Search results for " X-ray Scattering"
showing 10 items of 154 documents
Hybrid Biopolymer and Lipid Nanoparticles with Improved Transfection Efficacy for mRNA
2020
Cells 9(9), 2034 (1-19) (2020). doi:10.3390/cells9092034
Structure and Stability of Hsp60 and Groel in Solution
2016
Molecular chaperones are a class of proteins able to prevent non-specific aggregation of mitochondrial proteins and to promote their proper folding. Among them, human Hsp60 is currently considered as a ubiquitous molecule with multiple roles both in maintaining health conditions and as a trigger of several diseases. Of particular interest is its role in neurodegenerative disorders since it is able to inhibit the formation of amyloid fibrils.Hsp60 structure was considered, until recent years, analogue to the one of its bacterial homolog GroEL, one of the most investigated chaperones, whose crystallographic structure is a homo-tetradecamer, made up of two seven member rings. On the contrary, …
Amyloid β-peptide insertion in liposomes containing GM1-cholesterol domains.
2015
Neuronal membrane damage is related to the early impairments appearing in Alzheimer's disease due to the interaction of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) with the phospholipid bilayer. In particular, the ganglioside GM1, present with cholesterol in lipid rafts, seems to be able to initiate Aβ aggregation on membrane. We studied the thermodynamic and structural effects of the presence of GM1 on the interaction between Aβ and liposomes, a good membrane model system. Isothermal Titration Calorimetry highlighted the importance of the presence of GM1 in recruiting monomeric Aβ toward the lipid bilayer. Light and Small Angle X-ray Scattering revealed a different pattern for GM1 containing liposomes, bot…
The dimer-monomer equilibrium of SARS-CoV-2 main protease is affected by small molecule inhibitors
2021
AbstractThe maturation of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which is the etiological agent at the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a main protease Mpro to cleave the virus-encoded polyproteins. Despite a wealth of experimental information already available, there is wide disagreement about the Mpro monomer-dimer equilibrium dissociation constant. Since the functional unit of Mpro is a homodimer, the detailed knowledge of the thermodynamics of this equilibrium is a key piece of information for possible therapeutic intervention, with small molecules interfering with dimerization being potential broad-spectrum antiviral drug leads. In the present study, we exploit Small Angle X-ray Scattering (…
Comment on “Innovative scattering analysis shows that hydrophobic disordered proteins are expanded in water”
2018
Editors at Science requested our input on the above discussion (comment by Best et al . and response by Riback et al .) because both sets of authors use our data from Fuertes et al . (2017) to support their arguments. The topic of discussion pertains to the discrepant inferences drawn from SAXS versus FRET measurements regarding the dimensions of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) in aqueous solvents. Using SAXS measurements on labeled and unlabeled proteins, we ruled out the labels used for FRET measurements as the cause of discrepant inferences between the two methods. Instead, we propose that FRET and SAXS provide complementary readouts because of a decoupling of size and shape fl…
Pressure effects on α-synuclein amyloid fibrils: An experimental investigation on their dissociation and reversible nature
2017
αâsynuclein amyloid fibrils are found in surviving neurons of Parkinson's disease affected patients, but the role they play in the disease development is still under debate. A growing number of evidences points to soluble oligomers as the major cytotoxic species, while insoluble fibrillar aggregates could even play a protection role. In this work, we investigate αâsynuclein fibrils dissociation induced at high pressure by means of Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Fibrils were produced from wild type αâsynuclein and two familial mutants, A30P and A53T. Our results enlighten the different reversible nature of αâsynuclein fibrils fragmentati…
Nanodesign of new self-assembling core-shell gellan-transfersomes loading baicalin and in vivo evaluation of repair response in skin
2017
Gellan nanohydrogel and phospholipid vesicles were combined to incorporate baicalin in new self-assembling core-shell gellan-transfersomes obtained by an easy, scalable method. The vesicles were small in size (~107 nm) and monodispersed (P.I. ≤ 0.24), forming a viscous system (~24 mPa/s) as compared to transfersomes (~1.6 mPa/s), as confirmed by rheological studies. Gellan was anchored to the bilayer domains through cholesterol, and the polymer chains were distributed onto the outer surface of the bilayer, thus forming a core-shell structure, as suggested by SAXS analyses. The optimal carrier ability of core-shell gellan-transfersomes was established by the high deposition of baicalin in th…
Investigation of charge ratio variation in mRNA – DEAE-dextran polyplex delivery systems
2019
Biomaterials 192, 612 - 620 (2019). doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.10.020
Rheological modifiers based on supramolecular block copolymers: From weak associations to interconnected micelles
2019
Abstract The rheological spectra of poly(n-butyl acrylate) in the presence of a series of P(nBA-b-HEMA) rheology modifiers show a two-step relaxation process originating from the PnBA matrix and the self-assemblies. The HEMA segments are further grafted with strong, hydrogen bonding UPy groups, which both magnifies and slows down the relaxation of the assemblies. The extents of associations are enlightened by studying thermal transitions in DSC, morphological developments by SAXS, and description of rheological properties using a tube-based model. It is revealed that a weak association tendency, due to long hydrophobic blocks, leads to the formation of double-linear or star assemblies, whil…
On the nature of phase separation in a commercial aluminium-lithium alloy
1996
Abstract The formation of lithium-rich precipitate particles, known as δ′ phase, is responsible for the particularly desirable mechanical properties which make aluminium-lithium alloys interesting for different industrial applications. The structure and the kinetics of the phase separation process are conveniently studied by small-angle X-ray scattering, though uncertainties remain on the actual shape of the phase diagram of the system, particularly in the region of interest. In this paper are reported small-angle X-ray scattering measurements on a commercial AlLi (8.49% Li atoms) both in the region of formation of the precipitate and during its successive growth. Modelling of the experime…