Liposome is well known as not only a drug-delivery system but also a simple model for biological membranes. It was reported that fluorescence properties of hypocrellins were changeable over some extreme pH values. In the current work, the effects of the microenviron-ments on the fluorescence properties of HB in liposome, including approximately physiological range of pH values pH = 6.0—8.0, concentration of cholesterols and ionic strength of the solution, were studied. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of HB was sensitive to and also regulated by the microenvironments. When concentration of cholesterols and ionic strength keep invariable in PBS solution, there exists the maximum for the fluorescence of HB-liposome at pH 7.4 while the minimum for that of HB at pH 7.0. In addition, when pH value keeps constant (7.2), there exists the maximum at the ionic strength of 0.12 mol/kg while that at the concentra-tion of 6?0-4 mol/L for cholesterols. On the other hand, in PBS solution, the lower the ionic strength is, the higher the fluorescence intensity is. The environment-sensitive fluorescence may be potentially applicable to probe some specific environmental features in cells or tissues.
JIN Xuanye1,2, ZHAO Yuewei1, XIE Jie1 & ZHAO Jingquan1 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Center for Molecular Science, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
In the current work, chryosphanol (MHAQ) was isolated and purified from rheum, and the photosensitization activities were studied. In nitrogen-saturated DMSO solution, irradia- tion of chryosphanol (MHAQ) with visible light (>430 nm) produced the semiquinone radical anions (MHAQ??), which was intensified significantly by an electron donor NADH, suggesting electron transfer between the excited and ground state photosensitizer molecules. In an air-saturated DMSO solution, superoxide radical anions (O2 ), trapped by DMPO, were detected. ?? It was proved that O2 was not originated from the singlet oxygen (1O2) but dependent on DMPO, ?? chrysophanol, oxygen and the irradiation time. The singlet oxygen and OH could also be pro- ? duced by the photosensitization of the photosensitizer. These suggest that chrysophanol pos- sesses the photosensitization activity via Type I mechanism and Type II mechanism. To evaluate the photosensitization activities of MHAQ, emodin and mixed anthraquinone derivatives ex- tracted from rheum, the relative productivities of O2 were estimated to be 1.8, 1.1 and 1.0 re- ?? spectively and the quantum yields for singlet oxygen to be 0.36, 0.53 and 0.14 respectively. Therefore, these low-cost pigments may be potentially used as phototherapeutic medicine for some kind of vascular diseases or photo-activated pesticides.
RAO Jing1,2, XIE Jie1, ZHAO Jingquan1 & ZHU Teng2 1. Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Center for Molecular Science, Institute of Chemistry, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
