Free-flow isoelectric focusing of proteins remaining in cell fragments following sonication of thyroid carcinoma cells

The method of preparing protein mixtures for electrophoretic analysis of membrane-associated cell proteins was improved. By sonication, about one-half of the proteins of thyroid cells were released into the supernatant, while the other half preferentially comprising membrane proteins still remained in cell fragments, which could be sedimented by centrifugation. After sonication, even those proteins which remained in cell fragments, could completely be dissolved by free-flow isoelectric focusing media. They migrated through the free-flow electrophoresis chamber without forming precipitates. Because of these improvements, it was possible to show that the two thyroid cancer cell lines ML-1 and ONCO-DG1 express cytokeratin 8 at similar rates, but cytokeratins 7 and 18 differently. In addition, the presence of inorganic pyrophosphatase, tubulin-beta-5, and tubulin-beta-1 chains in human thyroid cells was proved for the first time.     

Apparent hydrodynamic thickness of densely grafted polymer layers in a theta solvent

We study the drainage of a near-theta solvent through densely grafted polymer layers and compare to recent notions that these layers display little permeability to solvent flow at surface separations less than a “hydrodynamic thickness.” The solvent is trans-decalin (a near-theta solvent at the experimental temperature of 24°C). The polymer is polystyrene (PS) end-attached to two opposed mica surfaces via the selective adsorption of the polyvinylpyridine (PVP) block of a PS-PVP diblock copolymer. The experimental probe was a surface forces apparatus modified to apply small-amplitude oscillatory displacements in the normal direction. Out-of-phase responses reflected viscous flow of solvent alone—the PS chains did not appear to contribute to dissipation over the oscillation frequencies studied. The value of the hydrodynamic thickness (R_H) was less than the coil thickness (L_o) measured independently from the onset of surface–surface interactions in the force-distance profile, implying significant penetration of the velocity field into the polymer layer. As the surface–surface separation was reduced from 3L_o to 0.3L_o, the apparent hydrodynamic thickness (R) decreased monotonically to values R ≪ R_H. Physically, this indicates that the “slip plane” moved progressively closer to the solid surfaces with decreasing surface–surface separation. This was accompanied by augmentation of the effective viscosity by a factor of up to approximately 5, indicating somewhat diminished permeability of solvent through the overlapping polymer layers. Similar results hold for the flow through surface-anchored polymers in a good solvent. It is interesting to note the strong stretching of densely end-grafted polymers in a theta solvent. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35: 2961–2968, 1997     

Carrier ampholyte‐free isoelectric focusing on a paper‐based analytical device for the fractionation of proteins

Isoelectric focusing plays a critical role in the analysis of complex protein samples. Conventionally, isoelectric focusing is implemented with carrier ampholytes in capillary or immobilized pH gradient gel. In this study, we successfully exhibited a carrier ampholyte‐free isoelectric focusing on paper‐based analytical device. Proof of the concept was visually demonstrated with color model proteins. Experimental results showed that not only a pH gradient was well established along the open paper fluidic channel as confirmed by pH indicator strip, the pH gradient range could also be tuned by the catholyte or anolyte. Furthermore, the isoelectric focusing fractions from the paper channel can be directly cut and recovered into solutions for post analysis with sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. This paper‐based isoelectric focusing method is fast, cheap, simple and easy to operate, and could potentially be used as a cost‐effective protein sample clean‐up method for target protein analysis with mass spectrometry.     

Thermocapillary Alignment of Gas Bubbles Induced by Convective Transport

The effect of a weak convective heat transfer on the thermocapillary interaction of two bubbles with an arbitrary orientation relative to an externally imposed temperature gradient is examined. Asymptotic analysis of the case of large separation distances, Z, suggests that the corrections to the bubbles' velocities are of (Pe/Z²), rather than (Pe²) previously found for an isolated bubble. Equal-sized bubbles are known to move with the same velocities, as if they were isolated, when heat conduction is the only transport mechanism. However, the convective transport results in a relative motion of the bubbles. The tendency of equal bubbles to line up in a plane perpendicular to the applied thermal gradient is shown analytically in the weakly nonlinear limit of small Pe numbers, and an interesting interaction behavior in the case of unequal bubbles is discussed.     

一步法和两步法毛细管等电聚焦测定蛋白质和多肽等电点的比较

利用一步法和两步法毛细管等电聚焦(cIEF)方法分离测定了蛋白质和多肽的等电点(pI)。讨论了两步法等电聚焦过程所需的溶液组成、样品进样体积、聚焦电压、聚焦时间和分离条件等因素对分离效果的影响。并对一步法和两步法进行了比较。对细胞色素C、血红蛋白、肌红蛋白、转铁蛋白和牛血清白蛋白以及6种多肽的分析结果表明:一步法步骤简单,分离速度快,可测定单一组分的pI,也能快速分离混合蛋白和多肽,但分离度较差,且不能同时准确测定各组分的pI;两步法步骤复杂,分析时间较长,但能够同时分离并准确测定混合样品中各组分的pI,所测的pI值与单一组分进行测定的结果基本一致。两种方法可相互结合、互为补充,可广泛应用于两性生物微粒等电点的快速和准确测定。     

Characterization of antithrombin III from human plasma by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and capillary electrophoretic methods

The isoforms distribution of the glycoprotein antithrombin III (ATIII) derived from human plasma was investigated by means of isoelectric focusing (IEF) in polyacrylamide gels with immobilized pH gradients (IPG) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) as well as capillary electrophoretic methods. It turned out that the presence of high concentrations of chaotropics (urea, thiourea) and zwitterionic detergents (3-[(3-cholamidepropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPS)) was decisive for attaining good resolution of the protein isoforms. Resolution by IPG-IEF was obtained with excellent reproducibility and pI differences down to 0.01 pH units could be distinguished. ATIII-alpha and ATIII-beta-fractions preseparated by heparin affinity chromatography showed an analogous but shifted spot pattern consisting each of one major and three minor isoforms. The main isoforms of ATIII-alpha and ATIII-beta exhibit pI values of 5.18 and 5.32, respectively, both values determined in the presence of high concentrations of urea. The pI difference of 0.14 pH units correspond to the effect of two sialic acids absent in ATIII-beta. The formation and occurrence of ATIII dimers and trimers turned out to be dependent on the sample preparation. The results obtained by 2-DE were compared with those of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and capillary IEF (CIEF). Quantitative analysis regarding the CZE separated isoforms of plasma derived ATIII yielded a content of about 70% ATIII-alpha main isoform and about 6.6% of ATIII-beta. The pI values of ATIII determined by CIEF with internal calibration were in fair agreement with the pI values of the main isoforms achieved with 2-DE.     

The development of an integrated platform to identify breast cancer glycoproteome changes in human serum

Protein glycosylation represents one of the major post-translational modifications and can have significant effects on protein function. Moreover, changes in the carbohydrate structure are increasingly being recognized as an important modification associated with cancer etiology. In this report, we describe the development of a proteomics approach to identify breast cancer related changes in either concentration and/or the carbohydrate structures of glycoprotein(s) present in blood samples. Diseased and healthy serum samples were processed by an optimized sample preparation protocol using multiple lectin affinity chromatography (M-LAC) that partitions serum proteins based on glycan characteristics. Subsequently, three separate procedures, 1D SDS-PAGE, isoelectric focusing and an antibody microarray, were applied to identify potential candidate markers for future study. The combination of these three platforms is illustrated in this report with the analysis of control and cancer glycoproteomic fractions. Firstly, a molecular weight based separation of glycoproteins by 1D SDS-PAGE was performed, followed by protein, glycoprotein staining, lectin blotting and LC–MS analysis. To refine or confirm the list of interesting glycoproteins, isoelectric focusing (targeting sialic acid changes) and an antibody microarray (used to detect neutral glycan shifts) were selected as the orthogonal methods. As a result, several glycoproteins including alpha-1B-glycoprotein, complement C3, alpha-1-antitrypsin and transferrin were identified as potential candidates for further study.     

Strategies for the on-line preconcentration and separation of hypolipidaemic drugs using micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Three strategies were investigated for the simultaneous separation and on-line preconcentration of charged and neutral hypolipidaemic drugs in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). A background electrolyte (BGE) consisting of 20 mM ammonium bicarbonate buffer (pH 8.50) and 50 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used for the separation and on-line preconcentration of the drugs. The efficiencies of sweeping, analyte focusing by micelle collapse (AFMC), and simultaneous field-amplified sample stacking (FASS) and sweeping, were compared for the preconcentration of eight hypolipidaemic drugs in different conductivity sample matrices. When compared with a hydrodynamic injection (5 s at 50 mbar, 0.51% of capillary volume to detection window) of drug mixture prepared in the separation BGE, improvements of detection sensitivity of 60-, 83-, and 80-fold were obtained with sweeping, AFMC and simultaneous FASS and sweeping, respectively, giving limits of detection (LODs) of 50, 36, and 38 μg/L, respectively. The studied techniques showed suitability for focusing different types of analytes having different values of retention factor (k). This is the first report for the separation of different types of hypolipidaemic drugs by capillary electrophoresis (CE). The three methods were validated then applied for the analysis of target analytes in wastewater samples from Hobart city.     

Dynamic Light Scattering and NMR Studies of Napin

We analyze the structure of napin (BngNAP1), a storage protein (m.w. 14.5 kDa) from Brassica napus. On the basis of the results of ¹H NMR spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies, the overall shape and secondary structure of the molecule are estimated.     

一种相变温度与人体正常体温相近的共聚高分子在水溶液中的自缔合行为

以N-异丙基丙烯酰胺和N-异丙基甲基丙烯酰胺为共聚单体,合成了一种在水溶液中具有与人体正常体温一致的相转变温度的共聚化合物．并从团簇理论出发,结合粘度数据推出了该共聚物在水中的动态接触浓度,利用动态光散射技术研究了这一特殊共聚物在动态接触浓度以上水溶液中的自缔合行为,讨论了从动态光散射实验得出的该共聚物的表观流体力学半径大小及分布与浓度的依赖关系．