Search results for "Biomaterial"

Bioactive glass ions as strong enhancers of osteogenic differentiation in human adipose stem cells.

2015

Bioactive glasses are known for their ability to induce osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. To elucidate the mechanism of the osteoinductivity in more detail, we studied whether ionic extracts prepared from a commercial glass S53P4 and from three experimental glasses (2-06, 1-06 and 3-06) are alone sufficient to induce osteogenic differentiation of human adipose stem cells. Cells were cultured using basic medium or osteogenic medium as extract basis. Our results indicate that cells stay viable in all the glass extracts for the whole culturing period, 14 days. At 14 days the mineralization in osteogenic medium extracts was excessive compared to the control. Parallel to the increased mi…

Bioinspired Metal-Organic Frameworks in Mixed Matrix Membranes for Efficient Static/Dynamic Removal of Mercury from Water

2020

The mercury removal efficiency of a novel metal-organic framework (MOF) derived from the amino acid S-methyl-L-cysteine is presented and the process is characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. A feasibility study is further presented on the performance of this MOF and also that of another MOF derived from the amino acid L-methionine when used as the sorbent in mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). These MOF-based MMMs exhibit high efficiency and selectivity in both static and dynamic regimes in the removal of Hg2+ from aqueous environments, due to the high density of thioalkyl groups decorating MOF channels. Both MMMs are capable to reduce different concentration of the pollutant to …

Thecis-transisomerization ofN-methyl-α,β-dehydroamino acids

2012

Dehydroamino acids with the methylated N-terminal peptide group occur in natural small cyclic peptides. The structural analysis was used to investigate the cis-trans isomerization of the N-terminal tertiary amide group of diamides: Ac-(Z)-Δ(Me)Abu-NHMe (1), Ac-(Z)-Δ(Me)Phe-NHMe (2), Ac-(E)-Δ(Me)Phe-NHMe (3), Ac-Δ(Me)Ala-NHMe (4), and Ac-(Me)Ala-NHMe (5). The compounds were analyzed in the solid state by an X-ray crystallography (1-3), and in the solution by FTIR (MeCN and CHCl(3) ) and NMR (DMSO-d6 and CDCl(3) ) methods (1-5). In the solid state, the studied compounds adopt the cis configuration of N-terminal amide. In solution, this configuration also prevails for the dehydroamino acids 1-…

Fractal-related assembly of the axial filament in the demosponge Suberites domuncula: relevance to biomineralization and the formation of biogenic si…

2007

Abstract The siliceous spicules of sponges (Porifera) show great variations of sizes, shapes and forms; they constitute the chief supporting framework of these animals; these skeletal elements are synthesized enzymatically by silicatein. Each sponge species synthesizes at least two silicateins, which are termed − α and − β . In the present study, using the demosponge Suberites domuncula , we studied if the silicateins of the axial filament contribute to the shape formation of the spicules. For these experiments native silicateins have been isolated by a new Tris/glycerol extraction procedure. Silicateins isolated by this procedure are monomeric (24 kDa), but readily form dimers through non-…

Morphology of hybrid polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) micelles: Analytical ultracentrifugation and SANS studies

2006

Abstract Morphology and structure of aqueous block copolymer solutions based on polystyrene- block -poly(ethylene oxide) (PS- b -PEO) of two different compositions, a cationic surfactant, cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC), and either platinic acid (H 2 PtCl 6 ⋅6H 2 O) or Pt nanoparticles were studied using a combination of analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). These studies combining methods contributing supplemental and analogous structural information allowed us to comprehensively characterize the complex hybrid systems and to discover an isotope effect when H 2 O was replaced with D 2 O. In particular, TEM s…

Inverse Spin Fractionation:  a Tool to Fractionate Sodium Hyaluronate

2006

Combined effect of the DeltaPhe or DeltaAla residue and the p-nitroanilide group on a didehydropeptides conformation.

2007

Two series of dehydropeptides of the general formulae Boc-Gly-X-Phe-p-NA, Boc-Gly-Gly-X-Phe-p-NA, Gly-X-Gly-Phe-p-NA·TFA, and Boc-Gly-X-Gly-Phe-p-NA, with X = ΔZPhe and ΔAla, were studied with NMR in DMSO and CDCl3-DMSO, and with CD in MeOH, MeCN, and TFE. The NMR spectra measured in DMSO suggest that peptides with the ΔPhe residue next to Phe are folded whereas peptides with Gly between ΔPhe and Phe are less ordered. NMR spectra of ΔAla-containing peptides indicate that these peptides are flexible and their conformational equilibria are populated by many different conformations. The CD spectra show that conformational properties of the peptides studied are distinctly influenced by a mutual…

Effect of the ΔPhe residue configuration on a didehydropeptides conformation: A combined CD and NMR study.

2010

Conformations of two pairs of dehydropeptides with the opposite configuration of the ΔPhe residue, Boc-Gly-Δ(Z)Phe-Gly-Phe-OMe (Z-OMe), Boc-Gly-Δ(E)Phe-Gly-Phe-OMe (E-OMe), Boc-Gly-Δ(Z)Phe-Gly-Phe-p-NA (Z-p-NA), and Boc-Gly-Δ(E)Phe-Gly-Phe-p-NA (E-p-NA) were compared on the basis of CD and NMR studies in MeOH, trifluoroethanol (TFE), MeCN, chloroform, and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The CD results were used as the additional input data for the NMR-based determination of the detailed solution conformations of the peptides. It was found that E-OMe is unordered and Z-OMe, Z-p-NA, and E-p-NA adopt the β-turn conformation. There are two overlapping β-turns in each of those peptides: type II and ty…

Simple chiral urea gelators, (R)- and (S)-2-heptylurea: their gelling ability enhanced by chirality.

2011

Abstract We present the first report on the synthesis of chiral ureas, ( R )- and ( S )-2-heptylurea, and their gelling behaviors. The ureas were prepared by the reactions of chiral amines and phenyl carbamate in the presence of triethylamine. On cooling from homogeneous solutions, the chiral ureas form gels in water and various nonpolar organic solvents, such as cyclohexane, toluene, and tetrachloromethane, while the racemate gelatinize only toluene and tetrachloromethane among the solvents we examined. The gelling ability of the enantiomeric urea is higher than the racemate, as the critical gelling concentrations in toluene, for example, were 0.2% and 0.7% (wt/wt), respectively. The enhan…

Unexpected multivalent display of proteins by temperature triggered self-assembly of elastin-like polypeptide block copolymers

2012

We report herein the unexpected temperature triggered self-assembly of proteins fused to thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) into spherical micelles. A set of six ELP block copolymers (ELP(BC)) differing in hydrophilic and hydrophobic block lengths were genetically fused to two single domain proteins, thioredoxin (Trx) and a fibronectin type III domain (Fn3) that binds the α(v)β(3) integrin. The self-assembly of these protein-ELP(BC) fusions as a function of temperature was investigated by UV spectroscopy, light scattering, and cryo-TEM. Self-assembly of the ELP(BC) was unexpectedly retained upon fusion to the two proteins, resulting in the formation of spherical micelles …