Pressure- and temperature-induced association of arborescent polystyrene-graft-poly(ethylene oxide) copolymers at the air-water interface

The influence of surface pressure and subphase temperature on the association of arborescent polystyrene- graft-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS- g-PEO) copolymers at the air-water interface was investigated using the Langmuir balance and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. These dendritic molecules form stable condensed monolayers with surface compressional moduli >250 mN/m. The variation in film thickness observed as a function of surface pressure suggests that at low surface pressures (gaslike phase) the PEO chains remain adsorbed at the air-water interface. At higher surface pressures (condensed phase), the PEO chains partially desorb into the subphase and adopt a more brushlike conformation. Large islandlike clusters with a broad size distribution were observed for samples with PEO contents of up to 15% by weight. In contrast, copolymers with PEO contents of 22-43% displayed enhanced side-by-side association into ribbonlike superstructures upon compression. The same effect was observed even in the absence of compression when the subphase temperature was increased from 12 to 27 degrees C. The temperature-induced association was attributed to increased van der Waals attractive forces between the PS cores relative to the steric repulsive forces between PEO chains in the coronas because the solvent quality for the PEO segments decreased at higher temperatures. The restricted number of superstructures observed for arborescent copolymers as compared with linear- and star-branched PS-PEO block copolymers is attributed to the enhanced structural rigidity of the molecules due to branching.     

A weight-function approach for determining watershed initial conditions for combustion waves

In many generic combustion models, one finds that a combustionwave will develop with a specific wave speed. However, thereare possible initial temperature profiles which do not evolveinto such waves, but rather die out to the ambient temperature.There can exist, in some models, a clear distinction betweenthose initial conditions that do evolve into combustion wavesand those that do not; this is sometimes referred to as thewatershed initial condition. When fuel consumption is consideredto be negligible, analytical methods can be used to obtain theexact watershed. In this paper, we consider the problem of determiningpseudo-watersheds and ascertaining the relationship betweenthese pseudo-watersheds and the exact watersheds. In the processa novel weight-function approach for infinite spatial domainsis developed.     

Recording long-term potentiation of synaptic transmission by three-dimensional multi-electrode arrays

Background  

Multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) have become popular tools for recording spontaneous and evoked electrical activity of excitable tissues. The majority of previous studies of synaptic transmission in brain slices employed MEAs with planar electrodes that had limited ability to detect signals coming from deeper, healthier layers of the slice. To overcome this limitation, we used three-dimensional (3D) MEAs with tip-shaped electrodes to probe plasticity of field excitatory synaptic potentials (fEPSPs) in the CA1 area of hippocampal slices of 129S5/SvEvBrd and C57BL/6J-Tyr^C-Brd mice.     

Evolution of NMDA receptor cytoplasmic interaction domains: implications for organisation of synaptic signalling complexes

Background  

Glutamate gated postsynaptic receptors in the central nervous system (CNS) are essential for environmentally stimulated behaviours including learning and memory in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Though their genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and role in behaviour have been intensely studied in vitro and in vivo, their molecular evolution and structural aspects remain poorly understood. To understand how these receptors have evolved different physiological requirements we have investigated the molecular evolution of glutamate gated receptors and ion channels, in particular the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, which is essential for higher cognitive function. Studies of rodent NMDA receptors show that the C-terminal intracellular domain forms a signalling complex with enzymes and scaffold proteins, which is important for neuronal and behavioural plasticity     

Chiral imprinting of diblock copolymer single-chain particles

This Article reports the molecular imprinting of polymer single-chain particles that have a radius ～3.7 nm. For this, the template L-phenylalanine anilide or L-ΦAA and a diblock copolymer PtBA-b-P(CEMA-r-CA) were used. Here, PtBA denotes poly(tert-butyl acrylate), and P(CEMA-r-CA) denotes a random block consisting of cinnamoyloxyethyl methacrylate (CEMA) and carboxyl-bearing (CA) units. In CHCl(3)/cyclohexane (CHX) with 64 vol % of CHX or at f(CHX) = 64%, a block-selective solvent for PtBA, PtBA-b-P(CEMA-r-CA) formed spherical micelles. The core consisted of the insoluble P(CEMA-r-CA) block and L-ΦAA, which complexed with the CA groups. Pumping slowly this micellar solution into stirred CHCl(3)/(CHX) at f(CHX) = 64% triggered micelle dissociation into single-chain micelles, which comprised presumably a solubilized PtBA tail and a collapsed P(CEMA-r-CA)/L-ΦAA head. Because the solvent reservoir was under constant UV irradiation, the photo-cross-linkable units in the P(CEMA-r-CA) head cross-linked, and the single-chain micelles were converted into cross-linked single-chain micelles or tadpoles. Synchronizing the micelle addition and photoreaction rates allowed the preparation, from this protocol, of essentially pure tadpoles at high final polymer concentrations. Imprinted tadpoles were procured after L-ΦAA was extracted from the tadpole heads. Under optimized conditions, the produced imprinted tadpoles had exceptionally high binding capacity and high selectivity for L-ΦAA. In addition, the rates of L-ΦAA release from and rebinding by the particles were high.