Supported lipid bilayer formation by the giant vesicle fusion induced by vesicle–surface electrostatic attractive interaction

The effect of the electrostatic attractive force between giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) and the SiO₂ surface on the formation of a Ca²⁺-free supported lipid bilayer (SLB) was investigated by atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. When negatively charged GUVs were incubated for 1 h without Ca²⁺, the surface coverage of lipid bilayer was <1% on the SiO₂ surface. In contrast, a high coverage was obtained without addition of Ca²⁺ on the positively charged surface modified by aminopropyldimethylethoxysilane, and the coverage of SLBs decreased with increasing KCl concentrations. The thickness of the water layer under SLB was reduced by modification of APS.     

Selective retention of some polyaromatic hydrocarbons by highly crosslinked polymer networks

Highly crosslinked polymer networks were characterized in terms of structural differences based on the crosslinked network structures with their chromatographic molecular retentivity for some polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Because PAHs and some sterically bulky solutes were used in the chromatographic characterization, tiny differences in the crosslinked polymer networks were observed in terms of the chromatographic molecular retentivity. Ethylene dimethacrylate afforded molecular retentivity for anthracene, and this recognition ability changed with the polymerization time. In addition, 1,4‐butanediol dimethacrylate afforded molecular retentivity for pyrene, and this retentivity was larger than that for anthracene. The polymerization methods also affected the resulting polymer networks drastically. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 2556–2566, 2005     

Cytotoxicity of asymmetric platinum complexes against L-1210 cells. Effect of bulky substituents

The asymmetric platinum complexes cis-Pt(LL')Cl2 (L = NH3, L' = CH3NH2, (CH3)2NH, C2H5NH2 and (C2H5)2NH and LL' = N,N-dimethylethylenediamine),--one of the NH3 groups of cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl2 was substituted by alkylamine--, were synthesized and their cytotoxic effects have been measured using L-1210 cells. The IC50 values of the asymmetric platinum complexes,--being obtained after 24 h exposure of L-1210 cells to the platinum complexes--, are almost comparable to the corresponding value of cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl2. In 2 h exposure, however, the IC50 values of the platinum complexes were dramatically changed, i.e., a marked difference was observed between those of L' = RNH2 and L' = R2NH. On the other hand, the amounts of platinum taken into the L-1210 cells is little affected by the alkylamino substitution. The results suggest that the bifunctional platinum binding to the target molecule may be responsible for the cytotoxicity.     

A charge-transfer host system composed of a chiral 1,1′-bi-2-naphthol cluster and benzylviologen

Chiral charge-transfer (CT) complexes composed of a chiral 1,1′-bi-2-naphthol cluster as the electron donor and 1,1′-dibenzyl-4,4′-bipyridinium dichloride as the electron acceptor serve as a host system for molecular recognition. CT complexes that include guest alcohols show different diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) depending on the included guest.     

Dense orbits of automorphisms and compactness of groups

It is proved, by using topological properties, that when a group automorphism of a locally compact totally disconnected group is ergodic under the Haar measure, the group is compact. The result is an answer for Halmos's question that has remained open for the totally disconnected case.     

On progressively truncated maximum likelihood estimators

Summary The basic regularity conditions pertaining to the asymptotic theory of progressively truncated likelihood functions and maximum likelihood estimators are considered, and the uniform strong consistency and weak convergence of progressively truncated maximum likelihood estimators are studied systematically. Work done during the first author's visit (as a visiting scholar) to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, supported by the Ministry of Education of the Japanese Government. Work supported by the (U.S.) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Contact NIH-NHLBI-F1-2243-L.     

Impairment in S-phase entry of splenocytes of Parp-1 knockout mice

One immediate cellular response to DNA damage is the polyADP-ribosylation reaction by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (Parp-1). The importance of Parp-1 has been established in many cellular processes, such as the maintenance of genomic stability, DNA repair and cell-death induction. Here, we established Parp-1^−/− mice of C57BL/6J congenic strain and characterized the role of Parp-1 in cell-cycle progression. In this study, we also improved a method to observe G0/G1 to S-phase transition of splenocytes and bone marrow cells prepared from mice. The cells were cultured and stimulated with mitogens (50 μM ionomycin/1 μM phorbol 12, 13-dibutyrate). We found that addition of a commercially available growth supportive reagent, BM Condimed ^RH1, greatly enhanced the transition of G0/G1 to the S-phase, which was determined by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation to DNA. Using this method, G0/G1 to the S-phase entry was measured using splenocytes derived from Parp-1^−/−, Parp-1^+/− and wild-type (Parp-1^+/+) mice. DNA synthesis in Parp-1^+/+ and Parp-1^+/− splenocytes started from day 1 after addition of mitogens, whereas that in Parp-1^−/− cells started from day 2. The peak of the S-phase was at day 2 in all genotypes and notably DNA synthesis in Parp-1^−/− cells was approximately halved compared to Parp-1^+/+ cells on day 2, 3 and 4. These results suggested that Parp-1 is involved in positive regulation of S-phase entry in quiescent mouse splenocytes.     

The cycloadducts of hexafluoroacetone and -thioacetone with diphenylketene

Hexafluoroacetone reacted with diphenylketene in the presence of potassium fluoride to give a 1:1 cycloadduct of β-lactone structure. On the other hand, hexafluorothioacetone, liberated from 2,2,4,4-tetrakis(trifluoromethyl)-1,3-dithietane by potassium fluoride, reacted with diphenylketene to give a “reverse” cycloadduct, a 3-thietanone derivative. Several reactions ofthe above product, including a reductive desulfuration of the 3-thietanone derivative were carried out.