Aims: Large doses of intraperitoneally injected basic amino acids, L-arginine, or L-ornithine, induce acute pancreatitis in rodents, although the mechanisms mediating pancreatic toxicity remain unknown. Another basic amino acid, L-lysine, was also shown to cause pancreatic acinar cell injury. The aim of the study was to get insight into the mechanisms through which L-lysine damages the rat exocrine pancreas, in particular to characterize the kinetics of L-lysine-induced mitochondrial injury, as well as the pathologic responses (including alteration of antioxidant systems) characteristic of acute pancreatitis. Results: We showed that intraperitoneal administration of 2 g/kg L-lysine induced severe acute necrotizing pancreatitis. L-lysine administration caused early pancreatic mitochondrial damage that preceded the activation of trypsinogen and the proinflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), which are commonly thought to play an important role in the development of acute pancreatitis. Our data demonstrate that L-lysine impairs adenosine triphosphate synthase activity of isolated pancreatic, but not liver, mitochondria. Innovation and Conclusion: Taken together, early mitochondrial injury caused by large doses of L-lysine may lead to the development of acute pancreatitis independently of pancreatic trypsinogen and NF-κB activation. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 15, 2669–2681.

Characterisation of alumina supported catalysts was performed by TEM and XPS spectroscopy during formation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes from acetylene at 1000 K. TEM images showed that thick carbon fibres (outer diameter is around 20–40 nm) were generated on Fe/Al₂O₃ and Co/Al₂O₃ samples. The only sample producing carbon nanotubes with an average diameter of 8–12 nm was the bimetallic CoFe/Al₂O₃. XPS spectra revealed that Fe–Co alloy formed during the interaction of CoFe/Al₂O₃ and acetylene at 1000 K.

The effect of the initial concentration of reactants on the velocity of chemical fronts in the acid-catalysed chlorite oxidation of tetrathionate was investigated both numerically and experimentally. Based on a simple two-variable model an expression for front velocity as a function of concentration and diffusion coefficient of reactants was developed which can quantitatively describe the observed velocity dependence in slight chlorite excess.