Copper is essential for life processes like energy metabolism, reactive oxygen species detoxification, iron uptake, and signaling in eukaryotic organisms. Mitochondria gather copper for the assembly of cuproenzymes such as the respiratory complex IV, cytochrome c oxidase, and the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase 1. In this regard, copper plays a role in mitochondrial function and signaling involving bioenergetics, dynamics, and mitophagy, which affect cell fate by means of metabolic reprogramming. In mammals, copper homeostasis is tightly regulated by the liver. However, cellular copper levels are tissue specific. Copper imbalances, either overload or deficiency, have been associated with many diseases, including anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia, as well as tumor development and cancer aggressivity. Consistently, new pharmacological developments have been addressed to reduce or exacerbate copper levels as potential cancer therapies. This review goes over the copper source, distribution, cellular uptake, and its role in mitochondrial function, metabolic reprograming, and cancer biology, linking copper metabolism with the field of regenerative medicine and cancer.
HIG2A promotes cell survival under hypoxia and mediates the assembly of complex III and complex IV into respiratory chain supercomplexes. In the present study, we show that human HIGD2A and mouse Higd2a gene expressions are regulated by hypoxia, glucose, and the cell cycle‐related transcription factor E2F1. The latter was found to bind the promoter region of HIGD2A. Differential expression of the HIGD2A gene was found in C57BL/6 mice in relation to tissue and age. Besides, the silencing of HIGD2A evidenced the modulation of mitochondrial dynamics proteins namely, OPA1 as a fusion protein increases, while FIS1, a fission protein, decreases. Besides, the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) increased. The protein HIG2A is localized in the mitochondria and nucleus. Moreover, we observed that the HIG2A protein interacts with OPA1. Changes in oxygen concentration, glucose availability, and cell cycle regulate HIGD2A expression. Alterations in HIGD2A expression are associated with changes in mitochondrial physiology.
The aromaticity of benzene, Al 4 2À cluster, cyclopropane, borazine and planar cyclooctatetraene (COT) was analyzed according to different strategies based on nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) computations. The analysis of NICS-components evolution along the main molecular axis seems to be the most adequate and simplest strategy to predict the aromatic or antiaromatic character of the studied systems. Moreover, the analysis of the s-and p-electron contributions to the out-of-plane component of NICS (NICS zz ) leads to the same qualitative and quantitative conclusions previously obtained by the analysis of the magnetically induced ring current densities.
The electron delocalization of benzene (C6H6) and hexafluorobenzene (C6F6) was analyzed in terms of the induced magnetic field, nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS), and ring current strength (RCS). The computed out-of-plane component of the induced magnetic field at a distance (r) greater than or equal to 1.0 Å above the ring center correlates well (R2>0.99) with the RCS value. According to these criteria, fluorination has two effects on the C6 skeleton; concomitantly, the resonant effects diminish the π electron delocalization and the inductive effects decrease the charge density at the ring center and therefore reduce the magnitude of the paratropic current generated in this region. The equilibrium between both effects decreases aromaticity in the fluorinated benzene derivatives. These results can be extrapolated to determine the aromaticity of any derivative within the series of fluorinated benzene derivatives (C6H(6−n)Fn, where n=1–5).
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