Patent Application: US-201213435825-A

Abstract:
the invention relates to the identification of sterol glucoside toxins , and provides methods for detecting and detoxifying the compounds , as well as therapeutic methods for treating subjects exposed to such toxins . in alternative embodiments , the toxins may for example include beta - sitostrol - beta - d - glucoside or cholesterol glucoside .

Description:
kits and assays of the invention may include a variety of techniques for detecting toxins . for example , antibodies to bssg or cholesterol glucoside may be used in kits or assays . antibodies , or other ligands , that bind to the toxins of the invention may for example be used to prepare kits such as immunoassay agglutination kits designed to detect the toxins in biological specimens , such as blood or feces . affinity purified antibodies against toxins of the invention may for example be used to passively coat small particles , such as polystyrene particles , that form visible aggregates when they are mixed with a sample containing the toxins . many alternative immunoassay procedures for detecting toxins of the invention in body fluids may be adapted from methods known in the immunoassay art . such techniques may include radio - immunoassay techniques ; and , enzyme - immunoassay techniques such as competitive , double antibody solid phase (“ dasp ”) and sandwich procedures . various solid phase immunoassays may be performed using various solid supports , including finely divided cellulose , solid beads or discs , polystyrene tubes and microtiter plates . enzyme immunoassays may be adapted to include color formation as an indicator of a result . procedures for raising polyclonal antibodies are also well known . typically , such antibodies can be raised by administering an antigenic formulation of the toxin of the present invention subcutaneously to an antibody producing animal , such as new zealand white rabbits . the antigens may for example be injected at a total volume of 100 microlitres per site at six different sites . each injected material may contain adjuvants . the rabbits are then bled two weeks after the first injection and periodically boosted with the same antigen three times every six weeks . a sample of serum is then collected 10 days after each boost . polyclonal antibodies are then recovered from the serum by affinity chromatography using the corresponding antigen to capture the antibody . this and other procedures for raising polyclonal antibodies are disclosed in e . harlow , et . al ., editors , antibodies : a laboratory manual ( 1988 ), which is hereby incorporated by reference . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 753 , 260 issued to alving , et al . may 19 , 1998 ( incorporated herein by reference ) discloses immunoreactive compositions and methods for immunizing animals to produce antibodies against sterols , which may be used to produce anti - bssg or anti - cholesterol glucoside antibodies . antigenic compositions for raising such antibodies may for example include liposomes containing phosphatidylcholine , toxin ( such as bssg or cholesterol glucoside ), and adjuvant such as lipid a in molar ratios of approximately 2 : 5 : 0 . 02 . delivery vehicles other than liposomes would also be suitable , including microcapsules , microspheres , lipospheres , polymers , and slow release devices could serve instead of liposomes . monoclonal antibody production to toxins of the present invention may similarly be effected by known techniques involving first obtaining immune cells ( lymphocytes ) from the spleen of a mammal ( e . g ., mouse ) which has been previously immunized with the antigen of interest either in vivo or in vitro . the antibody - secreting lymphocytes are then fused with ( mouse ) myeloma cells or transformed cells , which are capable of replicating indefinitely in cell culture , thereby producing an immortal , immunoglobulin - secreting cell line . fusion with mammalian myeloma cells or other fusion partners capable of replicating indefinitely in cell culture is effected by standard and well - known techniques , for example , by using polyethylene glycol (“ peg ”) or other fusing agents ( see milstein and kohler , eur . j . immunol . 6 : 511 ( 1976 ), which is hereby incorporated by reference ). the resulting fused cells , or hybridomas , are cultured , and the resulting colonies screened for the production of the desired monoclonal antibodies . colonies producing such antibodies are cloned and grown either in vivo or in vitro to produce large quantities of antibody . a description of the theoretical basis and practical methodology of fusing such cells is set forth in kohler and milstein , nature 256 : 495 ( 1975 ), which is hereby incorporated by reference . in addition to utilizing whole antibodies , the kits and processes of the present invention encompass use of binding portions of such antibodies that recognize toxins of the invention . such binding portions include fab fragments , f ( ab ′) 2 fragments , and fv fragments . these antibody fragments can be made by conventional procedures , such as proteolytic fragmentation procedures , as described in goding , monoclonal antibodies : principles and practice , pp . 98 - 118 , new york : academic press ( 1983 ), which is hereby incorporated by reference . in one aspect of the invention , ligands ( such as antibodies ) to the toxins of the invention may be administered to a patient in need of such treatment to ameliorate the effect of the toxins on the patient . in an alternative aspect of the invention , an animal , such as a human , may be vaccinated with an antigenic composition effective to raise antibodies against sterol glucoside toxins of the invention , such as bssg or cholesterol glucoside , to retard or reduce the severity of toxicity caused by ingestion of toxins of the invention . in alternative embodiments , the invention provides methods of detoxification of compositions containing toxins , such as foodstuffs , in which sterol glucoside toxins of the invention may be hydrolyzed , for example in acid , such as in methanolic hcl ( kastelic - suhadolc , biochim biophys acta nov . 7 , 1980 ; 620 ( 2 ): 322 - 5 ). detoxification by enzymatic cleavage of the beta - glycosidic linkage may also be accomplished , for example by a beta - d - glucosidase . a thermostable beta - d - glucosidase from thermoascus aurantiacus that hydrolyses aryl and alkyl beta - d - glucosides has for example recently been reported ( parry et al ., 1 jan . 2001 , biochem j , 353 ( pt 1 ): 117 - 127 ). a steryl - beta - glucosidase ( ec 3 . 2 . 1 . 104 ; cas registration no . 69494 - 88 - 8 ; cholesteryl - beta - d - glucoside glucohydrolase ) has been identified from sinapis alba seedlings that reportedly acts on glucosides of cholesterol and sitosterol ( kalinowska and wojciechowski , 1978 , phytochemistry 17 : 1533 - 1537 ). in one aspect , the invention provides methods for treatment of materials , such as body fluids , with an adsorbent , such as an immunoadsorbent , to remove toxins of the invention . in such methods , an antibody in an insoluble form may be used to bind the toxin antigen to remove it from a mixture of substances . for example , solid - phase immunoadsorbent gels may be used , in which purified antibodies , for example from the serum of immunized animals , is coupled to cyanogen bromide - activated 4 % agarose gels . in alternative embodiments , sephadex , derivatives of cellulose , or other polymers can be used as the matrix as an alternative to agarose . alternative aspects of the invention are illustrated in the following examples , which are merely illustrative of some embodiments and do not necessarily reflect the full scope of the invention . in vitro experiments were performed on adult (& gt ; 70 do ) male sprague - dawley colony rats maintained on a light - dark cycle ( 12 hr : 12 hr ). in vivo experiments were conduced using cd - 1 colony reared 5 - 7 mo . old male mice . mso was obtained from sigma - aldrich canada ltd . ( mississauga , ontario ). ampa , nmda , aps , and nbqx were obtained from precision biochemicals inc . ( vancouver , british columbia ). [ 3 h ] cgp 39653 and [ 3 h ] glutamate were purchased from nen / mendel scientific co . ( guelph , ontario ). ldh kits and dnaase were obtained from sigma ( st . louis ). tunel kits were purchased from intergen ( apoptag ). ( oxford ). other chemicals were of analytical grade available from bdh inc . ( vancouver , british columbia ). initial experiments were performed with crude cycad flour extracts made by extensively grinding chips of cycad in a small volume of distilled water . these cycad chips had been extensively soaked over a period of 7 days . this cycad extract was diluted by various factors in krebs - henseleit buffer for use in bath application to field potential or ldh assays . based on early experiments ( e . g ., see fig2 ), cycad fractions were extensively screened for potency based on the size of the evoked field potential response or on amount of ldh released . from each stage , the most potent batch was selected and further separated by column chromatography . the fractions ultimately yielded several variants of a sterol glucoside , β - sitosterol - β - d glucoside ( bssg ) with a range of molecular weights ranging from 574 - 576 ). these fractions have been given fraction identification codes indicating stage in the isolation procedure and are described in the following as d - 2 , d - 1 - 1 , and d - 2 . cortical ‘ wedges ’ were prepared as described previously ( shaw et al ., 1996 ). in brief , animals were anesthetized with co 2 , decapitated , and a cortical block rapidly removed and placed in cold krebs - henseleit buffer containing ( in mm ): nacl 124 , kcl 3 . 3 , nahco 3 25 , glucose 10 , kh 2 po 4 1 . 2 , cacl 2 2 . 4 , and mgso 4 1 . 2 , bubbled with 5 % co 2 / 95 % o 2 , ph 7 . 4 . the cortical block was sectioned into 500 μm thick coronal slices using a vibratome ( campden instruments ) and the slices cut into pie shaped wedges in which the white matter formed the narrow edge of the wedge . each wedge was placed on a net across a grease gap between two fluid filled chambers . the cortical side of the wedge was bathed ( at room temperature , approx . 25 ° c .) in buffer lacking mg 2 + ; the callosal portion was bathed in buffer containing mg 2 + to minimize neural activity . field potentials were differentially recorded between the two chambers using two ag / agcl electrodes . recordings from up to 6 wedges , each in individual chambers , could be made simultaneously for each experiment . the wedges were continuously perfused on the cortical side with oxygenated , mg 2 + - free buffer using a gravity feed system . using this system , drugs could be rapidly substituted for control media to examine response characteristics . wedges typically survived for up to 8 hrs . responses were recorded on labview ™ after amplification and a / d conversion and the traces were charted in excel ™ for windows ™. statistical analysis of peak response amplitude was performed by one - way anova using bonferroni &# 39 ; s post test with graphpad prism ™. brain slices were taken from cortical blocks in which all subcortical tissue had been removed . 400 μm slices were cut using a modified slice cutter ( van huizen et al ., 1989 ). slices were rinsed twice for 5 min in mg + 2 containing krebs - henseleit buffer ph 7 . 4 . incubation media consisted of 100 μm cold glutamate , 20 μm ap5 and 10 μm dnqx , the latter nmda or ampa antagonists , respectively . 10 nm of [ 3 h ]- glutamate was added to the mixture and incubated for 1 hr at 37 ° c . under in oxygenated atmosphere ( o 2 / co 2 = 95 / 5 %). experimental treatments were performed in 500 μm mg + 2 free buffer placed in tissue culture wells containing different concentrations of mso or isolated bssg fractions of cycad flour . slices were removed at the end of incubation period and the supernatant removed for scintillation counting . the supernatant fractions were placed in scintillation vials containing nen formula 989 for a minimum of 12 hrs before being counted in a beckman ls6000 scintillation counter . results were normalized to the dpm counts of respective controls . cortical slices were prepared as described above in the glutamate release experiments and placed in tissue culture wells containing krebs - heinsleight buffer supplemented with 0 . 0004 % h 2 o 2 and lmg / ml glucose . extensive previous studies have demonstrated that this medium supports cellular activity for prolonged periods ( van huizen et al ., 1989 ; shaw et al ., 1996 ). ( note that hydrogen peroxide , added as the source of molecular oxygen , was not deleterious at this low concentration ( see van huizen et al ., 1989 ). in our preliminary experiments , hydrogen peroxide did not affect ldh release up to a 1 mm concentration ( 0 . 0034 %). all slices were washed twice with buffer for 20 min each at room temperature before incubation in media containing the test compounds for 1 hr at 37 ° c . test compounds included mso , nmda , kainate , different concentrations of cycad extract or different fractions or concentrations of isolated bssg . mso , nmda , and cycad / bssg were each tested alone or in combination with aps , and compared to control slices maintained in buffer alone . for additional comparison and to establish the limits of the method , some slices were freeze - thawed to kill all the cells . alternatively , some slices were incubated in buffer containing 1 . 2 mm mg 2 + in order to diminish spontaneous neural activity . at the end of the 1 hr incubation period , 3 samples ( 100 μl of buffer , each sample ) were taken from each well . ldh assays were performed on these samples using a ldh diagnostic kit ( sigma ) following the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol with some modifications . in brief , 0 . 5 ml of pyruvate solution was mixed with 0 . 5 mg pre - weighed nadh . 100 μl of slice medium ( free of slices ) was added to the mixture and incubated for 30 min at 37 ° c . 0 . 5 ml of sigma coloring reagent ( 2 , 4 - dinitrophenylhydrazine in hcl , 2 mg / ml ) was added to develop the color and the mixture was incubated for 20 min at room temperature . 5 ml of 0 . 4 n naoh were added to each tube . after 5 min , optical density was read at 440 nm . standard curves were prepared for each assay using different concentrations of pyruvate solution ( 0 - 960 units ). ldh activity ( in international units ) was calculated from the standard curve and normalized by total protein content of each slice as determined by the lowry protein assay ( peterson , 1979 ). one international unit represents the amount of enzyme required to convert 1 μmol of substrate / minute at room temperature . terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase ( tdt ) mediated dutp - digoxigenin ( dig ) nickend labeling ( tunel ) was carried out using an intergen apoptag plus peroxidase kit using the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol adapted from gavrieli et al . ( 1992 ) with some modifications . more specific antibody labels for apoptosis , eg . caspase 3 also showed cell death in the same regions . briefly , 20 μm thick coronal sections were cut on a cryostat then fixed in 1 % paraformaldehyde at room temperature for 2 days . the endogenous peroxidase was quenched by 3 % hydrogen peroxide in phosphate buffered solution ( pbs ). after rinsing with pbs , the sections were then exposed to 11 μl / cm 2 working strength of tdt enzyme for 1 hr at 37 ° c . after washing in pbs , 15 μl / cm 2 of anti - digoxigenin - peroxidase was applied for 30 min in a humidified chamber at room temperature . colour was developed by adding 125 μl dab substrate working solution for 6 min . slides were counter - stained with methyl green for 25 minutes at room temperature . positive apoptosis controls were generated by pre - incubating sections with dnaase ( sigma ). these methods have been successfully used to indicate apoptotic neurons when used in other preparations ( simpson et al ., 2000 ). data for ldh and glutamate release experiements were analyzed for significance by one way anova using dunnett &# 39 ; s and bonferroni &# 39 ; s post tests with graphpad prism ™. we have raised cortical astrocytes on coverslips in culture , exposing them to kainic acid , bssh , or cholesterol glucoside . cell loss was measured directly by cell density measurements ; apoptosis was measured by staining cells for caspase - 3 labeling . each of these compounds generated a time - dependent apoptotic cell loss . these data are shown in fig5 . mso , crude cycad extract , and bssg isolated from cycad seed flour were tested for neural action and neuro - excitotoxicity in a series of bioassays . fig1 a shows the neural response to mso measured as field potential in the cortical wedge preparation from adult rat . bath application of mso led to a relatively rapid depolarizing field potentials over a range of concentrations beginning at approx . 50 μm . the responses to glutamate receptor agonists nmda and ampa are also shown in the traces of fig1 a for comparison . mso responses , like those of nmda , could be blocked by the co - application of nmda receptor antagonists ap5 , kynurenate , or mk 801 ( the latter not shown here ). mso responses were not blocked by application of ampa antagonists nbqx or other ampa antagonists . fig1 b shows ldh assays for rat cortical slices following exposure to mso and other excitotoxins . both nmda and mso increased cell death as measured by ldh release , and both treatments were blocked by the addition of ap5 . the actions of cycad flour extracts on the cortical wedge preparation are shown in fig2 . cycad extracts gave depolarizing field potentials that could be blocked by mk801 ( fig2 a ) or ap5 ( data not shown ), but not nbqx ( data not shown ). ldh assays confirmed that cycad extract β - sitosterol - β - d - glucoside fractions gave increased ldh release that could induce cell death , an effect that was blocked by ap5 ( fig2 b ). assays were also performed for comparison using other plant sterol glucosides ( ouabain and emicymarin ), and for synthetic cholesterol glucoside . the β - sitosterol agylcone and cholesterol were screened for comparison to the glucosides . ouabain and emicymarin gave small hyperpolarizing responses and gave little ldh release ( not shown ). the aglycone sterols were without effect . the action of cholesterol glucoside was qualitatively similar to β - sitosterol - β - d - glucoside ( not shown ). fig3 shows results from the cortical wedge preparation ( fig3 a ) and in ldh assays ( fig3 b ) using isolated bssg . the isolated bssg fractions gave similar field potential responses that were blocked by nmda antagonists . cell death in ldh assays was also blocked by nmda antagonists . to test whether the actions of mso and bssg might act indirectly by releasing glutamate from intracellular compartments , we examined radiolabeled glutamate release from rat cortical slices . preloaded [ 3 h ]- glutamate release was significantly increased in the presence of mso and bssg fractions d - 1 - 2 and d - 2 ( fig4 abc ) in a calcium dependent manner , and these effects could be blocked by ap5 . cycad - fed animals showed significant and progressive deficits in both motor and cognitive function . post - sacrifice histological examinations of the brains of cycad - fed animals revealed the presence of significant levels of apoptosis in hippocampal formation , cortex , and spinal cord compared to control mice . rats fed mso also showed evidence of apoptosis in cns . the above experiments have demonstrated in vitro and in vivo neurotoxicity of cycad and have suggested that the toxic component in cycad is β - sitosterol - β - d - glucoside and related sterol glucosides . to test the hypothesis that β - sitosterol - β - d - glucoside is the active toxin requires either more of this compound extracted from cycad or the synthesis of the molecule de novo . as cycad is limited in supply , not to mention tedious to process , we have attempted to provide a synthetic pathway to acquire sufficient β - sitosterol - β - d - glucoside for future experiments . we have now accomplished this using the high yield methods set out below ( provided by drs . d . e . williams and l . lermer , ubc ). glucose ( 20 g , 0 . 111 mols ) and naoac ( 9 . 10 g , 0 . 111 mols ) is added to a dry 1 l rbf under n 2 . acetic anhydride ( 125 . 7 ml , 1 . 332 mol , 12 eq ) is added using a syringe . the solution is rapidly stirred and then warmed using a bunsen burner until the solution becomes clear and colorless . the solution is allowed to cool to room temperature , forming a white precipitate . the solution is stirred for 2 hrs , taken up in etoac , washed with h 2 o 3 ×, 5 % nahco 3 3 ×, and 1 × with brine . the organic layer is dried with mgso 4 , filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure , to afford d - glucose - pentaacetate , a white powder . the powder is re - crystallized in ethoh ( approx . 400 ml ) to afford 35 . 96 g of a white powder . the re - crystalized d - glucose - pentaacetate gives 42 . 02 g ( 65 % yield ). the mother liquor is concentrated and recrystallized to afford a second crop of 6 . 60 g of d - glucose - pentaacetate as a white powder . the remaining mother liquor is concentrated to afford 18 . 82 grams of a white solid . an over all yield of 92 . 5 % is obtained . hydrazine acetate 5 . 1 g ( 55 . 39 mmol , 1 . 20 eq ) is placed in a dry 500 ml rbf under nitrogen . dry dmf ( dried over caso4 and distilled at 5 mmhg ) is added to the flask using a syringe . d - glucose - pentaacetate 17 . 96 g ( 46 . 00 mmol ) is placed in a dry 250 ml rbf under nitrogen and dissolved in 100 ml dry dmf . the d - glucose - pentaacetate is added to the reaction flask via a cannula . after the addition of d - glucose - pentaacetate , the solution has a slightly yellow colour . solid hydrazine remained suspended . after 3 hrs the suspension has dissolved and the solution remains clear pale yellow in colour . the solution is taken up in etoac , washed 3 × with h 2 o and 1 × with brine , dried over mgso 4 , filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure . 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - d - glucopyranose as clear colourless viscous oil is obtained . this oil is used without further purification in the next step . the viscous 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - d - glucopyranose oil is dissolved in dry ch 2 cl 2 150 ml in a 500 ml rbf under nitrogen and cooled to − 40 ° c . ( cooling bath of ch 3 cn / co 2 ). cl 3 ccn 46 . 11 ml ( 459 . 9 mmol , 10 eq ) is added to the reaction flask drop wise using a syringe , followed by the addition of dbu ( 0 . 68 ml , 0 . 1 eq ). after two hrs the solution is allowed to warm to room temperature . the solvent is removed under reduce pressure and the oil is loaded using a minimum of ch 2 cl 2 on a 8 cm diameter silica column . the column is eluted with 3 : 1 pet . ether : etoac followed by 2 : 1 pet . ether : etoac . three fractions are collected . the first fraction rf = 0 . 63 contains 16 . 394 g of 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucosyl trichloroacetimidate ( α - tag - i ) as a viscous oil . a second oil fraction is collected containing a mixture of α - tag - i and small impurity of β - tag - i 1 . 644 grams and a third fraction containing a 4 . 060 grams of β - tag - i as a white powder . a 71 % yield of 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucosyl trichloroacetimidate is obtained and a total overall yield of 87 % is achieved . 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - α - d - glucosyl trichloroacetimidate ( α - tag - i ) ( 1 . 771 g , 0 . 54 mmol , 1 . 5 eq ) is pumped on over night and dissolved in dry ch 2 cl 2 . the solvent is then removed under low pressure . dry α - tag - i in a 10 ml flask is re - dissolved in 5 ml of ch 2 cl 2 . the α - tag - i is transferred into the 25 ml rbf reaction flask containing activated 3 å molecular sieves via a cannula . the solution is stirred for 1 hr over the sieves to take up any residual water . β - sitosterol ( 0 . 0994 g , 0 . 24 mmol ) is dissolved in 5 ml dry ch 2 cl 2 and transferred in the reaction flask via a cannula . the flask containing sitosterol is rinsed with 1 ml ch 2 cl 2 . the rinse is added to the reaction flask . the reaction is cooled to − 23 ° c . ( cooling bath of ccl 4 / co 2 ) and some precipitation occurs . a syringe is used to inject a 0 . 99 ml volume of a stock solution of 0 . 1 ml bf 3 . et 2 o in 8 ml ch 2 cl 2 drop wise over 20 min to the reaction flask . the solution remains clear and colorless . after 2 hrs no precipitation remains in the reaction flask . after 4 hours a fine white precipitate is observed . the reaction is completed by tlc using ( 9 : 1 chcl 3 : meoh ). a second addition of tag - i ( 0 . 1180 g , 0 . 239 mmol , 1 eq ) dissolved in 5 ml ch 2 cl 2 is added drop wise to the flask . after 1 hr , no starting material is present . the solvent is evaporated under reduced pressure and the oil is loaded on a silica column . the column is eluted with 10 : 1 pet . ether : etoac ( 10 collection tubes ) followed by 3 : 1 pet . ether : etoac ( 15 : tube ) followed by 1 : 1 3 : 1 pet . ether : etoac . two fractions are obtained . the first fraction contains 0 . 0219 g - β - sitosteryl acetate . the second fraction contains 0 . 1392 g ( 78 %) of 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - β - d - glucosyl - β - sitosterol . ( note : the sterol and the product have very similar rf &# 39 ; s using pet . ether : ethoac solvent to elute . the reaction may be followed using a 9 : 1 solution of chcl 3 : meoh to elute the tlcs ). the 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 - tetra - o - acetyl - β - d - glucosyl - β - sitosterol 0 . 1392 g is dissolved in 80 ml warm meoh . the solution is allowed to cool back to room temperature . some precipitation is observed . et 3 n ( 12 ml ) is added followed by 2 ml of h 2 o . after three hrs the precipitate has re - dissolved , and the clear , colorless solution is stirred overnight . a fine white precipitate is observed in the reaction flask the next morning . tlc using 15 % meoh / chcl 3 indicates that the reaction is complete . the solvent is removed under reduced pressure to afford a white solid . the solid is re - dissolved in a minimum amount of 15 % meoh / chcl 3 . the solution is loaded on a silica column eluted with 15 % meoh / chcl 3 . a single white powder 0 . 1079 g ( 100 % yield ) is obtained . these methods result in an overall yield of 78 % for the combination of the coupling and deacetylation reactions . the white solid is re - crystallized in ethanol to afford 0 . 0452 g ( 42 %) of a white powder . the mother liquor is concentrated and a second crop is obtained of 0 . 0165 g ( 15 %) of a white powder . the mother liquor is concentrated and the solid is re - crystallized using a h 2 o / meoh mixed solvent system to afford 0 . 0044 g ( 4 %). the remaining mother liquor is concentrated to afford 0 . 0180 g ( 17 %). the overall yield from the 0 . 0994 g of sitosterol is 0 . 0661 g ( 48 %) of recrystallized β - sitosteryl - β - d - glucopyranoside and 0 . 018 g ( 13 %) of remaining non - recrystallized β - sitosteryl - β - d - glucopyranoside product . note that the 0 . 0219 g of β - sitosteryl acetate from the coupling reaction can be recycled back to sitosterol and then carried through to the desired product in order to increase yields . wedge recording and ldh assays using synthetic β - sitosterol - β - d - glucoside created by these methods have been shown qualitative similarity between the synthetic and natural d - 2 fractions bains , j . s . and shaw , c . a . neurodegenerative disorders in humans : the role of glutathione in oxidative stress - mediated neuronal death . brain res . rev . 1997 , 335 - 358 . bindokas , v . p ., lee , c . c ., colmers , w . f ., and miller , r . j . changes in mitochondrial function resulting from synaptic activity in rat hippocampal slice . j . neurosci . 1998 , 18 : 4570 - 4587 . campbell , p . n ., work , t . s ., and mellanby , e . isolation of crystalline toxic factor from agenized wheat flour . nature . 1950 , 165 : 345 - 346 . choi , d . w ., calcium : still center - stage in hypoxic - ischemic neuronal death . trends neurosci . 1995 , 18 : 58 - 60 . cooper , a . j . l . role of astrocytes in maintaining cerebral glutathione homeostasis and in protecting the brain against xenobiotics and oxidative stress . in : glutathione in the nervous system , shaw , c . a . 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