Date of Award

1968

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Pharmacology

Department

Pharmacology

First Advisor

George C. Fuller

Abstract

Eleven derivatives of B-nitrostyrene were found to inhibit the oxygen uptake of whole tissue homogenates of the snail Australorbis glabratus. The inhibition of oxygen uptake by B-nitrostyrene was diminished in the presence of excess and equimolar concentrations of cysteine in the incubation media. The addition of cysteine resulted in changes in the ultraviolet spectra of B-nitrostyrene solutions. Similar addition of serine to B-nitrostyrene solutions had no discernible effect on the ultraviolet spectra. B-nitrostyrene were found to delay the development of color which normally results from the reaction between cysteine and 515’-dithiobis (2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB). The ability of the nitrostyrenes to delay the progress of the reaction between cysteine and DTNB was compared with the inhibitory effects of the same nitroolefins on the oxygen uptake of homogenates. A positive correlation between the effects of the nitroolefins on oxygen uptake and the effects on the cysteine-DTNB reaction was found. These data indicate that the sulfhydryl reactivity of the compounds studied may be responsible for the molluscicidal activity of the nitrostyrene series studied.

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