Synthesis of a dibenz[b,e]oxepin-bovine serum albumin conjugate for radioimmunoassay of KW-4679 ((Z)-11-[3-(dimethylamino)propylidene]-6,11- dihydrodibenz[b,e]oxepin-2-acetic acid hydrochloride).

(Z)-11-[3-(Dimethylamino)propylidene]-2-(methoxycarbonyl)methyl-6, 11- dihydrodibenz[b,e]oxepin-9-acrylic acid (5) was prepared for application to the radioimmunoassay of KW-4679 (1, (Z)-11-[3-(dimethylamino)propylidene]-6,11-dihydrodibenz[b,e ] oxepin-2-acetic acid hydrochloride). The acrylic acid moiety in the 9-position of 5 was employed for coupling with an amino group of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to provide 17. Subsequently, the conjugate 17 was treated with aqueous NaOH to hydrolyze the terminal methoxycarbonyl group in the 2-position of the BSA conjugated 5. Antiserum raised against the antigenic BSA-conjugate 4 finally obtained was specific for 1.     

Proposed model for the flagellar rotary motor

Flagellated bacteria swim by rotating helical filaments driven by motors embedded in the cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane. A model is proposed to explain the mechanism of the motor. The protons passing through the channels induce a strong electric field in Mot molecules. This field originates an impulse force to cause the flagellar rotation if the following conditions are fulfilled: (a) Mot molecules have a spontaneous electric polarization. (b) The lipid bilayers are viscoelastic. (c) There is a delay of deformation in response to stress in Mot molecules. The conclusions driven from the model are in agreement with the following experimental observations, denoting the flagellar rotation velocity as omega. (1) The torque is practically constant independent of omega from 0 to a critical value omega(cr) and then decreases sharply. (2) When omega is smaller than omega(cr), the torque varies little with temperature. (3) The critical velocity omega(cr) shifts to lower speed at lower temperatures. (4) Where omega is larger than omega(cr), declining of the torque steepens at lower temperatures. (5) When omega is smaller than omega(cr), one revolution of the flagellar rotation consists of a constant number of steps. (6) When omega is smaller than omega(cr), omega is proportional to the transmembrane potential difference. (7) The stator produces constant torque even when the stator is rotated relative to the rotor by external forces. (8) How the flagellar rotation velocity changes when the direction of the proton passage is reversed. (9) The motor has a switch that reverses the sense of the flagelllar rotation with the same absolute value of torque.     

Design of a rate- and time-programming drug release device using a hydrogel: pulsatile drug release from kappa-carrageenan hydrogel device by surface erosion of the hydrogel

We have found that a repetitive pulsatile drug release with a certain time interval is observed from a monolithic hydrogel device by surface erosion of the hydrogel. As a model system of pulsatile drug release, dibucaine hydrochloride and kappa-carrageenan hydrogel were chosen as a drug and a device, respectively. Electrostatic interactions between dibucaine hydrochloride and kappa-carrageenan polymer segments are strong, since dibucaine hydrochloride is positively charged and each disaccharide repeating unit of kappa-carrageenan chains has one sulfate group. Dibucaine hydrochloride was loaded into the hydrogel by immersing dry kappa-carrageenan hydrogel disks in a dibucaine hydrochloride solution for 24 h. The pulsed release of dibucaine hydrochloride from the device was observed every 50 min between 30 and 250 min after the release starts. The weight of kappa-carrageenan hydrogel decreases in an oscillatory manner with time in distilled water. The oscillatory changes observed in the hydrogel weight in distilled water are considered to be caused by influx and efflux of water molecules into and from the surface and core of the hydrogel and by polymer liberation from the hydrogel. This phenomenon was well explained by our kinetic model [Colloids and Surfaces B 8 (1996) 93-100]. The time interval between pulses observed in drug release coincides with that observed in the oscillatory weight change of the hydrogel. From these, it was concluded that the pulsatile release of dibucaine hydrochloride from the device was caused by the pulsatile liberation of swollen kappa-carrageenan hydrogel from the surface of the device.     

Competitive adsorption of Ca and local anesthetics on lipid membrane surfaces

Adsorption fo tertriary amine local anesthetics and Ca²⁺ onto lipid membranes having various negative surface charge densities was studied by measuring lipid vesicle electrophoretic mobility.

As the surface charge density of the membrane was reduced, the adsorption of the local anesthetics dominated that of the divalent cation. For a relatively high negatively charged membrane, the adsorption of both local anesthetic and Ca²⁺ became comparable and competitive.

It is deduced that the major factor for the adsorption of local anesthetic onto lipid membranes is due to simple physical partitioning between aqueous and membrane phases, and not due to ionic type of binding as seen for divalent cations with membranes. However, the adsorption of anesthetics is influenced by the surface potential of membranes which is in turn related to the surface concentration of local anesthetics near the membrane.

The amounts of competitive adsorption of divalent cations and local anesthetics are analyzed with respect to their bulk concentrations and various surface charge densities of the membranes. With the results of the above studies, a possible interpretation for the interaction site as well as the mode of adsorption of local anesthetics onto axon membranes is made in relation to divalent cation concentrations in the bulk phases.     

Adsorption kinetics with time delay

A theory of adsorption kinetics of solutes onto a solid surface from the solution phase is proposed in which a time delay is introduced into the solute concentration on the surface. Equations governing the adsorption kinetics are similar to those for membrane transport with time delay (Ohshima and Kondo, Biophys. Chem. (1989) 33: 303). It is found that introduction of time delay causes, under certain conditions, overshoot or oscillation in the solute concentrations, both in the solution phase and on the surface. The criterion for oscillation depends on the scaled delay time , the ratio of the possible maximum amount of solutes adsorbed on the surface to the total solute amountR, and the scaled binding constantK. When the number of the binding sites is small, the criterion for oscillation is expressed as >exp(–1), where =(/K) exp().     

Electrical Conductivity of a Concentrated Suspension of Soft Particles

A general expression for the electrical conductivity of a concentrated suspension of spherical soft particles (polyelectrolyte-coated particles) is obtained for the case where the overlapping of the electrical double layers of adjacent particles is negligible by using Kuwabara's cell model. It is shown that in the limit of very low potentials the obtained conductivity expression reduces to Maxwell's relation with respect to the volume fraction of the particle core and the contribution from the polyelectrolyte layer becomes negligible. An approximate conductivity expression is derived for the case of low potentials. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Interaction between an ion-penetrable particle and a solid particle. 1. Electrical double-layer interaction

Expressions are derived for the force and potential energy of the electrical double layer interaction between two parallel plates of different nature, i. e., an ion-penetrable plate and an ion-impenetrable plate. The latter may have either constant surface potential or constant surface charge density. It is shown that when the ion-impenetrable plate has a constant surface potential, the interaction force may, under certain conditions, become attractive even if the surface potentials of the two plates at infinite separation are of the same sign. In contrast, when the ion-impenetrable plate has a constant surface charge density, the interaction force may, under certain conditions, become repulsive even if the two plates at infinite separation are of opposite sign. This means that an ion-penetrable plate shows a dual behavior. That is, under certain conditions, it behaves like a solid plate with constant surface potential or surface charge density, depending on whether it interacts with a solid plate having a constant surface potential or a constant surface charge density.     

Magnetic moment of the 2140.2 keV 5− state in136Ba

We have determined theg-factor of the 2140.2 keV 5^– state of¹³⁶Ba using the timeintegral perturbed angular correlation (IPAC) method at an external magnetic field of 17.0 kG;g=–0.38±0.04. The half-lives of the 2140.2 keV 5^– and 2207.1 keV 6⁺ states were redetermined to be 1.5±0.1 ns and 3.1±0.1 ns, respectively. The radioactive source of¹³⁶Cs was prepared by the¹³⁸Ba(, pn) reaction.     

Dynamic electrophoretic mobility of spherical colloidal particles in a salt-free medium

A theory is proposed for the dynamic electrophoretic mobility mu(omega) of spherical colloidal particles in a salt-free medium containing only counterions in an oscillating electric field of frequency omega. The dynamic mobility depends on the frequency omega of the applied electric field and on the particle volume fraction as well as on the particle surface charge. It is found that as in the case of the static electrophoretic mobility mu(0) in salt-free media, there is a certain critical value of the particle surface charge separating two cases, that is, the low-surface-charge case and the high-surface-charge case (in the latter case the counterion condensation takes place near the particle surface). For the low-surface-charge case, the dynamic mobility agrees with that of a sphere in an electrolyte solution in the limit of very low electrolyte concentrations kappaa-->0 (Hückel's limit), where kappa is the Debye-Hückel parameter and a is the particle radius. For the high-surface-charge case, however, the dynamic mobility becomes constant independent of the particle surface charge, because of the counterion condensation effects. A simple expression for the ratio mu(omega)/mu(0) applicable for all cases is given.     

On the General Expression for the Electrophoretic Mobility of a Soft Particle

Electrokinetic equations for electrophoresis of a soft particle (that is, a hard particle covered with a layer of polyelectrolytes) have been solved previously under the conditions that the net force acting on the soft particle as a whole (the particle core plus the polyelectrolyte layer) must be zero and that the electrical force acting on the polymer segment is balanced with a frictional force exerted by the liquid flow (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 163, 474 (1994)). In the present work we replaced the latter condition by the alternative and more appropriate condition that pressure is continuous at the boundary between the surface layer and the surrounding electrolyte solution to solve the electrokinetic equations and obtained the general mobility expression for the electrophoretic mobility of a spherical soft particle. It is found that the general mobility expression thus obtained reproduces all of the approximate mobility expressions derived previously and, in addition, that the continuous pressure condition leads to the correct limiting behavior of the electrophoretic mobility in the case where the frictional coefficient tends to zero (this behavior cannot be derived from the force balance condition for the polyelectrolyte layer). Copyright 2000 Academic Press.