents for the noninvasive in vivo detection of enzyme activity in preclinical and clinical settings could have fundamental implications in the field of drug discovery. Furthermore, a new class of targeted prodrug treatments takes advantage of high enzyme activity to tailor therapy and improve treatment outcomes. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents that quantitatively detect ß-galactosidase and ß-glucuronidase activities by measuring changes in chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST). Based on a modular approach, we incorporated the enzymes' respective substrates to a salicylate moiety with a chromogenic spacer via a carbamate linkage. This furnished highly selective diamagnetic CEST agents that detected and quantified enzyme activities of glycoside hydrolase enzymes. Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics studies were performed by monitoring catalyCEST MRI signals, which were validated with UV-vis assays.
RESUMO
A chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI contrast agent has been developed that detects sulfatase enzyme activity. The agent produces a CEST signal at δ=5.0â ppm before enzyme activity, and a second CEST signal appears at δ=9.0â ppm after the enzyme cleaves a sulfate group from the agent. The comparison of the two signals improved detection of sulfatase activity.
Assuntos
Meios de Contraste/química , Sulfatases/química , Fenômenos Químicos , Meios de Contraste/metabolismo , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Sulfatases/metabolismoRESUMO
The simultaneous detection of multiple enzyme activities can improve the specificity of disease diagnoses. We therefore synthesized and characterized a diamagnetic chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI contrast agent that can simultaneously detect two enzyme activities. Sulfatase and esterase enzymes cleave the ligands of the CEST agent, releasing salicylic acid that can be detected with CEST MRI. Importantly, both enzymes are required to activate the agent to produce a CEST MRI contrast, and the CEST agent was stable without enzyme treatment. These results established that this diamagnetic CEST MRI contrast agent is a platform technology with a modular design that can be potentially exploited to detect other combinations of enzyme activities, which can expand the armamentarium of contrast agents for molecular imaging.
Assuntos
Meios de Contraste , Esterases/metabolismo , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Sulfatases/metabolismo , Catálise , LigantesRESUMO
There has been a great level of enthusiasm to downregulate overactive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors to protect neurons from excitotoxicity. NMDA receptors play pivotal roles in basic brain development and functions as well as in neurological disorders and diseases. However, mechanistic understanding of antagonism in NMDA receptors is limited due to complete lack of antagonist-bound structures for the L-glutamate-binding GluN2 subunits. Here, we report the crystal structures of GluN1/GluN2A NMDA receptor ligand-binding domain (LBD) heterodimers in complex with GluN1- and GluN2-targeting antagonists. The crystal structures reveal that the antagonists, D-(-)-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (D-AP5) and 1-(phenanthrene-2-carbonyl)piperazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid (PPDA), have discrete binding modes and mechanisms for opening of the bilobed architecture of GluN2A LBD compared to the agonist-bound form. The current study shows distinct ways by which the conformations of NMDA receptor LBDs may be controlled and coupled to receptor inhibition and provides possible strategies to develop therapeutic compounds with higher subtype-specificity.