Human Neuroepithelial Cells Express NMDA Receptors

L-glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, binds to both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors. In certain parts of the brain the BBB contains two normally impermeable barriers: 1) cerebral endothelial barrier and 2) cerebral epithelial barrier. Human cerebral endothelial cells express NMDA receptors; however, to date, human cerebral epithelial cells (neuroepithelial cells) have not been shown to express NMDA receptor message or protein. In this study, human hypothalamic sections were examined for NMDA receptors (NMDAR) expression via immunohistochemistry and murine neuroepithelial cell line (V1) were examined for NMDAR via RT-PCR and Western analysis. We found that human cerebral epithelium express protein and cultured mouse neuroepithelial cells express both mRNA and protein for the NMDA receptor. These findings may have important consequences for neuroepithelial responses during excitotoxicity and in disease.     

STABILIZATION OF LIPID BILAYERS ON SURFACES THROUGH CHARGED POLYMERS

ABSTRACT

It is our concept to use a polymer as a hydrophilic cushion to stabilize a lipid bilayer on a solid support. This can be accomplished by using polyacrylamides with disulfides and DMPE anchors as a hydrophilic cushion. These polymers have the additional functionalities to chemisorb on gold surfaces through the disulfides and to bind a lipid bilayer on it through the insertion of the lipid anchors into the lipid bilayer. This paper shows that a polymer with the additional functionality of charged groups increases the attraction of vesicles to form a tethered supported lipid bilayer. By varying the amount of charged groups in the polymer, we are able to control the hydrophilic behavior of the polymer and therefore are able to change the wetting on a surface. This was examined by measuring the contact angles. Using the technique of the surface plasmon spectroscopy, we are able to monitor the process of vesicle fusion on the polymer support.     

Thermodynamic,structural and morphological studies on liquid-crystalline blue phases

Abstract

This article describes the progress in experimental studies of liquid-crystalline blue phases during the past 5 years. Additionally, these results are compared critically with the predictions of theories of the blue phases. Areas considered in this review include (i) the thermodynamic stability of the three polymorphic blue phases and the influence of the cholesteric pitch on this; (ii) the phase diagrams of blue phases; (iii) electric field effects on the blue phase structure and stability; (iv) the morphology and growth of liquid single crystals of blue phases; (v) the symmetry and structural properties of the blue phases.     

Berezinians,Exterior Powers and Recurrent Sequences

We study power expansions of the characteristic function of a linear operator A in a p|q-dimensional superspace V. We show that traces of exterior powers of A satisfy universal recurrence relations of period q. ‘Underlying’ recurrence relations hold in the Grothendieck ring of representations of GL(V). They are expressed by vanishing of certain Hankel determinants of order q+1 in this ring, which generalizes the vanishing of sufficiently high exterior powers of an ordinary vector space. In particular, this allows to express the Berezinian of an operator as a ratio of two polynomial invariants. We analyze the Cayley–Hamilton identity in a superspace. Using the geometric meaning of the Berezinian we also give a simple formulation of the analog of Cramer’s rule Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 15A15, 58A50, 81R99 To the memory of Felix Alexandrovich Berezin     

Lattice variation and thermal parameters of gel grown KDP crystals added with some ammonium compounds

Pure and impurity added (with NH₄Cl, NH₄NO₃, NH₄H₂PO₄, and (NH₄)₂SO₄) KDP single crystals were grown by the gel method using silica gels. X-ray diffraction data were collected for powder samples and used for the estimation of lattice variation and thermal parameters like Debye-Waller factor, mean-square amplitude of vibration, Debye temperature and Debye frequency. The thermal parameters do not vary in a particular order with respect to impurity concentration. The results obtained are reported and discussed.