A novel BES-gluconate-sucrose (BGS) solution for cold storage of isolated hepatocytes

We have used hepatocyte suspensions to study how hypothermic storage in a modified University of Wisconsin (mUW) solution affects liver cell metabolism and cell membrane properties. At present the UW solution is the gold standard of organ preservation. However it contains several ingredients which either are expensive or cannot easily be obtained worldwide. The aim of the present study was the development of a novel preservation solution for rat hepatocytes effective and comparable with the mUW, with enhanced buffer capacity and less expensive. In particular, we investigated the effects of the buffering agent BES, a derivate of aminosulfonic acid, on liver cells metabolism during cold storage and rewarming. In the development of this novel preservation solution we have included three key components: gluconate as impermeant anion, sucrose to give additional osmotic support and the aminosulfonic acid BES for its buffer capacity. Our results shown that BGS solution was equally effective to mUW to protect rat hepatocytes against cold preservation injury due to ischemia and reoxigenation. Also, BGS solution is a good alternative with its high buffer capacity, best indices of respiration activity and it is considerably less expensive than the mUW solution. The use of this solution for the storage of isolated hepatocytes may facilitate hepatocyte research in situations in which the more complex and expensive mUW solution is not available since the cost of one liter of BGS is about 1/3 that an equal volume of mUW solution.     

A laser extraction/combustion technique for in situ delta(13)C analysis of organic and inorganic materials

A CO(2) laser extraction system is described for in situ delta(13)C analysis of organic and inorganic materials. Carbonaceous compounds volatilized by the laser are quantitatively converted to CO(2) gas by a combustion furnace mounted after the sample chamber. Gases produced by the laser and combustion processes are swept by helium carrier gas and separated by a packed gas chromatography column prior to their introduction to an isotope ratio monitoring mass spectrometer. A sample of lentil bean was analyzed at a spatial resolution of 200 μm and yielded delta(13)C values with precision of +/- 0.3 per thousand. The accuracy of delta(13)C measurements was better than +/- 0.5 per thousand from NBS 22 (mineral oil), USGS 24 (graphite), and IAEA CO-1 (calcium carbonate). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE HADAMARD INEQUALITY FOR CONVEX FUNCTION VIA FRACTIONAL INTEGRALS

In this paper, we establish several inequalities for some differantiable mappings that are connected with the Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals. The analysis used in the proofs is fairly elementar...     

On the role of the definition of potential models in Gibbs ensemble phase equilibria simulations of the H2S-pentane mixture

The effect of treating explicitly the coulombic and polarization interactions is investigated through the calculation of the coexistence curve of the pentane-H₂S binary mixture. In this work, potential models have been developed for hydrogen sulphide and pentane, which include electrostatic sites—estimated from ab initio calculations—and polarizable sites—estimated from experimental data—in addition to Lennard-Jones sites. Compared to existing models, these new models have the same number of fitting parameters to experimental thermodynamic data. They are shown to correctly describe the coexistence curve of the pure compounds. When applied to the case of mixtures, together with Lorentz-Berthelot combining rules, they allow one to obtain a more accurate prediction of the coexisting compositions of the mixture. Furthermore, it is shown that the interaction energy in this kind of mixture cannot be properly described by using effective potential models usually considered for pure compounds.     

Rotational viscosity of uniaxial molecules

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) are used to calculate the vortex or rotational viscosity of fluids composed of uniaxial molecules. It is shown that the NEMD homogeneous spin flow algorithm proposed by Edberg, R., Evans, D. J., and Moriss, G. P., 1987, Molec. Phys., 62, 1357 considerably underestimates the vortex viscosity. A modified version of this algorithm is proposed and applied to liquid chlorine and nitrogen. The results are in good agreement with previous work using equilibrium or other NEMD methods, and also show that at high spin rates the vortex viscosity decreases with increase in magnitude of the external torque used to drive the spin flow.     

Gamma induced changes in Makrofol/CdSe nanocomposite films

We applied an ex-situ casting procedure to prepare a nanocomposite (NCP) from Makrofol polycarbonate (PC) and CdSe nanoparticles. The CdSe nanoparticles were prepared by a thermolysis procedure in the presence of N₂ gas flow. Rietveld refinement of x-ray data illustrated that the CdSe adopts a cubic zinc blend structure of 6.057 Å lattice parameter and 2 nm typical grain size. Samples from the prepared NCP were exposed to γ dosages (20 kGy-250 kGy). The modifications induced in the NCP films owing to γ dosages have been studied. The γ irradiation (50 kGy-250 kGy) causes crosslinks that reduce the optical bandgap from 4.15 eV to 3.81 eV, associated with an increase in dielectric parameters and refractive index. This is attributed to an increase in the mass fraction of the disordered regions as specified by x-ray diffraction. The PC-CdSe NCP was found to have a reaction to color modification which makes it suitable for saleable reproduction on a printing press.     

The assessment of viability in isolated rat hepatocytes subjected to cold or subzero non-freezing preservation protocols using a propidium iodide modified test

A rapid and simple assay (6 min, two steps) is described for determination of cell viability of hepatocytes subjected to cold preservation protocols. In this method, cells are incubated with the fluorescent marker propidium iodide (PI) and the fluorescence intensity is measured before (direct fluorescence--Fd) and after (total fluorescence--Ft) addition of digitonin, which allows the dye to enter the hepatocytes. The Fd originated from non-viable cells that have membrane damage and taken up PI. The Ft originated from all cells in the sample. The ratio between the two fluorescence values is used as an indicator of cell viability. The assay was challenged versus two classical viability tests: LDH retention and Trypan Blue exclusion. Our assay shows good correlation only with Trypan Blue test. In addition, a fluorescence confocal microscopy protocol was used to evaluate the possible toxicity of PI in hepatocyte suspensions.     

在硅胶表面制备牛血红蛋白分子印迹聚合物

采用表面印迹法, 以乙烯基三甲氧基硅烷修饰的硅胶为载体, 丙烯酰胺为功能单体, N,N-亚甲基双丙烯酰胺为交联剂, 并将改性聚乙烯醇(PVA)作为辅助识别聚合物链(ARPCs)引入聚合体系中, 制备了牛血红蛋白分子印迹聚合物(MIP). 实验使用红外光谱分析了改性PVA的结构特征, 用扫描电镜(SEM)观察MIP的表面形貌, 考察了ARPCs的含量对MIP吸附性能的影响. 吸附动力学实验研究表明, 聚合体系中ARPCs的引入使MIP对模板牛血红蛋白(BHb)的吸附量明显提高|十二烷基磺酸钠-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳(SDS-PAGE)结果显示, MIP对BHb的特异性吸附能力明显提高.     

TRANSFER MECHANISM OF QUININE DRUG ACROSS THE OIL/WATER (O/W) INTERFACE

The transfer phenomena of quinine drug at the aqueous 1,2- dichloroethane (DCE)interface have been studied by the current- scanning polarography. The relationships be-tween the wave height and pH of aqueous phase, concentration of quinine as well as therate of water drop are discussed. The effect of supporting electrolyte, buffer solution andthe nature of organic solvent on the polarographic wave is studied. The transfer char-acteristics of quinine in aqueous phase and in organic phase are compared, The mono- pro-tonated and diprotonated quinines can both transfer at the interface so as to produce twopolarographic waves. The transfer process of quinine at the interface is simultaneouslycontrolled by diffusion and reestablishment of the disturbed protonated equilibrium ofquinine. A further investigation is made by chronopotentiometry. On the basis of thetheoretical analysis, the formulae of the limiting current are derived and discussed. Thetheoretical results are in agreement with the experimental ones.