Chemical characterization of Titan's tholins: solubility, morphology and molecular structure revisited.

In this work Titan's atmospheric chemistry is simulated using a capacitively coupled plasma radio frequency discharge in a N(2)-CH(4) stationnary flux. Samples of Titan's tholins are produced in gaseous mixtures containing either 2 or 10% methane before the plasma discharge, covering the methane concentration range measured in Titan's atmosphere. We study their solubility and associated morphology, their infrared spectroscopy signature and the mass distribution of the soluble fraction by mass spectrometry. An important result is to highlight that the previous Titan's tholin solubility studies are inappropriate to fully characterize such a heterogeneous organic matter and we develop a new protocol to evaluate quantitatively tholins solubility. We find that tholins contain up to 35% in mass of molecules soluble in methanol, attached to a hardly insoluble fraction. Methanol is then chosen as a discriminating solvent to characterize the differences between soluble and insoluble species constituting the bulk tholins. No significant morphological change of shape or surface feature is derived from scanning electron microscopy after the extraction of the soluble fraction. This observation suggests a solid structure despite an important porosity of the grains. Infrared spectroscopy is recorded for both fractions. The IR spectra of the bulk, soluble, and insoluble tholins fractions are found to be very similar and reveal identical chemical signatures of nitrogen bearing functions and aliphatic groups. This result confirms that the chemical information collected when analyzing only the soluble fraction provides a valuable insight representative of the bulk material. The soluble fraction is ionized with an atmospheric pressure photoionization source and analyzed by a hybrid mass spectrometer. The congested mass spectra with one peak at every mass unit between 50 and 800 u confirm that the soluble fraction contains a complex mixture of organic molecules. The broad distribution, however, exhibits a regular pattern of mass clusters. Tandem collision induced dissociation analysis is performed in the negative ion mode to retrieve structural information. It reveals that (i) the molecules are ended by methyl, amine and cyanide groups, (ii) a 27 u neutral moiety (most probably HCN) is often released in the fragmentation of tholin anions, and (iii) an ubiquitous ionic fragment at m/z 66 is found in all tandem spectra. A tentative structure is proposed for this negative ion.

SR4987 and L1210 cell lines: two models in which cholera toxin susceptibility does not correlate with cAMP accumulation and ganglioside content.

The CT-mediated signaling mechanisms have been widely used as a tool for helping the knowledge of the more complex mechanisms regulating cell growth and proliferation in which gangliosides are involved as receptors and cAMP as second messenger. In the present study we compare the susceptibility of two murine cell lines (SR-4987 stromal cells and L1210 leukemic cells) to inhibitory effect of cholera toxin (CT) on cell growth and correlate their sensitivity to CT with ganglioside content and intracellular cAMP accumulation. The results indicate a very different response of the two cell lines to CT treatment. L1210 cells (which contain GM1a ganglioside) are sensitive to the inhibiting activity of CT (IC50 in the clonogenic assay = 10(-9) M) but no cAMP accumulation was observed after the treatment. SR-4987 cells (which lack GM1a) show a dramatic increase of intracellular cAMP without any inhibition of cell growth following the CT treatment until 10(-8) M. However, after SR4987 cells have incorporated GM1a they became susceptible to CT (with a IC50 value = 10(-11) M). The comparison of these results with our previous studies on WEHI-3B leukemia cells confirms the remarkable heterogeneity of cell sensitivity to the growth inhibition by CT by emphasizing that this inhibition is the final event of very different mechanisms in which CT binding to a specific ganglioside seems to be necessary and sufficient whereas cAMP accumulation may not be coupled with the antiproliferative effect of CT.