Lipid bilayer disruption by polycationic polymers: the roles of size and chemical functional group

Polycationic polymers are used extensively in biology to disrupt cell membranes and thus enhance the transport of materials into the cell. The highly polydisperse nature of many of these materials makes obtaining a mechanistic understanding of the disruption processes difficult. To design an effective mechanistic study, a monodisperse class of polycationic polymers, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers, has been studied in the context of supported dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) lipid bilayers using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Aqueous solutions of amine-terminated generation 7 (G7) PAMAM dendrimers caused the formation of 15-40-nm-diameter holes in lipid bilayers. This effect was significantly reduced for smaller G5 dendrimers. For G3, no hole formation was observed. In addition to dendrimer size, surface chemistry had a strong influence on dendrimer-lipid bilayer interactions. In particular, acetamide-terminated G5 did not cause hole formation in bilayers. In all instances, the edges of bilayer defects proved to be points of highest dendrimer activity. A proposed mechanism for the removal of lipids by dendrimers involves the formation of dendrimer-filled lipid vesicles. By considering the thermodynamics, interaction free energy, and geometry of these self-assembled vesicles, a model that explains the influence of polymer particle size and surface chemistry on the interactions with lipid membranes was developed. These results are of general significance for understanding the physical and chemical properties of polycationic polymer interactions with membranes that lead to the transport of materials across cell membranes.     

TIME-RESOLVED STUDIES OF SINGLET-OXYGEN EMISSION FROM L1210 LEUKEMIA CELLS LABELED WITH 5-(N-HEXADECANOYL)AMINO EOSIN. A COMPARISON WITH A ONE-DIMENSIONAL MODEL OF SINGLET-OXYGEN DIFFUSION AND QUENCHING

Abstract— Time-resolved measurements were made of near-infrared emission from 5-( N -hexadecanoyl)amino-eosinlabeled L1210 leukemia cells following pulsed-laser excitation. The cells were suspended in phosphate-buffered saline made with deuterium oxide solvent. A significant fraction of the emission occuring10–80 μs after the laser pulse was due to singlet oxygen. This singlet-oxygen emission is believed to result from singlet oxygen generated near the cell-membrane surface, where 5-( N -hexadecanoyl)amino eosin is known to concentrate, and then diffusing out into the buffer. The intensity and the kinetics of the experimentally observed singlet-oxygen emission were in excellent agreement with the predictions of a theoretical one-dimensional model of singlet-oxygen diffusion and quenching.
During the10–80 μs time period studied, most of the singlet oxygen was located in the buffer. Thus, the use of water-soluble singlet-oxygen quenchers, such as histidine, provide one means of separating the singlet-oxygen emission quenchers, such as histidine, provide one means of separating the singlet-oxygen emission from other sources of light during this time interval.     

Advanced system for separation of rare-earth fission products

A microprocessor-controlled radiochemical separation system, which has been developed at the INEL, has been further advanced to separate individual rare-earth elements from mixed fission products in times of a few minutes. The system was composed of an automated chemistry system fed by two ∼300μg²⁵²Cf sources coupled directly by a He-jet to transport the fission products. Chemical separations were performed using two high performance liquid chromatography columns coupled in series. The first column separated the rare-earth group by extraction chromatography using dihexyldiethylcarbamoylmethylphosphonate (DHDECMP) adsorbed on Vydac C₈ resin. The second column isolated the individual rare-earth elements by cation exchange chromatography using Aminex A-9 resin with α-hydroxyisobutyric acid (α-HIBA) as the eluent. Significant results, which have been obtained to date with this advanced system, are the identification of several new neutron-rich rare-earth isotopes including¹⁵⁵Pm (T=48±4 s) and¹⁶³Gd (T=68±3 s). In addition a half-life of 41±4 s is reported for¹⁶⁰Eu. Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under DOE Contract No. De-ACO7-76IDO-1570.     

4,4′-Bipyridine complexes of molybdenum(II) and tungsten(II)

Treatment of [MI₂(CO)₃(NCMe)₂] with two equivalents of 4,4-bipyridine (4,4-bipy) in CH₂Cl₂ at room temperature gave the MeCN displaced products, [MI₂(CO)₃(4,4-bipy-N)₂] (1) and (2). Equimolar amounts of [MI₂(CO)₃(NCMe)₂] and L (L = PPh₃, AsPh₃ or SbPh₃) react to give [MI₂(CO)₃(NCMe)L], which when reacted in situ with 4,4-bipy yield the new complexes, [MI₂(CO)₃(4,4-bipy-N)L] (3)–(8). Reaction of equimolar quantities of [WI₂(CO)(NCMe)( ²-RC₂R)₂] (R = Me or Ph) and 4,4-bipy gave the new bis(alkyne) complexes, [WI₂(CO)(4,4-bipy-N)( ²-RC₂R)₂] (9) and (10). Treatment of [MI₂(CO)₃(NCMe)₂] with two equivalents of (9) or (10) in CH₂Cl₂ at room temperature affords the bimetallic complexes, [MI₂(CO)₃{WI₂(CO)(4,4-bipy-N,N)( ²-RC₂R)₂}₂] (11)–(14). Equimolar quantities of [MI₂(CO)₃(NCMe)(PPh₃)] (prepared in situ) and (9) or (10), react to give the 4,4-bipy-bridged complexes, [MI₂(CO)₃{WI₂(CO)(4,4-bipy-N,N)( ²-RC₂R)₂}(PPh₃)] (15)–(18). All the new complexes, (1)–(18) were characterised by elemental analysis (C, H and N), i.r. and ¹H-n.m.r. spectroscopy.     

内蒙古地区天然植物沙棘果中黄色素的提取工艺及性质研究

以内蒙古地区沙棘果实为原料，研究了提取黄色素的工艺条件，同时对该色素的性质进行了初步探讨。结果表明，以95％的乙醇溶液作浸提剂，提取的黄色素浓度最高，工艺流程简单易行，且无毒，无污染。对提取的黄色素进行的性质试验表明，沙棘黄色素对光、热具有较好的稳定性，适用于酸性或弱碱性的食品中，葡萄糖、氧化剂(H2O2)、还原剂(Na2SO3)等食品添加剂均无明显影响以上结果为这种优良天然色素的开发与应用提供了参考。     

Systems-based design of bi-ligand inhibitors of oxidoreductases: filling the chemical proteomic toolbox

Genomics-driven growth in the number of enzymes of unknown function has created a need for better strategies to characterize them. Since enzyme inhibitors have traditionally served this purpose, we present here an efficient systems-based inhibitor design strategy, enabled by bioinformatic and NMR structural developments. First, we parse the oxidoreductase gene family into structural subfamilies termed pharmacofamilies, which share pharmacophore features in their cofactor binding sites. Then we identify a ligand for this site and use NMR-based binding site mapping (NMR SOLVE) to determine where to extend a combinatorial library, such that diversity elements are directed into the adjacent substrate site. The cofactor mimic is reused in the library in a manner that parallels the reuse of cofactor domains in the oxidoreductase gene family. A library designed in this manner yielded specific inhibitors for multiple oxidoreductases.     

Monte carlo calculations of the conformal charge

The conformal charge is an important quantity which characterizes the nature of the two-dimensional phase transition. We report a first attempt to use a new numerical method to calculate the conformal charge. In this paper, we apply our method to the 2-dimensional, ⁴, continuous-spin Ising model. By varying the parameters in the Hamiltonian, one can change continuously from the known Gaussian limit to the Ising limit. It is well known that the critical points for these two systems are not in the same universality class. We study this behavior for the Gaussian model, the single-well ⁴ model, the border model, and the double-well ⁴ model for a large lattice. Our results, while giving a good general picture, are not so far sufficient to differentiate whether the non-Gaussian cases studied belong to the Ising model universality class or not. Further studies of other lattice sizes should serve to improve greatly our conclusions.