Congresses,conferences, symposia,meetings, and seminars in the field of chemical sciences held in 1995–1996

Information

Congresses, conferences, symposia, meetings, and seminars in the field of chemical sciences held in 1995–1996     

Congresses,Conferences, Symposia,Meetings, and Seminars in the Field of Chemical Sciences held in 1995–1996

Information

Congresses, Conferences, Symposia, Meetings, and Seminars in the Field of Chemical Sciences held in 1995–1996     

Lipid bilayer disruption by polycationic polymers: the roles of size and chemical functional group

Polycationic polymers are used extensively in biology to disrupt cell membranes and thus enhance the transport of materials into the cell. The highly polydisperse nature of many of these materials makes obtaining a mechanistic understanding of the disruption processes difficult. To design an effective mechanistic study, a monodisperse class of polycationic polymers, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers, has been studied in the context of supported dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) lipid bilayers using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Aqueous solutions of amine-terminated generation 7 (G7) PAMAM dendrimers caused the formation of 15-40-nm-diameter holes in lipid bilayers. This effect was significantly reduced for smaller G5 dendrimers. For G3, no hole formation was observed. In addition to dendrimer size, surface chemistry had a strong influence on dendrimer-lipid bilayer interactions. In particular, acetamide-terminated G5 did not cause hole formation in bilayers. In all instances, the edges of bilayer defects proved to be points of highest dendrimer activity. A proposed mechanism for the removal of lipids by dendrimers involves the formation of dendrimer-filled lipid vesicles. By considering the thermodynamics, interaction free energy, and geometry of these self-assembled vesicles, a model that explains the influence of polymer particle size and surface chemistry on the interactions with lipid membranes was developed. These results are of general significance for understanding the physical and chemical properties of polycationic polymer interactions with membranes that lead to the transport of materials across cell membranes.     

Capillary zone electrophoresis for the analysis of peptides synthesized by recombinant DNA technology

Capillary zone electrophoresis is applied to investigate the recombinant insulin-like growth factor and recombinant hirudin. During the production of these peptides in S. cerevisiae, byproducts with small variations in the structure of the polypeptide chain are obtained. The different peptides are separated in a fused silica capillary and detected on-column by ultraviolet absorption or fluorescence. Separation times are 10–40 min. The excellent separation efficiencies obtained indicate that capillary zone electrophoresis is complementary to liquid chromatography in the analysis of these peptides.