Dielectric cell separation of fine needle aspirates from tumor xenografts

As an approach to isolating tumor cells from fine needle biopsy specimens, we investigated a dielectric cell preparation method using an in vivo xenographic tumor model. Cultured human MDA-MB-435 tumor cells were grown as solid tumors in nude mice and fine needle aspiration biopsies were conducted. Biopsied cells were suspended in sucrose medium and collected on slides patterned with microelectrode arrays (electrosmears) energized by electrical signals in the range 10 to 960 kHz. The unlabeled cells adhered to characteristic regions of the slides in accordance with their morphology as a result of dielectric forces. Tumor cells were trapped between 40 and 60 kHz and were separated according to whether they were mitotic, large and complex, or small. Damaged tumor cells were captured at between 60 and 120 kHz; granulocytes between 70 and 90 kHz; lymphocytes between 85 and 105 kHz; healthy erythrocytes between 140 and 180 kHz, and damaged erythrocytes above 180 kHz. Using intrinsic cell characteristics, the electrosmear presented cell subpopulations from fine needle aspiration biopsy specimens in a manner that is compatible with automated slide-based analysis systems. The approach has the potential to facilitate the analysis of the role of cell subpopulations in disease.     

An Improved Method to Resolve Plant Saponins and Sugars by TLC

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plays an important role in the initial selection of mutants having a unique seed saponin composition from the germplasm collections of the subgenus Soja. In the conventional TLC procedure, the dehydrated free sugars are retained just below the major saponins and interrupt the identification of some minor saponin constituents. To resolve this problem, we developed an efficient and reliable method to move sugars from the saponin area on TLC. A developing chamber was saturated with the lower phase of chloroform:methanol:water (65:35:10, v/v) for 2 h and the TLC plates were developed in it for 50 min. Plates were then dried at 100 °C for 10 min to evaporate the excess mobile phase and developed again with 10 % H₂SO₄ for 15 min. While sulfuric acid migrates over the surface of SiO₂, sugar molecules are dehydrated and hydrophilic interactions between free sugars and SiO₂ are strongly reduced. Thus, the positions of dehydrated sugars were shifted to above the saponin area on the TLC plate. This resulted in easy recognition of the saponin composition without any discrimination. This amended protocol would be applicable to all TLC analyses in which the target components should be separate from the interrupting sugar molecules.

     

Revisiting the initial rate approximation in kinetic NOE measurements

The nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) is undoubtedly one of the most useful tools in NMR spectroscopy and is widely used in solving structural and conformational problems of small organic molecules and macromolecular systems alike. In particular, measurement of the kinetics of the NOE, often facilitated by selective 1D NOE buildup experiments, can generate invaluable quantitative distance information for the molecule being investigated. In practice, analysis of such kinetic NOE data routinely assumes a first-order approximation of the initial buildup rate. However, often times such an approximation holds true only for the shortest mixing times. As shown by Macura and others, the linear range of the NOE buildup obtained from 2D NOESY and exchange experiments can be substantially extended by simply scaling the NOE cross-peaks against the corresponding diagonal peaks. In this note, we demonstrate through a detailed analysis that the same approach can be applied to the analysis of 1D NOE data obtained with the DPFGSE NOE pulse sequence, one of the most widely used selective 1D NOE experiments today. We show that this approach allows the inclusion of data points acquired with much longer mixing times in the analysis and thus considerably improves the accuracy of the measured cross-relaxation rates and internuclear distances, while considerably simplifying the data analysis. Similar results can be obtained for the rotating frame DPFGSE ROE experiment.     

Noncryogenic I/Br-Mg exchange of aromatic halides bearing sensitive functional groups using i-PrMgCl-bis[2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl] ether complexes

[reaction: see text] Iodo- and bromoaromatics bearing sensitive carboxylic ester and cyano groups underwent a selective halide-magnesium exchange with isopropylmagnesium chloride at ambient temperature in the presence of bis[2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl] ether to afford the corresponding Grignard reagents. The newly formed reactive Grignard reagents were allowed to react with electrophiles such as trimethylborate to afford arylboronic acids in good to excellent yields.     

Energy pooling in multiple ionization and Coulomb explosion of clusters by nanosecond-long, megawatt laser pulses

We report the results of experiments that establish the possibility of bringing about multiple ionization and Coulomb explosion of molecular clusters with nanosecond laser pulses at intensities as small as 10(9) W cm(-2). We demonstrate several new facets of the laser-cluster interaction in the low-intensity, long-pulse domain: (i) The choice of laser wavelength for a given cluster species is very crucial. (ii) Excited electronic states play a very important role in the ionization dynamics. (iii) When field ionization is insignificant and ponderomotive energies are very small, it is energy pooling rather than inverse bremsstrahlung that determines how clusters absorb energy from the optical field.     

Mycogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles by the Japanese environmental isolate <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspergillus tamarii</Emphasis>

In this study, an environmental friendly process for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using a fungus Aspergillus tamarii has been investigated. The process of silver ion reduction by the fungal extracellular filtrate was spontaneous which lead to the development of an easy process for synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The AgNPs formed were characterized using UV–Visible spectrum, FTIR, and SEM. The results revealed that silver ions reduction by the fungal extracellular filtrate started at 420 nm after 0.5 h of incubation time. The FTIR peaks were observed at 1393, 1820, 2727, and 3545 cm⁻¹. The SEM result showed the distribution of spherical AgNPs ranging from 25 to 50 nm.     

Noncovalent Helicene Structure between Nucleic Acids and Cyanuric Acid

Cyanuric acid (CA), a triazine heterocycle, is extensively utilized for noncovalent self-assembly. The association between poly(adenine) and CA into micron-length fibers was a remarkable observation made by Sleiman and co-workers, who proposed that adenine and CA adopt a hexameric rosette configuration in analogy with previously reported structures for CA assemblies. However, recent experimental observations from the Krishnamurthy group led to a reevaluation of the hexameric rosette model, wherein they have proposed a hydrogen-bonded helicene model as an alternative. Our molecular dynamics simulations show that the hexad model is indeed unlikely and that this novel noncovalent helicene geometry, where the adenine and CA bases form an extended helical hydrogen-bond network across the system, is a more probable structural motif. The existence of noncovalent helicene compounds may have wide-ranging applications in DNA nanotechnology and helicene chemistry.     

Pressure Dependence of the Electromechanical and Vibrational Properties of Pentaerythritol

The elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric constants of pentaerythritol, C (CH₂OH)₄, (PET) have been computed as a function of pressure employing the structural data of KATRUSIAK and the lattice dynamical model of RAMAMOORTHY and KRISHNAMURTHY. Using these electromechanical constants, the Young's modulus, the linear compressibility, the bulk modulus and the acoustic wave velocities are computed for various high pressures. The pressure dependence of the vibration spectrum of PET using rigid and non‐rigid lattice models is also obtained. The anomalous variation of these electromechanical and other physical quantities predict the most probable pressure for phase transition in PET to be around 280 MPa. The mechanism of the transition and the variation in the physical behaviour accompanying the transition are discussed.