Vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cell culture on NaOH-treated poly(epsilon-caprolactone) films: a preliminary study for vascular graft development

Tissue engineering offers the potential of providing vessels that can be used to replace diseased and damaged native blood vessels. The endothelization of a synthetic vascular graft minimizes the failures associated with blood clotting and platelet activation. The aim of this study was to culture vascular-derived endothelial and smooth muscle cells on both untreated and NaOH-treated poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) films, a biocompatible and bio-resorbable polymer, and to evaluate the behavior of both cell types as a preliminary study for vascular graft development. PCL films were prepared by hot pressing; characterized by DSC, IR, SEM, and scanning force microscopy; and treated with NaOH to increase the surface hydrophilicity before cell culture. Endothelial and smooth muscle cells, isolated from pig cava vein, were characterized by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies of endothelial nitric oxide synthase and alpha-smooth muscle actin. Good adhesion, growth, viability and morphology of both the endothelial and smooth muscle cells on PCL films were obtained, but a light stimulation of mitochondrial activity was observed during short culture times. NaOH treatment improved the adhesion and enhanced the proliferation in both cell types. This verified the possible use of this modified polymer as a support in the preparation of a synthetic vascular graft. [Diagram: see text] SEM micrograph of smooth muscle cells cultured on NaOH-treated PCL film. (Original magnification: 1000x).     

苯丙水溶胶的合成与性能研究(I) 聚合工艺和反应组分对聚合稳定性和胶体性能的影响

用一次投料法、半连续滴加法和单体预乳化法三种聚合工艺，合成了苯丙乳液聚合物，并加氨微细化，转化成水溶胶，考察了聚合工艺和反应组分（乳化剂，功能单体等）对苯丙乳液及其水溶胶反应稳定性和粒子大小及分布等胶体性能的影响。     

ELECTROCHROMETIC STUDIES ON POLAR MULTILAYERS OF LIQUID CRYSTALLINE POLYMERS

Electrochrometic measurements were carried on the Z-type Langmuir-Blodgett films oftwo liquid crystalline polymers: mono-{6-[4-(phenylazo) naphthyloxy] hexyl} (1a) andmono-{6-[4-(anthraquinone-1-azo) naphthyloxy] hexyl} (2a) ester of polymaleic acid. Itwas found that for both polymers, poling fields parallel and antiparalle1 to dipole momentsof the polymer side chains induce red and blue shift in absorption bands, respectively. Forpolymer la blue shift is accompanied by absorbance increase, while red shift by absorbancedecrease;but for polymer 2a only decrease in absorbance is observed. A simple model wasproposed to analyze the results.     

Environmental UV‐A and UV‐B Threshold Doses for Apoptosis and Necrosis in Humans Fibroblasts¶

Apoptosis involves a highly organized and programmed series of events aimed at maintaining genomic stability by eliminating defective host cells. The purpose of this study was to determine the threshold doses and environmental UV‐A and UV‐B exposure times necessary to produce apoptosis and necrosis in the normal cells of a human fibroblast cell line. Enviromental UV‐A and UV‐B doses were measured over a 6 year period with a four‐channel UV radiometer. The fibroblasts were irradiated once using an Oriel UV Solar Simulator with six doses of environmentally‐based UV. Doses corresponded to 0,11,19,23 and 45 min of average environmental UV‐A and UV‐B radiation at solar noon in Puerto Rico. The Annexin‐V binding method was used to differentiate between normal fibroblasts and apoptotic or necrotic fibroblasts. The threshold dose from apoptosis to necrosis was found between 24–28 kJ/m², which corresponded to 19 and 23 min of environmental UV‐A and UV‐B exposure. This study provides the first data that specify the environmental threshold doses of UV‐A and UV‐B at which human fibroblasts undergo apoptosis and necrosis. These results may provide valuable dose‐response thresholds for apoptosis and necrosis for future mechanistic studies and baseline data for skin cancer prevention programs.     

Structural Determination of Bis-histidinopeptide Zinc Complexes by 15N NMR (HMBC) Spectra

Polynitrogen receptors such as bis-histidine peptides possess strong ability to bind metals, which play much important roles in medicinal, bioinorganic, bioorganic, biomimetic and supramolecular chemistry. In order to investigate the interaction of these hosts with a variety of neutral, cationic and anionic guests, several techniques, for example, NMR,potentiometric tirations and monocrystal X-ray diffraction have been employed. Among them NMR is a powerful technique for unraveling the structure of polynitrogen receptors as long as they are in solution where the rapid tumbling of molecules averages out the anisotropies such as chemical shift and dipole-dipole interactions. General 1H NMR approach has been widely used for the study of host-guest interaction, but it is difficult for the accurate measurement in complexes structures, particularly metal complexes structures in which how the polynitrogen receptors bind metal, and which nitrogen binds metal and so on.     

Preparation and Characterization of Compositions Based on PbO-MgO-Nb2O5 Using the Sol-Gel Method

Lead Magnesium Niobate, Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃ (PMN), is an important relaxor ferroelectric material. A significant problem exists, however, in the preparation of this material: it is very difficult to prepare pure phase, without the presence of a pyrochlore impurity phase which degrades the dielectric properties. Depending on the processing conditions, the amount of pyrochlore phase varies.Considering the ternary diagram PbO-MgO-Nb₂O₅, different compositions have been prepared by a simple sol-gel method at room temperature using Pb(CH₃COO)₂, Mg(CH₃COO)₂, Nb(OC₂H₅)₅ as precursors. After the heat treatment, the samples obtained were analyzed by XRD and EPMA with the purpose of studying the compositions formed.From the analysis of these results, it seems to be that the appearance of pyrochlore can be related to the reactivity of the MgO and/or the presence of other phases of the binary system PbO-Nb₂O₅. An excess of Pb and Mg is necessary for compositions to be formed near the PMN. The control of the amount of these two elements is very important because an excess of MgO would lead to rich compositions in Mg as a secondary phase.     

新型手性Salen双核锌配合物的分子识别研究

合成了新型手性Salen配体（H3L）及新型手性Salen双核锌配合物（主体）.通过研究主体对咪唑类客体及氨基酸酯类客体的分子识别行为,测定了这些配位反应的缔合常数.主体对咪唑类客体分子识别的缔合常数顺序为:K(Im) >K(2-MeIm) >K(2-Et-4-MeIm).主体对氨基酸酯类客体分子识别的缔合常数顺序为:K(LeuOCH3) >K(ValOCH3) >K(AlaOCH3) >K(SerOCH3),配位数均为2.主体与D、 L型氨基酸酯分子识别反应在不同温度下的缔合常数结果表明,随着温度的升高,对映选择性下降.实验发现反应体系中存在焓熵补偿关系. CD光谱的研究结果也反映了主体对不同客体识别能力的差异.     

Imidazole Coordinated Sandwich-type Antimony Polyoxotungstates Na9[ {Na（H=O2}3{M（C3H4N2）}3（ Sb W9O33）2]·xH=O（M=Ni^Ⅱ, Co^Ⅱ, Zn^Ⅱ, Mn^Ⅱ）

The imidazole covalently coordinated sandwich-type heteropolymngstates Na9[ {Na（H=O2}3{M（C3H4N2）}3（ Sb W9O33）2]·xH=O（M=Ni^Ⅱ, Co^Ⅱ, Zn^Ⅱ, Mn^Ⅱ） were obtained by the reaction of Na2WO4·2H2O, SbCl3·6H2O, NiCl2·6H2O [MnSO4·H2O, Co（NO3）2·6H2O, ZnSO4·7H2O] and imidazole at pH≈7.5. The structure of Na9[{Na（H2O）2}3{Ni（C3H4N2）}3（SbW9O33）2]·32H2O was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Polyanion [{Na（H2O）2}3{Ni（C3H4N2）}3（SbW9O33）2}3]^9- has approximate C3v symmetry, imidazole coordinated six-nuclear duster [{Na（H2O）2}3{Ni（C3H4N2）}3]^9＋ is encapsulated between two （α-SbW9O33）^9-, the three rings of imidazole in the polyanion are perpendicular to the horizontal plane formed by six metals （Na-Ni-Na-Ni-Na-Ni） in the central belt, and x-stacking interactions exist between imidazoles of neighboring polyanions with dihedral angel of 60%. The compounds were also characterized by IR, UV-Vis spectra, TG and DSC, and the thermal decomposition mechanism of the four compounds was suggested by TG curves.     

Broad-band spectroscopy of a vanadyl porphyrin: a model electronuclear spin qudit

We explore how to encode more than a qubit in vanadyl porphyrin molecules hosting a S = 1/2 electronic spin coupled to a I = 7/2 nuclear spin. The spin Hamiltonian and its parameters, as well as the spin dynamics, have been determined via a combination of electron paramagnetic resonance, heat capacity, magnetization and on-chip magnetic spectroscopy experiments performed on single crystals. We find low temperature spin coherence times of micro-seconds and spin relaxation times longer than a second. For sufficiently strong magnetic fields (B > 0.1 T, corresponding to resonance frequencies of 9–10 GHz) these properties make vanadyl porphyrin molecules suitable qubit realizations. The presence of multiple equispaced nuclear spin levels then merely provides 8 alternatives to define the ‘1’ and ‘0’ basis states. For lower magnetic fields (B < 0.1 T), and lower frequencies (<2 GHz), we find spectroscopic signatures of a sizeable electronuclear entanglement. This effect generates a larger set of allowed transitions between different electronuclear spin states and removes their degeneracies. Under these conditions, we show that each molecule fulfills the conditions to act as a universal 4-qubit processor or, equivalently, as a d = 16 qudit. These findings widen the catalogue of chemically designed systems able to implement non-trivial quantum functionalities, such as quantum simulations and, especially, quantum error correction at the molecular level.

We show that a sizeable electronuclear entanglement of the S = 1/2 and I = 7/2 spins of a vanadyl porphyrin provides the conditions to act as a universal 4-qubit processor, and thus implement quantum error correction at the molecular level.