Search results for "Biomaterial"
showing 10 items of 1350 documents
Cultivation of granular sludge with hypersaline oily wastewater
2015
The time required to stabilise mature aerobic granules is rather variable. In addition, cultivation time and the structural characteristics of granules seem to be related to the nature of wastewater influent. Granular sludge has been used for the treatment of several industrial wastewaters, but nothing has been reported about wastewater characterized by the simultaneous presence of hydrocarbons and high chloride concentration. In this work, the authors analysed the granulation process and performance as well as the physical characteristics of aerobic granules in two Granular Sequencing Batch Airlift Reactors (GSBARs), fed with acetate-based synthetic wastewater in reactor 1 (R1) and with a …
Role of the co-surfactant nature in soybean w/o microemulsions.
2008
Abstract The influence of the co-surfactant on physicochemical properties of w/o soybean oil microemulsions (MEs) has been studied. In spite of the similarity in phase diagrams, the MEs display remarkable differences when examined by electrical conductivity, dynamic light scattering (DLS), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and linear voltammetry. When different short-chain alcohols were employed as co-surfactants, together with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant, the DLS results indicated the systems to be monodisperse. Both the electrical conductivity of the MEs and the hydrodynamic radii of the droplets (RH) increased with water content while RH diminished as temperature increas…
FT-IR investigation of the urea state in lecithin and sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate reversed micelles
2003
Abstract FT-IR spectra of urea/lecithin/CCl4 and urea/sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (NaDEHP)/CCl4 systems as a function of the urea-to-surfactant molar ratio (Rurea) at a fixed surfactant concentration (0.1 mol kg−1) have been recorded at 25 °C. Analysis of the absorption spectra leads the to hypothesis that urea is confined within the hydrophilic micellar core of lecithin and NaDEHP reversed micelles. The encapsulation of urea involves some changes of the urea NH stretching band with respect to that of the pure solid urea, attributable to confinement effects. The stretching modes of the surfactant head group are affected by the presence of urea, indicating specific urea-surfactant hea…
Protein/lipid coaggregates are formed during α-synuclein-induced disruption of lipid bilayers.
2014
Amyloid formation is associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Significant α-synuclein (αSN) deposition in lipid-rich Lewy bodies is a hallmark of PD. Nonetheless, an unraveling of the connection between neurodegeneration and amyloid fibrils, including the molecular mechanisms behind potential amyloid-mediated toxic effects, is still missing. Interaction between amyloid aggregates and the lipid cell membrane is expected to play a key role in the disease progress. Here, we present experimental data based on hybrid analysis of two-photon-microscopy, solution small-angle X-ray scattering and circular dichroism data. Data show in real time changes in liposome …
Halloysite nanotubes-carbon dots hybrids multifunctional nanocarrier with positive cell target ability as a potential non-viral vector for oral gene …
2019
Abstract Hypothesis The use of non-viral vectors for gene therapy is hindered by their lower transfection efficiency and their lacking of self-track ability. Experiments This study aims to investigate the biological properties of halloysite nanotubes-carbon dots hybrid and its potential use as non-viral vector for oral gene therapy. The morphology and the chemical composition of the halloysite hybrid were investigated by means of high angle annular dark field scanning TEM and electron energy loss spectroscopy techniques, respectively. The cytotoxicity and the antioxidant activity were investigated by standard methods (MTS, DPPH and H2O2, respectively) using human cervical cancer HeLa cells …
A facile way to build up branched high functional polyaminoacids with tunable physicochemical and biological properties
2016
Abstract Here, for the first time, branched polyaminoacids bearing α-amino acids as side functions, namely PAA-co-AA and PGA-co-AA, are prepared by heterophase ring opening of polysuccinimide (PSI) with l -arginine or glycine in aqueous environment and at controlled pH. The modulation of the pH of the reaction leads to high-molecular-weight copolymers with tunable functionalization and, as consequence, with tailor-made physicochemical properties. Furthermore, a branched polyaminoacid carrying a preformed bioactive peptide ( l -trileucine) and l -arginine as side pendants, named PATA-co-AA, was synthesized via a similar pathway thus leading to complex biomimetic materials potentially exploit…
Carboxylated-xyloglucan and peptide amphiphile co-assembly in wound healing.
2021
Abstract Hydrogel wound dressings can play critical roles in wound healing protecting the wound from trauma or contamination and providing an ideal environment to support the growth of endogenous cells and promote wound closure. This work presents a self-assembling hydrogel dressing that can assist the wound repair process mimicking the hierarchical structure of skin extracellular matrix. To this aim, the co-assembly behaviour of a carboxylated variant of xyloglucan (CXG) with a peptide amphiphile (PA-H3) has been investigated to generate hierarchical constructs with tuneable molecular composition, structure, and properties. Transmission electron microscopy and circular dichroism at a low c…
Titration of poly(dA-dT) · poly(dA-dT) in solution at variable NaCl concentration
2004
CD and uv absorption data showed that high molecular weight poly(dA-dT) . poly(dA-dT), at 298 K, undergoes an acid-induced transition from B-double helix to random coil in NaCl solutions of different concentrations, ranging from 0.005 to 0.600M. Similarly, titration of the polynucleotide with a strong base causes duplex-to-single strands transition. The base- and acid-induced transitions were both reversible by back-titration (with an acid or, respectively, with a base): the apparent pKa were the same in both directions. However, the number of protons per titratable site (adenine N1) required to reach half-denaturation was in great excess over the stoichiometric value; to a much larger exte…
Calorimetric and structural investigation of the interaction between bovine serum albumin and high molecular weight dextran in water.
2005
This work studies specific interactions between a small globular protein and a highly flexible, branched polysaccharide using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence, and turbidimetry measurements. It uses the system water/bovine serum albumin (BSA)/dextran (D 2000) as a model. Dextran molecules are able to form interpolymeric complexes with BSA in water at both low and high temperatures if the polysaccharide is in excess and if the protein exists in its associated state. It leads to a partial destabilization of the secondary and tertiary structures of the protein and an additional exposure of the hydrophobic tryptophan residues to the surface of globu…
Ferricytochrome c encapsulated in silica nanoparticles: structural stability and functional properties.
2004
Using a modified sol-gel technique, we have succeeded in encapsulating ferric cytochrome c in silica nanoparticles obtained from hydrolysis and polycondensation of tetramethylorthosilicate. Particles dimensions have been determined with dynamic light scattering; this technique yields an hydrodynamic radius of about 100 nm, each nanoparticle containing about 10(2)-10(3) proteins. If stored in the cold at low ionic strength, nanoparticles are stable for more than one week, even if a slow radius increase with time is observed. CD measurements show that encapsulated proteins exhibit substantially increased stability against guanidinium hydrochloride induced denaturation. Reduction kinetics of e…