New Kids on the Block: Caged Glycine and Caged GABA

OSCAR FILEVICH; GUILLERMO CARRONE; ROBERTO ETCHENIQUE

Huerta Grande, Córdoba

Congreso; Segunda reunión conjunta de neurociencias; 2010

Taller de Neurociencias, Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias

Our lab has created a family of caged compounds based on the coordination chemistry of ruthenium bypiridyl complexes. We have caged 4-AP, glutamate, nicotine, serotonin, and other biologically important small molecules with effects over ionotropic or metabotropic receptors. The photochemical properties of these complexes make them particularly useful for a variety of applications: their very fast nanosecond-range kinetics allows probing ligand-triggered ion channel conformational changes. Their coordination bonds are labile under long wavelength, visible light. Their high quantum efficiency {phi} and high absorptivity coefficients {epsilon} makes it possible to use very inexpensive, low power light sources, like violet (405 nm), blue (473 nm) or green (532 nm) laser pointers which in turn makes expensive quartz optics unnecessary. Finally, their high solubility and absence of nonspecific interactions allow for in-vivo experiments. Here we present two new members of this family: caged GABA (Ru(bpy)2PMe3GABA) and caged Glycine (Ru(bpy)2PMe3Glycine) their synthesis, chemical properties and application examples.