Disease relevance of germanium

• BACKGROUND: Long-term oral ingestion of germanium dioxide (GeO2) causes progressive renal failure derived from tubulointerstitial nephropathy in humans and animals [1].
• Synthetic peptides corresponding to the N-terminal 23 and 22 residues, respectively, of two integral plasma membrane proteins of Escherichia coli, namely the mannitol- and glucitol-specific permeases of the bacterial sugar phosphotransferase system, were incorporated into single planar phospholipid bilayers supported on germanium plates [2].
• Ability of sera from mice treated with Ge-132, an organic germanium compound, to inhibit experimental murine ascites tumours [3].
• General toxicity of germanium is low, except for the tetrahydride germane, and few observations on toxicity of germanium in man exist [4].
• The long-term administration of germanium dioxide (GeO2) to rats produced Ge myopathy characterized by the formation of ragged-red fibers [5].

Psychiatry related information on germanium

• Effects of organogermanium compound 2-carboxyethyl germanium sesquioxide on cardiovascular function and motor activity in rats [6].
• The influence of process parameters such as the amount of oxygen in the reaction gas, the condensation and reaction time, standoff, and precursor concentration with respect to growth of germanium oxide particles were investigated [7].

High impact information on germanium

• Stannous fluoride, the widely used anticaries toothpaste additive, and other tin and germanium dihalides form complexes with hemoproteins such as hepatic cytochrome P-450, hemoglobin, and peroxidase [8].
• Germanium does not substitute for boron in cross-linking of rhamnogalacturonan II in pumpkin cell walls [9].
• Distribution of cerebral blood flow was measured with an array of 200 ultra-pure germanium radiation detectors and 133-Xe by inhalation [10].
• Evaluation of the ordering of membranes in multilayer stacks built on an ATR-FTIR germanium crystal with atomic force microscopy: the case of the H(+),K(+)-ATPase-containing gastric tubulovesicle membranes [11].
• In semiconductor physics, most concepts were developed by investigating germanium and silicon and were subsequently used to understand more complicated semiconductor systems; myoglobin plays a similar role in molecular biophysics [12].

Chemical compound and disease context of germanium

• PURPOSE: Recently, we reported that topical administration of 2-carboxyethyl germanium sesquioxide (Ge-132) concurrently with 50% galactose feeding delayed the establishment of mature cataracts and reduced advance glycation product [13].
• We observed a patient with nonmetastatic breast cancer who died because of severe lactic acidosis (plasma lactate concentration = 27 mmol/l) after ingestion of 25 g of elemental germanium over a 2-months period [14].
• The mice given 5% carboxymethylcellulose, the solvent of organic germanium, were affected with systemic amyloidosis with high frequency [15].

Biological context of germanium

• ATR-FTIR spectra recorded during the aggregation kinetics of hCT showed an increase of the amide I'-band intensity by a factor of 3.4, interpreted as pronounced adsorption of hCT molecules from bulk solution to the germanium plate [16].
• Highly crystallized GeO(2) nanosheets were synthesized by hydrolysis and condensation reactions of germanium alkoxide using a 2-dimensional flat thin lamellar phase water layer containing surfactant molecules at the liquid-liquid interface as a confined reaction field [17].
• The biofilm total cell counts on germanium coupons stabilized after 21 h, at approximately 10(5) cells per cm(2), while viable counts decreased as the biofilm aged [18].
• Divalent germanium compound with a radical-anionic ligand: molecular structures of (dpp-BIAN)*- GeCl and its hydrochloration products [(dpp-BIAN)(H)2]*+ [GeCl3]- and [[(dpp-BIAN)(H)2*+]2(Cl-)]+ [GeCl3]- (dpp-BIAN=1,2-Bis[(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imino]acenaphthene) [19].
• Thermospray (TSP) LC/MS data suggest that these hydroxy metabolites are further oxidized to an acid and a deethylated metabolite that has undergone hydroxylation of the germanium atom [20].

Anatomical context of germanium

• Native, alkaline-extracted nAChR membranes from Torpedo are dried under nitrogen on either a plastic microscope coverslip or a germanium internal reflection element (IRE) and then equilibrated with buffer [21].
• Purple membrane is fixed on the surface of a germanium internal reflection crystal and immersed in a buffer whose pH and ionic composition can be varied [22].
• In skeletal muscles from rats treated with germanium for 23 weeks, there were numerous ragged-red fibers and cytochrome-c oxidase (COX)-deficient fibers [23].
• Protein adsorption and monocyte activation on germanium nanopyramids [24].
• Evaluation of silicon and germanium retention in rat tissues and diatoms during cell and organelle preparation for electron probe microanalysis [25].

Associations of germanium with other chemical compounds

• Two germanium crystals used as the internal reflection element for ATR-FTIR experiments were coated with a thin layer of polystyrene as insulator and used as electrodes to apply an electric field on an oriented stack of membranes made of dioleylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and melittin [26].
• Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR/FT-IR) spectrometry was employed to monitor bacterial colonization of a germanium substratum, transport of ciprofloxacin to the biofilm-substratum interface, and interaction of biofilm components with the antibiotic in a flowing system [27].
• ATR-FTIR spectroscopy of biofilms formed on the germanium internal reflection element (IRE) of the ATR cell provided a continuous spectrum of biofilm protein and polysaccharide (a measure of the EPS) [18].
• Pentacoordinated germanium in AST zeolite synthesised in fluoride media. A 19F NMR validated computational study [28].
• The reduction of Ar*GeCl (Ar* = C6H3-2,6-Trip2; Trip = C6H2-2,4,6-i-Pr3) with one equivalent of potassium leads to the formation of a germanium analogue of an alkyne Ar*GeGeAr* 1; reaction of 1 with 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene yields [Ar*Ge(CH2C(Me)C(Me)CH2)CH2C(Me)=]2 2, which was structurally characterized [29].

Gene context of germanium

• In the current study, the authors examined whether the organic germanium suppresses the MCP-1-induced monocyte migration in vitro and the development of atherosclerosis in WHHL rabbits in vivo [30].
• The amount of bacterial plaque formed on germanium surfaces was measured by attenuated total reflectance (ATR/FT-IR) spectroscopy [31].
• Similar results are obtained for reactions involving germanium and tin with energy barriers (DeltaE++) of 85.9-113.1, 84.4-109.0, 41.7-73.3, and 48.5-78.2 kJ/mol for the 1,2-, 1,3-, 1,4-, and 1,5-translocation reactions, respectively [32].
• Analysis of changes in the amide I bands indicated that there was a greater loss of beta-sheet structure in adsorbed fibronectin on Ca-P coatings when compared with bare germanium surfaces [33].
• Conformational changes in fibronectin and albumin adsorbed onto Ca-P and uncoated germanium surfaces were also investigated using FT-IR/ATR spectroscopy [33].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of germanium

• The spectra of diagnostic x-ray beams were measured with a germanium semiconductor dectector [34].
• Use of a germanium detector to optimize scatter correction in SPECT [35].
• Neutron activation analysis of all biopsy specimens in both cases documented germanium concentrations 10 to 70 times normal in renal tissue and 140 times normal in liver tissue [36].
• Permanent refractive-index modification in germanium-doped optical fibers by use of red light [37].
• Preparation of alkyl-surface functionalized germanium quantum dots via thermally initiated hydrogermylation [38].

References