Sterolight as imaging tool to study sterol uptake, trafficking and efflux in living cells.

Information about cholesterol subcellular localization and transport pathways inside cells is essential for understanding and treatment of cholesterol-related diseases. However, there is a lack of reliable tools to monitor it. This work follows the fate of Sterolight, a BODIPY-labelled sterol, within the cell and demonstrates it as a suitable probe for visualization of sterol/lipid trafficking. Sterolight enters cells through an energy-independent process and knockdown experiments suggest caveolin-1 as its potential cellular carrier. Intracellular transport of Sterolight is a rapid process, and transfer from ER and mitochondria to lysosomes and later to lipid droplets requires the participation of active microtubules, as it can be inhibited by the microtubule disruptor nocodazole. Excess of the probe is actively exported from cells, in addition to being stored in lipid droplets, to re-establish the sterol balance. Efflux occurs through a mechanism requiring energy and may be selectively poisoned with verapamil or blocked in cells with mutated cholesterol transporter NPC1. Sterolight is efficiently transferred within and between different cell populations, making it suitable for monitoring numerous aspects of sterol biology, including the live tracking and visualization of intracellular and intercellular transport.

Properties of cationic monosubstituted tetraalkylammonium cyclodextrin derivatives - their stability, complexation ability in solution or when deposited on solid anionic surface.

The thermal stability of the monosubstituted cationic cyclodextrin (CD) derivatives PEMEDA-ß-CD and PEMPDA-ß-CD, which differ in their substituent linker length (ethylene and propylene, respectively), was studied via (1)H NMR experiments. PEMPDA-ß-CD exhibited higher resistance towards the Hofmann degradation and was chosen as a more suitable host molecule for further studies. Inclusion properties of PEMPDA-ß-CD in solution with a series of simple aromatic guests (salicylic acid, p-methoxyphenol and p-nitroaniline) were determined by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and compared to the native ß-CD. Permanently charged cationic CD derivatives were successfully deposited on the anionic solid surface of polymeric Nafion(®) 117 membrane via electrostatic interactions. Deposition kinetics and coverage of the surface were determined by ELSD. Finally, the ability of the CD derivatives bound to the solid surface to encapsulate aromatic compounds from aqueous solution was measured by UV-vis spectroscopy. The obtained results are promising for future industrial applications of the monosubstituted ß-CD derivatives, because the preparation of cationic CD derivatives is applicable in large scale, without the need of chromatographic purification. Their ionic deposition on a solid surface is simple, yet robust and a straightforward process as well.

A complete series of 6-deoxy-monosubstituted tetraalkylammonium derivatives of α-, ß-, and γ-cyclodextrin with 1, 2, and 3 permanent positive charges.

An efficient synthetic route toward the preparation of a complete series of monosubstituted tetraalkylammonium cyclodextrin (CD) derivatives is presented. Monotosylation of native CDs (α-, ß-, γ-) at position 6 gave the starting material. Reaction of monotosylate (mono-Ts-CD) with 45% aqueous trimethylamine gave CDs substituted with one cationic functional group in a single step. Derivatives equipped with a substituent containing two cationic sites separated by an ethylene or a propylene linker were prepared by reacting mono-Ts-CD with neat N,N,N'-trimethylethane-1,2-diamine or N,N,N'-trimethylpropane-1,3-diamine and subsequent methylation by CH3I in good yields. Finally, analogues bearing a moiety with three tetraalkylammonium sites were synthesized by reacting mono-Ts-CD with bis(3-aminopropyl)amine and subsequent methylation. The majority of the presented reactions are very straightforward with a simple work-up, which avoids the need of chromatographic separation. Thus, these reactions are suitable for the multigram-scale production of monosubstituted cationic CDs.

Synthesis of 3I-O and 2I-O-monosubstituted derivatives of per-6-azido-ß-cyclodextrin-potential molecular scaffolds.

Alkylation of per-6-azido-ß-cyclodextrin by a suitable electrophilic reagent (cinnamyl bromide or propargyl bromide) gave a mixture of 3(I)-O and 2(I)-O regioisomers. After peracetylation and chromatographic separation on silica gel, pure isomers were isolated. Oxidative cleavage of cinnamyl double bond afforded the corresponding formylmethyl and carboxymethyl derivatives. The prepared scaffold molecules are equipped with two types of reactive groups which have a potential to serve as points of attachment for various compounds.