Reverse zymography using fluorogenic substrates for protease inhibitor detection

A novel, sensitive method for detecting protease inhibitors by using fluorescent protease substrates in gels is described. The protease inhibitors were separated on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gels containing a copolymerized peptide substrate, namely 4-methyl-coumaryl-7-amide (MCA). As the incorporated substrates in the gel, Boc-Phe Ser-Arg-MCA was used for trypsin, Suc-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-MCA for alpha-chymotrypsin, and Z-Phe-Arg-MCA for papain. After electrophoresis, washing and incubating the gel with the target protease solutions allowed the substrate to be cleaved by the protease, and the release of the fluorescent 7 amino-4 methyl-coumarin (AMC), which was detected under a UV transilluminator. The uncleaved peptide-MCA substrate remained where the inhibitors were present, and was visualized as dark blue bands on the light-green fluorescent background gel. This new method offers several advantages over other previous methods including: (i) greatly increased sensitivity can be achieved in a shorter period of time, which may be useful for discovering new protease inhibitors in small amounts of crude material; (ii) the procedure is quite simple and quick since the incubation period is very short and no time is needed for staining and destaining steps; (iii) since these probes using substrate specificity/target proteases, they are excellent tools for detection and discrimination of unknown protease inhibitors for various target proteases.     

金属基底上吡咯光电化学聚合的研究

近年来,国内外对聚吡咯已进行广泛的研究,主要内容包括:电化学聚合,机理与结构表征,电化学氧化还原性质,聚吡咯的化学修饰。最近报导了半导体上吡咯的光电化学聚合。我们在低于吡咯电聚合电位下观察到聚吡咯的Raman讯号。本文研究在中性溶液中金属基底上吡咯的光电化学聚合,以及光源波长、强度和介质等因素的影响。     

Kinetics, selectivity, and mechanism of the reactions of arenes with adamantyl carbocations in sulfuric acid

Data on the kinetics, selectivity, kinetic isotope effect, and the effect of the acidity of the medium on the rate of the reactions of benzene and alkylbenzenes in sulfuric acid (59–78 wt.% H₂SO₄) solutions of 1-adamantanol at 30 °C indicate that the direct reagents are the adamantyl carbocations (Ad⁺) that alkylate the arenes. The ortho positions of the benzene ring are not accessible on account of steric hindrances. The rate of attack by the Ad⁺ cation on the accessible para and meta positions of the ring is controlled by the formation of a σ complex. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 14–18, January–February, 2006.     

New Approaches to Synthesizing Electroactive Polymers

The chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in a heterophase system is studied. In the presence of a solid substrate, the aniline polymerization involves two kinetically and chemically independent processes, namely, the polymerization in the bulk solution and at the substrate surface. The growth of the polyaniline coating at the substrate surface includes three successive processes: interfacial polymerization, adsorptive polymerization, and destruction of the polymer chain. The interfacial oxidative polymerization of diphenylamine and phenothiazine is examined. The yield and chemical structure of polymers is shown to depend on the polymerization conditions.     

金属载体催化剂的涂层研究

在高温氧化处理不同时间的金属载体箔片上涂覆MgAl2O4/Al2O3过渡涂层,利用TG-DSC,XRD,SEM,BET和超声振动等分析测试技术,对载体和涂层的微观结构与表面特性进行研究.结果表明,在950 ℃下高温氧化5 h,箔片表面生成板状Al2O3晶须,有利于增强涂层与箔片的附着力.在载体表面涂覆一层MgAl2O4/Al2O3过渡涂层,有助于提高活性组分与金属载体的结合力,可以获得高结合强度的涂层结构,促使活性元素高度分散.     

Electrochemical technique for the determination of fractal dimension of dental surfaces

Fractal dimension of a carious tooth surface was determined using an electrochemical method. The method was based on time-dependent diffusion towards electrode surfaces, which is one of the most useful and reliable methods for the determination of fractal dimension of electrode surfaces. For this purpose, the tooth was covered with a gold layer, which acted as an electrode in electrochemical experiments. It is suggested that the fractal dimension can be used as a quantitative measure of the state of dental surfaces. The method presented demonstrates the power of electrochemical techniques for the determination of fractal dimension of surface of non-conducting objects.     

Kinetics of batch production of single-cell protein from cheese whey

A kinetic model for single-cell protein batch fermentation was developed using the numerical simultaneous integration approach of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The model takes into account the effect of substrate inhibtion, maintenance energy, and cell death on the cell growth and substrate utilization during the fermentation process. The theoretical results obtained from the model compared well with the experimental data. The model was used to study the effect of the initial substrate concentration on the lag period, fermentation time, specific growth rate, population size, and cell productivity of batch fermentation. Increasing the initial substrate concentration increased the lag period and fermentation time and decreased the specific growth rate and cell yield. The growth limiting substrate concentration was 2.9 g/L, whereas the growth inhibiting substrate concentration was 69.0 g/L. Increasing the initial substrate concentration above 150 g/L significantly decreased the yeast population size.     

Symbiotic N2 Fixation and N Uptake of Yellow and White Lupines Influenced by Spontaneous Rhizobia Infection and Substrate

Abstract

By using soil as substrate, white and yellow lupines (Lupinus albus L., Lupinus luteus L.) assimilated higher N amounts than under quartz sand conditions. This was caused by spontaneous infection of lupines with wild Rhizobia strains and also by an additional N uptake from the soil. In yellow lupines without inoculation in non-sterile soil, only the additional N uptake played a role. Differences in P and K supply as the cause of different N acquisition from soil and quartz sand could be excluded. As compared with white lupines, yellow lupines inoculated with Rhizobia had a high N₂ fixation that exceeded the effect of spontaneous infections. This result as well as the positive effect of spontaneous infections with soil-borne Rhizobia on white lupines indicates insufficient effectiveness of the strains used for inoculation on this plant species.     

An analytical method for measuring α‐amylase activity in starch‐containing foods

The quality of starch‐containing foods may be significantly impaired by contamination with very small amounts of α‐amylase, which can enzymatically hydrolyze the starch and cause viscosity loss. Thus, for quality control, it is necessary to have an analytical method that can measure low amylase activity. We developed a sensitive analytical method for measuring the activity of α‐amylase (from Bacillus subtilis) in starch‐containing foods. The method consists of six steps: (1) crude extraction of α‐amylase by centrifugation and filtration; (2) α‐amylase purification by desalting and anion‐exchange chromatography; (3) reaction of the purified amylase with boron‐dipyrromethene (BODIPY)‐labeled substrate, which releases a fluorescent fragment upon digestion of the substrate, thus avoiding interference from starch derivatives in the sample; (4) stopping the reaction with acetonitrile; (5) reversed‐phase solid‐phase extraction of the fluorescent substrate to remove contaminating dye and impurities; and (6) separation and measurement of BODIPY fluorescence by HPLC. The proposed method could quantify α‐amylase activities as low as 10 mU/mL, which is enough to reduce the viscosity of starch‐containing foods. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Propagation of extremely short pulses in a graphene–boron nitride bilayer

In this study we investigate the propagation of extremely short optical pulses in a thin film formed by a graphene grown on a boron nitride substrate. Conduction electrons of the system are described on the basis of the long-wavelength effective Hamiltonian in the case of low temperatures; the electromagnetic field being taken into account within the framework of the classical Maxwell equations. The time evolution of the pulse?s shape for different speeds and maximum amplitudes of an extremely short pulse is analyzed.