Correlation between monoamino oxidase inhibitor activity of some thiazol-2-ylhydrazines and their interaction with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine liposomes.

A calorimetric investigation has been carried out on the influence exerted by some 1-(alkoxybenzoyl)-2-(4-substituted thiazolyl-2-yl)hydrazines, possessing monoamine oxidase inhibitory (MAOI) activity, on the thermotropic behavior of model membranes constituted by dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) vesicles. Attention was paid to evaluate how structural variations of drugs may influence drug-lipid interaction. The examined drugs were found to modify the gel to liquid-crystal phase transition of DPPC liposomes, by causing a shift of the transition temperature (Tm) toward lower values and a negligible variation in the enthalpy changes (delta H). The different effects on DPPC thermotropic behavior of these MAOI drugs could be considered in terms of different substituents on the molecule's backbone. The calorimetric results were related to drug's MAO inhibitory activity measured by fluorescence techniques and the apparent distribution coefficient of the compounds in water/n-octanol. A hypothesis on a correlation between a drug's structure, inhibitory activity, and membrane interaction has been suggested.

HPLC analysis of cyclic adenosine diphosphate ribose and adenosine diphosphate ribose: determination of NAD+ metabolites in hippocampal membranes.

Cyclic adenosine diphosphate-ribose (cADPR) and ADPR were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a CarboPac PA-1 column at strong basic pH and quantitated by a pulsed amperometric detector. Although this HPLC method was quite sensitive and highly reproducible, it did not allow the separation of cADPR from guanosine monophosphate (GMP) which, when present, could be removed by ion-affinity chromatography, using gel-immobilized Fe3+ columns. Crude synaptic membranes from rat hippocampi were incubated with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and acidic extracts were subject to HPLC analysis after neutralization. Incubation led to a time-dependent formation of ADPR, which was amplified when membranes were incubated in the presence of guanosine trisphosphate (GTP), guanosine-5'-0-(3-thiotrisphosphate) (GTP-gamma-S) or AlF3. cADPR did not accumulate in detectable amounts and only a minimal proportion (< 5%) of radioactivity originating from [3H]NAD co-eluted with authentic cADPR in extracts from hippocampal membranes. The simultaneous detection of cADPR and ADPR we have described may help the search for inhibitors of cADPR metabolism, which will allow to measure the cADPR that accumulates under basal conditions or in response to extracellular signals.

Differential scanning calorimetry studies on sunscreen loaded solid lipid nanoparticles prepared by the phase inversion temperature method.

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) are regarded as interesting carriers to improve sunscreens' safety and effectiveness. In this work, surfactant effects on the physico-chemical properties of SLN loading two of the most widely used UV-filters, octylmethoxycinnamate (OMC) and butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane (BMBM), were evaluated and the interactions between SLN components and loaded UV-filters were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). All the SLN showed a mean size ranging from 30 to 95 nm, and a single peak in size distribution. The use of isoceth-20 or oleth-20 as primary surfactants did not provide SLN with suitable physico-chemical properties since: (a) OMC loaded SLN proved unstable; (b) BMBM could not be loaded. OMC or BMBM loaded SLN prepared using ceteth-20 as primary surfactant were stable but their loading capacity lowered when both sunscreens were loaded simultaneously. DSC analyses showed that OMC distributed inside the SLN and caused a decrease of the lipid matrix molecules cooperativity while BMBM did not affect SLN calorimetric behaviour. When OMC and BMBM were loaded together into these SLN, an interaction between BMBM and OMC occurred. These results suggest that the interactions between sunscreens and between sunscreens and SLN components deserve further investigation to evaluate their effect on UV-filter-loaded SLN effectiveness.