The unintentional death of healthy functional cells is a contributing cause to a wide range of pathological human conditions, such as neurological and cardiac disorders. A key intracellular event that precedes cell death in these cases is mitochondrial calcium overload. In this presentation, we discuss several strategies, involving coordination complexes of ruthenium, to prevent mitochondrial calcium overload and cell death. Specifically, we will describe a class of dinuclear ruthenium complexes that can directly inhibit mitochondrial calcium uptake. Additionally, we will disclose a new series of ruthenium compounds that can release H2S upon activation with an external stimulus. The released H2S acts to decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential and minimize calcium uptake. Collectively, these approaches represent a novel strategy that employs ruthenium coordination chemistry to prevent accidental or harmful cell death in human diseases.

Preventing cell death with ruthenium coordination complexes

2019 Spring National Meeting

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