5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural prolongs survival and inhibits oxidative stress in a mouse model of forebrain ischemia

In the present study, we hypothesized that 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural could attenuate ischemic brain damage by reducing oxidative injury. Thus, mice were subjected to bilateral common carotid artery occlusion to establish a model of permanent forebrain ischemia. The mice were intraperitoneally injected with 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfura130 minutes before ischemia or 5 minutes after ischemia. The survival time of mice injected with 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural was longer compared with untreated mice. The mice subjected to ischemia for 30 minutes and reperfusion for 5 minutes were intraperitoneally injected with 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural 5 minutes prior to reperfusion, which increased superoxide dismutase content and reduced malondialdehyde content, similar to the effects of Edaravone, a hydroxyl radical scavenger used for the treatment of stroke. These findings indicate that intraperitoneal injection of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural can prolong the survival of mice with permanent forebrain ischemia. This outcome may be mediated by its antioxidative effects.

SYNTHESIS AND ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY OF PEPTIDYL-N^2-HYDROXYMETHYL-5-FLUOROURACIL

Six hydrophobic peptidyl and four amino acid (L-Val, L-Leu, L-Phe, L-Gly) derivatives of 5-fluorouracil(5-FU) were synthesized. The structure of these compounds were characterized by ~1H-NMR, IR, UV spectra and elemental analysis. The antitumor activity was test- ed against EAC cells in vitro.

Thermoresponsive block copolymer supported Pt nanocatalysts for base-free aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural

A base-free catalytic system for the aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural was exploited by using Pt nanoparticles immobilized onto a thermoresponsive poly(acrylamide-co-acrylonitrile)-b-poly(N-vinylimidazole)block copolymer,with an upper critical solution temperature of about 45°C.The Pt nanocatalysts were well-dispersed and highly active for the base-free oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural by molecular oxygen in water,affording high yields of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid(up to>99.9%).The imidazole groups in the block copolymer were conducive to the improvement of catalytic performance.Moreover,the catalysts could be easily separated and recovered based on their thermosensitivity by cooling the reaction system below the upper critical solution temperature.Good stability and reusability were observed over these copolymer-immobilized catalysts with no obvious decrease in catalytic activity in the five consecutive cycles.

Significantly improved oxidation of bio-based furans into furan carboxylic acids using substrate-adapted whole cells

Furan carboxylic acids are important building blocks in polymer and fine chemical industries. In this work, a simple substrate adaptation strategy was applied to improve the catalytic performances of Comamonas testosteroni SC1588 cells for the synthesis of various furan carboxylic acids. It was found that biocatalytic synthesis of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furancarboxylic acid(HMFCA) was substantially promoted by adding histidine and increasing cell concentrations. HMFCA was produced in a quantitative yield from200 m M HMF in 24 h. Besides, the HMFCA yields of 71%–81% were achieved with the substrate concentrations up to 250–300 m M. It was firstly found that 4-tert-butylcatechol(TBC), as the stabilizer present in HMF, exerted a significantly detrimental effect on whole-cell catalytic synthesis of HMFCA at high substrate concentrations(more than 130 m M). In addition, a variety of furan carboxylic acids such as2-furoic acid, 5-methyl-2-furancarboxylic acid and 5-methoxymethyl-2-furancarboxylic acid were synthesized with the yields up to 98%.

Pan-cancer analysis of DNA epigenetic modifications by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Accumulating evidence in recent years indicates that DNA methylation(5-methyl-2-deoxycytidine,5-mdC) and hydroxymethylation(5-hydroxymethyl-2-deoxycytidine, 5-hmd C) have been implicated in various biological processes, and the aberrations of these DNA cytosine modifications is tightly associated with cancer. N6-methyl-2-deoxyadenosine(m~6dA), as a newly discovered epigenetic modification in genome of mammals, has been demonstrated to play vital regulatory roles in tumorigenesis. However, the content information of m~6dA in human tumor tissues is still limited and pan-cancer analysis of these DNA epigenetic modifications is lacked. Herein, we developed a sensitive and robust stable isotopediluted hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(HILIC-MS/MS) method for accurate quantification of m~6dA, 5-mdC and 5-hmdC in genomic DNA from 82 pairs of human tumor tissues and matched tumor-adjacent normal tissues. The types of tumors included esophagus cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, stromal tumor and colorectal cancer.Compared to the normal tissues, we revealed the level of m6dA was increased in tumor tissues of esophagus cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer, whereas the level of m~6dA was diminished in tumor tissues of pancreatic cancer and gastric cancer;while the contents of 5-mdC and 5-hmdC exhibited significant decrease in tumor tissues of most types of cancer. It is worth noting that we revealed, for the first time,the content of genomic m~6dA in pancreatic cancer, stromal tumor and colorectal cancer. The significant changes of these DNA epigenetic modifications indicate they may serve as indicators of cancers. In addition, this study will benefit for better understanding of the regulatory roles of these DNA epigenetic modifications in cancers.