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Molecular structure and dynamics of cis(Z)-and trans(E)-flupenthixol and clopenthixol.

The three-dimensional structures and molecular electrostatic potentials of the cis(Z) and trans(E)-isomers of flupenthixol and clopenthixol were examined by computer graphics and molecular mechanical and quantum mechanical calculations, and their internal molecular motions were studied by molecular dynamics simulations in vacuo and in aqueous solution. The simulations demonstrated that both the side chains and the tricyclic ring systems of clopenthixol and flupenthixol are highly flexible. The angle between the two phenyl ring planes varied between 105 and 171 degrees during the simulations in solution. The electrostatic potentials around the 2-substituent were significantly more negative in the trans(E)-isomers than in the cis(Z)-isomers. The stronger negative potentials may weaken electrostatic receptor interactions and, thereby, cause the trans(E)-isomers to be less active than cis(Z)-isomers. Differences both in three-dimensional structure and in electronic structure may cause the difference in pharmacological activity between cis(Z)- and trans(E)-thioxanthenes.

Clopenthixol

Three-dimensional structure and molecular dynamics of cis(Z)- and trans(E)-chlorprothixene.

cis(Z)-Chlorprothixene has antidopaminergic potency, while trans(E)-chlorprothixene is virtually inactive. In order to reveal the structural features causing the difference in activity, the three-dimensional molecular and electronic structures of cis(Z)- and trans(E)-chlorprothixene were examined by computer graphics and molecular mechanical and quantum mechanical calculations. The internal molecular motions of the isomers were studied by molecular dynamics simulations in vacuo and in aqueous solution. The cis(Z)-isomer had lower potential molecular energy than the trans(E)-isomer, mainly due to electrostatic interactions within the side-chain and between the dimethylamino group and the chlorine atom. During molecular dynamics simulations in aqueous solution, the side-chain of the trans(E)-isomer stayed closer to the central S-C axis of the ring system than did the side-chain of the cis(Z)-isomer. The molecular electrostatic potentials were significantly lower in the vicinity of the chlorine atom in the trans(E)- than in the cis(Z)-isomer. Differences in molecular electrostatic potentials and in three-dimensional structure are suggested to be the main reasons for the difference in pharmacological activities of cis(Z)- and trans(E)-chlorprothixene.

Chlorprothixene

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic and computer-stimulated structural analyses of a heptapeptide sequence found around the N-glycosylation site of a proline-rich glycoprotein from human parotid saliva.

The proline-rich glycoprotein from human parotid saliva has a common heptapeptide sequence around four of six N-glycosylation sites (Maeda, N., H. S. Kim, E. A. Azen, and O. J. Smithies, 1985, J. Biol. Chem., 20:11123-11130). A synthetic model of the heptamer protein sequence, NH2-Q(1)-G(2)-G(3)-N(4)-Q(5)-S(6)-Q(7)-CONH2, was examined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and the ECEPP/2-VAO4A (Empirical Conformation Energy Program for Peptides) energy minimization computer algorithm (Scheraga, H. A., 1982, Quantum Chemistry Program Exchange, 454; Powell, M. J. D., 1964, Quantum Chemistry Program Exchange, 60). The NMR spectrum was almost completely assigned in dimethylsulfoxide-d6 (DMSO), and the amide chemical shift temperature dependence, phi dihedral angles, and chi 1 rotamer populations elucidated. These data indicated that a significant population of the heptamer could exist as a type I beta-turn [4----1 between Q(5) and G(2)] and/or a type II' beta-turn [4----1 between (Q)5 and G(2) and/or a gamma-turn [3----1 between Q(5) and G(3)] with the amino acid chi 1 torsion angles weighted toward the gauche- conformation. Starting from these three possible conformations, the ECEPP/2-VAO4A rigid geometry energy minimization program was used to find the localized predominant in vacuo structures of this heptapeptide sequence. The type II' beta-turn conformation best fits the data based on internuclear hydrogen-bonding distances, minimum potential energy considerations, and the NMR parameters.

Computer Simulation

Osteoporosis: the state of the art in 1987: a review.

Osteoporosis affects approximately 15 to 20 million people in the United States and is the underlying cause of 1.3 million new fractures per year in people over age 45. The more common risk factors recognized in this disorder are older age, female sex, white race, physical inactivity, and early menopause. We now have available equipment which can measure bone density at various sites. These include single- and dual-photon densitometry, and single and dual quantitative computed tomography. These procedures are a quantum improvement over plain x-ray in the assessment of the severity of osteoporosis, but measurement at one site may not reflect the density at other sites. The value of these techniques in screening the general population for osteoporosis remains to be demonstrated. They are valuable when used to monitor patients longitudinally to assess the progression of disease and the effects of specific therapeutic regimens. There is no established effective therapy for osteoporosis so prevention is the goal. The effectiveness of different programs of physical activity in preventing bone loss and fractures is unknown but isotonic exercises three times a week for thirty minutes is recommended. There is general agreement that adequate calcium intake is important for maintenance of skeletal integrity, but there is no proof that a high dietary calcium alone will prevent osteoporosis. Estrogen therapy clearly prevents the accelerated bone loss which occurs in all white women at the time of menopause, but the question still remains who should be started on estrogens, and within what period of time after menopause are estrogens still useful in preventing postmenopausal bone loss, and for how long do we continue hormone therapy. Many questions are left to be answered but at least now osteoporosis is recognized as a major medical problem and much research is being done to answer the above questions.

Aged

On the suitability of semiempirical calculations as sources of force field parameters.

The suitability of Dewar's Hamiltonians as a source of bonded force field parameters is explored from the comparison analysis between up to 270 semiempirically derived force field parameters and experimentally derived values reported in some of the most popular force fields. From the statistical analysis of the results, some general conclusions about the semiempirical parametrization are formulated.

Mathematical Computing

Dynamic control of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-induced Ca2+ release: a theoretical explanation for the quantal release of Ca2+.

A theoretical model has been elaborated in order to describe the kinetics of Ca2+ release induced by inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3). The model is based on the existence of a key molecule that controls the interconversion of open and closed forms of the Ca2+ channel. The model can quantitatively explain the previously obtained experimental observations that showed that a continuous IP3 stimulus leads to a biphasic Ca2+ release and that successive IP3 additions provoke repetitive bursts of Ca2+ release. Other published interpretations of these observations are discussed.

Calcium

Future in biomolecular computation.

Large-scale computations for biomolecules are dominated by three levels of theory: rigorous quantum mechanical calculations for molecules with up to about 30 atoms, semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations for systems with up to several hundred atoms, and force-field molecular dynamics studies of biomacromolecules with 10,000 atoms and more including surrounding solvent molecules. It can be anticipated that increased computational power will allow the treatment of larger systems of ever growing complexity. Due to the scaling of the computational requirements with increasing number of atoms, the force-field approaches will benefit the most from increased computational power. On the other hand, progress in methodologies such as density functional theory will enable us to treat larger systems on a fully quantum mechanical level and a combination of molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics can be envisioned. One of the greatest challenges in biomolecular computation is the protein folding problem. It is unclear at this point, if an approach with current methodologies will lead to a satisfactory answer or if unconventional, new approaches will be necessary. In any event, due to the complexity of biomolecular systems, a hierarchy of approaches will have to be established and used in order to capture the wide ranges of length-scales and time-scales involved in biological processes. In terms of hardware development, speed and power of computers will increase while the price/performance ratio will become more and more favorable. Parallelism can be anticipated to become an integral architectural feature in a range of computers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Chemical Phenomena

Noise analysis of a digital radiography system.

The sources of noise in a digital video subtraction angiography system were identified and analyzed. Signal-to-noise ratios of digital radiography systems were measured using the digital image data recorded in the computer. The major sources of noise include quantum noise, TV camera electronic noise, quantization noise from the analog-to-digital converter, time jitter, structure noise in the image intensifier, and video recorder electronic noise. A new noise source was identified, which results from the interplay of fixed pattern noise and the lack of image registration. This type of noise may result from image-intensifier structure noise in combination with TV camera time jitter or recorder time jitter. A similar noise source is generated from the interplay of patient absorption inhomogeneities and patient motion or image re-registration. Signal-to-noise ratios were measured for a variety of experimental conditions using subtracted digital images. The measured signal-to-noise ratios were found to fluctuate on repeat trials with about a 10% standard deviation. Averaging of video frames was found to reduce the noise level by the expected square root N relation, where N is the number of frames averaged. Image-intensifier structure noise was shown to be a dominant noise source in unsubtracted images at medium to high radiation exposure levels. A total-system signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 750:1 was measured for an input exposure of 1 mR/frame at the image intensifier input. The effect of scattered radiation on subtracted image SNR was found to be greater than previously reported. The detail SNR was found to vary approximately as one plus the scatter degradation factor. Quantization error noise with 8-bit image processors (signal-to-noise ratio of 890:1) was shown to be of increased importance after recent improvements in TV cameras. The results of the analysis are useful both in the design of future digital radiography systems and the selection of optimum clinical techniques.

Angiography

Nonlinear polychromatic and noise artifacts in x-ray computed tomography images.

The variance of the image noise in computed X-ray transmission tomography (CT) due to quantum noise is in a first approximation a nonlinear function of X-ray attenuation. Beam hardening in CT is also a nonlinear function of attenuation. We present a theoretical study of both phenomena. Computer simulations and numerical results show that both nonlinear dependencies have quite similar effects on image quality. We also show how the two-dimensional distribution of the noise variance in a CT image is a weighted superposition of images obtained by backprojecting integer powers of the noiseless projection data corresponding to the scanned object. The streak-like pattern in the image noise due to the anisotropic nature of the noise cross-correlation function is discussed. We also discuss how these nonlinear phenomena affect noise filtering and tissue characterization using statistical parameters.

Electronics, Medical

Subunits in quantal transmission at the mouse neuromuscular junction: tests of peak intervals in amplitude distributions.

The regular spacing of peaks throughout the amplitude distribution of miniature end-plate potentials, quantal evoked end-plate potentials and quantal currents was demonstrated using autocorrelations and power density spectra calculated from the number of events in the successive bins of the histograms built by Matteson et al. (1979), Kriebel & Florey (1983) and Erxleben & Kriebel (1984). At the same mouse neuromuscular junction, the calculated interpeak was constant for evoked and spontaneous quantal releases, throughout sequential sampling and after change of bin size. The presence of regular peak intervals supports the hypothesis that quantal potentials are composed of potential subunits the size of the smallest subminiature potential. Challenging the hypothesis of an acetylcholine quantum composed of acetylcholine subunits, a postsynaptic origin of the subunit is proposed on the basis of the spatial arrangement in rows of the ACh receptors. The ACh-saturating patch evoked by a quantum release (Land et al., 1980, 1981) activates 10-20 rows of receptors, which is roughly the number of subunits composing a quantal event. Therefore the position of the ACh patch or the continuous variations in its size might cause stepwise variations in the total number of ACh receptors activated by an ACh quantum.

Acetylcholine

Computer-assisted structure-activity studies of chemical carcinogens. A heterogeneous data set.

A structure-activity relations study has been performed on a heterogeneous set of organic compounds to develop predictive ability for carcinogenic potential. The compounds employed came from more than 12 structural classes and numbered 130 carcinogens and 79 noncarcinogens. A set of 28 calculated molecular structure descriptors was identified that supported a linear discriminant function able to completely separate 192 compounds into the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic classes. A predictive ability of 90% for carcinogens and 78% for noncarcinogens was obtained in randomized testing. The results demonstrate that pattern-recognition methods can be used to analyze a diverse set of compounds each represented by calculated molecular structure descriptors for a common biological activity.

Carcinogens

Quantum mechanics and cellular information processing: the self-assembly paradigm.

Biological cells have greater information processing efficiency than the programmable computers used to model them. In part this is due to the larger number of interactions that can contribute to function. General arguments suggest that systems in which quantum features play a prominent role are more powerful than classical physical-dynamical analogs. A hypothetical model, involving macromolecular self-assembly, is used to illustrate how the parallelism inherent in the quantum mechanical wave function could play a role in cellular pattern processing. Signals impinging on the external membrane of the cell trigger the release of specifically shaped macromolecules. These aggregate into a mosaic shape features that reflect different groupings of the signal input patterns. The shape features are in turn read out and connected to effector actions by adaptor molecules. The self-assembly model fits into a more general hierarchical scheme of biological information processing in which macroscopic signals are transduced to mesoscopic and then microphysical representations, processed largely at the microphysical level, and then amplified for macroscopic action. The physical dynamics are controlled by proteins and other macromolecules that are molded through the evolutionary process of variation and selection. The organizational requirements for evolutionary moldability and for efficient information processing function are completely consistent. They include high dimensionality, multiplicity of weak interactions, and hierarchical-compartmental structure.

Biological Evolution

Conformational properties of molecules by ab initio quantum mechanical energy minimization.

The recent literature on the determination of minimum energy conformations by ab initio quantum mechanical techniques is reviewed. The availability of computer-coded analytical first and second derivatives of the Hartree-Fock energy makes possible calculations that will be of significant assistance in structure determination of molecules. A short review of recent progress in empirical energy minimization and molecular dynamics is provided.

Models, Chemical

Characterization of functional interactions of imidazoquinoxaline derivatives with benzodiazepine-gamma-aminobutyric acidA receptors.

U-78875 [imidazo[1,5-a]quinoxalin-4(5H)-one, 3-(5-cyclopropyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3-yl)-5-(1-methylethyl)] belongs to a series of imidazoquinoxaline derivatives, recently discovered ligands with high affinity for benzodiazepine receptors. In this study, we have examined the drug and its analogs for their modes of interaction with the receptors, with a particular emphasis on finding molecular determinants for their functional properties. Changes in the substituents on N5 and C6 of the heterocyclic ring produced no major effects on binding characteristics but yielded drugs of widely varying efficacy (antagonist to full agonist), measured as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-mediated 36Cl- uptake and t-butylbicyclophosphoro[35S]thionate binding in rat cerebrocortical membranes. The relative binding affinity and efficacy of the analogs measured in brain membranes were similar to those in cloned GABAA receptors of the alpha 1 beta 2 gamma 2 (type I) and alpha 3 beta 2 gamma 2 (type II) subtypes. The imidazoquinoxalines showed no marked subtype selectivity. Their Ki value against [3H]flunitrazepam binding for type I was only 2-3 times lower than that for type II, and their rank order for agonistic activity was the same in the two subtypes, measured as GABA-mediated Cl- currents in human kidney cells (A293) expressing the subtypes of GABAA receptors. According to computational modeling of the drugs using both molecular and quantum mechanics, the agonistic activity of the imidazoquinoxaline derivatives depends on the presence of a bulky alkyl substituent at N5 and the deformation of the substituted portion of the otherwise planar ring system induced by a bulky moiety at N5 or C6. With a fixed N5 substituent (isopropyl), the relative efficacy in the brain membranes, as well as in the cloned receptors, appeared to be dependent on the degree of the ring deformation. This out-of-plane portion of the imidazoquinoxalines can be assigned to the general region occupied by the 5-phenyl group of diazepam and other agonistic functional groups of several nonbenzodiazepine ligands. It seems that this region, apparently common to various agonistic ligands, interacts with an agonistic pocket in type I and type II subtypes of the benzodiazepine receptors in the brain. Our results also provide direct support for the view that the agonists and nonagonists share largely overlapping binding regions in the benzodiazepine receptor, which has been proposed earlier from in vivo efficacy measurements of other series of ligands.

Animals