Gating processes in Na-channel of biological membrane from the standpoint of superionic phase transition

The method of condensed matter physics is applied to reason out the problem of Na transport through a biological membrane. A similiarity of gating process in Na ion channel to the superionic phase transition is discussed. A possible microscopic mechanism is suggested.     

Time evolution of the solvated and conformationally relaxed emissive excited state of the anionic form of salophen,a Schiff base

Salophen is a weakly fluorescent Schiff base which forms emissive co-ordination complexes with Zn²⁺ and Al³⁺. The complex with Al³⁺ is significantly more fluorescent than that with Zn²⁺, presumably because the dimeric complex with Zn²⁺ is associated with additional nonradiative channels. This contention has been put to test, through a careful investigation of excited state dynamics of the anionic form of salophen (Sal²⁻), which is the form in which the ligand exists in the complexes. The emissive excited state of the anion (Sal²⁻) has been found to be solvated and conformationally relaxed, over tens of picosecond. It is significantly more fluorescent than the neutral compound, with fluorescence lifetime that is longer by almost two orders of magnitude. Fluorescence lifetime of the anion is in fact longer than that of the complex with Zn²⁺ and slightly less than that of the complex with Al³⁺. So, the earlier hypothesis about additional nonradiative deactivation pathways in the Zn²⁺ complex gains credence from the present study.     

Voltage‐Driven Reversible Insertion into and Leaving from a Lipid Bilayer: Tuning Transmembrane Transport of Artificial Channels

Three new artificial transmembrane channel molecules have been designed and synthesized by attaching positively charged Arg‐incorporated tripeptide chains to pillar[5]arene. Fluorescent and patch‐clamp experiments revealed that voltage can drive the molecules to insert into and leave from a lipid bilayer and thus switch on and off the transport of K⁺ ions. One of the molecules was found to display antimicrobial activity toward Bacillus subtilis with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 10 μM which is comparable to that of natural channel‐forming peptide alamethicin.     

Simulating ion channel activation mechanisms using swarms of trajectories

Atomic-level studies of protein activity represent a significant challenge as a result of the complexity of conformational changes occurring on wide-ranging timescales, often greatly exceeding that of even the longest simulations. A prime example is the elucidation of protein allosteric mechanisms, where localized perturbations transmit throughout a large macromolecule to generate a response signal. For example, the conversion of chemical to electrical signals during synaptic neurotransmission in the brain is achieved by specialized membrane proteins called pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. Here, the binding of a neurotransmitter results in a global conformational change to open an ion-conducting pore across the nerve cell membrane. X-ray crystallography has produced static structures of the open and closed states of the proton-gated GLIC pentameric ligand-gated ion channel protein, allowing for atomistic simulations that can uncover changes related to activation. We discuss a range of enhanced sampling approaches that could be used to explore activation mechanisms. In particular, we describe recent application of an atomistic string method, based on Roux's “swarms of trajectories” approach, to elucidate the sequence and interdependence of conformational changes during activation. We illustrate how this can be combined with transition analysis and Brownian dynamics to extract thermodynamic and kinetic information, leading to understanding of what controls ion channel function. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Membrane lipids are both the substrates and a mechanistically responsive environment of TMEM16 scramblase proteins

Recent discoveries about functional mechanisms of proteins in the TMEM16 family of phospholipid scramblases have illuminated the dual role of the membrane as both the substrate and a mechanistically responsive environment in the wide range of physiological processes and genetic disorders in which they are implicated. This is highlighted in the review of recent findings from our collaborative investigations of molecular mechanisms of TMEM16 scramblases that emerged from iterative functional, structural, and computational experimentation. In the context of this review, we present new MD simulations and trajectory analyses motivated by the fact that new structural information about the TMEM16 scramblases is emerging from cryo-EM determinations in lipid nanodiscs. Because the functional environment of these proteins in in vivo and in in vitro is closer to flat membranes, we studied comparatively the responses of the membrane to the TMEM16 proteins in flat membranes and nanodiscs. We find that bilayer shapes in the nanodiscs are very different from those observed in the flat membrane systems, but the function-related slanting of the membrane observed at the nhTMEM16 boundary with the protein is similar in the nanodiscs and in the flat bilayers. This changes, however, in the bilayer composed of longer-tail lipids, which is thicker near the phospholipid translocation pathway, which may reflect an enhanced tendency of the long tails to penetrate the pathway and create, as shown previously, a nonconductive environment. These findings support the correspondence between the mechanistic involvement of the lipid environment in the flat membranes, and the nanodiscs. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

不同选通条件下对光谱烧孔孔深的研究

本文从理论上分析了低激发密度下,选通光分别为脉冲光和连续光时,孔深随时间的变化,得到可以通过脉冲光烧孔、连续光选通的方法缩短烧孔时间.应用BaFCl_0.5Br_0.5:Sm²⁺(2%)进行了实验,分析了单脉冲烧孔的孔深.     

WDP-500C型平面光栅单色仪应用于实验教学的技术问题

针对WDP-500C型平面光栅单色仪未设有千位数字,致使其报警时不能正确处理的问题,提出了根据滑块的传动距离加长挡光板或将光电报警开关向短波段移动8.0 nm的解决方案,消除了由于单色仪设计问题而产生的故障.     

主动成像系统距离选通实验方案设计

 距离选通技术是克服大气后向散射，提高主动成像系统信噪比的有效方法。分析了距离选通的技术要求，分别使用电源调制和机械调制的方法获得了适合用于主动成像系统脉冲光源,并进行了距离选通实验，机械调制方法适用于大功率连续半导体激光器。使用氙灯泵浦YAG激光器实现了对675 m和1 509 m距离目标的主动成像，详细分析了几种方案的利弊并提出了改进方法。     

Evaluation of the quality of clinical laboratories in the Slovak Republic: conceptual and contextual remarks

The paper demonstrates conceptual parallels and relationships between intellectual capital measurement methods and the evaluation of quality in clinical laboratories in the Slovak Republic. It explores further the contextual links of those parallels with the tangibility (or intangibility) of quality indicators of laboratory diagnostics. It also highlights the problems which laboratory staff in Slovakia are confronted with. Presented at the conference Quality in the Spotlight, March 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.     

高速光脉冲的测量方法

 综述了目前国际上公认的测量高速光脉冲的几种方法，主要包括电光条纹相机（SC）、快速脉冲取样、二次谐波产生（SHG）、频率分辨光学门（FROG）以及光谱相位干涉直接电场重建（SPIDER）等。详细地阐述和分析了这些方法的原理、特点、适用范围以及它们的研究现状。