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Solenopsin
Solenopsin is a lipophilic alkaloid with the molecular formula C17H35N found in the venom of fire ants (''Solenopsis''). It is considered the primary toxin in the venom and may be the component responsible for the cardiorespiratory failure in people who experience excessive fire ant stings. Structurally solenopsins are a piperidine ring with a methyl group substitution at position 2 and a long hydrophobic chain at position 6. They are typically oily at room temperature, water-insoluble, and present an absorbance peak at 232 nanometers. Fire ant venom contains other chemically related piperidines which make purification of solenopsin from ants difficult. Therefore, solenopsin and related compounds have been the target of organic synthesis from which pure compounds can be produced for individual study. Originally synthesized in 1993, several groups have designed novel and creative methods of synthesizing enantiopure solenopsin and other alkaloidal components of ant venom. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solenopsin Synthesis
Solenopsin is a lipophilic alkaloid with the molecular formula C17H35N found in the venom of fire ants (''Solenopsis''). It is considered the primary toxin in the venom and may be the component responsible for the cardiorespiratory failure in people who experience excessive fire ant stings. Structurally solenopsins are a piperidine ring with a methyl group substitution at position 2 and a long hydrophobic chain at position 6. They are typically oily at room temperature, water-insoluble, and present an absorbance peak at 232 nanometers. Fire ant venom contains other chemically related piperidines which make purification of solenopsin from ants difficult. Therefore, solenopsin and related compounds have been the target of organic synthesis from which pure compounds can be produced for individual study. Originally synthesized in 1993, several groups have designed novel and creative methods of synthesizing enantiopure solenopsin and other alkaloidal components of ant venom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piperidine
Piperidine is an organic compound with the molecular formula (CH2)5NH. This heterocyclic compound, heterocyclic amine consists of a six-membered ring containing five methylene bridges (–CH2–) and one amine bridge (–NH–). It is a colorless liquid with an odor described as objectionable, and typical of amines. The name comes from the genus name ''Piper (genus), Piper'', which is the Latin word for Black pepper, pepper. Although piperidine is a common organic compound, it is best known as a representative structure element within many pharmaceuticals and alkaloids, such as natural-occurring Solenopsin, solenopsins. Production Piperidine was first reported in 1850 by the Scottish chemist Thomas Anderson (chemist), Thomas Anderson and again, independently, in 1852 by the French chemist Auguste André Thomas Cahours, Auguste Cahours, who named it. Both of them obtained piperidine by reacting piperine with nitric acid. Industrially, piperidine is produced by the hydrogenation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ant Venom
Ant venom is any of, or a mixture of, irritants and toxins inflicted by ants. Most ants spray or inject a venom, the main constituent of which is formic acid only in the case of subfamily Formicinae. Ant stings Of all extant ant species, about 71% are considered to be stinging species, as some subfamilies have evolutionarily lost the ability to sting. Notable examples include a few species of medical importance, such as '' Solenopsis'' (fire ants), ''Pachycondyla'', ''Myrmecia'' (bulldog ants), and ''Paraponera'' (bullet ants). In the case of fire ants, the venom consists mainly of alkaloid (>95%) and protein (<1%) components. Stinging ants cause a cutaneous condition that is different from that caused by biting venomous ants. Particularly painful are stings from fire ants, although the bullet ant's sting is considered by some to be the most painful insect sting. First ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lipophilicity
Lipophilicity (from Greek λίπος "fat" and φίλος "friendly"), refers to the ability of a chemical compound to dissolve in fats, oils, lipids, and non-polar solvents such as hexane or toluene. Such non-polar solvents are themselves lipophilic (translated as "fat-loving" or "fat-liking"), and the axiom that "like dissolves like" generally holds true. Thus lipophilic substances tend to dissolve in other lipophilic substances, but hydrophilic ("water-loving") substances tend to dissolve in water and other hydrophilic substances. Lipophilicity, hydrophobicity, and non-polarity may describe the same tendency towards participation in the London dispersion force, as the terms are often used interchangeably. However, the terms "lipophilic" and "hydrophobic" are not synonymous, as can be seen with silicones and fluorocarbons, which are hydrophobic but not lipophilic. __TOC__ Surfactants Hydrocarbon-based surfactants are compounds that are amphiphilic (or amphipathic), having ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceramide
Ceramides are a family of waxy lipid molecules. A ceramide is composed of N-acetyl sphingosine and a fatty acid. Ceramides are found in high concentrations within the cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane (PM) or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of all cells from the outside environment (the ... of Eukaryote, eukaryotic cells, since they are component lipids that make up sphingomyelin, one of the major lipids in the lipid bilayer. Contrary to previous assumptions that ceramides and other sphingolipids found in cell membrane were purely supporting structural elements, ceramide can participate in a variety of cellular lipid signaling, signaling: examples include regulating cell differentiation, differentiation, cell proliferation, proliferation, and programmed cell death (PCD) of Cell (biology), cells. The word ''ceramide'' comes from the Latin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphingolipid
Sphingolipids are a class of lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, a set of aliphatic amino alcohols that includes sphingosine. They were discovered in brain extracts in the 1870s and were named after the mythological sphinx because of their enigmatic nature. These compounds play important roles in signal transduction and cell recognition. Sphingolipidoses, or disorders of sphingolipid metabolism, have particular impact on neural tissue. A sphingolipid with an R group consisting of a hydrogen atom only is a ceramide. Other common R groups include phosphocholine, yielding a sphingomyelin, and various sugar monomers or dimers, yielding cerebrosides and globosides, respectively. Cerebrosides and globosides are collectively known as glycosphingolipids. Structure The long-chain bases, sometimes simply known as sphingoid bases, are the first non-transient products of '' de novo'' sphingolipid synthesis in both yeast and mammals. These compounds, specifically kn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chagas Disease
Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by '' Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily '' Triatominae'', known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change over the course of the infection. In the early stage, symptoms are typically either not present or mild, and may include fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, or swelling at the site of the bite. After four to eight weeks, untreated individuals enter the chronic phase of disease, which in most cases does not result in further symptoms. Up to 45% of people with chronic infections develop heart disease 10–30 years after the initial illness, which can lead to heart failure. Digestive complications, including an enlarged esophagus or an enlarged colon, may also occur in up to 21% of people, and up to 10% of people may experience nerve damage. is commonly spread to humans and other mammals by the bite of a kissing bug. The disease may also be sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trypanosoma Cruzi
''Trypanosoma cruzi'' is a species of parasitic euglenoids. Among the protozoa, the trypanosomes characteristically bore tissue in another organism and feed on blood (primarily) and also lymph. This behaviour causes disease or the likelihood of disease that varies with the organism: Chagas disease in humans, dourine and surra in horses, and a brucellosis-like disease in cattle. Parasites need a host body and the haematophagous insect triatomine (descriptions "assassin bug", "cone-nose bug", and "kissing bug") is the major vector in accord with a mechanism of infection. The triatomine likes the nests of vertebrate animals for shelter, where it bites and sucks blood for food. Individual triatomines infected with protozoa from other contact with animals transmit trypanosomes when the triatomine deposits its faeces on the host's skin surface and then bites. Penetration of the infected faeces is further facilitated by the scratching of the bite area by the human or animal host. Lif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quorum-sensing
In biology, quorum sensing or quorum signalling (QS) is the ability to detect and respond to cell population density by gene regulation. As one example, QS enables bacteria to restrict the expression of specific genes to the high cell densities at which the resulting phenotypes will be most beneficial. Many species of bacteria use quorum sensing to coordinate gene expression according to the density of their local population. In a similar fashion, some social insects use quorum sensing to determine where to nest. Quorum sensing in pathogenic bacteria activates host immune signaling and prolongs host survival, by limiting the bacterial intake of nutrients, such as tryptophan, which further is converted to serotonin. As such, quorum sensing allows a commensal interaction between host and pathogenic bacteria. Quorum sensing may also be useful for cancer cell communications. In addition to its function in biological systems, quorum sensing has several useful applications for computing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arginine
Arginine is the amino acid with the formula (H2N)(HN)CN(H)(CH2)3CH(NH2)CO2H. The molecule features a guanidino group appended to a standard amino acid framework. At physiological pH, the carboxylic acid is deprotonated (−CO2−) and both the amino and guanidino groups are protonated, resulting in a cation. Only the -arginine (symbol Arg or R) enantiomer is found naturally. Arg residues are common components of proteins. It is encoded by the codons CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG. The guanidine group in arginine is the precursor for the biosynthesis of nitric oxide. Like all amino acids, it is a white, water-soluble solid. History Arginine was first isolated in 1886 from yellow lupin seedlings by the German chemist Ernst Schulze and his assistant Ernst Steiger. He named it from the Greek ''árgyros'' (ἄργυρος) meaning "silver" due to the silver-white appearance of arginine nitrate crystals. In 1897, Schulze and Ernst Winterstein (1865–1949) determined the struct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitric Oxide Synthase
Nitric oxide synthases () (NOSs) are a family of enzymes catalyzing the production of nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine. NO is an important cellular signaling molecule. It helps modulate vascular tone, insulin secretion, airway tone, and peristalsis, and is involved in angiogenesis and neural development. It may function as a retrograde neurotransmitter. Nitric oxide is mediated in mammals by the calcium-calmodulin controlled isoenzymes eNOS ( endothelial NOS) and nNOS (neuronal NOS). The inducible isoform, iNOS, involved in immune response, binds calmodulin at physiologically relevant concentrations, and produces NO as an immune defense mechanism, as NO is a free radical with an unpaired electron. It is the proximate cause of septic shock and may function in autoimmune disease. NOS catalyzes the reaction: * 2 L-arginine + 3 NADPH + 3 H+ + 4 O2 \rightleftharpoons 2 citrulline +2 nitric oxide + 4 H2O + 3 NADP+ NOS isoforms catalyze other leak and side reactions, such as s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
