Physical Chemistry Commons^™

Dinitroxides In Rapid Scan Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging, Lukas B. Woodcock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Local tissue physiology is an important parameter in understanding disease behavior. Rapid Scan (RS) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) offers a unique, non-invasive tool for investigation of these so-called microenvironments through EPR Imaging (EPRI). Research into advancement of EPRI falls into many categories. Not least among those are advances in instrumentation and methodology. Presented here are updates to a benchtop EPRI instrument operating at 1 GHz targeted at pre-clinical EPRI applications. Newly developed methods for reducing RS-EPR background through inversion of the magnetic field are also demonstrated. EPR applications are limited in native biological systems due to the miniscule concentration of …

Inhibitors Of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation, Jemil Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alpha-Synuclein (αS) – a neuronal, disordered, presynaptic protein – aggregates into amyloid fibrils and accumulates in the substantia nigra pars compacta of Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. The aggregation and accumulation of αS amyloid fibrils leads to death of dopaminergic neurons; a hallmark of PD. Although it’s not clear why αS aggregates, prior studies have found that intrastriatal injection of fibril alone is sufficient to cause PD pathology in mouse and non-human primates models. These observations implicate αS as a therapeutic target against PD.

Unfortunately, there are three caveats when attempting to target αS. First, αS is a neuronal protein expressed …

Epr Relaxation Of Modified Triphenylmethyl And Nitroxide Radicals, Whylder Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trityl and nitroxide radicals are widely used as probes in chemical and biochemical systems. Understanding of factors that impact the electron spin relaxation for these radicals is important for selection of probes and experimental operating conditions. It has been previously reported that ¹³C isotope enrichment of the central carbon of the trityl yields a highly sensitive micro viscosity probe. It was important to characterize the impact of this substitution on the relaxation processes in fluid solution and immobilized samples.

Electron spin relaxation times for perdeuterated Finland trityl 99% enriched in ¹³C at the central carbon (¹³C …