Techniques for recording reconstituted ion channels

This review describes and discusses techniques useful for monitoring the activity of protein ion channels in vitro. In the first section the biological importance and the classification of ion channels are outlined in order to justify the strong motivation for dealing with this important class of membrane proteins. The expression, reconstitution and integration of recombinant proteins into lipid bilayers are crucial steps to obtain consistent data when working with ion channels. In the second section recording techniques used in research are presented. Since this review focuses on analytical systems bearing reconstituted ion channels the industrial most important patch-clamp techniques of cells are only briefly mentioned. In section three, artificial systems developed in the last decades are described while the emerging technologies using nanostructured supports or microfluidic systems are presented in section four. Finally, the remaining challenges of membrane protein analysis and its potential applications are briefly outlined.     

Experimental assessment of effectively probed volume in confocal XRF spectrometry using microparticles

Current approaches for assessing a confocal micro-X-rayfluorescence–probing volume involve the use of sharp knife edges, thin films, or wires, which are moved through this volume. The fluorescence radiation excited in the material of the object is measured, and profiles are built to enable the determination of the full width at half maximum in any of the three axes of the excited volume. Such approaches do not provide information on the shape of the volume, and the consequent alignment of both used lenses is made based on the position of the maxima of the registered intensity measurements. The use of particles that are smaller than the interaction volume (isolated enough to prevent the influence of nearby particles) and translated through the interaction volume (3D scan) is presented as an alternative methodology to determine the confocal probing volume. Spherical shaped uranium particles with diameter of 1–3 μm originally produced for scanning electron microscopy analysis calibration purposes were used in this study. The results obtained showed that the effectively probed confocal volume has a distinct prolate spheroidal shape that is longer in the axis of the confocal detector than it is wide on the axes of the plane perpendicular to it. The diameter in the longest axis (tilted accordingly to the angle between the two silicon drift detectors) was found to be approximately 25 μm, whereas the shorter was found about 15 μm each, with a volume of about 3,000 μm³.     

α-particle break-up in the interaction with protons at 8.6 GeV/c 4He momentum

Helium break-up reactions have been studied in ⁴He-proton interactions at 8.6 GeV/c⁴He momentum in the hydrogen bubble chamber. Total and differential cross sections for different reaction channels without pion production have been measured. The results have been compared with multiple scattering model predictions.     

Influence of pressure on the determination of palladium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry using resonance and non-resonance lines

Atomization under pressure considerably influences the absolute and relative sensitivities of resonance and non-resonace lines. Whereas for resonance lines the peak height and area senstitivities decrease with increasing pressure, for non-resonance lines the sensitivity initially increases probably because the increase of the temperature of the atomic vapor compensates for the Lorentz broadening and the red shift. At higher pressures probably absorption line broadening and red shift effect become predominant so that the sensitivity of the non-resonance lines becomes poorer. In spite of this the relative sensitivity of the non-resonance lines as compared to the resonance lines under the same conditions. improves steadily with increasing pressure. It is possible that the absorption profiles of the resonance and the non-resonance lines are affected differently by pressure. The peak characterization times differ considerably for the resonance and non-resonance lines. Calibration curves become more linear with increasing pressure. The improvement is more pronounced for the resonance line.     

Intramolekulare Cycloadditionen in der Reihe der Binaphthyle

Intramolecular cyloadditions of binaphtyl compounds Three new bridged ketones, 7,8 and 9 , have been isolated in 44%, 3% and 19% yields respectively (Scheme 2) by heating 2,2′-bis-allyloxy-1,1′-binaphthyl ( 5 ) at 215° for 16 hours. These compounds could be epimerized about C(16) by bases, and in particular 9 yielded the new epimer 10 . The structures of the alcohols obtained by reduction of the keto group are also given (Scheme 2). The constitution of all compounds was derived from spectroscopic data, chiefly from their ¹H-NMR, spectra (tab. 2, 3 and fig. 1). The assignments were based on the observed long-range coupling constant between H(endo)-C(16) and H(endo)-C(5) in 7 and 10 and on the analysis of chemical shifts and coupling constants in both the ketones and their derivatives. Moreover, the structures of the compounds investigated have been proved by x-ray analysis of ketone 8 (chap. 3, fig. 2). The thermal conversion of binaphthylether 5 to the bridged ketones proceeds via an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction, followed by Claisen rearrangement (Scheme 8). On heating, the bis-beta-methylallyl ether 20 yielded the ketone 21 and a small amount of the ether 23 (Schemes 5 and 7). Ether 23 and binaphthyl monoallyl ether 26 were converted thermally to the bridged ketones 31 (Scheme 7) and 27 (Scheme 6) respectively. In addition, 26 underwent an intramolecular ene-reaction to give the spiroketone 28 (Schemes 6 and 9). The structures of these compounds were also established, mainly by analysis of their ¹H-NMR. spectra.     

Determination of equilibrium constants from chromatographic and electrophoretic measurements

Chemical interactions, such as acid-base, complex-forming, ion association and other equilibria, are widely exploited to improve the separation efficiency in liquid chromatography as well as in electrophoresis. On the other hand, these techniques can be advantageously used to study the chemical equilibria affecting the separations. If the equilibium is sufficiently fast in comparison with the separation process, then the retention characteristics in chromatography (retention factors) or the migration characteristics in electrophoresis (effective mobilities) may be expressed as functions of the composition of mobile phase or background electrolyte (BGE), respectively. Using a proper experimental arrangement, the dependencies of retention (migration) characteristics on the mobile phase (background electrolyte) composition can be measured and utilized to calculate the equilibrium constants for equlibria taking place in the mobile phase (background electrolyte). Although principles of these measurements have been known for a long time, only more recent studies utilizing HPLC and capillary electrophoretic techniques are reviewed in this paper.     

PHOTOCHEMICAL BEHAVIOR OF BACTERIORHODOPSIN IMMOBILIZED IN NaCl PELLETS

Abstract— Some photochemical reactions of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) embedded in NaCl pellets (BR-NaCI) in the visible region are described here. BR in these preparations is a mixture of two classes of species: a drastically blue-shifted form and the unchanged purple pigment. Depending on the illumination history of the BR before being immobilized, both kinds of BR could be demonstrated in light-adapted (LA) and dark-adapted (DA) forms, but light adaptation was not possible once the pellets were made. Analogously to BR suspensions, the light-adapted blue-shifted BRexhibited an a/l-trans type photocycle, but the thermal steps were greatly slowed down (time constants 1 to 5 min). The parent species absorb at 506 nm. The DA blue-shifted BR exhibited absorption changes resolved into two photoreactions, one all-(rans- like (as in LA-BR) and another, 13-cw like, whose decay rate is also greatly slowed down (recovery time several hours). The parent species of the 13-cis like cycle absorb at 480 nm. That pigment fraction in the pellets whose absorption was not blue-shifted, also exhibited similar photoreactions to BR in suspension, but with an overall turnover rate only one order of magnitude slower. From a previous report (Lazarev and Terpugov, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 590 ,324–338,1980) and this one, it appears that the very slow photocycles in NaCl-BR of low moisture content originate from blue-shifted chromophores rather than from unchanged BR.