Influence of lipid composition and membrane curvature on fluorescence and solvent relaxation kinetics in unilamellar vesicles

Time-resolved fluorescence on unilamellar vesicles shows that increasing amounts of anionic, natural lipid lead to a larger increase in polarity close to the headgroups than in the hydrophobic core of the bilayer. The region close to the headgroups is less polar in vesicles containing phosphatic acid rather than phosphatidylserine. A greater membrane curvature increases the mobility of the hydrated headgroups.     

Photochemical and Photobiological Studies of a Furonaphthopyranone as a Benzo-spaced Psoralen Analog in Cell-free and Cellular DNA

Abstract— Photobiological activities of the benzo-spaced psoralen analog furonaphthopyranone 3 have been investigated in cell-free and cellular DNA. The molecular geometry parameters of 3 suggest that it should not form interstrand crosslinks with DNA. With cell-free DNA no evidence for crosslinking but also not for monoadduct formation was obtained; rather, the unnatural furocoumarin 3 induces oxidative DNA modifications under near-UVA irradiation. The enzymatic assay of the photosensitized damage in cell-free PM2 DNA revealed the significant formation of lesions sensitive to formamidopyrimidine DNA glyco-sylase (Fpg protein). In the photooxidation of calf thymus DNA by the furonaphthopyranone 3, 0.29±0.02% 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua) was observed. With 2'-deoxyguanosine (dGuo), the guanidine-releasing photooxidation products oxazolone and oxoimidazolidine were formed predominately, while 8-oxodGuo and 4-HO-8-oxodGuo were obtained in minor amounts. The lack of a significant D₂O effect in the photooxidation of DNA and dGuo reveals that singlet oxygen (type II process) plays a minor role; control experiments with tert -butanol and mannitol confirm the absence of hydroxyl radicals as oxidizing species. The furonaphthopyranone 3 (E_red= -1.93±0.03V) should act in its singlet-excited state as electron acceptor for the photooxidation of dGuo (δG_ET ca – kcal/mol), which corroborates photoinduced electron transfer (type I) as a major DNA-oxidizing mechanism. A comet assay in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) AS52 cells demonstrated that the psoralen analog 3 damages cellular DNA upon near-UVA irradiation; however, no photosensitized mutagenicity was observed in CHO AS52 cell cultures     

Separation of hyaluronic acid by ultrahigh-voltage capillary gel electrophoresis

Hyaluronic acid was separated using 95 kV applied potential in a polyacrylamide gel-filled capillary. The results of this separation were compared to those obtained using a capillary electrophoresis instrument operated at a more conventional potential of 15 kV. For lower-molecular-weight oligomers, the separation efficiency was found to improve by about tenfold, and the resolution by about threefold. However, the improvement in resolution declined as the polymer molecular weight increased.