Role of the Equilibrative and Concentrative Nucleoside Transporters in the Intestinal Absorption of the Nucleoside Drug, Ribavirin, in Wild-Type and Ent1(−/−) Mice
Ribavirin is frontline treatment for hepatitis C virus infection. To determine the role of nucleoside transporters in the intestinal absorption of orally administered ribavirin, we perfused the intestines of Ent1(−/−) and wild-type mice, in situ, with [3H] ribavirin (20, 200, and 5000 μM) in the presence and absence of sodium. The decrease in luminal ribavirin concentration over 30 min was measured at 5 min intervals. Blood samples were collected approximately every 10 min. Ribavirin plus phosphorylated metabolite concentrations (hereafter referred to as ribavirin) were determined in tissue, blood, and plasma by HPLC fractionation and scintillation counting. There was no significant difference between wild-type and Ent1(−/−) mice in intestinal loss of ribavirin at any ribavirin concentration studied. Perfusions without sodium drastically reduced the intestinal loss of ribavirin in both wild-type and Ent1(−/−) mice. After 20 μM ribavirin perfusions, Ent1(−/−) intestinal tissue contained 8-fold greater riba...
Authors:
Aaron M. Moss; Christopher J. Endres; Ana Ruiz-Garcia; Doo-Sup Choi; Jashvant D. Unadkat
The successful applicability of gene therapy approaches will heavily rely on the development of efficient and safe nonviral gene delivery vectors, for example, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). CPPs can condense oligonucleotides and plasmid DNA (pDNA) into nanoparticles, thus allowing the t ... more
Dendrimers feature a defined number of terminal groups that may bind RNA or be functionalized with bioactive molecules. These competing uses of terminal groups may create an impasse if the requisite density of ligands depletes the number of terminal groups for binding sufficient RNA, or vic ... more
The development of clay bionanocomposites requires processing routes with nanostructural control. Moreover, moisture durability is a concern with water-soluble biopolymers. Here, oriented bionanocomposite coatings with strong in-plane orientation of clay platelets are for the first time pre ... more
Scientists are reporting discovery of a potential biochemical basis for the apparent cancer-fighting ability of broccoli and its veggie cousins. They found for the first time that certain substances in the vegetables appear to target and block a defective gene associated with cancer. Their ... more
Scientists in Japan are reporting development of a faster, less expensive version of the fabled polymerase chain reaction (PCR) a DNA test widely used in criminal investigations, disease diagnosis, biological research and other applications. The new method could lead to expanded use of PCR ... more
Researchers at Rice University in Texas have developed a new approach to fighting cancer, based on nanoscale particles that can both detect and destroy cancerous cells. The report appears in the American Chemical Society's journal Nano Letters. Current molecular imaging approaches only dete ... more